A Republic of Spirit

Pisces New Moon, March 7, 2008

“Pisces is an era of storms and of wholesale disintegration. But Piscean winds of destiny may impel [people] of vision and courage to discover many a “new world,” as much as they destroy or suffocate the many who stubbornly resist change. Pisces is an era of often sharp and violent repolarization. It is an era of purgation and cleansing. Tradition has made of the month proceeding the vernal equinox a period of fasting and repentance. Beginning with Ash Wednesday, the devotee of the New Life must learn to identify...willingly with the death of all established structures...must be willing to face the chrysalis state for the sake of the butterfly-to-be. Pisces is the mythical Deluge and the age of universal dissolution....[Humanity] must cling to no stability or no past greatness. “No-security” is...the only possible security

Dane Rudhyar, “The Pulse of Life”

“No security is the only possible security.” (Perhaps we need to share this insight with George Bush & Co.!) We need to understand this lesson of the sign of Pisces if we want to survive the coming years of change and transformation. With this New Moon in Pisces, we find ourselves at the end of a cycle – both a yearly cycle and coming soon, a larger cycle - the end of the Piscean Age. The Mayan Calendar is only one of many indications that our way of life is about to change. And so we all must wake up to the new life that is coming to meet us.

But first we have to acknowledge that we are in the Death aspect of the cycle of Life. And unfortunately, most people don't want to hear that. Fear is the Guardian of the Threshold, the monster that guards the gate of Death. But what Pisces tells us is that once we let go of our security and of our fears, and let God/dess, once we die to the little self, there is Rebirth and Renewal through the larger SELF. After Winter comes Spring. Just ask Mother Earth!

When the time comes to face Death, we discover something: that's when we feel most alive! That's when we find this impossible sense of security in “no-security”! So let's try to understand what Pisces has to teach us.

And so we come to Pisces: finality yet expectancy; gentleness with a touch of mystery; transitions hidden in every corner of your being; issues too great and lofty to involve your little self; an eternal unrest which reflects on the 'unreality' of life.

Since Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac, it is the sign that expresses what we've been and done throughout the rest of the Cycle. In Aries, we begin with the importance of having our own sense of identity. In Taurus, we learn about what we value so we can build something lasting. In Gemini, we learn to think for ourselves and communicate with others. In Cancer, we learn about our emotional needs – what nourishes us and grounds us. In Leo, we learn to play and create and express ourselves. In Virgo, we learn to shape ourselves into a whole being. In Libra, we learn to relate to others. In Scorpio, we learn to share ourselves with others. In Sagittarius, we discover our beliefs about Life and Spirit. In Capricorn, we grow up and contribute to our world. In Aquarius, we become part of the larger group. And we end up with Pisces, where we return to our source with the story of what we've discovered about Life.

In Pisces, we learn to let our small ego dissolve into the Divine source of Life and discover new worlds beyond what our senses and consensus 'reality' knows. Creativity and Imagination are the keys to understanding Pisces. Carl Jung's theory of the Collective Unconscious fits Pisces' profile. We return to the Source for renewal.

“Transcendence, overcoming, piercing through illusions and false security, severance of social ties, embarking for the great adventure with utter faith and in denuded simplicity of being: all these things are to be learned from Pisces. Man is here face to face with himself, and with that Greater Self which he names: God...Man sheds here his social vestures and stands bare before God within – that is, before the Christos, the burden of his future Destiny.” Rudhyar

This is the task that has faced Western Civilization for the last 2000 years during the Age of Pisces – and we'd better be ready to finally learn the lesson as we approach its End. Our lives and our world depend on it! And many of us are doing it, aren't we? The energy of Pisces now calls to anyone who has learned some of its lessons to turn back and help those of our brothers and sisters who don't know how to wake up to this great Truth. We are the ones who must put aside temper, anger, rage, selfishness and shine our light so others can see what a Human Being can BE. The world needs shining examples of the Human Spirit.

