Spirit Grooves

The solar eclipse Sunday July 11th at 3:40 PM EDT brings to a close this special 2-week interval between eclipses. I will try in this post to give you a little more of the flavor of both the western and eastern astrological traditions as regards the meaning of eclipses. First, our western tradition. The eclipse will be over Sunday, but this is not the end of the effect of the eclipse. Rather this is more like the beginning, since a solar eclipse is considered like an impregnation, a seed time. Depending on the nature of the seed, what is called the solar tone, and how we receive will be the fruit of the seed -- what comes of it. The seed or tone is placed in the stream of our mind where it may remain dormant for a time since we are usually at first unaware of its message, but sooner or later that inner sound will be heard or read by us. In other words, it is like a script that is placed deep in our mind that we can only read or become aware of over time as it slowly comes up into our mind, and as we can get a handle on it.

Direct download: PDF-1216-COUNTDOWN_TO_THE_ECLIPSE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:55pm EDT

We have had a very active Sun these last days. Also, recently released is this X-ray image of the center of our galaxy, in particular a point called Sagittarius A (Sgr A). In the enclosed image, low-energy X-rays (300 to 1,500 electron volts) are in red, medium-energy X-rays (1,500 to 3,000 electron volts) are in green, and high-energy X-rays (3,000 to 10,000) electron volts are shown in blue. At the center of these X-rays is a supermassive black hole that was very active in the ancient past, but even today produces bursts of X-ray flares every five or so days. Scientists have discovered near this massive black hole a neutron star, which is the crushed core of a supernova explosion, with mass equivalent to a half-million Earths now smashed to an object the size of Washington.

Direct download: PDF-1215-COSMIC_REVERBERATIONS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:54pm EDT

The real fireworks are taking place on the surface of the Sun and we have volley after volley of solar flares yesterday and continuing into today, Thursday July 5, 2012. And the forecast is for more and potentially larger bursts, including perhaps the most powerful X-Class flares.

Direct download: PDF-1214-COSMIC_FIREWORKS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:53pm EDT

There are two main types of cosmic radiation that reach us. The first obviously is radiation from the sun and that follows (roughly) an eleven year cycle. When the solar cycle is at its strongest (like now), we have a sharp increase in solar flares. This increase during the solar maximum acts like a great shield that wards off another kind of radiation that is not coming from the sun, but rather coming from deep space, places like the center of the galaxy and elsewhere: cosmic rays.

Direct download: PDF-1213-COSMIC_BREATHING.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:52pm EDT

Thanks to those of you who emailed or messaged me with questions about this very strong major X5.4 solar flare (and the accompanying X1.3 solar flare following it) which peaked around Active Sunspot AR1429 on Wednesday March 7, 2012 at 7:02 EST. X-Class flares are the strongest solar flares the Sun is capable of and this very large solar flare did in fact emit a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection), and that CME is Earth-bound and due to hit the Earth today, Thursday March 9,2012 around 1:25 AM EST and will last until Friday morning. The charged particles of the CME will hit the earth at 4,000,000 miles per hour.

Direct download: PDF-1212-CORONAL_MASS_EJECTION_TO_HIT_EARTH_TODAY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:51pm EDT

Spring seems finally to be here, almost a month late. When I go over my photos from past years of the chorus of spring frogs, they are usually in full swing toward the end of March. This year they have only been really active in the last few days. There have been thin layers of ice on the small ponds most mornings until now. I can only try to imagine the suffering of cold so many animals go through just to stay alive. It is unimaginable. And the spring flowers have waited all this time to pop, and now they all coming at once, which makes seeing them all, much less photographing them, a hurry-up process, and so on.

Direct download: PDF-1211-CORE_CHANGE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:50pm EDT

We have been vegetarian ON and OFF for some 45 years, mostly on, so it was not too hard to keep the vegetarian switch turned to on when His Holiness 17th Gyalwa Karmapa suggested that we might all want to consider not taking animal life. And that means cooking vegetables. If we are thinking of doing the same or have already taking that path, then we better know something about vegetables and how to cook them.

