Spirit Grooves

The Sun and Moon are called “The Lights,” and they, along with Earth, make up the key triad of traditional and modern astrological factors. Only the intense solar discharges at the time of flares and related phenomenon supersede ‘The Lights’ in importance. Here we will be looking at the two primary monthly lunar events, the New and Full Moon in themselves, and their relation to eclipses.

For more general information on the Moon and the active Sun, please see my books:

Sun Storms: The Astrology of Solar Activity Mother Moon: The Astrology of “The Lights”

Direct download: BK-62_vision_eclipse.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:19am EDT

The idea is simple. I am not yet enlightened yet, but am older now, with probably not that many years left, am easily distracted, and not much into forced routines. You tell me:

What are my chances of becoming enlightened before I die and why should I even worry about it?

The very great majority of dharma practitioners (not to mention everyone else) are pretty much in this same boat or WILL BE before they realize it. One thing we do know (if we are honest with ourselves) is that we are not enlightened yet no matter how we may rationalize it. If we have to even ask ourselves the question, the answer is a “no, we are not yet enlightened.”

Direct download: BK-61_UrgencyinDharmaPractice.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:18am EDT

Most of what you need to learn Tranquility meditation is included here and some beginning information on Insight meditation. However, to properly learn Insight meditation you actually do need a live teacher, someone who has mastered the technique and is authorized to teach it. There are many approaches to Insight meditation, but the one I know and recommend is that taught by the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, those lamas and rinpoches whose leader is the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. You can check the website Kagyu.org for recommended teachers.

Direct download: BK-60_Tranquility_and_Insight.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:16am EDT

This is a collection of articles on meditation and training the mind, many of which first appeared as blogs. They are not overly formal and most contain personal stories and anecdotes as illustrations. The type of mind training detailed here is the most common form of meditation as used by both the Tibetan and Zen Buddhists.

Direct download: BK-59_Training_the_Mind_Part-2.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:15am EDT

Feng-shui is as old as ancient history to the Chinese and as new to most of us here in the West as the last decade or so. Amazon.com lists almost 6,000 books on the topic, so there is a growing interest. In China there are dozens of styles and at least a handful of main schools or types of feng-shui. What is feng-shui all about?

Direct download: BK-58_The-Art-of-Feng-Shui.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:14am EDT

A Life Practice

Tibetan Buddhist monks and laypersons, along with Zen Buddhist, have developed methods of training the mind that are over 1,000 years old and have proved very effective. These amount to a life-long practice. Marriage for many of us is also a life-long practice just as difficult and complete as many dharma practices. This article is about using these tried and true dharma practices within a marriage to solve problems and to help keep it together.

Direct download: BK-57_The_Dharma_of_Marriage-2.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:13am EDT

This is a collection of articles on the astrology of intense solar activity, the inner or personal effect of solar flares, Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) events, and related phenomena. In my experience the active Sun provides astrological indicators of a different order of magnitude compared to traditional astrological techniques. When the Sun speaks, we listen. It is the harbinger of true change.

As they say “change is the only constant,” so we are all used to it, whether we like it or not. And there is external and internal change. If we get a flat tire or bump our head, that is external change. Since we focus on the external a lot, we are all familiar with this kind of change.

Direct download: BK-56_sun_storms.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:07am EDT

This is an article on the astrology of intense solar activity, the inner or personal effect of solar flares, Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) events, and related phenomena. In my experience the active Sun provides indicators of a different order of magnitude compared to traditional astrological techniques. When the Sun speaks, we listen. This intense solar flux is the harbinger of true change and should become an integral part of our astrological indicators.

Direct download: BK-55_Solar_Flares.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:06am EDT

Shamata meditation was one of two main forms of meditation originally identified by Shakyamuni Buddha some 2500 years ago. The other was Vipassana or insight meditation. Although the two are sometimes taught together, it is most common to learn Shamata first, and Vipassana second. Shamata then is the fundamental basis for most other forms of meditation.

An analogy I often is use is that of trying to thread a needle with shaky hands. It is very difficult. Shamata meditation removes the shakiness from the hands, so that more advanced forms of meditation (like Vipassana) can be learned. It is the place to start and is the basis on which further meditation practices are based.

Direct download: BK-54_SHAMATA.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:05am EDT

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the interest in folk music and its roots in rural America and the European Continent reached a high pitch as thousands of young adults crisscrossed America documenting folksongs and sharing authentic music. Folklore societies sprung up at many major campuses. This was a folk revival, one that has not been repeated since. But old English and Scottish ballads were not the only music discovered during this time. There was another even more indigenous music that needed no revival. In fact this music was very much alive and probably playing somewhere just across town, separated only by a racial curtain: modern city blues. This article is about the heyday of folk music in the late 1950s and early 1960s and something about how white America discovered the blues.

Direct download: BK-53_Searching_Roots.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:04am EDT

Tong-len was the first Tibetan Buddhist mind-training practice that I instinctively understood and warmed to. It was easy to do and I could do it anytime and anywhere; it was portable.

Somehow Tong-len is intuitively American. We just get it. Perhaps everyone does. If there is a vaccine that is the antidote for an inflated ego, this is it. And like the perfect diet, you can eat all you want and still loose the weight of your attachments.

Direct download: BK-52_REACTION_TONGLEN_fin.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:03am EDT

Our first trip to Tibet, over ten years ago, was a life-changing event for me and my family. Being asked by my dharma teacher of many years to stop what I was doing, take a leave from my business and go to Tibet—all within about a month—was mind boggling, to say the least. It turned my life upside down.

Of course we would go. I had asked my teacher, for years, in every interview, if there was anything special he wanted me to do, and always he had responded that I should just keep on practicing meditation, and so on. It had become routine that there was nothing in particular he wanted me to do, and then this: go to Tibet, and soon.

Direct download: BK-51_Our-Pilgrimage-to-Tibet.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:01am EDT

This is a collection of articles on dharma practice many of which first appeared as blogs. They are not overly formal and most contain personal stories and anecdotes as illustrations. The type of mind training detailed here is the most common form of meditation as used by both the Tibetan and Zen Buddhists.

Direct download: BK-50_Meditation_ebook.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

An interest in astrology and all things esoteric probably grew out of my Catholic upbringing, a religion which aside from having a lot of negatives IMO had the side effect of endowing me with a sense of mystery and awe for the universe. Don‟t ask me to explain; that is just how it turned out.

Direct download: BK-49_matrix_history.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:59am EDT

My name is Michael Erlewine. Macro and close-up photography are things I really love to do. I have been photographing since 1956 but have no interest in being a professional photographer because that is a hard way to make a living, especially as a nature photographer. 

