​There are two astrological events going on that interest me greatly; one is somewhat under the radar and one is going to cover the radar screen completely. 

​The under-rated under the radar aspect is where transiting Neptune is now in relation to where it is in the US natal chart (or where it was when the US was “born”.)
We are in a unique period where there is a Pluto return at the same time as a Neptune opposition to its natal position in the US chart. The Pluto return is opposite natal Mercury along the 2nd and 8th house axis. This clearly indicates a period of a couple years of major economic/financial challenges filtered through 9th house idealism. The most tangible manifestation of this is how supporting Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression is inflating the cost of living. That the causes are far away in another country is perfectly in keeping with the US 9th house position of Neptune. We remain in this moment into 2024. Are Americans willing to pay at the pump and more for everything else to help push back totalitarians in eastern Europe? This theme isn’t unique to the US but easy to see how this transit by Neptune is substantial in the US economy and therefore elsewhere. It doesn’t seem likely that western allies are going to back off this commitment however in America there are sympathetic voices to Vladimir Putin.
There’s also the darker side of Pluto in this. Being that Pluto’s return to its natal placement in the US chart is 2nd and 8th house, the 8th house hearkens back to investments made in the past and how well they serve us in the present. Investments of all kinds, not strictly financial investments. Diplomatic investments. Research investments. Emotional investments in our families and jobs.
Oil is something from the past, serving in the present. Oil is also involved in the powers that dominate corporate America (Pluto in Capricorn), and Russia.  These powers could ease the pain of inflation, however instead are reaping huge profits and not spending towards creating a more stable market in which prices for other goods could ease. This pressure will be undone as Pluto departs the return and departs Capricorn for Aquarius within the next two years. It will ultimately be up to the American voters to decide what their values are in the 2024 election after which these giant aspects diminish. They will vote based on their values to complete the transit of Neptune opposing the US natal Neptune.
The purpose of Pluto stirring up corporate conspiracies and exposing corruption in governments isn’t to make them become virtuous. Their purpose is to provide on an individual level the opportunity to examine and then act on what we believe in, to provide us and our electorate the opportunity to manifest their beliefs. Pluto can set up and expose corruption; it can create then undermine it.
The individual and national or collective will to establish values and then act on them is why we need to go through these stressful events. We have to prove what we say. The need to revisit and examine values is work that is never done. Since Pluto for example will move on into Aquarius doesn’t mean it leaves the government or political leaders it exposed as corrupt or corporations cheating, all neat and tidy, all repaired. It just means that the recent cycles of transits - which span decades and generations - are complete, and the next round of rebuilding will in time come due for another generation. We will do it all again probably, for other souls who need to face the same kind of decisions. This is a major overhaul questioning the founding principles of the US; it’s the first Pluto return in its history. Finding out that some things don’t work means we have to rewrite the rules. We definitely learned in the last five years that there are those who will operate outside the old established rules because they were not encoded law. But we probably need to face a crisis of dysfunction before some people will believe it. 

​Transiting Neptune opposite natal Neptune from Pisces to Virgo requires a brief bit of reflection on Neptune in Virgo’s character and as it is located in the US chart, in the 9th house. In Virgo, Neptune encourages belief in efficiency, establishing a reliable realistic base of optimism, not unrealistic pie in the sky ideas that lack planning. Writing down the Declaration of Independence and holding it up as something to follow for centuries is a Virgo kind of thing. With Virgo, on a soul level, is the acceptance that naivete is no excuse for failure. We have to begin to make concessions to the universe outside our personal bubble, finding the workable balance that is expected by the next sign, Libra. Virgo is the last sign of the first half of the zodiac where we begin to integrate more with everyone and everything else. The impetus that begins in Aries which was to have it our way acknowledges in steps sign by sign until in Virgo we arrive ready to lower the gate around our ego. This is the reality of the zodiacal virgin. She sacrifices some of her Self and in return the universe cultivates Itself within us.
 
In the 9th house is the possibility of noble well-informed intent with a religious sense of purpose, just as there is the possibility that these values are a load of croc. The problem in the 9th house is because we consider the belief to be sacred, we resist it ever evolving.

The burst of energy represented by the birth chart of the USA continues to be the chart of the lives being lived on this land at the moment, but it’s a very different set of circumstances. There is unfortunately a tremendous amount of tragic karma yet to be resolved that this country was built on. One of the things that helps to do that is recognition of the common interests of everyone living in it now to fulfill a shared variously defined idealism we agree to, and one of the realities of that is an economy that offers opportunities for its participants.
It’s a question of belief, not necessarily of reality.
Neptune thinks everything is real, it doesn’t separate fact from fiction. We have to sort it out and integrate what works down here on Earth because Neptune is far sighted and can’t see things individually up close isolated from each other. The expanse of Neptune’s perception is other worldly. It’s a valuable perspective to retain because we realize how silly some of our close-up obsessions are. But we live here on Earth to iron out some of the details, not spread ourselves thin across the seas of Neptune.
Neptune in transit opposing it’s US natal placement says hold on a minute, are we the majority in agreement of what we believe our valued goal to be? This is a period of confusion because not everyone agrees on what national value or ideals are, or what is fact or fiction. People don’t recognize how Neptune works or works in their lives because it is subtle, its impact seems vague. Neptune accepts everything one believes as fact, which is why people don’t recognize Neptune. It’s too obvious. Belief defines Neptune’s reality and we act on whatever it is.
 
The opposition from transiting Neptune in Pisces most of all dissolves the definitions of what is a valid belief or not valid. Belief was never fact; it was always a guess highly dependent on wishful thinking.

If we recognize that Neptune is a formless watery ocean that takes on whatever shape we pour it into, we also have to recognize that what we believe is going to look different depending on who’s looking at it. In that case we had better develop a common understanding of what we are looking at. Go from there. Up to now we had written and unwritten laws about what was a common national goal and standards of ethical behavior. But Neptune says, wait a minute, what happens when I remove that common belief? What happens when the doors swing open and anything goes? That’s about where we’re at. 

...​​Mars in transit catching up to Uranus, in Taurus. The Moon’s North Nodes, which are moving retrograde as they often do, will back up and meet Mars as it arrives to meet Uranus later in July, together into August.
Uranus moved into the earth sign Taurus a few years ago. As I and others have commented, Taurus, a literally down to earth grounded energy, is not a great place for Uranus. Uranus was the ancient sky god, not grounded, represented in the Tarot deck as the lightning bolt that knocked down the Tower of Babel. Uranus is the iconic ruler of the new age sign Aquarius, and was the first planet discovered because of the use of new technology at the time, the telescope. It wants unrestricted movement. Taurus is all about nailing things down, securing all the hatches, no loose ends. The combination of these two is that the potential energy of the Uranian lightning bolt is held in chains until something provokes a moment of release. At that time, potentially long held pent up energy is released. The release can be as a one-time thing or a series of expressions over the period of the provocation. In this instance Mars is the catalyst. Mars is also not at its best in Taurus; it also does not like being contained. Mars tends to react with a careless impatience when restrained. This is a combination suited well to any kind of breaking out of restraint:  breakthrough, eruption, breakdown, angry outburst, crash, breaking the rules without concern for the consequences good or bad, pushing through adversity, winning at all costs, frustration, earthquake, explosion.
If one has the ability to let this energy be expressed with discipline it can be used very constructively to achieve something long sought for, but this is no easy task. It’s drinking water from a fire hose.
The North Nodes add a little dimension to the events. They tell us that this is a hurdle that collectively and individually we have faced before and this time we have to make the step that’s been hard to do if we want to move forward in a healthy way. It’s an opportunity.
When late July comes around, and into early August, watch carefully not to lose your temper and if challenged to put the energy into finding resolution. Don’t throw something at the TV or break the Ming vase, although that would be better than taking it out on someone else or hurting yourself. Exercise but don’t try and set a record, unless you are a professional athlete in a competition. In that case you might win.  

By David A. Wheatley
​​https://www.bridges.academy/astrologycorner.html

​Still very much in the news internationally, there’s a lot of interest in the astrological charts of Vladimir Putin, Russia and the war on Ukraine. No one seems to have any doubts about the Ukrainian leader but those other charts stir endless speculation that fuel concerns for whole world. Each of those charts deserves an in-depth discussion but I won’t do that here and now, and will confine myself to an overview. 

Putin had conditions in his chart going into February that instilled confidence to make a major decision to launch a war, that confidence coming from Jupiter transiting through Pisces. Jupiter inflates or expands where ever it touches, and when it caught up with Neptune in Pisces the chemistry was truly historic. I say historic because the last time Jupiter was conjunct, or caught up, with Neptune in Pisces was the first Crimean War, ending in 1856. Russia wanted the Crimean peninsula to have authority over shipping lanes in the Black Sea.  Parts of Europe were against that, mostly France and Great Britain, as was the Ottoman Empire on the south side, Turkey.
Jupiter met up with Neptune again lately, this February through April. While together this time, they were joined by Venus, the Sun, Mercury and Mars. As I commented in an earlier review the expansive qualities of especially Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces are limitless insofar as the human psyche is concerned. Dreams and visions are very grand. But the reality came as soon as Jupiter departed.  Jupiter has now entered Aries, where patience is short for expecting reality to equal the vision. 

​It’s fine to envision a destiny ahead full of celebration and adoration. It’s good to create a path for success by imagining it, but if this singular self-serving vision clashes with much greater numbers and many other dreams, the shake-out can be a let down. 

Many people cultivate generating a positive attitude and envisioning their intentions as if that’s all they need to succeed. This would be true if one lived in a vacuum, where no one else and their intentions clashed with yours, as if the universe both seen and unseen is as pliable as a wet noodle waiting for our ego to shape it. There are innumerable intentions of living people, and those not living as well. The ongoing patterns in our societies established by our predecessors run on automatic pilot all around and through us. These are the customs, habits and expectations of a society. This is why doing charts for collectives - towns, cities and countries - can be informative. We can see currents flowing in the collective psyche that no one person has a handle on. We can see traditions and customs from the past run headlong into current trends and economic realities.
Pisces can be caught up in a universe of dreams that inspire bold moves.  Aries doesn’t wait for evolution, it wants results sooner.
I did a painting years ago of an individual surfing a surging cosmic tide in the human psyche. It was a kind of a Rorschach test; do you see the surfer leading the wave or is the wave taking the surfer?  We never have the full picture; it isn’t necessary, isn’t always helpful and is distracting. Our intellect often sees what we consider the full picture, but it is really only our picture. Our intellect dwells on itself, we are very subjective beings. Intuitive knowledge skips trying to intellectualize information in order to own it, to own all there is to know. Intuitive knowledge is knowing what you need to know without being held back by what you don’t know. 