Direct download: PDF-1209-COOKING_VEGETABLES_EVERY_DAY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:48pm EDT

I have blogged here for a long time. In general, I only blog about something that I have

thoroughly gone through and feel confident to report on. My topics are, for me, "safe"

topics. Yet now I am in the middle of what I can only call new experience, so the returns

are not all in. This experience is not safe, in that sense. So, I can either not blog much,

rehash the same old stuff, or dare to blog without a safety net, without having tried and

tested my topic.

I will try to blog here at this experience level and see what happens. It may be too raw

or contain more questions than answers. Let's just see, and we can go from there.

Direct download: PDF-1208-CONVERSATIONS_WITH_MYSELF.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:48pm EDT

The airwaves today are filled with electronic waves. Forget about TV signals; that was

yesterday. Today we have not only TV, but AM and FM radio waves, microwaves,

infrared, short-wave, cordless, Wi-Fi, weather radar, and you-name-it. This is aside from

visible light waves, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and even gamma rays, not to mention

gravitational radiation. We may not be able to see many of these, but they are

everywhere around us, filling all the available spots in the frequency spectrum.

Direct download: PDF-1206-CONFLICTING_THOUGHTS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:46pm EDT

We are used to thinking that our mind is within our skull and that our inner life is inside and the external world is outside. One of the first things one learns in esoteric studies and knowledge is that that actual truth is just the reverse. What we call ‘outside’ or external is within, and what we call “in” is actually outside and surrounding any “thing.” Just as sugar or salt forms its crystal within itself from the surrounding fluid, so does external day-to-day reality form within the atmosphere of our surrounding mind. The same type of logic holds true when we inquire where life began.

Direct download: PDF-1205-CONCEPT_AND_POEM_-_INSIDE_AND_OUTSIDE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:45pm EDT

One of my favorite jazz tunes is the incredible Eugene McDaniels song "Compared to

What?" sung by Les McCann, with Eddie Harris on sax. For those of you have the time,

here is the original tune recorded live at the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival. Wait for the

lyrics please… especially the punch line:

"Tryin' to make it real – compared to what?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzvlivbptXk

That line is pure dharma to my ears because until we have some realization, we have

nothing to compare our experience to. I had planned to move on to some other topics

that I find interesting, but some of your questions suggest that I am not being clear

enough with my presentation. For that I apologize, and we will take this sidebar.

Someone asked a very fair question: "Do we not experience a realization?"

Direct download: PDF-1204-COMPARED_TO_WHAT.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:44pm EDT

Just a few words about this visionary two-week time period we are in between the solar eclipse (New Moon) that just took place on November 13th and the lunar (Full Moon ) eclipse that will take place on November 28th. I pointed out in earlier blogs that double eclipses back-to back in a two-week period is a rare and auspicious event. Traditionally this is a time for visions and vision, being able to see through the fog of the future at least something of what is in store for us, like, for example, where we may be headed. And I went into some detail that “having a vision” was not some pie-in-the-sky image that pops up in our mind, but rather a vision is a super-intense moment or time in which we are impressed or imprinted with meaning, meaning that will take time for us to absorb, and to read back out from our own mind into our consciousness and understand.

Direct download: PDF-1193-CLEAR_AND_FOGGY_VISIONS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:40pm EDT

Samye and Chimphuk In 1997, at the request of our teacher, the Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, I traveled to the high mountains of Tibet along with most of my family. We were on a pilgrimage to see His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, who is the enlightened being that the movie “The Golden Child” with Eddie Murphy was patterned after. Since that time the Karmapa has escaped Tibet and is now living in India. We did meet His Holiness, but along the way we made attempts to reach some of the legendary sacred places in Tibet. Once of those places was the high caves where Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) meditated and hid many secret teachings (terma). One of the most sacred cave complexes is that of Chimphuk, high in the mountains above Samye Monastery, to which there are no roads, reachable only by boat or backpack. Pilgrimages in Tibet are traditional, a chance to visit and soak up the vibes where great beings had spent large parts of their lives. Here is my story of climbing to the Guru Rinpoche caves of Chimphuk.