Direct download: BK-48_macro_closeup_v1.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:58am EDT

This series of blogs was first published on my Facebook Wall in November of 2010. It addresses some of the more common substance addictions that I have experienced, hopefully in a candid and helpful manner. In my own life, many of these topics only became problems as I grew older. What I could easily shake off at twenty-five years of age is not so easily dismissed later on, like in my fifties and sixties.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do seem to have most of the questions and problems, so I thought it might be better to share my thoughts with you than to not talk about them. I hope you agree.

That being said, please accept these notes, comments, and stories in the spirit in which they are offered, one of friendship and shared concern.

Direct download: BK-47_Loss_of_Substance.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:56am EDT

I marvel at the intricate sand mandalas that Tibetan monks create. These elaborate designs can take a week or more to assemble. When they are finished and the offering made, they are then swept into a pile of colored sand and scattered into a nearby river or stream, certainly a gesture of impermanence.

 

Mandalas are offerings, which is why they are often called “mandala offerings.” We too make offerings all the time in everything we do. Ours may not all be made well or last long, but they are our offerings all the same. They are all the things we try to do and care about.

Direct download: BK-46_Life_as_Mandala.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:55am EDT

This is a collection of information on lenses related to use in close-up and macro photography, along with several essays I put together on some of the Nikon industrial lenses, often called the "Exotic Nikkors." I do this in my spare times, so the format may be a little rough, but the price is right. Hopefully, some few of you will find this material interesting and we can discuss.

Direct download: BK-45_Lenses_for_Close-up_and_Macro_Photography_V1.1.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:53am EDT

This book might have been called something like “Zen and the Art of Nature Photography,” but I don’t happen to be a Zen practitioner. However, after many years of working with a brilliant Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Rinpoche, I did manage (with the aid of photography and nature) to get a glimpse of recognition (not realization, mind you) as to the true nature of the mind, and it was nothing like I had led myself to expect all those years. That is why I am writing this.

Direct download: BK-44_LA_ebook.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:45am EDT

his ebook contains examples of stacked photos, a series of photos taken at diffrerent focus points and combined to create a single photo that achieves the appearance of greater depth of field than otherwise might be expected. More ebooks can be found on Focus Stacking at:

 

http://www.MacroStop.com

Direct download: BK-43_KeytoPhotographyRX.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:43am EDT

Karmapa at KTD 2011

 

Photos by Michael and Margaret Erlewine

Direct download: BK-42_KarmapaKTD_2011.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:41am EDT

Karmapa at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery 2008

 

Photos by Michael and Margaret Erlewine

Direct download: BK-41_KarmapaKTD_2008.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:40am EDT

This is not a course in astrology, but a reference book

of astrological interpretation that can be used with just

about any astrological horoscope, geocentric or

heliocentric, natal or transit.

If you are already interested in astrology, know your

way around a bit, and have your natal chart, you need

to read no farther. Just take any planetary pair aspect

from your chart and look it up in the table of contents.

Direct download: BK-40_Interpret-Astrology-The-Planetary-Combinations.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:37am EDT

This is not a course in astrology, but a reference book of astrological interpretation that can be used with just about any astrological horoscope, natal or transit. However, I have included a brief article on the astrological houses at the end of this book.

If you are already interested in astrology, know your way around a bit, and have your natal chart, you need to read no farther. Just use any standard astrological natal chart (one that includes the time of birth in the calculation) and start looking up combinations. It is as easy as that.

Direct download: BK-39_Interpret-Astrology-House-Combinations_2.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:36am EDT

This is not a course in astrology, but a reference book of astrological interpretation that can be used with just about any astrological horoscope, geocentric or heliocentric, natal or transit. This e-book is part of a series that allows readers to interpret their own charts and learn about the art of interpretation.

If you are already interested in astrology, know your way around a bit, and have your natal chart, you need to read no farther. This book allows you to explore any 3-way planetary combination, using what are called midpoint trees or any aspect pattern in the chart.

Direct download: BK-38_Interpret-Astrology-3-Way-Combinations.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:34am EDT

I have been doing astrological readings for some forty-plus years. Back in the day, my most-used book was a little volume by Hugh McCraig called the “200-Year Ephemeris,” which basically was a list of geocentric planets ( two years on a page) giving the planet positions at the first of each month. When I was in the middle of a reading with a client, this was the book I reached for to see where Saturn or other planets for the current day were in the natal chart of m client.

With the McCraig book in mind, I wanted to create something similar, but what I also needed was a quick graphic chart for each month so that I could see at a glance where the planets were in the zodiac and what major aspect patterns I had to be aware of. The StarTypes Visual Ephemerides does all of this and more.

Direct download: BK-37_GraphicEphem-2000-2100.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:32am EDT

I have been doing astrological readings for some forty-plus years. Back in the day, my most-used book was a little volume by Hugh McCraig called the “200-Year Ephemeris,” which basically was a list of geocentric planets ( two years on a page) giving the planet positions at the first of each month. When I was in the middle of a reading with a client, this was the book I reached for to see where Saturn or other planets for the current day were in the natal chart of m client.

With the McCraig book in mind, I wanted to create something similar, but what I also needed was a quick graphic chart for each month so that I could see at a glance where the planets were in the zodiac and what major aspect patterns I had to be aware of. The StarTypes Visual Ephemerides does all of this and more.

 

Direct download: BK-36_GraphicEphem-1900-2000.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:29am EDT

I have been doing astrological readings for some forty-plus years. Back in the day, my most-used book was a little volume by Hugh McCraig called the “200-Year Ephemeris,” which basically was a list of geocentric planets ( two years on a page) giving the planet positions at the first of each month. When I was in the middle of a reading with a client, this was the book I reached for to see where Saturn or other planets for the current day were in the natal chart of m client.

With the McCraig book in mind, I wanted to create something similar, but what I also needed was a quick graphic chart for each month so that I could see at a glance where the planets were in the zodiac and what major aspect patterns I had to be aware of. The StarTypes Visual Ephemerides does all of this and more.

Direct download: BK-35_GraphicEphem-1800-1900.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:27am EDT

This book might have been called something like “Zen and the Art of Nature Photography,” but I don’t happen to be a Zen practitioner. However, after many years of working with a brilliant Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Rinpoche, I did manage (with the aid of photography and nature) to get a glimpse of recognition (not realization, mind you) as to the true nature of the mind, and it was nothing like I had led myself to expect all those years. That is why I am writing this.