One of Pisces great lessons is that we cannot abandon those who are not yet 'awake' because the deepest lesson of Pisces is that we are all One, that 'reality' is one organic whole. Pisces highest expression is compassion. Pisces insists that our spiritual awareness is what calls us to help change ourselves and then the world and our culture. It is only through Pisces Inspiration (to breathe in Spirit) that we'll be able to transform our society into 'the Republic of Heaven' - as The Golden Compass's author Philip Pullman names it. No longer a Kingdom – or an Empire – but a true Republic of Spirit.

The Sabian Symbol for 18 Pisces is: In a gigantic tent, villagers witness a spectacular performance. ...the time has come for the individual to dare to present himself and his works to his community for applause, or for the purpose of attracting a following.

If you have any planets in mutable or fixed signs at 18 degrees, this New Moon will affect your life. Step out onto the stage in the tent and go for it! If you don't know exactly what you want to do, spend time with nature, create some art, listen to music and dance, allow yourself to just BE and surrender to Great Spirit.

This New Moon in Pisces conjoins the planet Uranus – the energy of Awakening, Revolution and sudden changes. (And interestingly, it is opposite the position of the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto that energized the 60s.) A new moon is a seed time, a time of breakthrough and birth. With Uranus energizing it, we can break through the boundaries that bind us to our linear 'reality' and see beyond our problems – which are legion – to their resolutions. Use your imagination to find your Soul's answer to your life. Instead of trying to discover the secret of abundance, perhaps we all need to discover what our Spirit came to this beautiful planet to discover and create.

[A quick aside: As many of you know, I do have a problem with this idea of constantly invoking abundance, which usually means more money or 'things' that we desire. It smacks of Capitalistic Spirituality to me. Abundance of Spirit is the real goal of life. So watch this very sweetly done video called, The Story of STUFF, about how we've been programed to consume – http://www.storyofstuff.com/ and start concentrating on accumulating riches in your inner world.]

Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, is conjoined with Venus and Mercury in Aquarius, helping us connect with our Higher Self and each other. Find your community – we have to learn to work in groups to have a more powerful effect. Jupiter, the traditional ruler of Pisces, offers us opportunities to find ways to contribute our talents and our Light to our troubled society. Don't be afraid to speak your truth, and show people your wisdom.

Mars entered Cancer on Tuesday, March 4th – returning to the sign in which it went retrograde back in November. It opposes Pluto hours before the New Moon for the 3rd time at 1 Cancer/Capricorn. (The 1st time on 9/21/2007 at 26 Gemini/Sagittarius; the 2nd time on 1/2/2008 at 29 Gemini/Sagittarius.) While this opposition can cause anger,frustration and explosions of temper, consciously engaged with we can finally discover what we really need to nurture ourselves and our lives in these changing times. What do we really need to have a full and fulfilled life? Perhaps it is the people we love. Perhaps it is helping others. Perhaps it is getting our creative ideas out into the world. Give yourself time this Friday to meditate and let your inner being have a say in what's really important right now.

March 19-20 – Vernal (Spring) Equinox.

As I dare to present myself and my gifts to my community, please come out to my tent and watch the spectacular show!
Announcing The Dream Lady Show:
New time: Every Monday night – on the Moon's day
6pm Pacifice Daylight Time
9pm Eastern Daylight Time
At: www.helloworld.com/cathypagano
Click on the broadcast tower and click on the newest Dream Lady show.
I will be interpreting your dreams – and you'll have a chance to instant message me so I can ask questions about the dreams and you can ask questions of me.
If you'd like a dream interpreted, send it to me no later than Monday morning. I'll chose which dreams I can work with. Email me at cathypagano@helloworld.com

copied from an article at http://www.opednews.com/

The Secret Garden

And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic Harps diversely frame'd
That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual Breeze
At once the soul of each, and God of all....

The Secret Garden opens by introducing us to Mary Lennox, a sickly, foul-tempered, unsightly little girl who loves no one and whom no one loves. At the outset of the story, she is living in India with her parents—a dashing army captain and his frivolous, beautiful wife—but is rarely permitted to see them. They have placed her under the constant care of a number of native servants, as they find her too hideous and tiresome to look after. Mary's circumstances are cast into complete upheaval when an outbreak of cholera devastates the Lennox household, leaving no one alive but herself.