Direct download: PDF-1188-CHIMPHUK_-_CLIMBING_TO_THE_GURU_RINPOCHE_CAVES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:38pm EDT

The media is filled with the news of the very large coronal mass ejection (CME) event following the recent solar flare last Sunday, January 22, 2012, which is now giving Earth an x-ray bath that could be very dangerous except that it is mostly stopped by the earth’s magnetosphere. And the more we manage to damage our own atmospheres, of course the less protection we have from these x-ray storms, high solar winds, and similar events. As these highly charged protons and electrons funnel in through the north and south magnetic poles, they produce incredible light shows or the aurora. These are the obvious physical result of a CME event. And the news media is focused on the physical. But what about the psychological and ‘meta’-physical effects from such an event? Just because we can’t see them, do we really think they don’t exist, that we are untouchable spiritually?

Direct download: PDF-1187-CHILDREN_OF_THE_SUN.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:37pm EDT

This should be my last post on inner change, and I have thought for several days whether or not even to write this part because it touches on some very esoteric (sensitive) topics. What is the problem with inner change? The problem is that we are protected from witnessing inner change by our own social conventions, by what is called "sanity" and, for that matter, social sanitation. We do everything we can not to come into contact with our conflicting emotions, and all of the rest of the stuff that may be festering in our psyches. In reality, our internal worlds have no fixed boundaries and can include more than a little chaos and all manner of undigested experience – paradoxes that we have come up against but have failed to assimilate, especially relating to our "self." The "Self" does not like to be embarrassed.

Direct download: PDF-1182-CHANGE_-_THE_UNWRITABLE_AND_UNTHINKABLE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:35pm EDT

I realize as I write this that there will (probably) be few readers for this article. I know you like variety in these blogs, and that a few stories would be more welcome. However, I tend to go where my interest goes, and right now, in this political season, I am wondering how we will ever make headway against the lobbyists, corporations, and entrenched interests. And I don’t see a quick fix for solving our problems, but rather one that works from the bottom up, one person at a time. I am sure this may seem abstract, but I don’t see it that way. It involves not with how to change others, but with how to change ourselves. Philosophers, psychiatrists, and especially Buddhists talk about labels and labeling all the time. Labels here refer to that thin film of thought that coats our true senses, a prophylactic against actually feeling life, just as it is. Labels are a self-imposed mental filter between each of us and true reality.

Direct download: PDF-1180-CENSORING_OUR_REALITY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:34pm EDT

I am reminded of one of our trips to Tibet when we climbed to the Crystal Cave of Guru

Rinpoche, a pretty inaccessible place. It was an all-day hike and we needed whatever

help we could get, so we started out having a local Tibetan drive us up an old creek bed

in a small trailer on the back of one of those Tibetan tractor-like machines. There we

were riding in the back, as the tractor very slowly crept up the dry stream bed.

And we (too soon for me) reached a point where the tractor could not pull us any farther

and it was get out and help push or just walk. We walked, and that was still at the

beginning of the beginning of the climb. It was not long after that that we were literally

walking among the clouds.

Direct download: PDF-1177-CAST_INTO_THE_FUTURE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:24pm EDT

Career changes, finding what you like or can do in life, don’t always just jump out at you. They may not always be so obvious. Some life changes kind of sneak up on you. You may even have to watch out for the signs to even know that they are there or you may already be doing for fun (or for your own sanity!) what you might be able to do for money and a job. Astrology does not so much promise anything to us, as open up opportunities or doors, and it is always up to us to walk through them. No one can do that for us.