There may be some of you, like me, whose expectations and imaginations are more of an obstacle to spiritual realization than a help. In fact, our expectations can make it almost impossible to have any realization. We think we know what we are supposed to be finding when it comes to spiritual experience and (by definition) that is exactly what we don’t know, and are trying to find out. For those folks, hearing my story might be useful.

Direct download: BK-34_Experiences_Mahamudra.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:25am EDT

In the long history of astronomy eclipses are perhaps the preeminent celestial phenomena, visually striking in their effect and witnessed by all humanity. It is no wonder that astrology, the cultural form of astronomy, has built up a long history on the lore of the eclipse and what they mean for nations and in the natal charts of individuals. This book is intended to make information on recent eclipses, at least from 1750 A.D. onward available and to provide a list of predicted eclipses for a couple of centuries into the future.

In the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, it is pointed out that eclipses are very potent times. Of course, the full and new moons have always been considered important, and the eclipses are said to be even more so. In the Kalachakra (wheel of time) teachings, everything that takes place externally in our life happens because of subtle changes deep within us. In this tradition the eclipse is the paradigm of this essential change. It is written that during an eclipse, the two channels (left and right side of the central spinal channel) come into contact or merge with the central channel, this produces a greatly increased vision or experience, a vision available to those who can manage to be aware of it.

Direct download: BK-33_eclipse_charts.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:24am EDT

Poetry for me has been a way to record my inner changes and experiences. I don’t write poetry that often, but when I do it always is in response to some realization or other, something I am going through that finally becomes clear to me.

And I don’t just try to “write a poem.” I use poetry as a way of clarifying my experiences, as a way to lock my emerging realization into a form that can serve to bring to mind again and again the actual experience I am trying to understand. If I can capture the experience in a poem, I know that I have realized something or other about myself and my life. And by carefully reciting the poem aloud to myself, by articulating each word with understanding, the idea the poem captures can live again and be present in the mind.

Whether others can read my poetry this way, whether the captured vision will be present in the minds of readers, I can’t say. I only know it works for me and I write these poems for my own inner satisfaction. Nothing in this world is as satisfying to me than realization and a new poem. That being said, I hope those who read the poems in this book may enjoy them too.

Direct download: My_Dharma_Poems_2015-09-14_Version_3.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:21am EDT

Meditation training is still quite new in this country. We are just getting the word out, so most of the emphasis is on the actual physical meditation technique itself, the bare bones, but there is more. Aside from the basic physical technique, there are what I sometimes call the "intangibles' – everything else. There is so much emphasis on learning the basic techniques of meditation that these intangibles are usually ignored until later on down the line. The problem with this is that these so-called "intangibles" are not just supplementary add-ons -- afterthoughts. Quite the contrary, they are crucial to the success of actually learning to meditate properly. That's the rub.

Direct download: BK-31_DHARMA_-_The_Intangibles.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:20am EDT

I was fortunate to be introduced to the world of nature at an early age, thanks to the kindness of a woman named Peggy Dodge, a graphic art­ist and a friend of the family. My mother and Mrs. Dodge would meet with a small group of local artists at the Dodge farm, which was located in a rural area that included a small pond, meadows, and fields. Mom would take me along. Peggy Dodge also had a true love of nature and all its creatures, a love which she was kind enough to share with me when I vis­ited. I was six years old.

Direct download: BK-30_cmp_lenses.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:19am EDT

A series of artcles on close-up and macro photography from 2012.

Direct download: BK-29_Close-Up_Macro_2012.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:17am EDT

My name is Michael Erlewine. Macro and close-up photography are things I really love to do. I have been photographing since 1956, but have no interest in being a professional photographer because that is a hard way to make a living, especially as a nature photographer.

This is an e-book, one of many that I have created as a way to share information on subjects I care about. It is free and you are welcome to share it with anyone you wish provided there is no fee charged for it.

Direct download: BK-28_Close-Up_and_Macro_Photography_V.0.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:16am EDT

I have been in love with music concert posters since 1965 when I ended up in charge of advertising for my group the Prime Movers Blues Band. I guess no one else was interested or could figure out how to advertise but me, so before I knew it I had converted a small attic room in the Prime Mover House at 114 N. Division in Ann Arbor Michigan to a silkscreen shop.

It was there I spent who-knows-how-many hours cutting Rubylith screens and printing band posters. Replicating an image you love for a band you love was a slow but deeply satisfying process. The rest of the band (and me) would then take the freshly printed posters and put them up all over town. The posters didn‟t last long either. The next day many of them would be gone and we would have to do it all over again. I wonder where those posters are today.

Direct download: BK-27_classic_posters_3.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:14am EDT

I have been in love with music concert posters since 1965 when I ended up in charge of advertising for my group the Prime Movers Blues Band. I guess no one else was interested or could figure out how to advertise but me, so before I knew it I had converted a small attic room in the Prime Mover House at 114 N. Division in Ann Arbor Michigan to a silkscreen shop.

Direct download: BK-26_classic_posters_2.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:13am EDT

ClassicPosters.com - History

I have been in love with music concert posters since 1965 when I ended up in charge of advertising for my group the Prime Movers Blues Band. I guess no one else was interested or could figure out how to advertise but me, so before I knew it I had converted a small attic room in the Prime Mover House at 114 N. Division in Ann Arbor Michigan to a silkscreen shop.

Direct download: BK-25_classic_posters_1.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:12am EDT

What we have here are recent essays and blogs, mostly from 2013, but some from 2012. These offerings are a bit of a smorgasbord, but two principle themes are the effects of change on the Self and its reactions.

Although I have many interests, of late they seem to be narrowing down to dharma-related themes, in particular phenomenology and the dharma. It is a little embarrassing to have such a narrow perspective, but then I remind myself that the dharma is not only the middle way, but it is a wide path, and the only one I feel like traveling just now.

Direct download: BK-24_Change_and_the_Self.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:10am EDT

What follows are blogs on the later 1950s and early

1960s and my attempts to follow the Beat Movement

at that time. Most of this took place in Ann Arbor, but

also in Berkeley, California and the Bay Area, plus

Greenwich Village, New York. These are just my

views and opinions about that seldom-mentioned time

between the end of Beats (late 1950s) and the

beginning of the Sixties Movement, which started

basically in the summer of 1965, those in-between

years. Not meant to be definitive, but just musings by

me on those times.