She is found by a group of soldiers and, after briefly living with an English clergyman and his family, Mary is sent to live in Yorkshire with her maternal uncle, Archibald Craven. Misselthwaite Manor is a sprawling old estate with over one hundred rooms, all of which have been shut up by Archibald Craven. A man whom everyone describes as "a miserable hunchback," Master Craven has been in a state of inconsolable grief ever since the death of his wife ten years before the novel begins. Shortly after arriving at Misselthwaite, Mary hears about a secret garden from Martha Sowerby, her good-natured Yorkshire maidservant. This garden belonged to the late Mistress Craven; after her death, Archibald locked the garden door and buried the key beneath the earth.

Mary becomes intensely curious about the secret garden, and determines to find it. This curiosity, along with the vigorous exercise she takes on the moor, begins to have an extremely positive effect upon Mary. She almost immediately becomes less sickly, more engaged with the world, and less foul-tempered. This change is aided by Ben Weatherstaff, a brusque but kindly old gardener, and a robin redbreast who lives in the secret garden. She begins to count these two "people," along with Martha, Dickon Sowerby, and Susan Sowerby, as the friends she has had in her life. Her curiosity is whetted when she hears strange, far-off cries coming from one of the manor's distant rooms.

However, Mrs. Medlock, the head of the servants at Misselthwaite, absolutely forbids her to seek out the source of the cries. She is distracted from this mystery when she discovers, with the robin's help, the key to the secret garden. She immediately sets about working there, so that the neglected plants might thrive. Dickon, who brings her a set of gardening tools and promises to help her bring the secret garden back to life, vastly aids her in her endeavor. Dickon is a boy who can charm the animals of the moor "the way snake charmers charm snakes in India." He is only a common moor boy, but he is filled with so much uncanny wisdom that Mary comes to refer to him as "the Yorkshire angel."

One night, Mary hears the distant cries and, flagrantly disobeying Mrs. Medlock's prohibition, goes off in search of their source. She finds Colin Craven, Master Craven's invalid son, shut up in an opulent bedchamber. Colin was born shortly before his mother's death, and his father cannot bear to look at him because the boy painfully reminds him of his late wife. Colin has been bedridden since his birth, and it is believed that he will become a hunchback and die an early death. His servants have been commanded to obey his every whim, and Colin has become fantastically spoiled and imperious as a result. Colin and Mary strike up a friendship, but Colin becomes furious when she fails to visit him because she prefers to garden with Dickon. That night, Colin throws one of the infamous tantrums. Mary rushes to his room in a fury and commands him to stop crying. He tells her that his back is beginning to show a hunch; when Mary examines him, she finds nothing whatever the matter with him. Henceforth, she will maintain that Colin's illness is only in his mind: he will be well if only he makes up his mind to be.

Dickon and Mary secretly begin bringing Colin out into the secret garden. On the first of these outings, the children are discovered by Ben Weatherstaff, who has been covertly tending the secret garden once a year for ten years. Ben has done so out of love and loyalty for the late Mistress Craven: he was a favorite of hers. Weatherstaff refers to Colin as "the poor cripple," and asks if he has crooked legs and a crooked back. Colin, made furious by this question, forces himself to stand up on his own feet for the first time in his life. After this feat, Colin's health improves miraculously: the secret garden, the springtime, and Dickon's company have the same rejuvenating effect upon him that they did upon Mary. The children determine to keep Colin's improvement a secret, however, so that he can surprise his father with his recovery when Master Craven returns from his trip abroad.

The three children, along with Ben Weatherstaff, spend every day of the summer in the secret garden. Only one other person is admitted into the secret: Susan Sowerby, Dickon's saintly mother. Susan sends a letter to Master Craven, telling him to hurry home so that he might see his son; she does not, however, specify why, in deference to Colin's secret. Master Craven complies, and returns immediately to Misselthwaite. His first act is to go into the secret garden; he does so at the behest of a dream in which the voice of his late wife told him that he might find her there. Just as he lays his hand to the doorknob, Colin comes rushing out and falls into his arms. Father and son are reconciled, and the miracle of Colin's recovery becomes known to all.