Direct download: PDF-1175-CAREER_OR_LIFE_PATH_CHANGE_OR_OPPORTUNITIES_NOW.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:21pm EDT

What you are looking at here is a very large (and deep) bag of freshly roasted coffee beans from our friends at Higher Grounds (fair-trade) Coffee in Traverse City. I don't know how many pounds this is, but it is enough. Enough for what you might ask? It is enough for the recording session starting today at our studio (Heart Center Studios) here in Big Rapids, Michigan, for a new solo album by my daughter May Erlewine, with her husband Seth Bernard on guitar, Josh Davis on keyboards (and who knows what else), Dominic John (bass player for Jack White) on bass, jazz-drummer Mike Shimmin on drums, and I am sure a few others. Ian Gorman will engineer it. A few of us will get to drop by and take a listen if we are quiet.

Direct download: PDF-1172-CAN_YOU_SMELL_THE_COFFEE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:20pm EDT

I have tried all kinds of diets over the years, my favorite always being fasting, at least for a short time. Let’s start there. I fast for a few days, eating almost nothing and drinking lots of fluids, feel a lot better, and gradually introduce food again. I always lose a few pounds, trim down a bit, and am pretty happy with myself for that. The problem is that after I start eating again I kind of go into zombie mode and before long I am eating at least as much as I was before and sometimes more. Somehow I zone out. I forget.

Direct download: PDF-1171-CAN_I_ACTUALLY_LOSE_WEIGHT.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:19pm EDT

Astrology and predicting the future are often linked together. Does astrology predict the future and, if so, how does that work? You would think if astrologers could predict something like the stock market, the first thing they would do is run out and make a million dollars or so. This would make their lives easier. But that does not seem to be the case. Astrologers are not usually numbered among the very rich. In fact, it is more likely the opposite, and here is a little story of my own about that. Many years ago, in the very early 1970s, I wanted to buy a programmable calculator. It was the beginning of my programming career and it led to my founding Matrix Software, the first astrological software company that offered programs for astrologers. And… Matrix today is the second oldest software company on the Internet (aside from Microsoft) according to an article written for Red Herring Magazine.

Direct download: PDF-1170-CAN_ASTROLOGY_PREDICT_OUR_FUTURE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:19pm EDT

I know something about how it is to have my mind clear, and I can tell when it is foggy, as if there was some greasy film over everything, including my usual clarity. Sometimes I just wake up with my mind out of whack. Bad dreams? Who knows? Like a camera slightly out of focus, at those times I find that I am somehow beside myself, however subtly. I can feel it, sense it, and know that I am unclear. I am not talking about being cross-eyed, but just ever-so-slightly out-of-focus -- not in tune. Years ago my life-teacher Andrew McIver would take care of this for me. When I would meet him on a given day, perhaps up on the Diag (central campus) of the University of Michigan, he could tell when I was out of sorts, I don’t know how. And I would never see it coming, which is just the point. I was not seeing that well at those times anyway.

Direct download: PDF-1162-BURNING_OFF_THE_DROSS_-_PURIFICATION.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:18pm EDT

HOW TO INTERPRET RETROGRADES [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-1161-BURN_RATE_-_THE_ASTROLOGY_OF_RETROGRADES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:17pm EDT

Above title a line from the disco song by The Trammps of 1978, and here I am referring

to our karmic burn rate. We are certainly all slaves to our own karma, usually creating it

as fast as we can. I always liked the album title of singer-songwriter Neil Young, "Rust

Never Sleeps," only here it would be "Karma Never Sleeps."

Since I was originally raised on the Ten Commandments, when I wandered into

Buddhism and learned about the law of Karma, cause and effect, I was always on the

watch not to accumulate karma of the "Do Not Kill," "Do Not Steal," and so on variety. It

never occurred to me until somewhat late in the game that I was already accumulating a

myriad of karma of a lesser kind. I call it micro-karma and I was on the lookout for big

mistakes while trampling on the grass and stepping on ants. I am reminded of the quote

from the poet/occultist Aleister Crowley, "To snatch at a gnat, and swallow a camel."