In his moment of decision Putin believed what his intellect told him to believe. All his knowledge told him his purpose and his abilities were wedded to destiny, that he was making destiny. It’s going to turn out that destiny is using him, and his delusion will inadvertently serve humanity. 

Intuitively we accept in Astrological theory that in spite of what we do not know, there are innumerable patterns and repeating cycles that are reliable for grasping the outline of how our psyche works. The solar system is our psyche: an organic body filled with properties and value just as the human body is filled with organs and structure. For better and worse we are barely aware of how much the psyche knows.  It works mostly behind the scenes leading us from pillar to post. There’s too much to know while at the same time be finite beings in an Earth body. “All knowing” is incompatible with our conscious abilities; we are designed to have most of our knowing outside consciousness and then to seek it by experiencing life.  We rely on the imposition of limits and structure, embodied by Saturn, in order to build something constructive and useful with our small capacity Earth consciousness.

​Putin’s vision of his place in Russian history is naturally a subjective one within his ego. He probably envisioned that he was seeing everything as it really is, though to launch a war under the umbrella of the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces is guaranteed to be at the height of self deception. He sees everything rotating around him. What we know of his advisors is they were not giving him accurate intelligence reports; they were protecting their employment and telling him what he wanted to hear, reinforcing his delusion. From a cosmic view much greater than Putin's, the collective psyche is fine with that. It will use his conviction to act, as he is one small actor in a larger play. The collective psyche uses everything towards its own ends, including the delusions of mortals. 

​The visionary expansion Jupiter promised when it entered Pisces' realm of dreams and then conjuncted with Neptune is deflated when it enters Aries, followed by Mars and Venus also entering and leaving Pisces, and entering Aries. Aries wants to be real. Aries isn’t interested in the full story or details; it just wants to get things done. 

​Another factor is the influence of Saturn which always seeks clarity of vision. Saturn pushes away the flowery distractions to focus on organizing lines of energy in order to be more efficient... over Time. The Jupiter Neptune conjunction in Pisces inspired Putin’s belief in the fantasy he harbored, but the air has gone out of that balloon. This is a huge shift in the forces around Putin penetrating his dream and forcing adjustments. Part of this adjustment pushing into his vision began last year when Saturn began to move into the square aspect to Uranus. It ebbed off with the retrograde motion of Saturn, and returns over the coming summer months to peak in October. The Jupiter Neptune party was an interlude in the weakest months of the Saturn Uranus aspect, but it has done its job. The inspiration Putin acted on isn’t doing Russia or anyone else any good short term, but longer term it will produce a wave of very positive results for the region and the world. 

​Saturn respects hard work more than big dreams. Saturn respects careful preparation in a well informed context. Saturn respects disciplined long term effort more than periodic flashes of inspired surges. Saturn rewards what it respects with results. It always yields consequences, both welcomed and not. Saturn can become overbearing and suffocating, and in those moments other planetary tendencies can break the overbearing structure, (Uranus). This year got a lot of attention for Jupiter in Pisces but really the main act is Saturn in Aquarius locked in a square with Uranus in Taurus. Once this relationship has played out, the stage will be set for a major shift when Pluto finishes its work in Capricorn and moves into Aquarius. For now though we stand at the crossroads between the agents of order and disorder:  Saturn and Uranus. The son and the father in mythology who while they see the world through completely different lenses and their conflicts create distress, ultimately will both make the next major steps in social evolution possible. 

As May folds into the summer months, Saturn continues to grow in tension in Putin’s natal chart, moving into a tighter opposition to his natal Pluto. By the fall of the year the aspects orchestrated by Saturn's climactic opposition will begin to fade, whether or not its lessons have been learned or by how much. Saturn doesn’t wait for the individual to “get it” - there’s a lot of moving parts and if the individual doesn’t get it they can have a whack at it again some other time.
Earlier this year Jupiter transited Putin’s natal chart in a favorable relationship/aspect from Pisces to both natal Venus and Jupiter. These aspects contributed heavily to making his decision to "liberate" Ukraine. Putin is a Libra. He has Mercury, Neptune and Saturn in Libra at birth along with the Sun, conveying a belief that he can charm others, that he believes in the illusion of control as a masterful manipulator. Jupiter, working for higher purposes, inflated his belief in being the hand of destiny.
However, Jupiter’s series of aspects to his natal cluster in Libra, while a brief flirtation with Putin’s impending immortality, pales in comparison to Saturn’s over-arching transit in Putin’s natal chart. Saturn is in a growing tighter opposition to his natal Pluto. In the bigger picture any grasp he imagined he had over others is itself part of greater forces that incidentally remind him that he is not immortal, he is like everyone else a flicker of a flame in the hand of destiny, not destiny itself. There are much greater forces at work than individual intentions. 

Putin’s natal Pluto is in his 10th house as Saturn transits from his 3rd house briefly and then into his 4th house, opposing his natal Pluto.  Putin will learn true perspective in a very public way with natal Pluto sitting in his 10th house. His Tower of Babel collapse will make a spectacular splash in front of the world. Pluto brings major transformations. As a tool of life, the transformations Pluto brings sometimes come with death. There are many kinds of death, of ideas, beliefs.
This transit from Saturn opposite his natal Pluto will wane by the end of the year, as Saturn leaves Aquarius early next year and moves into Pisces. That’s two major events with Saturn that are peaked now and wane by the end of the year. This should tell us something about the transitions ahead early next year.
Along the way, Saturn moves into Putin’s 4th house, a changing emphasis for his chart from strategy and planning to trauma in his personal sphere. It is bringing the specter of Saturn’s cosmic scythe into his personal home, shaking the foundations of his self image. Saturn arrived there on the cusp of his 4th House in April, and by retrograde motion will hit again over the summer. This is a harsh reality hitting home. Putin will face severe limits and restrictions in his personal life and may even be confined to it. In the western world, politicians sometimes tell the public they've decided to spend more time with their families when they have to duck out of leadership. Putin will be sticking close to home, insulating himself. 

​Fears harbored by others reading into Putin have reached the contemplation of whether he would feel forced to use nuclear weapons, since Pluto is the planet of the nuclear age. On the atomic level, life is transformed with Pluto, discovered in the solar system at the onset of the first use of the atomic bomb. These fears inhabit the darker areas of the psyche but never forget:  they are symbolic. There are many kinds of “death” where life continues, and many of them bring the positive side of Pluto which is regeneration into new life. The phoenix. However, Saturn is the major planet in the transits to his natal Pluto, and Saturn works with circumstances that impose limits, not rapid expansion which is what a nuclear bomb is.  This is not the kind of aspect that supports the use of nuclear weapons. 

What's happening to Putin over the summer is happening at home, his 4th house, and it's intensely personal.

Besides all this, Saturn is also transiting over Putin’s natal Moon’s North Nodes. The arrival of Saturn by transit stimulates a core belief he has held for a lifetime or even inherited from past lives: that he is important to the fate of his country. Pluto was on his South Nodes at birth. Saturn temporarily on the North Nodes tries to bring his perspective around to seeing in real terms what it is he can do with his life while he still has it. This is where we imagine our contribution to the society we owe allegiance to. A good student of history knows that if we don’t decide that, other people will. If Putin refuses to be conscious of or see the truth of it, life will use him anyway. He is being used by layers of intelligence within the collective psyche. For him this is a possible awakening that introduces added insights to what he had assumed to be his purpose. There’s still time to learn. He will be used as a force for positive evolution, though the method of the darker side of Pluto is extremely painful. He is incidental as all leaders are, though he imagined himself something greater as many do. Anyone born within several years of Putin has Pluto in Leo and can easily believe in their essential value to the world to an exaggerated level.  While we might ridicule this fantasy, it’s also the belief in it that fuels some individuals to achieve great things.  Who can say what the values are? 

​Jupiter by transit will oppose his natal Sun/Mercury/Neptune/Saturn early next year. If in the year that’s just passed he has gained realistic insights and perspectives, this transit could be very beneficial to us all. If not, then it’s likely he tries to do it all over again. But that would fail even faster. It will be a question for him of going out on a high note or repeating the past.  If he is up to it. 

There’s a belief in Astrological conversation that when Pluto finally departs Capricorn we will be done with autocrats, or even more ironically, plutocrats. Plutocrats are authority figures whose power stems from enormous wealth, generally acquired by disreputable means. For that to happen to all of them I think the world would have to change incredibly radically, in ways that drown the small fish as it swamps the big ones. There are autocrats in the public consciousness who may fall from power; Putin is certainly one of them. There are others with their necks in the noose now. Some of the countries neighboring Ukraine and Russia who still labor under autocrats pretending to be saviors will get caught in this wave when Pluto finishes up with Capricorn.
Often when a major planet changes signs, big things happen in the world and circumstances we grew accustomed to that are no more permanent than a flower bed disappear, and people seem amazed because they had grown accustomed to them. Pluto moving into Aquarius is an interesting subject for another day, it’s not done yet in Capricorn. 

​Zelensky continues to have a strong chart until a year or more from now when a threat or attempt on his life is in the air. 

​The astrological chart for Russia faces some interesting transits in the coming year but one in particular stands out to me. As Jupiter transits through Aries with a brief retrograde back into Pisces, it will move into Russia’s 9th house and oppose Russia’s natal Saturn, squaring both Mercury and Pluto, forming a grand cross. Jupiter’s move into the 9th house suggests a shift into admitting foreign influence from “others”, 11th house Pluto and 5th house Mercury. No doubt Russia will need some rebuilding after suffering the attrition of their ill-advised war on Ukraine. The only place it might come from is China and while I haven’t looked at the chart for China yet, most of us can easily imagine a growing investment in Russia from China. Several years ago China began building a gas pipeline jointly with Russia. It faces enormous obstacles and is not yet completed. Until this pipeline is completed the EU remains Russia’s best customer for its natural gas. Both China and India currently buy Russian gas which is shipped by tanker. Their interest in Russian gas is long term. Possibly this upcoming transit from Jupiter in Russia’s chart is in regards to an advanced state of investment with these countries and acceptance in Russia of foreign influence, particularly Chinese.  