Direct download: BK-23_BOOK_Roots_of_the_Sixties_FIN.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:09am EDT

Note: This article is not for everyone. It will make the most sense to those who have experienced a consciousness-altering drug trip and had trouble forgetting it or stabilizing afterward. Here goes:

LSD was virtually unknown to my generation in the early 1960s, although rumors were all around. The word on the street was that acid (as we came to call it), unlike any drug we knew up to them, actually could alter the mind itself, and permanently. Of course, most of this was pure speculation because few of us had yet taken or had any real experience with the drug. We trembled at what that might mean, but of course were still intrigued. Not everyone rushed out to try it. It was that down side that gave us pause, that acid could permanently alter and perhaps damage the mind. What could those words mean, “permanently alter?” That phrase alone kept many drug enthusiasts at bay.

Direct download: BK-22_BOOK_Alterration_of_the_Self.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:08am EDT

Nature in the Backyard

I was fortunate to be introduced to the world of nature at an early age, thanks to the kindness of a woman named Peggy Dodge, a graphic artist and a friend of the family. My mother and Mrs. Dodge would meet with a small group of local artists at the Dodge farm, which was located in a rural area that included a small pond, meadows, and fields. Mom would take me along. Peggy Dodge also had a true love of nature and all its creatures, a love which she was kind enough to share with me when I visited. I was six years old.

Direct download: BK-21_BackYard_2010_eBook.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:07am EDT

Welcome to this book on Astro-Shamanism. In my basic astrology course (e-book “How to Learn Astrology”), I have covered all the nuts & bolts of traditional astrology, including the signs, houses, aspects, planets, and so on. That basic book is the place to begin to learn astrology, so I refer you there.

However, if you already know at least some astrology and want to go deeper — in particular, if you want to understand more about astrology's inner meanings as relates to day-to-day living and the soul's journey through life from an astrological perspective — then this book may be just the ticket. But before you jump in, let me describe what we will be covering here.

Direct download: BK-20_Astrology-of-the-Heart.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:05am EDT

 Focus Stacking

Interest in ‘focus stacking’ is increasing rapidly. In this short article, I would like to suggest some reasons why this might be. For those of you unfamiliar with focus stacking, let’s make clear what it is.

Just as exposure bracketing and HDR (High Dynamic Range) techniques, where a number of photos are taken at different exposures and then seamlessly combined into a final photograph are popular, so focus stacking takes a series of single photos of an object each taken at a slightly different focus points and combines these photos seamlessly into a final photo that represents the object with everything in focus, as if it naturally had greater depth of field (DOF). This requires special software to align the series of photo­graphs and merge them into a single resulting image.

 

Focus Stacking is essentially ‘focus bracketing’ and the result is a photo where everything (or more than you might expect) appears to be in focus as opposed to the traditional photograph where there is only a single plane of focus and anything not on the plane is to some degree out of focus, however slightly. The resulting stacked photo (from combining the images at different focal distances) can be remarkable, and ad­vances in focus-stacking software like Zerene Stacker, Helicon Focus, Adobe’s Photoshop CS4 are perfecting this technique.

Direct download: BK-19_ArtofFocuStacking.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 10:03am EDT

What motivates me in nature photography is probably a little unusual and I will sketch it out so that you know where I am coming from. I was a naturalist from the time I was six-years old until I discovered how beauti­ful women are at the age of say sixteen. So I kind of segued out of nature study when I was around seven­teen. We can perhaps all agree that nature is serene and beautiful but I am not as sure that all of us are aware that nature is also fierce, a very harsh mistress.

 

I find it hard to look nature in the eye. And I usually blink first, because she never blinks. There is some tough love there. And while I loved nature, as I grew older, I also gradually shied away from looking directly at the harder parts. I find the same problem with Billie Holliday recordings, my favorite woman singer. Even though I love her singing, I am not always willing to put myself through the emotions she brings out in her voice. I can’t go there without paying the price of my full attention and all that entails.

Direct download: BK-18_AOFS_Workbook.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:49am EDT

A series of blogs published on Facebook during part of 2014.

Direct download: BK-17_2014_Blogs_and_Stories.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:43am EDT

I have been publishing a yearly lunar calendar since 1969, along with my brother Stephen, some 45 years. It was first published by Circle Books, then for many years by the Circle Books and the AFA (American Federation of Astrologers) together, and recently by Matrix Software, a company I founded, in e-book format.

The Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, and other Asian countries also have lunar calendars, but they are more complex than their western versions. For one, where here in the west we may chronicle the four quarters (sometimes eight phases) of the moon, the Asians record 30 lunar phase times each month.

Direct download: BK-15_Using_Lunar_Calendars.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:20am EDT

Tibetan practice calendars are based on precise lunar events – the changing relationship of the Moon relative to the Sun each month. If you are using this calendar for your personal practice, there should be no problem. However, there are certain problems with designing a practice calendar for groups. Let me explain:

A lunar event (such as the Full Moon) happened at 2:30 AM in Rumtek, Sikkim on January 1st, 1991. The same event (same moment in time) simultaneously occurred at 4:00 PM of December 31, 1990 for those living at KTD Monastery in New York. Rumtek is 10.5 hours ahead of KTD. Those in Rumtek would be celebrating the event at a different time zone, a different day and, in this case, a different year! Still the moment for all would be the same. This is due to the fact that we have different time zones around to world. The point of this is that, while we can list the exact time for any person to start a lunar day, it is hard to make a general calendar that will serve all groups and time zones.

Direct download: BK-16_Dharma_Calendar.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:19am EDT

Over the forty years or so that I have been studying astrology, I have been particularly interested in whatever relates to the space directly surrounding me, my local area. I developed an astrological technique in the early 1970s that is now used by astrologers all over the world, called “Local Space.” Local Space is primarily used today as a relocation technique, but I always used it for much more than that in counselling.

So it should come as no surprise that I am fascinated by the concept in Tibetan astrology of the Sa-Dak, the spirits that surround and protect a particular place and land, the lords of the land - Earth Lords. Particularly, in these times in which so much wide-scale destruction to nature and the land has taken place, one cannot but wonder about the consequences. In general, modern society has adopted as a world view the very materialistic concept that land and sea are just dirt and water, so many atoms, and have in themselves no innate essence or “soul.” But the Tibetans and the Chinese don't feel this way at all.

Direct download: BK-13_Tibetan-Earth-Lords.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:12am EDT

Tibet, often called the spiritual and physical "roof of the world," has been the source of great inspiration to Westerners for over two centuries. Part of this attraction may be due to the fact that Tibetan astrology is inextricably bound to Tibetan Buddhism. With few exceptions, the primary practicing astrologers in Tibet have for centuries always been and are today Buddhist monks. The word for astrology in Tibetan is “Tsi,” and astrologers are called Tsi-Pa, those who practice “Tsi.” In Tibet to learn something about astrology is to learn something about the dharma and Buddhism, and usually vice versa. Tibetan Buddhist monks all use astrology.