That's about right.

Direct download: PDF-1160-BURN_BABY_BURN.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:16pm EDT

Folks, this blog may be too long and nitty-gritty for some of you and for this I apologize. It may not be for everyone. Here goes: The “Dharma” or mind training (meditation methods) that the historical Buddha left us is (as we know) currently going secular big time. Today more and more people are training their minds. Does this mean that Buddhism does not have a “spiritual” component? I hesitate to use the word ‘religious’ here (and I mentioned this in the precious blog) because I don’t consider Buddhism a religion in the traditional sense. That is my opinion.

Direct download: PDF-1158-BUDDHIST_SPIRITUALITY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:15pm EDT

Well, “no way” as I see it. Buddhism is said to be one of the fastest-growing religions in America. In my opinion this is because Buddhism is not really a religion at all as folks who study it well know. I never thought it was and I have been working with it for over 37 years. If you must call it a religion, then it is the “religion” for the rest of us. If it is not a religion, what is it?

Direct download: PDF-1157-BUDDHISM_A_RELIGION_-_NO_WAY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:14pm EDT

When I remember my first introduction to Buddhism, all that comes to mind are the

"Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind toward the Dharma," also called the "Four Thoughts

That Turn the Mind," or just the "Four Thoughts." Some traditions call them the "Four

Reversals," because these thoughts are so convincing and natural that they (when

properly understood) divert us from our distracted lives and cause us to actually change

our own mind and direction.

Direct download: PDF-1156-BUDDHISM_-_HOW_IT_HAPPENED_TO_ME.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:13pm EDT

A powerful burst of energy from a dying star overwhelmed an orbiting observatory scanning for x-Rays and other high-energy radiation. The blast came from a star that died five billion years ago probably on its way to become a black hole. And that burst of energy has been traveling all this time to arrive on Earth June 21, basically the summer solstice.

Direct download: PDF-1155-BRIGHTEST_HIGH-ENERGY_LIGHT_SOURCES_EVER_RECORDED.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:12pm EDT

For those of you interested in or practicing Mahamudra meditation, here is what I consider an important book to know.

I will try to be succinct. I have co-directed a meditation center for some 25 years, studied (and practiced) under Tibetans for 40 years many of the practices and techniques described by Daniel Brown. I have worked with a high rinpoche for the last 30 years on studying and practicing Mahamudra. My point is that this material is not new to me. When I first saw this very large book, I assumed that it was just another derivative dharma book of the kind that needs too-many words to say not enough, and seldom communicates what is actually needed by readers.

Direct download: PDF-1154-BOOK_REVIEW_-_POINTING_OUT_THE_GREAT_WAY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:11pm EDT

I have blogged here that I am donating the Heart Center Astrological Library which I

have curated for these many years to the University of Illinois to become part of their

permanent collection. The university is the third largest library in the world, so it will

have a good home. It is time.

The library may well be the largest such library in existence, and to my knowledge it

contains the most astrological periodicals ever assembled, and they are the most

ephemeral.

Direct download: PDF-1153-BON_VOYAGE_-_HEART_CENTER_ASTROLOGICAL_LIBRARY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:10pm EDT

[Esoteric Warning: The following blog is esoteric in nature and probably too heady for some. It does have a practical aspect, but it may be difficult to grasp. You may choose to just ignore this post.] Good habits and bad habits, both have a strong effect on the mind. Habits are, of course, "habits," but I find that habits also act as viewers into the mind. Let's put the bad habits aside for the moment and just look at the good ones. Actually, I should say we look "through" our good habits, as I am certain that the habits we build are, in their own way, prisms through which we see internal landscapes we cannot otherwise see, or is it just me? Anyway, I know this works for me.