​Jupiter definitely brings opportunities and opens the door for us to walk through. Sometimes we easily pass through and sometimes we need some help making steps. The difference between what Jupiter and Venus can do is that Venus (as one of the inner planets being inside the orbit of Jupiter and the asteroid belt) is more tangible and seeks more tangible experiences in our conscious lives, not hidden. Venus, like the other inner planets Mercury and Mars, seeks integration into our lives. Mars does it forcefully, Mercury does it with an abundance of thinking and talking. Venus attempts to do it by feeling it:  we experience, we taste what Jupiter brought to the table and our hopes are that it’s going to be almost intoxicating as we believed. It could be true; things can be intoxicating when Venus so immediately follows up Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces.  And as a separate matter, the experience is real. We feel it.  What we feel may not be the truth we held, but it is real.

​Some tangible examples are things like realizing that Covid is not only not gone but surging.  As of this writing there are a little less than 400 people per day still dying of Covid and over 42,000 cases reported daily in the US, with many cases not reported because of the purposefully deceptive reporting mechanisms of some States. Covid deaths are still happening. Like it or not these numbers will climb, Pluto has turned retrograde in Capricorn and isn’t done yet with its activities there in recent years, Covid being one of them. The darker side of a war between truth and belief in American politics is another example. 

​While the EU nations mostly felt inspired that Ukraine was going to survive the Russian assault and that the Russian assault was revealing important Russian military internal weaknesses, there are truths about both sides that will begin to force an acceptance of unwanted realities. Putin’s dreams of restoring a semblance of the former Soviet Union through brutal force will face unwanted realities that his vision can’t control or overcome. For a few months he believed he could defy gravity but gravity only took a holiday; it’s still on the job.
​For Ukraine and its supporters, the reality becomes measuring the costs of support and what is now required to make their visions more manifest. Actions speak louder than words and not all of them are in Piscean harmony because while in Ares, Jupiter and Mars are not as interested in the process of imagining. They are seeking resolution, pushing for a clash of realities in order to sort it out and get to what the stronger reality is. It’s not just a question of who has the stronger will, but of what can actually be done - that’s reality.  Support of Ukraine from other countries could move from standing by and supplying arms to something more confrontational, more Arian. While this play of nerves might unsettle a lot of people it could also be the shortest route to ending the clash of hopes that’s currently devastating Ukraine and the escalating costs from the Russian military, because it forces the participants and their supporters to deal with realities that in the past couple months they didn’t have to. Jupiter and Mars in Ares are a dramatic departure from their time in the previous few signs, especially when in Pisces.
The climax at the end of April into early May - the transition from Pisces owning center stage to then having to share it with Ares - is a clash of two very different actors in their roles brought out in the open. Jupiter and Mars moving into Ares symbolizes the desire to make the visions of recent months become realities and the willingness to raise the level of drama to whatever is required to make it happen…... because the costs of prolonging the recent state of success/failure are forcing an effort to impose an ending. Many of us will transition from accepting certain realities of recent months to wanting to shape them more.  Make things happen. 

​The Sun, Moon and Mercury are joining Uranus and the Moon’s North Nodes in Taurus. These are all factors in facing the costs or paying the bills of recent months. Uranus being the more potent planet in this group brings in the sudden upset, the lightning strike, of bypassing the fancy footwork to find a shortcut to success. It can also bring an ingenious solution which could be deliberate or accidental; either way it serves the over-arching design of evolution from the psyche. There’s an element of something happening out of control with Uranus, however this only applies in our conscious awareness. Unconsciously or from other levels of consciousness Uranus is bringing into manifestation something perfectly in step with who we really are. While we preferred not to deal with things so directly, we likely will ultimately find value in the post Piscean way.
Uranus can be the only way we get some things done because of restraints we placed upon ourselves. Remember though that this group are in Taurus. Uranus according to its nature wants freedom of expression anytime any place. Taurus tethers all energy to the ground, Mother Earth, and insists on any expression having value in supporting life. Taurus attempts to tie Uranus to the ground full time, and make it behave, and for much of its time in Taurus, Uranus will be restrained. When it has moments of occasional release due to the activation of other planets in aspect or simply passing over it, Uranus has a brief opportunity to send out one of its lightning bolts:  a sudden shaft of illumination that potentially changes the view of the landscape, changes how we perceive ourselves in the environment. Uranus has a reputation for being somewhere in between tricky and dangerous, because changes we may really want or need come about by a lightning bolt provocation we are not in control of.  

By Mary Gordon
Integral Relationship Facilitator
 
Integral Relationship is dynamic information whether you
·        Are in a relationship
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Would you like to
·        Understand your love relationships, past and present?
·        Enhance your current relationship?
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·        Learn, heal, grow, and awaken to new possibilities?
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Integral Relationship is the creation of Martin Ucik, the author of two books on the subject:  Integral Relationships - A Manual for Men, and Sex Purpose Love.  He went on a deep search to find out why relationships fail and what makes them work.
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Integral Relationship explains why love relationships in our lives have faltered, sometimes with much pain.
It provides 'ah-ha moments' as to why we feel frustrated and unfulfilled. 
More importantly, Integral Relationship provides a road map to deeper satisfaction and greater levels of connection.
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Even if your love relationship is good, wouldn't it be joyous to develop
the deeper bond you always wanted? 
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Isn't it time to connect with relationships that feed your soul?
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The Integral Relationship approach inspires singles and couples to realize their full learning, healing, growing, and awakening potentials to co-create the kind of love relationships that are not only personally satisfying, but also make the world a better place.
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Ahh, you say.... but I'm not in a love relationship.  Why would I want to learn this?
The Integral Relationship message is for anyone wanting to understand themselves, identify the type of love relationship that would serve them, or connect with people in a more integral way.

To learn more, click here:  ​www.bridges.academy/integral.html

Mary Gordon is a clairvoyant and clairsentient intuitive. She provides readings for clients who are wanting clarity, counsel and help with decisions, or to check in to see if they are on the right track.  In addition, Mary is a Clinical Hypnotherapist as well as an Integral Relationship facilitator, teaching the Integral Relationship model to help individuals and couples understand their relationship differences and grow themselves as individuals.
​Visit Mary at https://www.magicandhope.com/integral-relationship

by David A. Wheatley
​https://www.bridges.academy/astrologycorner.html

​The Crimean War which began under the last Jupiter/Neptune meeting in Pisces in 1856 lasted over two years and resulted in Russia losing to the European powers of the day. It's not accidental that the Piscean dreams of Russia's current leader, with his quasi historically based self-defined Russian pride, would fall into the same pattern as happens when Jupiter inflates Neptune's dreamy aspirations in Pisces for Putin and everyone else.
 
Patterns are what human behavior is all about and so too with Astrology, mapping the patterns over centuries no less day to day. Patterns of behavior while usually not conscious get repeated, passed on to others, adopted from others, intermingled like instruments in a band. Planetary motions stimulate and modify them and we only become aware of them when they surface as events in our lives. Our narrow immediate focus moves on to other demands and distractions as the patterns continue to be vibrating frequencies in our psyche. So it is with major planetary aspects that can appear to be active for several months, a year or two, even several years or more. Just because we are not conscious of them doesn't mean they are done. 

​Putin's chart shows aspects bolstering his confidence late last year right up into the present day. Those feeling of confidence lead him to continue to shape his destiny at others’ expense. The Sun, Neptune, Saturn and Mercury in Putin's natal chart in Libra are being fortified by a favorable trine transit now from Saturn moving through Aquarius, moving over his North Nodes this year. This began to have influence last year, and wanes by the Fall of 2022. That doesn't imply that the war lasts that long, but it does imply this is how long it could take as he persists or resists learning what this means in reality - if he can. It means his ongoing attempts to sell his vision to the Russian population. 
Jupiter and Neptune conjunct by transit in Pisces is putting air in our balloons. This shifts quickly when Jupiter leaves Pisces and enters Aries, in several weeks. But at present Jupiter/Neptune is in an inconjunct aspect to the same natal Libra cluster in Putin's chart. This inconjunct aspect is going to force reality into the dream.  The time will then arrive for a decision compelled by various realities. 

After seeing the supporting aspects from the Libra cluster in his natal chart and the confidence that it conveys, the key thing most observers of Putin's chart fail to appreciate or factor in is that natal Pluto is on his South Moon's Nodes, opposite his North Nodes which is where Saturn is presently passing over. Saturn is transiting and opposing his natal Pluto in Leo in his 10th house. This has a paper shredder effect on his 10th house image of himself, and the world sees through the fog of his vision. Putin’s natal Pluto on his natal South Nodes is a deep obsession with regaining something perceived to be lost - lost wealth, power or prestige or a desire for god-like power to transform others - when really what's being called for is a transformation of himself, and that is what will be the end result.
 
It's fascinating that Putin resonates with his native land to the extent that on this anniversary of Jupiter and Neptune meeting in Pisces almost at the exact degree as they did in 1856, he's sowing the seeds and laying down the fertilizer for his undoing, with a “take out the garbage” Pluto accent, at a time when he feels the confidence of the inner planets propping his sense of destiny up. It's a major setup and he is his own fall guy. 

Meanwhile other important things are occurring for example in the US natal chart. We are in the midst of a Pluto return as I have commented before. This began to register in the national psyche several years ago, and will continue to until Pluto departs Capricorn. The exact day of the conjunction of transiting Pluto to the US natal Pluto is not that important because of the breadth of its influence. Pluto doesn't depart Capricorn for good until late 2024, just in time to monkey with the presidential election. When it enters Aquarius in 2025 it will come with a major shift of feeling in our lives. Whatever the circumstances will be for a major shift at that time, it favors the mainstream move into things like a digital currency. When Pluto last shifted from Capricorn into Aquarius the newborn USA nation created its own independent hard currency, its own dollar. We know the circumstances that lead to that. I expect a shift to an Aquarian contemporary currency this time. 
 
Another major event occurring now in the US chart is Neptune transiting in opposition to the US natal Neptune. As it evoked at the birth of the US, there's going to be a generational shift of social consciousness, civil rights, etc. The opposition implies a struggle; reconciling our founding ideals with our current realities. Neptune like Pluto has influence long before it arrives at a critical juncture.  Years before.  It also will be in effect through the 2024 election in the US due to retrograde motion extending the transit. 
 
Neptune was in the 9th house at the time of this county’s birth - this country was born with 9th house high minded ideals and an unavoidable knowing of the failures to meet these standards. The current Neptune transit's opposition is calling for a hard review of those standards. The transit comes from Neptune transiting in the 3rd house, implying that we are having and will have more out-in- the-open dialogue about the ideals. There's a wide divide in the US at present circulating in our social consciousness, and unfortunately as we enter into the over blown multiyear period of endless presidential election preparation, the factions will take their corners and come out swinging. Racial and religious arguments will be offered to sway opinions. The natal chart is calling out for the challenges to be aired and refreshed.  It's up to the people, as it was when the nation was born. 
 