Themes, motifs and symbols
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/secretgarden/themes.html

Secrets
One can say that The Secret Garden is organized around the idea of secrets. Mary is a secret from her parents' associates; Colin is kept a secret by both his father and himself. Misselthwaite is full of hundreds of locked rooms which no one may enter; its servants are forbidden to speak of its history or of its current inhabitants. Colin keeps the portrait of his mother a secret from his servants, and, later, the secret of his newfound health from all but Mary, Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff, and Susan Sowerby. The secret of the garden itself is the most significant. One by one, each of the book's secrets are disclosed: disclosure is presented as an absolute good, for, in the economy of the novel, the content of a thing does not matter—only whether one thinks of it positively or negatively does. Thus the secret of Mistress Craven's death can be disclosed, provided one maintains that she isn't really dead at all; Colin and Mary can come to light, provided that they have become kind and healthy; the garden, too, may be unlocked, so long as it, too, is resurrected.

Parallel Lives of Colin, Mary, and the Secret Garden
A number of striking similarities between Mary and Colin are immediately apparent: they are both ten years old; they have both passed sickly, neglected childhoods; both are unbelievably spoiled; and both have been looked after by retinues of servants who have been ordered to obey their every whim. Both children have parents that have denied their existence and hidden them away like secrets. No one ever sees Colin or Mary: the English soldiers who discover Mary in her parents' bungalow declare that they never knew that "that pretty woman" had had a child at all. Upon first seeing Colin, Mary exclaims, almost identically, "I never knew [Master Craven] had a child!" The garden has been closed for ten years; up to the moment that Colin and Mary each enter the garden, they too are closed off—they have loved no one, and have been utterly unloved. Because it has been so long since anyone has tended the garden, it is impossible to determine whether its flowers are dead or alive. Similarly, both Mary and Colin have had no one to care for them since their birth, and their skin has become either waxen or stony as a result. Both of these words ("waxen" and "stony") connote lifelessness. The awakening of the secret garden both parallels and is the cause of Colin and Mary's own rebirth.

Eden, also called Paradise, was the garden in which the first humans created by God (Adam and Eve) lived until the time of the Fall. The "Fall" refers to the moment that God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for tasting of the Tree of Knowledge. The secret garden is connected with Eden through Martha's story of the divine times had there by Master Craven and his wife before her quite literal "fall"—before, that is, she fell out of the rose-tree to her death. It is also similar to Eden insofar as it represents a Paradise of innocence and ideality for Mary and Dickon. As in Eden, they enjoy a uniquely close relationship with God (who occasionally is referred to as magic, and as "the Big Good Thing") when they are within its walls. Their work in the garden is compared to the work of "nest-building," which of course has certain marital implications—it is as though they too have become Adam and Eve. Furthermore, their seclusion in the secret garden conjures up that enjoyed by Master and Mistress Craven. This echo is strengthened by the fact that Mary bends down and kisses the newly opened crocuses, just as Mistress Craven kissed her roses. The Eden-like quality of their time alone together in the garden is only strengthened by the presence of Dickon's docile "creatures," which recall the animals created by the Christian God to keep the first people company. Dickon inspires "rapture" in Mary, which implies both ecstasy and "a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to the knowledge of divine things" (Merriam-Webster). Dickon's intimate connection with heavenly nature brings Mary nearer to divinity herself.

Symbols
The Robin Redbreast
When Mary first sees the robin redbreast, the reader is struck by a number of similarities between them: like her, he began life as an orphan; like her, he finds a haven in the secret garden; like her, he began to seek out friendship once he lost his family and came to realize he was lonely. The friendliness of the little bird both helps Mary to recognize that she is lonely and to assuage that loneliness. This is significant in that Mary first befriends a wild creature, a distinctive part of the English countryside; the robin is explicitly described as being "not at all like birds in India." She thus makes her first connection with a part of the moor, not a part of the manor. The robin is a representative of wise and gentle nature—part of Chapter XXV is told from his point of view, as though to prove that animals really do have minds of their own. It is he who first shows Mary the key to the secret garden, thereby suggesting that nature itself is colluding with her wish to get inside. Later, the robin's building of a nest with his mate is compared to Mary's nest- building with Dickon in the secret garden.