Direct download: PDF-1152-BODIES_OF_EXPERIENCE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:09pm EDT

Since the mid-1970s I have been involved in dharma practice and affiliated with Tibetan Buddhism. Most of my Facebook friends must know that about me by now. I have had the extreme good fortune to sit at the feet of the Tibetan Buddhist masters that escaped from Tibet and learn. But before I found the Tibetans I had other life masters that I studied. I want to tell you about one group of them. I became involved in the folk-music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s. I was learning to play guitar and traveling the same folk circuit that folk singers like Bob Dylan traveled at that time. In fact I hitchhiked with Dylan for a stretch in 1961, was with him when he performed in Ann Arbor, and things like that. That would be another story.

Direct download: PDF-1149-BLUES_BEFORE_DHARMA.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:08pm EDT

"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." It has taken 45 years, but that aphorism has proved itself true regarding natural foods. There certainly was nothing very natural about Ann Arbor food back in the early 1960s. And I am so tired of ne'er-do-wells telling me that "The Sixties" was a mistake and has brought the country nothing of real value. Are they serious? I keep waiting for someone to set the record straight, but as Dylan says "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there." So, as we can find the time, let's those of us who were there count the blessings of The Sixties, one-by-one, while we can. I am going to start off with food and my connection with Eden Foods. What would Ann Arbor (or for that matter, the whole country) be like without Eden Foods and endeavors like it? Eden Foods is just one of the great concepts that became companies in the 1960s. Let me set the stage here for a moment.

Direct download: PDF-1146-BLESSINGS_OF_THE_1960S_-_EDEN_FOODS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:06pm EDT

This is the conclusion to my comments on these great landmark festivals. And what was

I thinking during the festivals? Mostly probably not thinking, but living it, just being there.

Life also has its high points, and for me this is one of them. I was taking it all in, one

moment at a time.

In the flurry and hubbub of the constant festival activity, something was sinking in, and it

had more to do with the interviewing I was doing than it did with the festival music or

even the whole music scene itself. I already knew the music, but never before the

performers up close.

Direct download: PDF-1141-BEYOND_THE_MUSIC.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:05pm EDT

Recently I was reflecting on my interest in Mahamudra meditation, perhaps the pinnacle of dharma practice in the Karma Kagyu tradition, the Tibetan Buddhist lineage to which I find myself most naturally resonant. I calculate that my wife Margaret and I have travelled over 40,000 miles just to hear teachings on this one topic alone. That is over one and one half times around the circumference of the earth and something like 500 teaching sessions over 23 years, just on the subject of Mahamudra meditation. I figure I must be into it

Direct download: PDF-1140-BEYOND_AMAZING.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:04pm EDT

Of course I am talking about meditation. Like a bulldog with a bone, I can’t seem to let go of talking about how incredible meditation is. Now, I am not talking about “practicing” meditation. That is tedious. I am talking about actually learning to meditate. The main (and hardest) part of learning meditation is building the habit of mindfulness. That is what it is all about. This typically involves sitting (often on a cushion) in some quiet place and practicing the basic technique of meditating. It does take time. The emphasis is on “practice” and the purpose of practice is to learn (make a habit of) mindfulness. We need mindfulness in order to meditate and we need (at least I do) meditation in order to see clearly and respond skillfully to life.

Direct download: PDF-1139-BETTER_THAN_SUBSTANCES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:03pm EDT

Back in 1964, when I spent a year living in Berkeley, California, I attended some

meetings of a group studying the works of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff. One quote from

Gurdjieff's "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" that stuck in my mind was:

"If you go on a spree, then go the whole hog, including the postage."

The idea is that if you are going to do something, don't scrimp and offer short-services,

but go all the way… including paying for the postage.