There's also another aspect of Neptune I'd like to suggest we be aware of. Neptune has many key associations including with vast metaphorical and literal oceans and water. Probably in the next two years we become very involved with the world's oceans in a challenging way because it is an opposition aspect. Learning the hard way. 

There's a new service on Bridges.Academy LLC, with free listing available to any professional who has attended a class or a workshop through us. 
I’m so glad I felt that urge (and then followed it) to create this service directory.  Turns out, it is really, really needed right now.  
​I can’t remember a time where the “collective trauma” and the corresponding need for supportive and healing services has ever been higher.  Just Google it – it’s everywhere, in all the news feeds - even Popular Science is talking about the overwhelming need for mental help support in these traumatic times.   So many people wanting help.

Maybe you’re seeing it, too.  Every day on social media I see the cries for refueling methods, coping strategies and preventative maintenance. People know they and/or their loved ones need supportive tools, guidance and tips for managing stress, anxiety and depression.  From what I read this week, there's a struggle to get those needs met, to find the help they need.
Without a doubt across the board and all over the world, professionals are experiencing a huge increase in demand for mental health care and self-help services.  The W.H.O. recognize it  as “dire from a global perspective”.  Their data after the first year of the pandemic showed anxiety and depression increased by an astonishing 25%.  And they went on to say that number is likely “just the tip of the iceberg.”
And now, after two years of pandemic-related bereavement, stress and confusion, add in the acute concern about massive human migration and suffering Ukraine.  There’s an over-the-top level of thirst right now for resilience tactics and tools to handle stress.  That thirst is being generated by folks in all walks of life and age groups - kids, teens, parents, teachers, retirees.  Everybody.
​The thing is, the already overburdened mental health care systems have been working far beyond their capacity to serve for some time.  In social media, people report the frustration of long waiting lists and even being turned away by dozens of therapists because they aren't taking on new clients.
Health Canada shares data that confirms an epidemic of chronic stress.  Many millions of people acknowledge they are functioning in a constant state of stress right now - dealing with ‘pressure cooker’ situations at home, at work, on social media, with deepening concern for their family and LOOKING FOR HELP.

(from an article written and originally posted by Mary Gordon, Facilitator of the ongoing series of Integral Relationship workshops, on her website at https://www.magicandhope.com/blog)

The Integral Relationship message is for anyone wanting to understand and grow their relationships. Developed by Martin Ucik (the author of two books on the subject, "Integral Relationships, A Manual for Men," and "Sex, Purpose, Love"), Integral Relationship provides a deep study of relationships and the people involved, and gives answers when we wonder 'Why?" romance falters or fails.

There are many relationship books in the marketplace. They may address an aspect of relationships such as soulmates, or conflict, or the differences between the needs of men and women. Yet with the Integral Relationship material, you get all that, and more. You come away from reading Martin's books with "Ah-ha" moments of "Oh, that's what was happening!"

I was intrigued when I first was introduced to Integral Relationship. I couldn't get enough. I wanted to understand "Why." The books answered questions I had from relationships going back years:  Why I was irritated. Why I was irritating! Why we were too far apart. What I wanted for myself. Why settling is of no value in the filling of your soul.

What I found especially beneficial is how this material, while focusing on romance, can be used to understand all sorts of relationships: with friends, family, and even with workmates. It showed me Why we are different. It explained the deepest parts of ourselves that makes us desire specific attributes in others, and why we have conflict when we feel so out of tune with another.
​
Integral Relationship showed me that we can work on our relationships. We can be kind. We can be allowing of another's traits or even of their peculiarities. Yet when it comes to steadfast connections which allow each other to grow individually, as well as in a couple, we should look for qualities in others that match our needs away from the hormonal influences that wane, and that give romance a decent chance to be successful.

​I wouldn’t say I believe in it.  And I still after nearly 3 decades have no idea how it works but that doesn’t mean I can’t use it.  I’m pretty good on a smart phone and computer but have no idea really how they turn all those zeroes and ones into anything at all.  I suppose once I had learned enough of the language of the symbols and meanings and could look at a chart and see remarkably specific and detailed information, that’s what did it.  I am pretty intuitive so a case could be made that I was getting the info psychically but honestly Astrology is a left and right brain science and to be really good at it you need to use both the language and the intuition. 
I can still remember some of the early ones that surprised me and made me realize what a powerful tool it is.  I saw that someone had a mentally handicapped sibling.  Surprised me more than it did the client because I still had no idea that level of detail was possible. Then a woman who had just bought a house, which of course had been inspected first, called me a month after a reading to tell me I was right —the wiring in the attic WAS bad and a fire hazard. That pretty much did it for me.  Recently I was reading for a dear friend and she asked how accurate the timing of transits are for showing a big relocation. I said - well, let’s see.  She told me the date of the move and Uranus (change) was exactly conjunct her moon (which represents home among other things) in the 9th house (long distance/foreign) on the very day she left Hawaii for Texas. So yes.  It can be very, very accurate.

​My understanding is that it is a curriculum, itinerary or blueprint for the kind of life you have chosen to live this go around.  We draft them up with help in-between lives.  An astrologer ideally is someone who can remind you why you came here.  Most of the clients I attract are very intuitive so it ends up being very validating that they are on the right path.  They also get an opportunity to see any blind spots as well as understand the areas they are struggling with from the perspective of their higher self/soul’s prime directive or priorities.
I like to think I help people up out of the tiny boxes of programming, habit, and limitation and help them see the big picture, from a god’s eye view. When we remember who we are - infinite and divine everything is possible - we can make a shift from seeing life as a school to more of a play or a game.  ‘At play in the fields of the lord’ and the Sun card in the major arcana of the Tarot show this Solar and Jovial perspective of life.  Life is a mythic journey that is both challenging and playful. Karma plays a big part of what we draw up.  Karma is not retributive or punishment but simply the continuing outcome of a chosen action. For example, having a child is often the outcome of having sex.  This outcome affects us for the rest of our lives. Some things we “give birth to” continue on for many lives as we experience all there is to that theme.  This is why hypnosis and the chart show running themes that play out over lifetimes.  

​Yes.  Many wrong ways.  It shouldn’t be used to reinforce limitations. Example- “Oh, I’m just neurotic about food because I have a lot of Virgo and Scorpio.”  “I can’t help being angry because I have Mars” in the whatever house. 
We humans like anything that shores up our belief systems or confirmation bias etc.  It validates who we think we are.  And that right there is the key:  Who we THINK we are.  Even if it limits us, prevents quality of life or makes us miserable, we like to be right and hang on to the habits that we identify with as personality - who we ARE rather than let go of all that so we can be our true selves. This is giving the wounded inner child the keys to the car, the pre-awakened Hanuman who used his powers immaturely.  The commitment to have small self/personality in service to our higher selves gets us farther down the path to individuation or self-actualization and the healing of our wounds and neurosis.  When we think we ARE our personalities and nothing more, is when we get stuck.  I think this is the basis of the religious concept of surrender.  It really is the best route to great self-esteem which is crucial for a joyful life. 
Honestly you don’t even really need a chart or ephemeris or computer to use Astrology.  It can help us own and integrate all our parts so we can become whole and healed even without the specific data a chart offers.  Often, we get caught up in all those fun and shockingly accurate things we see in a chart and lose sight of the goal or whole point of it all.  If we just think about the archetypes, the areas of life each planet rules over and then go through an introspective process of questioning:  Mars: Do I feel powerful in the world? Am I fully present in this physical body? Am I assertive?  Moon:  How do I feel about emotions?  Am I able to use them as they were intended, or do I over identify with them and miss the point?  Certainly a chart can help us get at why we aren’t using some quality, or why we are dysfunctional or project it on to others unable to integrate it.

To of course be as self-actualized as possible and live the most expansive life I can.  Understanding consciousness has been my main interest since childhood when I started reading about hypnosis, Edgar Cayce, doing yoga, etc.  Part 2 of my mission?  To help people know themselves, expand their understanding of reality and life, to learn just how amazing it is and how infinite the possibilities are even when we think we are stuck or have no choices.  Expansion also helps people lighten up.  I can see how much fear has robbed people of their sense of humor in the last 2 years and I do believe humor is divine, expansive and healing.
 
February 2022

Catherine Zola Allen
Kairos Counseling
www.astrozola.com

See Catherine's full bio here:  https://www.bridges.academy/catherinezolaallen.html

by Daphney Antoine, Ph.D
​2022 in traditional Numerology is a 6 Energy.  Those who understand the Integrated Master Numerology* system also know that the 22 Master Number in this year is deeply significant.  In all Numerology systems, 2022 is a 6 energy; in Integrated Master Numerology the 22 Master Number is recognized as a duality quantum influencing factor. 

​The 6 Energy is the energetic expression of life’s energy. This year's position is an active and activating life-fueling power. This vibrant, stimulating energy charges you into a full launch mode. This year your connected position is perfectly charged-up and ready to take on your creative expression and enhance your life wherever you choose to place your focus, intentions and attention. This energetic position is powerful once you intentionally flow your energy to conditions that will best serve you. It will not serve you in this position to be passive, lazy, unmotivated, or to live a dull and sedated year as it may lead to a year of depression. In 2022 our energetic position is enhanced through actions and active manifestations. Focus on finding your zest for life, joy and fun; create a happy place and space.  Do your best to remain positive and find the good side of life in your created experiences. Yes, unfortunate events do occur in all our lives.  I am reminding you to defend your happiness. 

Master Number 22 energy is dualism energy. This energy deals with the veil of reality and the blend.  This energy position is about mastering the capacity to examine your reality. This dualism energy is the Quantum activation, consciously aligning you with your higher perspective and knowing.  This active position holds the power to awaken (good or bad) dormant aspects in you and others. It will not serve you in this position to be easily influenced or to seek to manipulate the system as that may create difficult karma. Instead, make the conscious effort to align with your higher perspectives to help you experience the finest, highest, purest and most authentic expression of your life in 2022 and beyond.

Many blessings along your journey in 2022
Blessings always~
Daphney Antoine, Ph. D.
*Integrated Master Numerology (IMN) is a quantum numerology system developed and proven by Daphney Antoine, Ph.D.

Shame of sexual abuse is rooted in the long history of patriarchal societies. Patriarchal, a word taken from ancient Greek meaning “rule of the father”, is a system of governance that gives men power over women. In this system, women exist solely for men’s enjoyment, keeper of domestic affairs and barer of children. For generations women have been trained to sacrifice their needs and desires for those of their husbands and families. Without rights or privilege, women had little recourse when it came to abuse and mistreatment. While many in Western societies have come a long way from those times, the patterns and beliefs continue to be carried in our DNA.