Direct download: BK-12_Tibetan-Astrology.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:09am EDT

The sky above us has not changed much in millions of years, but how we see that sky and how much of it we see has changed forever in our lifetimes. A revolution in astronomy has taken place, as astronomers and physicists ventured beyond the visual spectrum and began to see the actual shape and form of the universe. The pinpoint stars that we have been staring at for centuries are literally just the tip of the iceberg, like the eyes in the human body. The shape of the body of the universe itself has now been partially revealed and it is beautiful indeed.

Direct download: BK-11_The-Astrology-of-Space.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:08am EDT

“Here is no 'subtle plane,' but a personal landscape painted in bold and clear strokes and tailor made to fit the psyche of each individual. Here is a world where the modern man is learning to move across the face of this earth in an endless dance of adjustment and tuning of his radix – of his self. Individuals driven in particular directions on a checkerboard world, unable to resist travelling toward a goal that is no particular place on earth so much as it is a direction imprinted within them, the direction of a force or planet, 'There! Where Power hovers,' to use Don Juan's expression.

Direct download: BK-10_The-Astrology-of-Local-Space.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:07am EDT

Feng-shui is as old as ancient history to the Chinese and as new to most of us here in the West as the last decade or so. Amazon.com lists almost 6,000 books on the topic, so there is a growing interest. In China there are dozens of styles and at least a handful of main schools or types of feng-shui. What is feng-shui all about?

Direct download: BK-09_The-Art-of-Feng-Shui.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:06am EDT

StarTypes is life-path astrology, interpreting large-scale planetary patterns in the sky above and charting the dharma or life path of an individual and their primary relationship role down here on earth. And you don‟t have to be an astrologer to understand this. The astrology used here is graphic, an open window into who we are, why we are here, and what on earth we might be good for – our life purpose.

Direct download: BK-08_StarTypes.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:04am EDT

That first trip to Tibet over ten years ago was a life-changing event for me and my family. Being asked by my dharma teacher of many years to stop what I was doing, take a leave from my business, and go to Tibet, all within about a month, was mind boggling to say the least. It turned my life upside down.

Of course we would go. I had asked my teacher for years in every interview if there was anything special he wanted me to do and he always responded that I should just keep on practicing meditation and so on. It had become routine that there was nothing in particular he wanted me to do, and then this: go to Tibet and soon.

Direct download: BK-07_Our-Pilgrimage-to-Tibet.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:03am EDT

This is a book about the meaning of the Moon in the tradition of astrology. Of all the celestial bodies, the Moon is perhaps the one most shrouded in mystery; The Moon is said to somehow be both our mother and our child. This book is about the lunar mysteries. However, the Moon is an integral part of the Earth system and the Earth an integral part of the Sun or solar system. These three bodies are interdependent, so this book is also about the Earth and the Sun, and the Moon-Earth-Sun relationship.

Direct download: BK-06_MotherMoon.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:02am EDT

Astrology is all about nodes. Nodes are sensitive points in the natal chart that can be interpreted. Obvious examples of nodes are the Nodes of the Moon. The Ascendant, Midheaven, Vertex and other sensitive horoscope points are nodes. The traditional twelve House Cusps are also nodes. Since most astrologers do not consider latitude when calculating aspects, even aspects are nodes. We may be familiar with the above nodes, but what about planetary nodes? What are they?

Direct download: BK-05_Interface-Fin.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am EDT

My name is Michael Erlewine and I will be your guide through this course on astrology. As for my qualifications, I have been studying astrology for over forty years and, during this time, I have worked as a teacher, a programmer, an author and a counselor. You can read about my background elsewhere in this course, but for now, let's get down to it.

Direct download: BK-04_How-to-Learn-Astrology.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:59am EDT

Here is a new way to look at aspects, using the same astrological tools you have always been using. There is nothing new added from outside, just some rearranging of what you already know. When I came across it, I was amazed. All of these years I had been playing with the various aspects, like most astrologers, and then one day they began to fit together in a new way, like pieces in a crossword puzzle. Before I knew it, all of these parts I knew so well came together, and before me was a picture of my own chart I had never seen so clearly. I want to share that technique with you, and it is all about how to use the aspects. This book makes it easy for you to learn to look at aspects in a new light and see for yourself.

Direct download: BK-03_Full-Phase_Aspects.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:57am EDT

I studied my natal astrology chart for years, trying to figure out the puzzle that is "me". I did not then know that there was another way of looking at my astrology, in fact, another complete chart that is a map of my particular dharma path. My discovery of the Dharma Chart was actually a double discovery, because at the very same moment I could read my dharma from a chart, I realized that the traditional chart I had been using all this time was a chart of my karma and not my dharma. All this time I had been trying to read my dharma from my Karma Chart, from the traditional astrological chart.

Direct download: Dharma_Karma-2003_rev_Nov2015.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:56am EDT

Perhaps no astrological factor has more different opinions and less agreement among astrologers than the phenomenon of retrograde motion, the fact that from the earth's view all planets appear to move backward in reverse motion through the zodiac, one or more times a year. Expert's opinions range from there being no perceived effect whatsoever when a planet is retrograde, to their being a very dramatic effect. But then, even if an effect is indicated, there is a wide range of declarations as to what that effect might be.

Direct download: BK-01_BurnRateBook.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:53am EDT

I have been working with the structure of deep-space astrophysics for nearly 44 years.

Astrologer Charles A. Jayne (my close friend) and I were about the only people I am

aware of who were interested in the subject back in the early 1970s. Of course, there

was German Supreme Court Justice (and astrologer) Theodor Landscheidt, whose

every word on the subject is worth reading. Theodore and I became friends later in the

1970s. I sent him one of the first home computers back then, all the way to Germany,

on which he did some of his ground-breaking research .

Direct download: PDF-1443-IDENTIFICATION_IS_CIRCULATION.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:45am EDT

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men, Couldn't put Humpty together again.

I sometimes like to think of my Self (or Ego) as Mr. Humpty Dumpty, sitting up there high on a wall. And every once in a great while that self of mine has a great fall and is shattered into a million pieces. Only here is where the poem ends for me. Every time my sense of self is shattered I move heaven and earth to put those pieces back together into a coherent self image. I don’t like it when the image of myself is shattered and whatever is beneath it (what if there is nothing at all?) is exposed. Not at all.