Direct download: PDF-1138-BENDING_OVER_BACKWARD.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:02pm EDT

First a Solar Flare Update: We finally got an X1.1 Class solar flare last night at about 8:08 PM EDT Friday July 6, 2012, the strongest class of solar flare, and it did generate a CME Event (Coronal Mass Ejection), but it looks like the CME is not headed toward Earth. Keep in mind that solar-flares affect us deep inside and its information appears or occurs to us in our mind as the “truth” and thus overwrites whatever we have been identifying with up to that point. These are good times to dig into how things really are and get down to the nitty-gritty.

Direct download: PDF-1137-BEING_ALONE_AND_LONELY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:01pm EDT

I mentioned recently that I no longer read books, per se, at least not fiction. But I neglected to say that I do read magazines, although they too are dwindling in importance due to a lack of interesting content for my tastes. And this is not a put-down, but I do most of my magazine reading in the bathroom, a bit at a time. We have a little vertical wooden magazine rack on the floor at knee level that I can lay an open magazine on. How perfect! Back in the 1950s, in my parent’s home, as the oldest of five boys, I grew up reading things like Life Magazine, the Saturday Evening Post, and especially National Geographic; where else would a teenage boy find photos of naked women?

Direct download: PDF-1131-BATHROOM_READING.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00pm EDT

Here is a very general diagram of what can be involved in practicing dharma. I include it because many of you may have little to no knowledge about how simple or complicated dharma practice is. I apologize in advance for any oversimplification and am happy to try and answer questions. This diagram follows (in general) practices working toward making Mahamudra meditation an eventual goal. Here are some comments on the numbered points. Actual traditional mind practice are listed in points #2 through #10.

Direct download: PDF-1130-BASIC_MIND_TRAINING_-_A_DIAGRAM.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:59pm EDT

I have an abiding memory as a young adult of when I would return home on occasion to visit my folks. I always wanted to show them how much I had changed and they seemed determined to prove to me that I was still the same old “Michael.” I can laugh at it now but it was no fun back then. Each time I came home I had changed some since I last had seen them, worked hard to achieve it, but they just could not (or would not, so I thought at the time) see it. And they sure knew how to get the worst out of me in the shortest amount of time. They had all my buttons down cold and seemed honor-bound to push each one of them. And when I finally flipped out and reverted to my previous behavior, they sure knew how to tell me “I told you so. Same old Michael!”

Direct download: PDF-1126-BACK_FROM_THE_FUTURE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:58pm EDT

In my years of counseling, relationships, and especially romantic match-ups were a high priority with almost everyone. Remember that marriage is the most common form of yoga or union. The word yoga simply means "to yoke", "to join", "to unite", or "to attach.” When we bring another person close to us in life, like a mirror before our face, we mostly see ourselves in them. By “see ourselves” is meant that in them we mirror our persona (the good, the bad, and the ugly) just perfectly. It is when we react to what we see rather than admit and carefully respond, that all of the difficulties begin.

Direct download: PDF-1123-AWARENESS_-_THE_ROOT_OF_COMPASSION.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:56pm EDT

My recent book “Blues in Black & White: The Landmark Ann Arbor Blues Festivals” (with book partners Stanley Livingston and Tom Erlewine) was just selected as one of the “2011 Michigan Notable Books” by the Michigan Department of Education. The announcement appears today and was covered by the Sunday Detroit Free Press and scores of other media. I am currently working on two other books from that era, one on the “Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festivals” and a second one on “Ann Arbor in the Sixties.”

Direct download: PDF-1122-AWARD_WINNING_BLUES_BOOK_by_Michael_Erlewine.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:55pm EDT

Something that strikes me about the dharma is how authentic or natural it is, as

opposed to a set of rules or something that someone might have just made up. I

immediately felt this when I first encountered the Buddhist teachings and I feel the same

way today. The dharma is not some prophet's imperatives or ideas, but just the way

things naturally are. In fact, in many ways the basics of dharma are confirming rather

than revelatory. The teachings confirm what I always thought myself was happening in

the world, just with more detail.

