May Day, spring, endless possibilities.
 
Watching the rediscovery of fashion, science, and metaphysics.
 
Age cannot wither her.
 
Diane von Furstenberg said “ I think of age as an acquisition, not a loss.” In today’s real estate world, the age or the recent ness of construction is paramount as a selling point. What about Stonehenge or the Great Wall of China or Hagia Sophia?
 
A simplistic design sense is dramatic, it often goes together with enormous art work. The small and intimate are another direction to acknowledge. With the over population of the planet, building structures or objects to fill them provide many a life’s work. The media portrayal of one over the other can be distorted.
 
With the chaos so many points of view encourage, is it any wonder, the news, seems conflicting and different truths are denigrated. Emotions are our prevalent perceptions. How we describe them can be like a ping pong match.
 
Do we change our ability to analyze? In youth we can state a belief that carries the conviction of the “new”. As we age, the levels of insight mutate and spiral. “Don’t worry, be happy” a popular song provides tranquility.
 
As the body is 98% water, is intelligence our most important attribute or is it emotion? What does intelligence mean? The dictionary says it is knowledge, linguistics and math. To know, is to understand or literally stand under. Is there a case for emotions, I.e., water to take precedence? How often has science, law, or medicine been based on instinct? With way too much information, supposedly factual, we are balancing opposing concepts to our emotional bodies.

The mystery of cats. Rat catchers, mesmerizing movements, and contrariness are a small portion of their qualities. A cats purr can heal itself by vibration. Cats are usually lefties, unlike humans, so the controlling part of the brain,is the right side, which governs imagination.
 
Puss and Boots, an ancient story retold by Perrault in the 1600’s extols the virtues of this animal familiar. The boots may have been to relieve the perspiration, cats have thru their paws. But more intriguingly they also created a bravado and swagger necessary to convince the king to let the cats owner marry the princess. The chicanery of Puss appeals to the mischievous in us all and perhaps to a small child, it is a necessity.
 
The Mesopotamians were probably the first to have domesticated cats 100,000 years ago. The Egyptians worship them through the Goddess Bastet and the Indians through their goddess Sasht.
 
Pope Gregory in the 1200’s declared a ban on them as they were associated with pre Christian belief systems. This may have contributed to the plague, as cats kept the parasites on rats under control.
 
Queen Victoria developed an interest in cats thru archeology that was prevalent in her day. This reawakened the cat mythology to the totem standard of a hero.
 
One of the oldest games in human history is the cat’s cradle. A loop of string creates complex patterns moving from one person to another. Kurt Vonnegut’s book of this name, describes the differences between religion and science and wherein lies the truth?
 
Harry Chapin’s song of the same name shows the bittersweet cycle of our human condition. How we repeat the lack of time we take with those we love.
 
In memory of Michael Katz. 1953-2019

What do you think of acronyms? For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. How much are feelings a part of words? Anger, anxiety, frustration require an outlet.

Winnie the Pooh says “I am not lost, for I know where I am. However, where I am, may be lost” or “people say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day”. These poetic words repeated can bring inspiration and enlightenment.

The golden age of English children literature, from Lewis Carroll to HG Wells, JM Barrie, Arthur Conan Doyle, provides provoking curiosity and metaphysical leaps of imagination. The simplicity of their writing encourages all, to change their mood when reading their stories. Reading can bring us face to face with our consciousness. It allows us mellow space to forgive ourselves by seeing the foibles of others. And forgive them too.

Studio 54 the documentary, is a slice of the life that has influenced much of today’s manners and maybe morals! The freedom? of sexuality and mind altering experiences is an ongoing issue that explores the myriad of the different parts of the psyche. In youth, the infinite possibilities become something quite different as we age. Most anything we ingest alters our chemistry. We are barraged with many kinds of food groups to stay away from, I.e. sugar, wheat. But, in balance, can we stay true to what we like and enjoy? Morphine/opium is given to facilitate dying. Alcohol and marijuana allow a mellow head space if allowed in moderation. Who you make love with is held as a sacred action, which no one else need know about. Observing the disarray and malaprops of aging seems like the only way to manage with dignity. Pooh understood this. Something to watch: A Wonderful Day Like Today.

The time change, spring forward, fall back, reminds us of the beginning of the ancient calendar. The first day of Aries is the new year. As we let go of Pisces, old souls and endings, we get ready for action. Our world has truly become as one and the time for warlike aggression is superfluous. Speed is one of our Gods today. Also collectivism. Twitter etc inspires both of these concepts. It may be, in the not too distant future, we may have to come back to a more isolated self examining process. No longer the overwhelming need to obliterate “silence”, we can observe ourselves in conjunction with music and dance. The whirling dervishes do. Gently encourage reflection. Personal v. Collective can be accomplished by distancing the attentions and intentions. Most everything is political, so use it with those who enjoy that mode of communication. Let the feelings wear a cloak of invisibility.