Roses
The roses are Mistress Craven's personal symbol; they are mentioned whenever she is mentioned. The bower from which she fell to her death was covered with roses; when Mary first discovers the garden, it is still flooded with rose-trees and rosebushes, though none are in bloom. Dickon reassures her that they are not dead, and remarks, "There will be fountains of roses here in the spring." This foreshadows the way in which the resurrection of the garden will bring the spirit of Mistress Craven back within its walls—she exists wherever roses are in bloom. The tree from which Colin's mother fell to her death can itself be said to undergo a kind of resurrection: though it is the only thing in the garden which is wholly dead, it is soon "covered with new roses," so that the dead wood is no longer visible. The new roses symbolize both the children and the spirit of Colin's mother herself, which has come back to the garden to watch over her son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA_NHJL8EmE&NR=1
Winter Light by Linda Ronstadt - The Secret Garden

Is There Purpose in Nature?
by Dr. Mae-Wan-Ho
http://http://www.cts.cuni.cz/conf98/ho.htm
Organism and Pysche in a Particpatory Universe
by Dr. Mae-Wan-Ho
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/organis.php

The Doctine of Cycles
By Lydia Ross, M.D.
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gdpmanu/cycle-lr/cycle-1.htm
Man and Nature Allied in Cyclic Progress
There is a purpose in every important act of Nature, whose acts are all cyclic and periodical. -- The Secret Doctrine 1:640

Nature repeats herself everywhere. She follows grooves of action that have already been made; she follows the line of least resistance in all cases and everywhere. And it is upon this repetitive action of our Great Mother -- universal nature -- that is founded the law of cycles, which is the enacting of things that have been before, although each such repetition, as said, is at each new manifestation on a higher plane and with a larger sweep or field of action. -- Man in Evolution, chapter 13
Nature moves like a great wheel, ever turning round and round, so that as it goes forward in time and space, each of its spokes takes its regular turn in moving upward, forward, downward and backward. As the whole wheel of the universe rolls onward, every atom of it gains ground and experience, and also adds its impulse to the common urge forward. This evolutionary urge in mankind is naturally quickened, in greater or less degree, by mind and self-consciousness. Thus we are able to help things below us, as we in turn are helped by wiser, greater beings.

As a Little Child

Verily I say unto you
Whosoever
Shall not receive
the kingdom of God
as a little child
he shall not
enter therein
Mark 10:15

All of us children are born natural mystics. Then someone (TPTB as they are called on the internet), someone takes us and molds us into logical adult robot vegetables. Just like this song –

Supertramp--The Logical Song

When I was young, it seemed that life
was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the
birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully
watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I
could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There
are times when all the world's asleep,
the questions run too deep
for
such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I
know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.

Now watch
what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
liberal, fanatical,
criminal.
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're
acceptable, respecable, presentable, a vegtable!

At night,
when all the world's asleep,
the questions run so deep
for such a simple
man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it
sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.

But something wonderful has happened to me. I’ve thrown off my logical thinking cap and I have become a “child” again. I giggle to myself all throughout the day as I find magic and hidden secrets everywhere. And hidden beneath that bible verse above is exactly what Jesus was trying to say to us.

Some of my most beloved “childrens” books now become deeper, richer and more wonderful. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Narnia Link

Children enter a “magical” hidden world through an old wardrobe. I’m giggling with glee as I write this. That magical world is all around you, it’s hidden. But you can find it if you search for it as a “child”.

And even Harry Potter, as the story begins, Harry is clueless and lives in a “muggles” world. A very sad world indeed. But then Harry is whisked away and discovers hidden in plain sight are portals to worlds full of magic and discovers that he himself is “magical”.