Today we applaud the “Me Too” movement with women speaking out and demanding the end of sexual harassment and abuse, but still it doesn’t mean that they are free from the chains of the past. If we have evolved, then why are sexual attacks on teenage girls followed by cyber-bullying that results in suicide on the rise? Why is it that women who report men, especially wealthy and powerful men, are still being threatened and criticized? Why are political institutions, the military, organized religions especially the Roman Catholic Church, still protecting perpetrators and allowing such abuses to continue? Excuses such as “she was drunk,” “she wanted it,” “she was dressed in a provocative way,” or “I didn’t know her” (despite the photographs that show otherwise) victimize the victim and must be eliminated. We have recently witnessed college students who have called out their abusers, only to be threatened and humiliated. These young women are told that the career opportunities of wealthy, abusive men must be protected, while their own lives and dreams don’t matter. Even women who buy into the patriarchal belief system attack women who speak out against abusive men.

What causes women of any age who have been violently attacked and raped take their own life? What must they believe to feel that they are the ones who should be punished? We can blame the outside world and while the outside world deserves that blame, change begins with the microcosm, changing belief systems from the inside out. 
 
Feelings such as “I did something to deserve this,” “I’m bad or dirty,” or “I am not worth it,” are as old as time. To heal these deep-rooted beliefs and feelings takes sensitivity and care on the part of the therapist. Healing might not begin with looking at the incident, but may have to start with healing the inner child or connecting with inner guides, outer spiritual guidance or aspects of the personality that are equipped to face and confront the situation. Often there is cellular DNA and past-life history to heal as well. Sexual abuse, including being both the victim and the perpetrator, is often passed on from generation to generation. A skilled and knowledgeable therapist can help the client to navigate through this complex web and achieve a state of true inner strength and peace, with love and respect for the self.
 
For me, one of the great blessings of facilitating Alchemical Hypnotherapy seasons with clients of abuse is the inter-generational healing that occurs. It is a feeling of profound joy when ancestors come forward with gratitude for the client, as the healing and release of the abusive patterns frees those who have passed over to the other side as well.
 
While this article was written specifically about women, I would like to note here that acts of sexual abuse and violation is also carried out against boys and men. These acts may be committed by either men or women. 
 
Linda Baker  July 2021

http://www.innersourceseattle.com
 
Instructor of the live online training for Alchemical Hypnotherapists: 
Healing from Sexual Abuse and Other Severe Trauma
Click Here to learn More.

Happy Winter Solstice! People are asking me the significance of Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius today, so I thought I would put it in an historical context. 
 
Much has been made of the 800 years since the planets Jupiter and Saturn were so close together (1226 AD) and the 600 years since they were last in Aquarius (1405 AD), and while these planets come together every 20 years, they are part of larger 200 year cycles having to do with the elements: air, fire, water and earth.
 
When 1226 A.D. rolled around it was the first in a wave of Air sign conjunctions that led civilization out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. Both the 1226 A.D. conjunction and the 1405 A.D. conjunction were in the future/forward looking sign of Aquarius.
 
After that they were together every 20 years in Water signs for roughly 200 years, then the conjunctions moved on to Fire signs and then Earth (the year 2000 conjunction was in Taurus), then Air (2020, Aquarius).
 
The New Age media is pushing the Aquarian age angle because the conjunction today is at 0° Aquarius, the beginning degree of Aquarius. But it's also the first of a series of Saturn/Jupiter conjunctions in Aquarius/Air signs for the next 180 years. 
 
This conjunction is being compared to the Star of Bethlehem because in 06 BC, Saturn and Jupiter were together in Pisces, heralding the Piscean Age. 
 
People sometimes think the Procession of the Ages is like a light switch being turned on and suddenly it’s the Renaissance, or the Age of Aquarius. But in reality the transition between astrological ages is more like the incremental process of going from night to day, and there's at least a 200 year overlap (try 500!) between Ages. An Astrological Age is 2160 years, and at some point the Piscean Age leads into the Aquarian age, but it's not as simple as saying the Piscean Age is from 0 A.D. until 2160 A.D. (btw: 2160 years × 12 astrological signs = 25,920 years, the Astrological Great Year which is pretty much the same 26,000 years as a Mayan cycle.)
 
To me the Aquarian age starts in 1962 with an Aquarian boost in February when all the inner planets (the Moon through Saturn) find themselves in Aquarius on February 4. Uranus went into Aquarius from 1995 to 2003, Neptune was there from 1998 until 2012 or so. Pluto is in Aquarius from 2023 until 2043.
 
Today's conjunction IS a Big Deal, and there's a few more Saturn/Jupiter conjunctions in Aquarius between now and 2199 A.D. That date is probably a good indicator of the Aquarian Age being well under way. 
 
After all the Paradigm shifting Capricorn energy of 2020 I welcome the Age of Aquarius!  It will take us out of the Age of Scientific Materialism, where we’ve been for some time. 
 
Saturn is traditional and Jupiter is expansive.  Remember, HOW the sky affects you has everything to do with your individual chart, so how the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction will affect you depends upon where 0 degrees Aquarius is in your birth chart and what planets/houses (areas of your life) may be involved. And what better way to find this out than with a personal reading! 
 
I'm presently only doing phone readings (most of my readings have been over the phone in the past few years anyway), and I am available 7 days a week for private astrology consultations and psychic sessions. 
 
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!

Rob Overton
December 21, 2020
rkoverton@aol.com

By Patricia Haggard

Remember Y2K?  “Y2K is the shorthand term for "the year 2000." Y2K was commonly used to refer to a widespread computer programming shortcut that was expected to cause extensive havoc as the year changed from 1999 to 2000 at the turn of the Millennium.”

For many months leading up to Y2K there was uncertainty, lots of it, in the air and on the ground as to whether the computer technology would handle the change in numbering sequence.  IT people slaved over updates, some people made pretty good money on books and programs selling either doom and gloom or “protection” from the chaos that was sure to come.  It was an exciting time.  I experienced a fun event at work.

At the time, I was employed in a regional office of a large insurance company.  When a call went out for volunteers to work a few hours New Years Day, January 1, 2000, I put up my hand.  For a single mom the money looked terrific and more than that, hey, it was historic.  They wanted one person from each area of claims management and administration to “test drive” the computer systems on Jan 1 by setting up a brand new claim - a real claim for a real person - and thus produce a check with that extra special date on it.  I got to be the employee to set up the actual payment on the company’s financial software system.  And the next morning if all went well a crisp new check should land on my desk, all ready to pop into the outgoing mail.

A random new claim application was chosen for this test drive, the only criteria being it would definitely be approved for payment contractually and medically.  Before the file got to my work station along the internal electronic queue, there would have been many new claim applications to pick from, and before the check would be cut there’d be even more details like policy provisions, salary amounts, payment offsets from that salary, and so forth – all those things that routinely go into determining the amount of the monthly benefit payment.  Someone picked a claim, sent it to the adjudicator, who would then approve it for payment and send it over to me.

All the volunteers were given a pager, just in case an IT emergency required us to run there in the middle of the night.  But no such fun, and on the morning of Jan 1st, 2000 I went into work, happy about the rare opportunity for up-front parking, an echo at every step inside as the building was essentially empty of staff, got to my desk and processed the claim.  That means keying in salary amounts, rates, codes, any offsets – calculations and numbers on a screen. Hit Enter. That was it.  Done.  Nothing unusual happened.  (A little disappointing.)

The next morning, back into work exchanging “Happy New Year’s” greetings with everyone else and sure enough when I arrived at my little grey cubby, there on the desk was THE CHECK.  Everyone would be pleased, most especially the IT people I was sure.  Following the mandated process, I opened the claim file on the computer to make sure the check was issued to the right person, the correct amount, date, and so forth.  All was perfect.  Then I noticed something.  The amount of the check was $381.62.  What?!

Working with numbers constantly can become like a sixth sense.  (If you are one of those people, you already know where this story is going.)   To confirm what my little sixth sense was saying, I pulled the hand calculator over and added the digits in the amount of the check, one at a time. 

On the screen of the calculator was a mini celebration of the new century.  How does that happen?  How does a random slew of variables chug through a complex process to deliver this magical result?  I’m not a believer in coincidence.  So, was this a ‘sign’ from the Universe?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that it added some magic to everyone’s day and a great start to the new century.

Patricia Haggard
December 2020

PS There will be some WAY more interesting magical stories shared by the group at an upcoming event online:
Sat, Dec 19th at noon Pacific
SIGNS ​www.bridges.academy/signs.html

By Anyes Cartry

My dreams don’t belong to me; your dreams are not yours…

What am I talking about?
​
Dreams happen on another plane, the plane C. J. Jung would call the Collective Unconscious. Some call it ether, aboriginal Australian people call it Jukurrpa or Dreamtime; others call it Akasha, or the Akashic field.

Dreaming is our most creative endeavor.  It’s when we are made director, actor, designer, stage manager, and observer or protagonist of the show. I say “we are made” because at the moment of dreaming, we are in some way plugged in to that other dimension, the collective unconscious, where we have access to everything that has ever happened in the universe, and morphed into these roles.

I have more questions for you today…

Did you know that if people are awakened three nights in a row at the beginning of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) – depriving them of their dream time - they will start hallucinating after three days?  REM sleep is that time late in the night or early morning when dreaming happens.

We dream every night. If we didn’t, we would experience psychosis. When people say, “I don’t dream” it is because they don’t remember their dreams.  But you can if you want, and you will thanks to DreamHarvesting®.

Remembering dreams is only the beginning.  Dreams have something to tell you, something important for the wholeness of your psyche.

​Are you ready for the conversation?

Right now, there are six sun spots and two of them are spitting out flares. One of them sent out the largest flare in three years, which fortunately was not aimed at this planet, yet. If it continues to flare in the coming week it will be directed at Earth. Its outburst the other day produced an X class flare. We will only get a glancing blow from that outburst. We are still supposed to be coming slowly out of solar minimum; this is unprecedented. It's impossible to forecast by past norms what this could lead to - anything is possible. Since the cause of these solar phenomena is not clear, it's assumed as this trend is now established over a few months that it could continue, to what level of activity is yet to be seen. 
 
I would say the thing science lacks and astrology provides is to view the sun as part of a whole body, the solar system.  It's one organ in the spirit body.  Instead of the medieval notion that the sun revolves around the earth, which was displaced by science observing that it's the other way around, for humanity in fact it may be more relevant that metaphorically the sun does revolve around the earth and our imbalances in our collective psychology are manifesting on the sun. Solar storms are a result of disruptive chemistry on any of the planets in the solar system or they may be a registry of the instability of our collective psyche here on earth.  Evolutionary indigestion.
 