As above
So below

The heart has a dual nature. Much like most of the human experience. We love and hate the same thing, often. The earliest native tradition in the US, the Hopi’s, believed in the spiritual upbringing of their children. The crux of their mythology is harmony and balance. Most, if not all interior monologue squabbles are about opposing forces. We align ourselves with those whose life experiences have been similar and then struggle with the polarizing of those of different mantras.

How do you get beyond fear? Often it is through desperation. If the realization of fear and desire can be seen as one and the same, the entity we are left with is “peace”; or feeling whole in our skin.

Perhaps when we contain the natural polarity we can find a life purpose. Work is most assuredly about this simple thought. Play gives us the results of silliness. What gives you a belly laugh? Whatever it is, it only comes through a state of relaxation.

The tradition of acting has polarizing philosophies. Original drama/comedy was of a metaphysical nature. It is of a description of how do we separate from this polarizing duality? The classical, which revolves around the power of the voice and pauses. Also the physical which often requires costumes and masks. The perfection of the classical brings a distance that is more appealing to many.

The other acting style is Stanislavsky. It is most similar to Freudian analysis. Describe and demonstrate your feelings. Had an acting teacher, Herbert Bergof who described the process, “ there is no drama without conflict”. We do gravitate towards the fear and desire of mystery and mayhem.

Then there is the blend of science and theory to contradict the study of soul and psyche.

Of course, chemistry plays a part. What we eat can make the second brain of the stomach either feel secure and safe, or the ingested can cause turmoil and lead to to anxiety/depression in the head brain. Substances that alter brain patterns, like drugs and alcohol can be relaxing and fun or devastating.

The paradox of Zen koans can be lighthearted, if you choose to see them in that way. “Pick up a stone deep in the ocean with dry hands”. The illogical is funny, calming and a place to find hope.

Once you find what you believe in, take a stand. It need not be forever, but the security of righteousness is amazing for the time it is in effect.

Time and space encourage wisdom. See Dr Who.

The constellation Capricorn has as a word root “caper.” It is a joyous concept of skipping and playing. It is also playing tricks and misdirecting an idea. A jest is his moniker. The early Greeks saw the forest deity Pan as the representative. As a horned creature, bones are key. Also the knees, which enable us and Pan to stand vertical.

Horns of plenty and examples of sexual prowess are Pan’s trademark.
Pan’s flute that seduces and favors secrecy bestows forgetfulness on the gifts he delivers.
The devilish fear he can inspire created the word panic. His home was the heart of Greece in Arcadia, later given the name in literature, of the dream state of Utopia. Unspoiled and mountainous, a wilderness good for goats.

The God Enki, a precursor of the attributes of Saturn, such as knowledge, mischief and crafts belongs to the Sumerian culture. Where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet are his foundation. The ziggurat or temples there worship the 7 planetary bodies. Master shaper of the world, Enki has wisdom and magic to spare. The image like Capricorn is a goat/fish, the fish could be a carp. He, too wears the horns of plenty and fertility. He is the keeper of the divine powers of ME. Me is a decree, of which there were many, that were the structures of social institutions, technologies, and behaviors that were the boundaries of civilizations. As the divine waters fertilize, so does his semen. How would the “me-too” of today feel about that?

Another symbolic association is Peter Pan.
Barrie believed Peter was betwixt and between, representing the Golden Age of charm and selfishness. The human conditions polarity of natural and good, or uncivilized and bad.
Psychologists say, he never grew up. But, does the child within, totally disappear like his shadow?

Astrology says Capricorns get younger with age.
Do you believe the child in all of us dies?
This time of year relates to death, as the sign of Cancer is about birth.
It is about the dark and the light.

Another segue is Shakespeare’s Puck. He does his mistress bidding and like a sting/caper can, creates havoc. Imagine a Queen falling in love with an ass.

Then you have the Fool in the Tarot.
The image of a fellow on a journey, ready to step off the cliff, a reminder that there is no growth without risk.

The theme here is the inner entity of us all, throughout history, imagines a jester that eases the pain of morality. Morals give self gratification but very little humor or contrariness.

Travel is a fashion/phenomena that has spurred us to do and go outside of our comfort zone.

Neptune/Poseidon created the horse. In his rape of Medusa together, they created Pegasus. Movement is a desire of the human condition to shake our mood. Neptune is also called earth shaker.

His brother Zeus/Jupiter was supreme ruler of the gods. His tools were the thunderbolt and the weather. His greatest gift was the balance of justice.