Direct download: PDF-1439-HUMPTY-DUMPTY_SELF.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:43am EDT

Your mileage may vary, but like the turtle who sticks its head back out of his shell, it looks like this recent eclipse of my self is coming to an end. And while there are probably other large solar flares still coming down the road, at least for now, I am starting to recover from the effects of those four giant X-Class flares. I am slowly feeling more like my old self again and some of my interests are even starting to perk up, and they were flat-lined only yesterday. Anyway, I am back (or on the way back) and my self seems to have recovered from its current hiccup and desertion of….well, who would that be? I guess it is me, myself, and I… which were lost track of for a while.

Direct download: PDF-1438-HUMPTY_DUMPTY_-_THE_SELF_CAME_BACK.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:42am EDT

The Sun erupted recently spewing forth a huge burst of plasma into space from the very center of the Sun facing us and it was heading right toward Earth. It is a coronal mass ejection of particles which will funnel in through the north and south magnetic fields of the polar regions on Thursday February 17th through Saturday February 18th. Some have written me asking what this means. Here are some thoughts. This is the beginning (and a strong one) of the coming solar maximum, the peak of an 11-year cycle coming in 2013, the point where the Sun is communicating most with us. And what does it communicate?

Direct download: PDF-1436-HUGE_SOLAR_FLARE_-_WHAT_DOES_IT_MEAN.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:41am EDT

The Sun erupted last Sunday spewing forth a huge burst of plasma into space, which is heading right toward Earth. It is a coronal mass ejection of particles which will funnel in through the north and south magnetic fields of the polar regions on Wednesday August 4th, 2010. Some have written me asking what this means. Here are some thoughts. This is the beginning (and a strong one) of the coming solar maximum, the peak of an 11-year cycle, the point where the Sun is communicating most with us. And what does it communicate?

Direct download: PDF-1435-HUGE_SOLAR_ERUPTION.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:40am EDT

I am going to share with you a powerful teaching. You have heard the first part before, but the second part is something new that I have not shared here before. The idea of not being overly "selfish" is nothing new. We all have been brought up with the self and what to do with it. We are told to be our self and be self-confident, but at the same time we are told not to be selfish or think too much of our self. Either way, we are caught up in the self. Like sticky molasses or a tar baby, the more we struggle with the self, the deeper into it we get stuck, the more attached we become. Remember that attachment does not just mean positive attachment, what we like, but also negative attachment, like when we hate or don't like something. That equally is attachment. The self likes either to get close, back off, or to just ignore.

Direct download: PDF-1431-HOW_TO_MOVE_THE_MIND.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:39am EDT

[ABSTRACT: Are you liberal and future oriented or conservative and rooted in the status quo? Or are you actually in the present, in the here and the now… and by how much? Retrogrades tell this story and can be measured planet by planet. The technique is easy. Find out how to use it.] A quick and accurate way to get a fix on a chart, whether of a person or an event, is to check out the retrogrades, whether the planets are moving backward or forward in the zodiac, in which direction, and how far from the conjunction with the Sun or opposition point for that planet. While retrograde phenomenon may appear complex, it is really quite easy to understand. Here is how to look at them:

Direct download: PDF-1430-HOW_TO_INTERPRET_RETROGRADES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:38am EDT

What happens to us at these times of solar inundation, whether it be experiencing the full power of a CME (coronal mass ejection), the time around an eclipse, or just the monthly New and Full Moon? While I am sure these events are to some degree personal, my guess is that because the Sun is shared by all of us, how we take these experience is more similar than not. By talking about it a bit here, perhaps more of us can recognize and become aware of what is happening to us at these important times.

Direct download: PDF-1429-HOW_TO_EXPERIENCE_MASSIVE_SOLAR_EVENTS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:37am EDT

Many of you have mentioned that you would like to know how to better experience the

visions that happen around eclipse times. There is a technique, but it is difficult to put

into words. I will give it a try. You let me know if this makes any sense to you. It involves

disappointment.

Disappointment is not something many of us look forward to. Yet it has its place,

particularly in spiritual training, and very much so when it comes to eclipses of the Sun

and the Moon as they relate to their visions.

Direct download: PDF-1428-HOW_TO_EXPERIENCE_ECLIPSE_VISIONS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:36am EDT

I would like to talk about what we call "spirituality." The whole concept of spirituality is so confusing in these modern times. Here in America we consider our spirituality as "private," perhaps based on First Amendment rights and, sadly, meditation is lumped into the concept of spirituality. It is considered politically incorrect to ask about someone's spirituality. We don't go there. That is considered personal and private. It would be funny if it did not also have consequences.

Direct download: PDF-1427-HOW_PERSONAL_IS_PRIVATE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:35am EDT

Every idea since time immemorial, every invention and book idea, not to mention every last thought came from the mind. By itself that should be enough to point out to us that the mind is a treasure trove, if only we know how to mine it. The Buddhists call the mind the “wish-fulfilling gem,” which is totally telling, if we think about it. And every once in a while, each of us manages to find a good idea or two in the mind. Yet, it seldom occurs to us that the mind is evergreen, and always fertile. And it would seem that few deliberately set about to mine it.

Direct download: PDF-1426-HOW_LONG_DO_THINGS_LAST.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:34am EDT

These last couple of months have been busy ones… selling my company, donating my

astrology library, moving all the thousands of tapes of dharma teachings elsewhere, and

clearing out basements and rooms from twenty years of accumulation. Then there is the

retrofitting, first completely reworking the audio studio, and then upgrading the video

studio.

Anyway, I am pretty much done with all of that, so now what? I am asking myself the

same question, about every day. With all of this activity, why do I still feel like someone

turned off the engine?

Direct download: PDF-1425-HOW_IT_IS_WITH_ME.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:33am EDT

PDF-1422

Direct download: PDF-1424-HOW_I_SEE_MYSELF.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:32am EDT

Some of you have asked me how I got into my hobby of photography and here it is. It happened in 1957 when I was fifteen-years old. My parents sent me on a trip with a bunch of other kids riding an old school bus across the country. Of course I had never done anything like this before so it was very exciting to even think about much less do it. For one, I was very shy at the time and seldom had left home for anything and suddenly I was riding with a bunch of kids (mostly a little older than me) on a couple of old yellow school buses heading for the west coast, and with a dip into Mexico and then all the way back across Canada. For sure I couldn’t imagine it.


What motivates me in nature photography is probably a little unusual and I will sketch it out so that you know where I am coming from. I was a naturalist from the time I was six-years old until I discovered how beautiful women are at the age of say sixteen. I kind of segued out of nature study when I was around seventeen. We can perhaps all agree that nature is serene and beautiful but I am not as sure that all of us are aware that nature is also fierce and a very harsh mistress.