It's similar to an unhealthy person who thinks their kidneys are not working properly and get kidney treatment, but in fact the kidney is not working because of another organ which is not being treated. The whole picture for the solar system is likely that other parts of the organism, other planets, are more involved in the convulsions on the sun and it isn't solely because of craziness on Earth. It's hard to tell intellectually because we don't know very much about the nature of the psyche on other planets in the way that we believe we know about life on Earth. We don't see physical life on other planets but there is life in the psyche, whether we see it with physical eyes or not. The whole organism is going through a transformation as the Pluto Jupiter Saturn Mars group ending their climatic year, handing off the drama to Jupiter Saturn Mars and Uranus, another epochal planetary aspect grouping that represents a cycle of several centuries.

In particular, the temporary union of Saturn and Jupiter ushering in this major shift in the collective psyche is a huge change from the patterns of this year. This change will probably feel refreshing when it arrives simply because it brings a departure from the pattern we've been in. But this will be a brief moment to enjoy. The union of these two titanic planets brings the establishment of what seems like a very different pattern. Saturn Jupiter can bring complimentary blending and benefits, as well as hugely contrasting patterns.  Maybe thinking of three dimensional chess is a good way to look at it; the Pluto influence in Capricorn remains to be worked out while on another level an even more dramatic move is unfolding.

Jupiter and Saturn, which in myth are father and son, rivals at that, will enter into a contentious square relationship with the original sky god Uranus in 2021. Uranus in myth was emasculated by Saturn, his son, when Saturn succeeded his father, and Saturn's definition or structure of life consciousness was undone by Zeus/Jupiter to usher in the golden age of Greece which again in myth is symbolic of humankind reaching a stable period of growth and expansion of the mind. It feels to me like grandad Uranus is going to show the two generations of upstart planetary epochal descendants that the old sky god is still a vital part of reality. 
 
The part that Uranus plays in our nature isn't as tangible as its descendants in myth, Saturn and Jupiter. Uranus the primordial sky god is the original wielder of the lightning, connecting remote aspects of consciousness eventually into our awareness. It's the internet when compared to a newspaper. Potentially the Tower card of the Major Arcana. The sky god slashing through the restricting structures of Saturn and the belief in progress that must come with Jupiter's ever expanding desires.  Of course these principles of our collective conscious body all work simultaneously, we  think of them in more archetypal ways but they are always in some kind of relationship. We don't perceive the more abstract realms of Uranus or Neptune. Neptune is too subtle, Uranus hides behind the curtain that its descendant gods put there and only occasionally sends out a flash of power like a bolt of lightning. That's about all we can take.

To me Uranus is reminding Creation that there are what seems like irrational patterns capable of imposing themselves and upsetting the perception of rational patterns, patterns that we presume to be normal.  Ultimately Uranus will bring growth and expansion of our being, but to do that it will break through the patterns its children and grandchildren have established; it won't be a smooth blending of energies. Mars is the great grandson of Uranus, the son of Zeus/Jupiter, grandson of Saturn/Kronos. The significance of them in myth as a family is to remind in the imagination that this is about one organism with huge planetary parts connected in the psyche.  All Uranus has to do in order to be present in our consciousness is interrupt the patterns of our lives we consider to be normal. Imagine suddenly not having the internet or phone service and you get the value of Uranus teaching or reminding us what it is.

We can't maintain perception on a Uranian level for very long; the electricity could fry some circuits. The primordial sky god Uranus hasn't ceased to be when it was displaced by Saturn and then further by Jupiter/Zeus.  It has recessed in consciousness, or from the other way around consciousness has escaped from it. It's worth remembering that every object has some measure of gravity; our consciousness never escapes the influence of any one body in this solar system.  We don't make room for Uranus in our consciousness because we can’t; we plod along in sequential time.  It remains outside and can only enter when consciousness isn't able to block it. 
 
To be more present in our consciousness, the sky god in the ether, Uranus, will have Mars conjunct it next year. Mars is far less abstract in human consciousness, and is unfortunately very able to deliver the disrupting presence of Uranus into human life. Jupiter and Saturn lined up for the bowling ball to hit both with one strike will be in Aquarius, which is Uranus’ native home sign. This emphasizes the intensity of the tension and likely area of life that will be affected. Uranus and Mars will be in Taurus, the symbolic sign of Mother Nature and a grounding in Earth influence for electrical Uranus.  Grounding is good but everyone knows that lightning often goes from the earth to the thundercloud in the sky because it must to complete a circuit.  Uranus will not remain docile by being grounded in Taurus. It will be allied with Mars in a conjunction off and on all next year.  Mars’ way of doing things armed with great grandfather's lightning bolt is usually pretty rough.  Allied with its great grandfather, the duo of Mars and Uranus will rejoice in violent sudden shifts to force changes with the rare alliance of Jupiter and Saturn. 
 
Any comfort that comes from the shift out of Pluto Jupiter Saturn and Mars as this year ends is going to provide a false and short lived period of relief. Mars and Uranus will aim to remind us all that all the trappings of Saturn's structure and Jupiter's expansion of consciousness must be realized as levels of existence built on the unstructured unexpanded formlessness of Uranus, the sky god who hasn't gone away. 
 
I expect sudden violent interruptions outbursts a few times next year.  I expect technology to be interrupted and cut off periodically. Uranus wants us to be caught off guard in order to reveal a variety of things we are otherwise able to ignore. When the lightning flashes in the dark of night for a brief second you can see everything. 
 
David Wheatley
Nov 30, 2020
​Contact David Wheatley at davidfinearts@gmail.com for a personal astrological consultation
​

David A. Wheatley has been a Fine Artist/Painter since first exhibiting in Soho, New York during the 1970’s. Since childhood David developed other talents as well, first as a tarot reader then extending into astrological theory, a practice which led to the development of ideas in his book, 2012 Before and After.  Working occasionally as a full time tarot and astrological counselor, David grew familiar with many other related disciplines through the years that add great dimension to astrological traditions, including psychological perspectives and the development of quantum physics.  David is originally from the Toronto, Canada area.  He currently resides in Florida. https://www.davidiste.com/​

Social dreaming is where we embrace everything
By Anyes Cartry

Dreamers need thinkers to understand them.

In this time of uncertainty and grief, things that have been unresolved at an individual level pop up on the background of unresolved collective difficulties.

Many people are afraid of their own thoughts, and of their ambivalence. There can be a desire to be clear, straightforward and self-directed but when things around us are unstable, our inner stability is tested.

Dreaming is not an escape, it is holistic thinking. Dreaming is the most important form of thinking, something both Freud and Jung agreed upon, because it gives us a different point of view. What we had forgotten, omitted to look at, turned away from, dismissed or despised, insists on being paid attention to because dreams are the language by which we become whole.

People frequently say they can’t remember their dreams. It’s often because the necessities of everyday life have shaped them into living-as-survival, living as self-defense against potential dangers. It’s often because they haven’t been taught to see reality from multiple perspectives.

Dreams encourage us to examine other perspectives, other ways to look at a situation, a problem, an opportunity, or a conflict.

Dreams teach us to think for ourselves, because their material is a symbiosis between what we have learned from others and from our own experiences, and our own individual make-up, feelings, perceptions and intuitions that are unique to us and that can’t be imitated or copied.

In a time of social crisis, people often have dreams with a similar theme.

This points to the porous nature of our psyche, to the shared space into which dreaming happens, a space where boundaries between in and out, you and me blur. In this psychic field, individual dreaming and collective dreaming merge, and we can find again our sense of belonging.

In a time when we are forced into physical isolation, when our family, friends, or lovers might be seen as potential threats to our own physical existence, our values are therefore turned upside down.  Dreaming together propels us into a sphere where we exchange, communicate, and share on a etheric plane where we find companionship, where we can be heard and where we feel our interconnectedness.

The dreamer and their witness need one another to contain strange, funny, disturbing, silly or prospective thoughts.

The DreamHarvesting® salon is a translucent container where our psyches can think safely, where no vision and thought is forbidden. When no vision or thought is forbidden, we can grow into maturity. Maturity is where fear has no place because we know we contain everything, and we know we are strong enough to embrace everything.

The most rewarding and life-changing part of DREAM HARVESTING® comes after remembering and writing down our dreams, doing so without connective tissue (explanatory or logical words, such as “but”, “so”, “because”, or “consequently,”, etc.) It unfolds through the use of Active Imagination. Every image, every protagonist, every scenery, every color and every word you choose to write the recollection of your dream counts. What we are seeking is to encourage dialogue between unseen parts of our personality as they manifest in a dream… This method is commonly used by writers when they write a novel or novella. For those familiar with Family Constellation, where other people enact members of our family, think of it as applying it to every character in your dream as if they represented a part of you (Karl Jung’s approach).
 
While some myths and metaphors are universally understood, the symbols, messages, colors and shapes of your dreams can only be understood by YOU. It is as though the myriads of associations created in your brain, like a network of spider webs through your unique personal history, have a unique path to be retraced. You are the only one to be able to do this. Hence, we speak of Dream Harvesting®. Dream dictionaries or glossaries have compiled thousands of possible interpretations of symbols, animals, emblems, shapes and more. Yet, “they do not attend to the subtle personal associations and feelings which are key to understanding YOUR dream.“(Williams, 2019, p. 120).

Joseph Campbell saw dreams as “our own private personal myths“(1993, p. 19). They may not make sense to anybody else than you, and you are the only one who can decipher their meaning. It is true that people who are versed in mythology and universal themes, such as analysts, can guide you towards understanding their message, but even they, as I do in this workshop, act as midwives to your own birthing.

Bamber said that “Dreams are a kind of biopsy of the psyche” (2008). They reveal our psychological imbalances, strengths, aspirations and wounds. These are related to our own personal history while at the same time are part of the whole body of the human experience. As it is said that the personal is political, we can also say that the personal is universal. By understanding the message and meaning that one of your dreams has for YOU, you add to universal intelligence. No dictionary or glossary can translate the language of the psyche. Dictionaries and glossaries are useful to convey linear data; they can’t give meaning to your own layers of interconnected associations emanating for your experience. Believing dream dictionaries or glossaries will answer our questions comes from the logical, analytical masculine-oriented part of our ego. Dream Harvesting® brings you to the “felt” experiential nature of your dream, the creativity of your self.