The horse developed and desired by Neptune and Zeus allows for the ability to travel. In the sea he is hippocampus with webbed feet. As Pegasus, he has wings. The symbol of Sagittarius is half horse half man.

The traits of Sagittarius are wisdom, travel and contemplation. Jupiter is the ruling planet, that brought anima mundi, the living soul, to our completion.

As brothers Zeus and Neptune encouraged the bliss of fertility. The word Nuptu, a derivative of Neptune means, he who is moist. They were both noisy. Earthquakes, lighting bolts and stampeding horses, all make a crescendo of sound.

The need to have change and movement can be challenging. It is a constant in the life cycle we are living. If we can remember this, then the drama of the moment fades.

Originally Poseidon was the god of springs, lakes and rivers. The greater number of men lived away from the sea. As travel was facilitated by boats, and trade made travel a necessity, the rulership became broader. Perhaps Poseidon’s bad temper came from those who imposed on his domaine. In turn to balance the mood, he governs that which gives us altered states of consciousness, like anesthesia. Air travel did not affect Zeus in the time the myths were created.

The need to contemplate travel is encouraging the illusion of the differences between cultures. As the Neptunian gift of inspiration creates the desire to know thyself. When Neptune was discovered in the 1800s, photography was developed, which gave birth to movies and the mysteries the camera contains.

As above
So below

A fun clip from To Tell the Truth, on Mermaids.

Old, definition: cherish, nourish
Ancient from ante meaning before.
Vieux meaning old in French also carries emotional meanings of my friend, mon vieux. And it can be the degradation of an incompetent perception. La veille means the day before.

What is the decisive description of aging?
Is it as simple as changing fashion?

History is about what came before. Your story by definition has history. We can only look back to describe a situation.
More than ever the process of appreciating aging is confusing. People are trying to define it with candor. Brown furniture meaning old, and buildings from ten years ago being old. Ironically the experience of visiting old churches and monuments is desirable.
The reasons are infinite from no jobs for the young, so tear it down, to disposable objects as the experience is what counts.

One big issue is patience, tolerance and nerves. Instant gratification delegates these ideas to the forefront. Probably the electrical current in our nerves gets worn down with age. But the perspective of youth is on a lightening speed of intolerance.

The systems that control us, refuse to allow interpretation. Travel, healthcare, degrees for jobs and the information highway have a regimentation that is stifling. Eastern philosophy has the perspective that is in fashion. But, is it truly any different from the ancient systems of western civilization?

Take the idea of happiness and reflect on it thru emptiness.
Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose. Yoda

Russia is the land of dark forests and the perception of the deepest part of the human psyche. The great leaders, from Peter the Great to Katherine the Great, and the history despised Stalin, had a vision to inspire that is quite remarkable. The love, the people have for their country is unparalleled. Somehow the poignancy of the music, Tchaikovsky, the writers, Tolstoy, and the ballet, Diaghilev, Pavlova, Nijinsky, has an understanding of the emotional truths of fate, flesh and blood.  

Today we are driven by genetics. How fatalistic is that? The old argument of “fate vs free will” is thrown out when it applies to science. Remember science was, in Ancient Greece a member of the Muses. The drifting of the imagination to create new concepts is probably connected to the weather. How do we think when it is cold, hot or engulfed in a natural disaster? The five senses also are connected to the Muses, whose mother was Mnemosyne, aka Memory. But they also created forgetfulness to balance out their Mother. Can we compare Alexa to the talents of sound coming from Calliope, the muse of a beautiful voice?

European and American culture have a plethora of artists. The style is as different from each country as it is from each individual. It is as hard to separate our individual understanding of the culture, as it is our exposure to it. Passion defines the viciousness of war, torture and ugliness. What would Terpsichore, the Muse of dance, think of the “me too” movement?

The mysteries of Dante, Goethe and the writer of horror movies are degrees of our perception of genius. A lecture I heard at the Wolfsonian by the director Tim Rogers was about Art Deco and Death. The fashion of the minimal classical lines may have been a contretemps to the unknown despair of radium poisoning thru makeup, and the prevalence of syphilis caused by unprotected sex. It goes back to the unfiltered waters that created wine as an antidote to dehydration. Also a gift of the Muses to remember to forget.

Stalin tried to erase History. Clio, the Muse of History was not amused. Treasures that are handed down from generation to generation connect us to the cycle of the human dilemma that repeats itself. The library at Alexandria is still being sought after to enlighten us on much ancient knowledge we sense we have lost. The female philosopher, Hypatia, murdered by the Christians was the daughter of the last Librarian of Alexandria, Theon. He was the man from the Mouseion, the house of the Muses, an astronomer and perhaps astrologer, who studied eclipses. History creates parameters that are reinvented with each generation. Elizabeth the first encouraged Shakespeare to demonize Richard the second. Things of value are given to grandmothers for safekeeping. These gossips, the Celtic word for godmother, may tell stories to remind us of the wisdom of repetition. And also to remember if you remain silent, the narrative is reinvented.