Direct download: PDF-1421-HOW_I_GOT_INTO_NATURE_PHOTOGRAPHY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:29am EDT

Through all my early years, despite all the other interests and activities I had going on,

deep within me, there was this search to find my life partner, the woman that I would

love and who possibly could also love me. I am not always that easy to be around.

And I can't forget all those late-night walks around Ann Arbor when I was unable to

sleep, just walking the streets hoping against hope to run into "her." Well, as it turned

out, it wasn't quite that easy. It took time for me to settle down and even be ready for

marriage. Here is my story.

Direct download: PDF-1420-HOW_I_FELL_IN_LOVE_AND_GOT_MARRIED.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:28am EDT

It was in the late 1950s that I really began to pick up on Buddhism, and it was Zen

Buddhism at that. And it all seemed so foreign. Well, not as foreign as the garish colors

and style of the various Hindu religions and deities, which are almost other-worldly, but

foreign enough for me. It is hard to believe that what I felt as foreign was only half-aworld

away. Americans were so cloistered in the 1950s.

Direct download: PDF-1419-HOW_FAR_IS_FOREIGN.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:27am EDT

In the late 1950s and early 1960s I would hitchhike to New York City often. Back then unless you had some old junker of a car to borrow, you hitchhiked. Heading out of Ann Arbor, the bad places to get stuck hitchhiking were down by the prison in Dundee, Michigan or trying to get around Toledo, Ohio, that sharp left turn. Once you got past those areas, it went pretty smoothly, usually. And we would hang in the Village in New York City.

Direct download: PDF-1416-HITCHHIKING_WITH_BOB_DYLAN.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:26am EDT

I can’t seem to control the endless advance of harsh events like the shootings in Connecticut, or is it that we have stopped reporting anything but sensational news? And what can I do about it? Of course I vote, and perhaps that helps some, but I can’t seem to instantly solve all of the problems this old Earth has, much less make much of a dent in the politicians, who are just too deeply embedded in themselves. At the same time I am not happy just coasting on the surface of things while Rome burns, and making no effort. So what can I do to be of use?

Direct download: PDF-1410-HELPLESS_IN_THE_FACE_OF_IT.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:25am EDT

Here is a quick look-see at the (mostly) finished studio layout. There is both an audio and video component here, complete with four "live" rooms, a break room, and various storage areas. Still not as neat as I would like, it is now ready for both video and audio recording on a reasonable scale. I will walk you through the rooms.

Direct download: PDF-1406-HEART_CENTER_STUDIOS_-_VISUAL_TOUR.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:23am EDT

Some of you have written asking about the Heart Center KKSG, our meditation center here in Big Rapids, Michigan. There are two parts, the actual shrine room, which I will provide some photos of here and the Heart Center Guest House, which I will do another day. What you have here are photos of the main mediation area shrine room. There are two other shrines, but this is the main one.

Direct download: PDF-1405-HEART_CENTER_MEDITATION_CENTER.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 8:22am EDT

The 13th Zodiac Sign! And You are Not the Sun Sign You Thought You Were Every ten or fifteen years there is a news alert to the effect that astrology as we know it has changed and we no longer are what we once were or thought we were. Our Sun Sign has changed to the one immediately prior to it or even worse suddenly there is a new Zodiac intruder in the form of a 13th Zodiac sign with the weird name “Ophiuchus” and who wants to be born in a Sun Sign with a name like that?

Direct download: PDF-1402-HAS_YOUR_SUN_SIGN_JUST_CHANGED.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:25am EDT

The most common mantra in the world is the six-syllable "Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ," which is generally pronounced and written "Om Mani Padme Hum." The Tibetans tend to pronounce it "Om Mani Pay-Me Hung," and it exists in many other pronunciations in languages like Mongolian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and so on. The first and last syllables, "Om" and "Hum" are interjections with no special meaning in themselves, other than that "Om" is a syllable of affirmation and typically begins many mantras and "Hum" often closes or ends mantras. "Hum" or "Hung" (as the Tibetans pronounce it) is semi-wrathful or at least emphatic, and is often used to destroy negativity or to protect.

Direct download: PDF-1393-HAPPY_NEW_YEAR_OF_THE_GREEN_WOOD_HORSE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:23am EDT

It is clear from private messages and emails that more than a few of you are having difficulty with this particular time period, blame it on the Full Moon, the eclipse, the Mars-Pluto conjunction, or whatever. Let’s put the reason why this is happening aside for the moment, because whatever we can agree is (or is not) the indicator (the significator), we still have to cope with the present moment, and for some of you I understand it has been a little rough.

Direct download: PDF-1387-HAPPENING_NOW_-_RITES_OF_PASSAGE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:21am EDT

There is no doubt I love flowers and green plants, just look at what I photograph. Did I ever tell you about when I went into the green plant business and ended up managing greenhouses in Florida with 19,000 Square feet of glass? Well, that happened. I will try to make this brief. I met my wife-to-be Margaret in March of 1971. We were married about three months later on July 3rd. Being impulsive romantically, I ended up proposing to Margaret in the alley behind the Fifth Forum Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We were coming out the back door after watching a movie. I wonder what that movie was? I am sure Margaret will remember.

Direct download: PDF-1385-GREEN_PLANTS_AND_GREENHOUSES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:20am EDT

[Note: Most of you know I have worked with Tibetan teachers for some 36 years or so, but I have had other teachers before that, and one incredible teacher that I will tell you about here, Andrew Gunn McIver, who literally changed my life. I warn you bored-easily ones to skip this post as I am going to wax somewhat poetic when I feel like it and I don’t want to disturb your equilibrium. You have been warned.] One morning, sometimes in 1967 I believe, I met an old man on the Diagonal of the U. of M. campus who looked a lot like the writer Bernard Shaw. This meeting was to change my life forever. Here is a poetic account of that meeting written many years ago that, while perhaps over the top, will give you at least a flavor of what that meeting was like. You were warned of this above, so don’t complain:

Direct download: PDF-1384-GREAT_TEACHERS_I_HAVE_KNOWN_-_ANDREW_GUNN_McIVER.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:19am EDT

I am not very religious (and not a theist), but I very much like the Christian idea of going to meet my maker rather than just waiting to see what happens to me in my life. I am very pro-active in that regard and in a similar way I am also into preventive medicine as much as my lazy exercise and eating habits will allow me. These old habits are hard to change!

Direct download: PDF-1373-GO_TO_MEET_YOUR_MAKER.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:18am EDT

It is my experience that intense spiritual or psychological experiences tend to isolate one from the consensus, at least for a time. That is pretty much the definition of a shaman, someone who mentally is pushed outside of society's norms by an inner experience, suffers alternative states of consciousness, and either goes mad or stabilizes and returns to society as a shaman – one who knows alternative states and can instruct others.