I’ll be writing later about some of the magical worlds I have discovered hidden in plain sight. But for now my “muggles” world is calling me back.

Music, Life, and Good Vibrations

Music/Good Vibrations

'Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music.' Hafiz (Persian Sufi poet)

Faith
is a bird that feels dawn breaking
and sings while it is still dark

"SOUND" NUTRITION: Will Music Eliminate World Hunger? - Edith Kermit Roosevelt

Tomorrow's food and fuel may be supplied by plants on a diet of music and spray of hormones, chelated amino acids and trace minerals. That's the vision of Plant Scientist Dan Carlson, who foresees a Jack-in-the-Beanstalk world with gigantic flora feeding the multitudes and replenishing the earth's supply of life-giving oxygen.

"I believe that birds act as scouts for nature," he says. "Their songs act as a harmonic trigger in the spring time, breaking the dormancy in the seeds just as sound tape opens up the plant's potential for growth. The same relationship comes to mind when birds migrate from their habitats in the fall of the year. Then plants go into dormancy.

"Crickets with their chirping play the same role in causing night plants to grow," he goes on to say. "And we now experience the consequences of decreasing the number of different harmonic resonators in the decline of our forests."

Well, it's taken me forever to get the "guts" to start posting on here again. I've been surfing and reading and learning. It's been quite a wonderful journey.

I had become quite inhibited because I had ran across so many on the web, that I call "intellectual elites". They sneer at my little old views of enlightment. I felt inferior in some way, and ashamed in some way of who I am.

But I realize that I am just as important as anyone else. However I interpret the universe and the boundless love therein, is fine.

And who knows, in my own little way perhaps my song might be beautiful.

I'm ready to sing some more. Slightly off tune, and off kilter, but that's ok.

Jackson Brown – Lawyers in Love
His words couldn’t be more appropriate today

I can't keep up with what's been going on
I think my heart must just be slowing down
Among the human beings in their designer jeans
Am i the only one who hears the screams
And the strangled cries of lawyers in love

God sends his spaceships to america, the beautiful
They land at six o'clock and there we are, the dutiful
Eating from tv trays, tuned into to happy days

Waiting for world war iii while jesus slaves
To the mating calls of lawyers in love

Last night i watched the news from washington, the capitol
The russians escaped while we weren't watching them, like russians will
Now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon
And i hear the u.s.s.r. will be open soon
As vacation land for lawyers in love

As if i really didn't understand
That i was just another part of their plan
I went off looking for the promise
Believing in the motherland
And from the comfort of a dreamer's bed
And the safety of my own head
I went on speaking of the future
While other people fought and bled
The kid i was when i first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for america
I was made for america
It's in my blood and in my bones
By the dawn's early light
By all i know is right
We're going to reap what we have sown

As if freedom was a question of might
As if loyalty was black and white
You hear people say it all the time-
"my country wrong or right"
I want to know what that's got to do

With what it takes to find out what's true
With everyone from the president on down
Trying to keep it from you

The thing i wonder about the dads and moms
Who send their sons to the vietnams
Will they really think their way of life
Has been protected as the next war comes?
I have prayed for america
I was made for america
Her shining dream plays in my mind
By the rockets red glare
A generation's blank stare
We better wake her up this time

The kid i was when i first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn't quite as sweet
When the truth was known
I have prayed for america
I was made for america
I can't let go till she comes around
Until the land of the free
Is awake and can see
And until her conscience has been found

How long will it take to find the higher power moving in me?

Power in the insect
Power in the sea
Power in the snow falling silently
Power in the blossom
Power in the stone
Power in the song being sung alone
Power in the wheatfield
Power in the rain
Power in the sunlight and the hurricane
Power in the silence
Power in the flame
Power in the sound of the lover's name
The power of the sunrise and the power of a prayer released
On the edge of my country, i pray for the ones with the least

Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon
Hunger in the banquet, hunger in the bride and groom
Hunger on the tv, hunger on the printed page
And there's a god-sized hunger underneath the questions of the age
And an absence of light
In the deepening night
Where i wait for the sun
Looking east

It’s always darkest before the dawn. Keep the faith.