Perhaps the reason, other than control of the mind, that religion denigrates astrology or any soothsaying, is the despair that arises from pertinent facts being interpreted. We all know we can interpret information in any way we like. The rub in morality is to remember to not need to convert others to our way of thinking. When does it become essential to decide between fighting and leaving?

The psychic who imposes an opinion is letting himself open to antagonism. The key word being imposing. It can be a tremendous comfort to hear what you want to hear. Religion figured this out. The rub is, what is sin? The word root is from the Latin, sinistre. It comes from the idea of left handed being the feminine, unconscious, emotional and unreliable. This gives way to how fickle we see emotions to be, but long for them to enhance our lives. To embrace the metaphysical means, it is hard to gage the perception of reality. If our minds control our existence, we must admit that our emotions govern our habits.

Relating to the relative. Is there a connection to the real? Is reality always the truth? Is a thing relative that is indecisive? Harry Truman said, “if you can’t convince them, confuse them.” There is humor and truth to this statement but maybe not much hope to be gleaned.

In the realm of the Faery, life is rarely what it seems. The irrational and the absurd are philosophical concepts that in ancient times were relegated to the wee folk. Elves, mermaids, warlocks and leprechauns can be like the sophisticated comic. As long as the barbs are pointed away from you, they are hilarious. Beauty is another elemental crutch. In the Celestine Prophecy it describes “energy” as joyful. Charm, like magic can be controlling. To be oh so careful when beauty and charm gang up and try to confuse.

Many of the world’s greatest writers delved into the world of misty boundaries. C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Faust, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Tolkien knew the written word was the key to stirring up “the grey cells” as Agatha Christie mentioned.

“Idea” comes from the Greek to “see”, a pattern. Most of us like puzzles, thankfully. They engage the brain in stimulation than can disperse emotional chaos.

If you are related to many people does it make you feel less isolated? Relatives can be the main competition as they observe you, as you do them; to take energy rather than offer it. We become familiar with the need to hang on to the push/pull of familiarity. The Gods have always pushed change and chaos. Stagnation, like indecision is painful. Timing can often be the necessary button, to push and grow.

Youth today is seeing objects as commercial, bourgeois, and not critical to the power of remembering. I would answer that memories are often stimulated by an old shoe, a painting or your grandparents treasure box. With age the memory has its own agenda. Like high heels, there is fashion in thinking.

Psychology has helped us perceive our ego and emotions. It has also made the cacophony of sound of the multitude, blow away our ability to hear.

Charles Perrault in the late 17th century wrote down a story that had been around for eons. It is necessary to invite the 13th fairy to the ceremony. Thirteen is the number of the Moon/irrational. Sometimes our fury can be a tonic to truly see the inevitability of the explosion that happens when we disregard our darkest emotions. To wake up the Sleeping Beauty, is our choice and purpose. Sadly Fate always has a say.

Travel. Old French and Middle English refer to the words origins as travail. Travail means work.

It is of course important to expose oneself to change. To stay young, fresh and flexible, it is important to be mobile. The movement to another country or just across the road opens the psyche to habits that are peculiar to a set thought pattern. But, is this fun?

Is work fun? If you are engaged, focused and willing to listen, the right kind of travail is always there. The satisfaction of a perfect large scale bonsai garden is a case in point. Always be careful of perfectionism. The Buddhist sand mandala is an example. How many hours and days to complete the perfect harmony of design, and then to blow it away?

Ancient travel was usually a hardship. Is today’s journeying much different? Whether on the road, on the sea, or in the air, the huge numbers of people looking for an ideal experience usually has conflicting perspectives. Living requires energy to change. Trying to accommodate the various desires and needs exposes one to polarity. To find someone who has the same rhythm is required for the satisfaction to occur. Competing to jump the queues or to realize a state of calm observation, is a choice.

How many experiences do we need? We are told the millennial generation prefer this to shopping. But will it go the way of interest in history and brown furniture? If the cruise is pleasing, it will be repeated. 

Fashion comes from the Latin facere. The verb to do, or make. The noun is about manner, method or style. Color, symmetry and history combine to refine what we wear. But there is fashion in politics, religion and food. Fashion changes and repeats. Travel, too, mutates and repeats. It can be ungrounding to not have a routine. Life is what happens, when we make other plans.

Happy is a rare and blessed emotion. A Chinese fortune cookie says “pure logic is the ruin of the spirit”. Happiness is illogical. Overcoming the painful stretching of traveling is part of the ebb and flow of consciousness.