Direct download: PDF-1366-FROM_NATURAL_CAUSES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:16am EDT

Well dear friends, I fear you are going to be guinea pigs for this new TV series I am working on, actually more like a podcast with graphics. I am just getting started, and here is the script for my first segment, a show about one of the great blues harmonica players, Junior Wells. Humor me, because I am on a learning curve here. And you won’t be able to hear music yet, but I will post it to YouTube when it is finished. Thanks for your attention. Here is the first part: “That was the great Chicago blue artist and amplified harmonica player Junior Wells doing a tune called “Chitlins’ Con Carne’ by the great jazz guitarist from Detroit, Kenny Burrell.

Direct download: PDF-1363-FRIENDS_OF_THE_SIXTIES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:14am EDT

Something that I find incredible, as in "hard to believe," is how change can sweep into

my life, turn my apple cart upside down, and shatter my self-image into a million pieces.

And often it takes me a long time to even realize this is happening!

And when I finally do, like one of those old re-animator movies where the monster heals

himself, my tired-old self madly moves heaven and earth trying to pull itself back

together again so that it does not feel so naked. I call this my "Humpty-Dumpty Self,"

but in this case, Humpty-Dumpty does manage to put himself back together again... and

usually as fast as possible.

Direct download: PDF-1357-FREE_FALL.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:12am EDT

Readers, I was ready to move on to other topics, but at 9:25 PM EDT last evening (May 14, 2013) we had the fourth X-Class solar flare in two days, this one a X1.2 flare, all from the same solar region, sunspot 1748. And this sunspot region has now turned the corner from the other side of the Sun (as it rotates) and is now facing Earth. Scientists predict a moderate chance of having more such flares on May 15, 16, and 17, so this may not be over yet. I should mention that scientists have long speculated that at some point the Sun will emit a solar flare so large that it fries all of the electronics on Earth, sending us instantly back into the 15th Century. They say it 'will' happen, but it may be 10,000 years from now or it may be tomorrow. No one knows.

Direct download: PDF-1349-FOUR_SOLAR_X-CLASS_FLARES_IN_A_ROW.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:11am EDT

It is really hot here. Although thunderstorms are threatening outside, it is still almost ninety degrees here in my little office at 1 AM. I can’t sleep from the heat, from the thunder, and so on. And I am still very sad about the passing of the Ven. Traleg Rinpoche, whose death brings home to me once again the thought of impermanence, something I would do well to contemplate more often. I guess I was looking for Buddhism early on, way back in the 1950s. We would stay up late, smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, and talk about Buddhism and topics like existentialism. It was all just intellectual talk, and I was so serious back then.

Direct download: PDF-1346-FOR_THOSE_OF_US_WHO_CANT_SLEEP.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:10am EDT

This will be the end of this series on the folk-scene in the later 1950s and the early 1960s and how it gradually turned into "The Sixties" and the whole hippie scene. As pointed out, in the early 1960s the folk music revival was one of the main things happening on all the major campuses across America: Cambridge, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Madison, Berkeley, etc. What happened to it?

Direct download: PDF-1339-FOLK_MUSIC_SCENE_-_PART_4.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:08am EDT

We know that the Sun controls life here on earth, through its light, warmth, solar wind, and who knows what else. What I have been trying to get across for a while is that any system, from a single cell, to the solar system, to the Milky Way galaxy, has to somehow circulate enough information so that it knows how to remain whole, to be coherent. The study of how systems control themselves is called cybernetics.

Direct download: PDF-1334-FLARES_-_THE_CYBERNETICS_OF_SOLAR_CHANGE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:07am EDT

The recent X-Class flare on July 12th ejected what is called a CME event (Coronal Mass Ejection), a mass of plasma and magnetism headed directly at Earth and traveling at 850 miles per second. It is scheduled to reach Earth around 1 AM EDT on Saturday July 14th, 2012. On the outside, look for auroras. As for inside, these solar events are coming so rapidly now that I hesitate to repeat myself in these blogs, but some of you are new to this. Astrology is simply cultural astronomy, the interpretation of astronomical events happening out there in the cosmos down here on Earth. Astronomers calculate when these events occur and astrologers try and tell us what they might mean. Astrology usually focuses on the relationship of the Sun, Moon, and planets with one another as they form kaleidoscopic patterns with one another in the heavens, but there is an exception.

Direct download: PDF-1332-FLARE_-_SOLAR_PLASMA_HEADED_TO_EARTH.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:06am EDT

I'm on my way out of town for a couple of days, so I may not be able to respond to any

comments on this post. And I realize that what I am about to discuss will be a little scary

to those of you who are considering learning meditation practice, and I only mention it

because, sooner or later, you are going to come across these other practices and you

might as well understand what they are all about. I am not by nature a fear monger, but

there is this.

Direct download: PDF-1330-FIRE_AND_BRIMSTONE_DHARMA.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:04am EDT

A quote from an old Willie Nelson song that my good friend Drew Howard drilled into

me; this article is about what happens when we do get a little glimpse of what is beyond

our own self.

Dharma practice is just that, practice, a learning curve. Successful dharma practice is

like the proverbial tar baby, the more we struggle with it, the more we are stuck just

where we are. In all truth, dharma practice is learning to relax enough until our mental

straightjacket gives us up of its own accord. We can't force ourselves to rest, but we can

learn to just let our mind rest. The result is that we are eventually freed up. Yet there is

one major side issue I want to discuss and that is stabilizing our progress.

Direct download: PDF-1324-FAN_IT_AND_COOL_IT.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:03am EDT

As mentioned yesterday, it was not until 1974 that I got the real-deal, and a doublewhammy

at that. It was February 12th, 1974 that I first met the great Tibetan siddha

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I had read his books, particularly "Cutting through

Spiritual Materialism" and heard he was coming to the U-M Campus to speak. I called

the number that was listed for more information and ended up designing the poster for

the event and being Trungpa's chauffer for the weekend. What a life-changing event

that was!

Direct download: PDF-1319-EYEBALL-TO-EYEBALL.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:02am EDT

I am going to describe it in words, but this is something you deserve to experience for

yourselves. I write something about this memorable happening every year (3rd

weekend in September) because it is a landmark event for my family and me each fall.

This year is the 14th annual Harvest Gathering if I remember right. For those of you just

tuning in, let me give you the general idea once over lightly. I will include a link to the

particulars below.

Direct download: PDF-1317-EXPERIENCE_THE_HARVEST_GATHERING.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 5:01am EDT