Regarding Dream analysis, Jung saw it “less as a technique than as a dialectical process between personalities (1961b par. 492).  When Dream Harvesting®, we practice conversation rather than analysis. This encompasses, among other things,  the art of listening, the art of putting oneself in somebody else’s shoes, respect, patience, responding rather than reacting and knowing how to ask questions without frightening the “other” (in this case, another inner personality).

It is said that Asclepius, son of Apollo, practiced Dreamwork as a method of healing at his temple in Epidaurus. People seeking healing had to take a ritual bath before entering the sanctuary to cleanse body and soul.
 
As you prepare for our workshop, it’s important that you approach Dream Harvesting® in the same manner.
 
Rituals are powerful. They enable our soma, the physical dimension of our being, to capture our intention through deeds and actions enacted in the physical world that translate the direction of our mind (intention).
 
Approaching the dream world requires a certain amount of reverence, or respect. If you ask somebody a question you don’t turn your back to them, or hopefully you don’t swipe your phone and read something else while they are answering you. You make space by choosing a place propitious for conversation (not too noisy or crowded) and you listen, not only with your auditory sense, but with all your being (your posture, your eyes reading body language, and even your sense of smell…)
 
Dreams help us live our lives to the fullest extent and encompass more than the ego - the limited part of us that gives us a sense of identity as we face the external world.
 
Dreams connect us with our Self, which encompasses the unconscious - that is, everything outside of the direct awareness of the mind (somatic experiences, spiritual experiences, feelings and emotions, and more…) Dreams often express what can’t be expressed verbally (through words, which are only one kind of symbol.)
 
To prepare oneself to this symbolic expression it’s important to cleanse the doors of perception.  That is, to cleanse all our senses including what has been called a “sixth sense” (intuition).

Practically, it is important to disconnect from your phone, social media, news, and all, for at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep. During these 30 minutes, feel your physical body, connect with your breathing, and allow your mind to quiet down and distance itself from the world of information, which is especially busy, demanding, and even disturbing in this time.

 
Ask yourself what is an important question for you in this time of your life, this week, this day. Then ask your dream world for an answer during the night. Ask as you would ask your most trusted friend for their most genuine insight.  Just like that.

To learn more about Anyes Cartry's live online Dream Harvesting® salon, click here  
​

For anyone having difficulty feeling connected to something More, or for those feeling alone, a tremendously easy option for interaction is to connect with orbs through a camera. There is activity going on beyond our 3D world, and lucky for us, the technology available today allows us to actually see it.

I have taken thousands of pictures of orbs over many years. It started as great entertainment. I’d go out with my inexpensive digital camera hoping to capture the circular form with a thumbprint that is an orb. I’d look for their different colors. While most were white, I was thrilled when I would get pink ones, and green ones, and gold ones, and my favorite, ones that were deep iridescent blue. Sometimes they would be far away in the trees and later on as my picture taking progressed, they would come and dance in my yard and hang out with my flowers.

All was truly Magical.

There was a friendly feel to their visitations. I hoped with anticipation that they would show up, and in turn they replied by giving me a growing depth of photos showing movement, and later on, believe it or not, purpose.
I was able to actually see the “other side.” I was able to actually interact with the “other side.”

This was all done in a safe, comfortable way. It was amazing. Knowing they were showing up for me, for my camera, gave me a sense of connection beyond this Earth -- and quite a bit of joy and fun along the way.
​
Orbs can be picked up on regular film too, although you have to wait to see the results of your photos. I have 35mm pictures of orbs, yet I’m not patient anymore and now want to use a digital camera. For fun, go back and take a look at old film pictures you may have. You'd be surprised to know how many people do this only to find they had captured orbs all along, but just didn't realize.

There is much more to my orb story. Over the years I have experimented and questioned, examined and explored. I've developed a process that I use for myself personally and for clients. For the first time I’m putting this information out online in a live presentation on the Bridges Academy platform. My desire is for others to take what I've developed and use it for themselves -- or to use this information to spark their imagination to create their own process for connection. There is not one way to make this connection using the camera. There are as many ways as there are people who give it a try. Yet having my information and experiences to reflect upon may make the getting started easier and may open people to more than they would normally think possible.

We are truly in a Magical time. There is Magic all around us if we will let it in. Opportunities abound to feel a connection to the Something More, and taking pictures of orbs is a simple yet profound way to gain the feeling of not being alone, of being recognized, and, may I even say, being loved.

Mary Gordon is a clairvoyant and clairsentient intuitive. She provides readings for clients who are wanting clarity, counsel, and help with decisions, or to check in to see if they are on the right track.

To review a small sampling of Mary’s Orb photos, see:  https://www.magicandhope.com/post/orb-images

Learn more about Mary’s presentation, and reserve your place:

Orb Magic, More Than Pictures
LIVE online, with Mary Gordon
Saturday Feb 27, 2021at noon Pacific 
​Registration is necessary, and free.
Click Here.

Lucid Dreaming has become quite popular in the recent years and I certainly understand the attraction. The idea of being able to remain aware of one’s dreams while dreaming and remaining in the driver’s seat to orient the unfolding of events can be quite satisfying. As a millennial friend recently told me, “Being able to have some control in a world where we are totally losing control is all that’s left to us.”

However, Dream Harvesting® is concerned with a conversation with dreams that are experienced in deep sleep (REM phase).  Although many of us may think dreams are a waste of our time and attention, dreams don’t ever waste our time.  As expert Robert Johnson says, “Even a short insignificant dream tries to tell us something that we need to know.”

There is in each of us a guiding principle (Johnson calls it the psychopomp) that is there to help us function in the outer world and know how to respond in a way that is aligned to our best benefit, that is to say, in a way where our intentions, values, and ideals are enacted through our actions.

Because we are so attached to the “story line”- the events that happen, that we read about, the so called “information” - we forget that what makes our reality isn’t so much the events per se, but the way you or I experience them. In this way, every dream is a portrait of the dreamer, as much as every “event” as we recount it is a portrait of who experiences it.

We need to go deeper, look into the dream as a mirror, to find out who we are. The aim of every dream is to bring each of us back towards our center, our point of equilibrium from which we are free to go in the needed direction (needed for us).  Dream Harvesting® takes trust, it takes questioning, genuinely not being afraid to surrender momentarily efficiency or smart thinking; it takes wanting to know what it is that we do not know about ourselves that is exactly what we need to be in equilibrium in our lives.

Click here to learn more about Dream Harvesting®

My workshops are more of the “salon” type than classes per se, in the sense that I stress the conversational aspect of the exploration.  Dream Harvesting® is about harvesting a wisdom that is mature like a fruit ready to be picked. I believe we wouldn’t dream a certain dream if we weren’t ready for it.  The dream pushes out of the ground like a new flower from a spring bulb because it senses the warmth and light of our willing awareness.

Dreams are some of the richest and more accessible ways our unconscious establishes communication with us.  As Greg Bogart judiciously points out, “Dreams spring from an underground stream that guides and heals” [2]

Many people either don’t pay attention to their dreams or think dreams are nonsensical because their language is out of reach, deprived of a continuous line and of the logic we are accustomed to. They take a holistic approach encompassing the language of the senses, somatic experiencing, feeling exploration, and word association. Although they can be intimidating, puzzling and in some cases even frightening, dreams invite us to open to a fuller mode of interaction, and that is what I will share and practice with you during this workshop.      Click here to view the course.

I’ve long wondered why some say it is short (that in astral travel one can only go so far away from the physical body) while others say it’s capacity to stretch is endless allowing our astral body to visit other galaxies.  Assuming all beliefs are valid in their own way, I decided there’s more than one type or meaning of the word “cord”.  Like the words their, there and they’re – they all sound the same but mean entirely different things.

And then I discovered when learning about ancient Hawaiian shamanic practices in the Fundamentals of Huna course, that aka cords are also an internal conduit between the three levels of Self:  the lower self, the middle self and the high self.  (the subconscious, the conscious and the superconscious.)  It was sort of mind blowing to finally see and understand how information and life force energy flows between these 3 parts of me.  I had never before considered or even looked for a mechanism.

This reminded me of the first time years ago when I realized that those squiggly shapes of light dancing in the air on a sunny day, or just above the earth in my garden, are not eye dust:  they are chi, or life force energy, or mana in Huna technology.  There’s a huge difference between intellectually accepting a concept and actually living it, breathing it and ultimately... BEING it by integrating it into your being.  As that revelation integrated into my daily life, I allowed myself to see the chi all the time, instead of blinking my eyes to block it out of my perception.  Thus finally I could actually see why my typically high enthusiasm for shopping would evaporate in a big enclosed mall with no windows, poor lighting and recycled air, and very skimpy amounts of chi.

It’s widely understood that knowledge is more valuable than mere true belief. Now that I know that aka cords are a conduit between the internal aspects of me, it’s faster and easier to connect within.  

In the Fundamentals of Huna course, we learn a “prayer-action” process that is actually an effective step-by-step process of manifestation.  Every day now I practice the Huna method of gathering life force energy (chi or mana) in order to create what I want or need in life, transferring it to my high self along those aka cords.  Several possibilities, including some that previously seemed unattainable, have come to fruition. 

Meanwhile, I’ve barely scratched the itch to learn about Huna under Kumu Michael Longshore’s guidance, and will return to the course for more.

My crystal skull has been hiding since we moved a few months ago.  No worries; based on previous experience I am positive it will emerge from its secret hiding place when the time is right.

My first real adventure with a crystal was a long time ago in a faraway place (late 1970’s in the Ottawa valley, Canada).  I had read about a fun way to cleanse my first crystal - a new rose quartz.  Ok, the rose quartz was new to me, certainly not “new”.  The average rose quartz crystal is, so they say, 1,700 million years old.  Also mind boggling for some reason:  their pink coloration comes from titanium.

The instructions were to bury the crystal for at least a week, but preferably as long as one full cycle of the moon, ie one 27-day trip around the Earth.  And then I was to bring it forth from the earth ceremoniously, with the feeling that a new child had come into my life.

I knew of a place not far from my home for the rose quartz to enjoy an undisturbed retreat.  Overgrown by trees and barely visible alongside a path lined with trees, was a broken cedar rail fence.  I reached in under what was left of the fence, found a soft spot, dug a hole, tucked in the rose quartz and perhaps most importantly - marked the spot.  About a month later, I returned, excitement increasing with each step as I got closer and closer to the spot where the rose quartz lay in wait for me.  Kneeling, I uncovered it from the earth, scooped it up to my heart in both hands, feeling an ecstatic surge in welcoming the rose quartz into my life.  And then, suddenly came the feeling of being watched.  I looked up. 

A white tailed deer was standing above me on the other side of the fence.  I was still kneeling. She seemed huge. Deer in that part of the world are about 4’ tall at the shoulder.  We held eye contact for at least one minute of wonderment for me until she nonchalantly turned, took two steps and vanished into the trees.

What a ceremony that turned out to be!  I kept that rose quartz nearby for many years, until the day someone needed it more.

So, back to the crystal skull.

Despite being drawn to them for various reasons from time to time over the years, I’d never had or worked with a crystal skull.  While reading Joe Mancini’s “how to” booklet called Crystal Skulls:  Old/New Tools for Transformation, I understood why I’d never brought one home:  Crystal skulls need special care, handling and preparation.  It was imperative for me to read a training manual.  So, now feeling ready I decided to keep an eye out for one in my travels. 
 
About a month later, Patrick and I decided on a whim to visit a favorite ‘new age’ shop, as a break from routine.  He saw several in a display case and called me over.  After some back and forth as to which one I might like, I chose the skull that we both liked the most.  It was rose quartz, so fitting somehow.  Brought it home, and buried it just outside the house in a soft spot under some trees. 

About 10 days later, unexpectedly, a crew of workers arrived to make repairs outside the house, disturbing the spot where the crystal was snoozing, ultimately making it impossible to find.  I looked everywhere in the vicinity of the original location.  It did seem odd that it would be gone, but there was nothing to be done about it.  Maybe it would turn up some day.

It did.  Pat saw it peeking out of the earth a couple of weeks later, not far from where I’d put it, and called me to come and see.  With an ecstatic happy feeling, I picked it up saying, “There you are!!”, holding it up to receive Pat’s grin too.

Obviously, the crystal skull had wanted us both there for that moment, just like when it found us in the store.

Then we moved house.  It was packed SO carefully.  And will turn up when it’s ready.  Then I’ll ask it to smile for the camera, and place the photo here.

I remember a time in the third grade when we were studying the Hawaiian Islands. I found the subject matter usually interesting and very intriguing. All of a sudden, I raised my hand asking permission to be recognized by the teacher. She looked woefully down at me almost as if she hated to ask what I wanted.

Excitedly I rose to my feet and began to tell a tale of a time I remembered when my father and I went fishing off the coast of one of the Hawaiian Islands. It was a bright sunny day; the ocean was a deep blue-green and I can remember the spray of the wave tops splashing across my face as my father and I enjoyed casting our nets out into the water hoping to catch a delicious evening meal. The hours passed by quickly; near mid-afternoon I became aware of a large thunderous clap. Looking towards our home, billowing up out of our mountain, was a plume of black smoke racing towards the sky and spewing out large chunks of red molten lava.

Immediately my father and I headed back to the island. Once we arrived at the shore I found myself watching our homes burn to the ground. There were many victims lying here and there; some were injured, some were deceased and I felt a deep sorrow and pain down in the pit of my stomach.

Well at this time in the telling of my story, the teacher instructed me to move to the corner of the classroom and stand there with my nose in that corner thinking about this far-fetched tale that I had just told. I remained in the corner until approximately 7 PM that evening and there standing in the dark I was found by the school janitor. He contacted my parents and took me home. The janitor told my parents why I had been punished by the third grade teacher.  I remember my parents thanking the janitor for bringing me home. They punished/scorned me for having told such an outrageous tale.

Fast-forward 30 years into the future, at approximately 40 years old and attending the Berkeley Psychic Institute in Sacramento, California.  One evening as I walked along the hall towards one of the many classrooms, I was greeted by a student psychic reader. She asked if she might give me a reading. Without hesitation I agreed to sit for the reading. This young talented psychic reader began to tell me a past life tale of when I was a Kahuna living in the Hawaiian Islands.  She quickly took me back to a time when I was fishing with my father out upon the ocean when without warning we witnessed the eruption of a volcano near our village. She said we returned to the village, helpless and unable to prevent the death and destruction that was taking place. Most importantly, she gave me the message that due to this event I had developed a deep sense of fear and apprehension regarding anything that involved being in a position of authority where the well-being of others was at stake. She continued to inform me that it was now time to release all of that guilt and any shame associated with that past life event.

Many months later I found myself in contact with the teachings of Max Freedom Long. (Max dedicated his life to the study of the Polynesian metaphysical knowledge that he had rediscovered and synthesized. Max referred to this knowledge as the “ancient magic of old Hawaii”. Soon after, this ancient magic became known as HUNA.) I spent the following 30 years learning to live the HUNA ways that I had known so many years/lifetimes before. And consequently my life has been enriched and joyfully empowered in more ways than my third grade teacher ever could have imagined.

Most of us accept the brain training given to us by the adults in our lives.  Linda Baker believed for a very long time that her thoughts were the truth until finally, after years of anorexia and low self worth, she finally woke up.  Realizing that other people’s thoughts and old programming were in her brain, she made a conscious choice to retrain her brain.  Linda now lives in fulfillment beyond any expectation. Through writing this book (and offering hands-on help via a live online training program) she shares her tips to accelerate our journey to a way of thinking that works for us, to a way of thinking that doesn’t hold us back from our heart’s desires.

Linda offers a simple exercise you can practice to become acquainted with your own vibrational energy.

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Online classes may be a departure from the traditional classroom, but for many it’s definitely a change for the better.  It brings the experience straight to you, allowing you to develop at your own convenience, making a better life for you and your family.   The ultimate Best of it all:  taking online classes lets you integrate your studies into your schedule, a convenience that fosters a golden opportunity to be successful lifelong learner.

Put simply, the answer is no.

It’s true that many online courses offer flexibility to learn at your own convenience, but that doesn’t change the amount of work you put in. You still have the same amount of work — just without the formal classroom setting.

The flexibility of online classes can be extremely helpful to busy adults, but that same freedom means that self motivation is vital to your success.  For live online classes, it’s up to you to clear your schedule for the allotted class time, planning ahead to avoid distractions in your environment during class and keep yourself on track with the group. Often the live classes (and the Q+A segments) are recorded for you to replay at a later time which can be a great help if you’re not able to attend at the last minute, however you will need to play the recording and do any assignments before the next class.

Students participating in online classes do the same or better than those in the traditional classroom setup. This is because the quality of education is the same; the difference is just in the delivery method.

Online lectures are a great option if you tend to feel lost in the crowd of a classroom. Recordings afford the ability to pause and take notes or even re-play parts you didn’t quite understand the first time. Plus, you can always reach out to your instructor for one-on-one help in various ways (like email, text or perhaps a private Facebook page) to ask questions about material you didn’t understand.

So true.  It’s your responsibility to take the initiative to keep up with your work when enrolled in online classes. It can be easy to let assignments slide and miss due dates because of the wiggle room and flexibility that come with online courses.  It’s fair to expect online courses to take about the same amount of time and effort as traditional courses. 

Procrastination is a slippery slope that can affect your outcome negatively. It’s important to stay organized and follow a schedule because, as in any class setting, it can be difficult to catch up once you fall too far behind.

In your planning, consider the amount of time you’ll need to spend to study or prep for class. Additionally, many online courses include required reading lists or videos to watch in addition to the time you spend in the live class.  Review the course description carefully, and email the instructor if you have any questions.

Group projects, a staple of the traditional classroom, is becoming easier and easier for distance learners to tackle. With collaborative tools like Google Docs making it easier for groups to work together, don’t be surprised if you find yourself assigned to a group project in your online course.  With the affordable live conference room technology today, breakout rooms are quite feasible.

One of the absolute most wonderful and enuring benefits of attending classes is meeting new people, kindred spirits. Friendships, mentorships and networking can all come from academic experiences—but is that still the case with online classes?

Yes. We recommend that you make an effort to get to know some of your online classmates and your instructor.  Outside of class there are numerous online services (like personal messaging) that provide excellent ways to interact and network with classmates, so be sure to take advantage of that and don’t hesitate to make the first move and reach out.

It’s easy.  You can connect via any device with an internet connection.  Bridges will provide you with all the contact information you need to connect easily and if for any reason you have problems, we will help.  Many of our instructors use a service called Zoom for their live classes.  With Zoom there’s nothing to join or download, just clicking on a simple link will connect you.

Many people say that online courses are less stressful because of all the precious time NOT wasted in driving or commuting to and from class. So much can be involved in physically getting to a classroom, whereas online you are in the environment you choose, safe from the stress of driving, parking, being out late, etc. Online classes save so much time, and that is something to be very excited about!

The instructor of your course may be located in another city, or even another country.  The cost to travel in person to their location can be significant and “stopping your life” in order to be away from home may take a Herculean effort that defeats you before you even set out;  you might have to take on extra debt or wait years for the opportunity to learn with this instructor in person.  Online classes can save tons of money, and that is also something to be excited about.

For prerecorded self-paced online classes, it’s great to log in when you’re feeling good and your energy is UP, rather than commuting to class after a long work day.

No need to drop all those other responsibilities that you enjoy (kids, jobs, commitments.)  And there’s no need to choose family or work over education; all is possible with online classes.

Your course goes with you, whether you’re at home or not.  You can travel without missing class. Some of us travel a lot during the year, whether for work or leisure. It’s possible to log into your online course from a hotel room or while waiting in the airport.  Or maybe you have a favorite little cafe that is perfect for attending online class discussions.

No uncomfortable desks or squeaky chairs; no sneezing classmates.  Some students attend class in their PJ’s, with a warm cup of tea.  It’s easier to focus and concentrate when you are comfortable.  Additionally, most people feel they learn more effectively in an online setting without the distractions in an “in person” classroom.  It is your choice whether to send the instructor a private message, or speak aloud to ask a question in class.

People read and learn at a different pace.  Online courses make it simple to find a pace that works for you; pause to make notes, or rewind the recordings and replay until you fully understand a lecture.  You decide how much time (and when) you want/need to dedicate to your courses.  And odds are that you’ll be enjoying yourself so much that your learning will be deep.

Online classes are a great way to meet individuals from around the world and form friendships with people who share your interests and passions.  Even though your classmates may have different motivations to attend, you obviously share common interests and goals.  No matter where everyone is located, it is easy to develop and grow your personal and professional networks of kindred spirits and like-minded people through online courses.

Substantial numbers of online students attend for personal knowledge and personal growth.  Lifelong learners are motivated to learn and develop because they want to: it is a deliberate and voluntary act to indulge in curiosity, invest in a passion, or unlock potential. Lifelong learning enhances understanding of the world around us, nurturing self-sustainability, employability, providing us with more and better opportunities to improve the quality of our lives and the lives of others.