Direct download: PDF-1121-AUTHENTICITY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:54pm EDT

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," a quote from the

historian John Dalberg-Acton. No, I am not talking about the U.S. Congress, but if the

shoe fits… Rather I am pointing to an esoteric principle that I was introduced to years

ago, and I ignore at my peril --it has to do with how we are attracted to people and why.

I wish I had understood this principle when I was younger because I would not have

been taken in by what appeared as attraction with this or that supposed teacher or

"guru."

Direct download: PDF-1119-ATTRACTION_vs_REFLECTION.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:53pm EDT

There was so much I was going to tell you these days, like that the Solstice was here (Friday) and the Sun is now moving northward, bringing more light each day, or about the so-called Mayan calendar deadline that came and went, yet the world did not end as predicted. But in the midst of all of that, some part of my world here at home did end with the unexpected death of a very close friend of the family. I write so often in these blogs about how the death of a loved one can shatter our carefully-groomed sense of self and we suddenly find ourselves, once again, contemplating impermanence, the second of the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind Toward the Dharma, and so it was.

Direct download: PDF-1116-AT_TIMES_LIKE_THESE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:52pm EDT

The message today is don't sweat the small stuff and don't let accumulating responsibilities slow you down. Simply take care of them. The good news is that you should have a flood of energy and renewed enthusiasm now, so that should help. Use it to move yourself forward, a bit at a time. The point here is that any obstacles that arise are not warning signs to turn around and retreat, but just things that need to be negotiated and gotten out of the way. For the sake of forward motion, don’t let the red tape entangle you. Just deal with it. INTERFACE – Deep Motivations Appreciating the Spiritual Right now anything that is remotely imaginative or spiritual in nature fascinates, and you naturally take to it like a fish to water. Music, film, poetry, whatever unifies the human spirit, you value and can probably add some elegant touch of your own. This is from deep down.

Direct download: PDF-1109-ASTRO-TALK_FOR_JULY_15_2010.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:50pm EDT

You liked the story yesterday. I may not always have one, but here is another one that to me is funny. Over the years we have had a great many Tibetan rinpoches and lamas at Heart Center KKSG, our dharma center here in Big Rapids, Michigan. This story in involves one of the very highest rinpoches, which I won’t mention by name on the chance that it might embarrass him. Let’s just say that if someone such as the Dalai Lama is the main guy, then this would be like his second in command, rank-wise, i.e. very high up. At any rate, he was staying here with us for most of a week. On this particular day the press came, he was on TV, etc. and at the time of this incident we were finishing up in the living room in our home, with everyone sitting around very respectively. All of a sudden one of my young daughters raced into the room with panic on her face declaring “The neighbor’s cat is up in our tree and he’s going to the little baby birds.” Well, you should know that my whole family and I are all about preserving life of any kind, especially baby ‘anythings’.

Direct download: PDF-1108-ASTRO-TALK_FOR_JULY_14_2010.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:49pm EDT

In a very real sense, these outer planets’ cycles are of a duration longer than an average lifetime. For sure, the 84-year cycle of Uranus is now within range of the average lifespan, at least here in the West, but that was not necessarily true when it was discovered. Neptune and Pluto’s orbits are, of course, well beyond any one person’s lifetime. We don’t personally live that long. This fact, itself, is of interest. We could say as fact that a single person will not manage to encompass all the degrees of the zodiac these outer planets cover within their personal experience in a lifetime, and that, because of that, in a real sense we do not and cannot personally “know” the whole nature of these planets.

Direct download: PDF-1105-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_8.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:21pm EDT

I have attempted to point out how the very order of the planets themselves can be a key to how they may be used, a key to our own inner journey of discovery. But it is clear that many of you are nodding off and I accept this as my fault. It is true that esoteric astrology is very difficult to grasp and if not grasped lends itself well to sleeping. I apologize. At this point, instead of going on to describe each life chakra in excruciating detail, I am going to detour around that and say something about Saturn and its relation to the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. If this does not resonate, then I will take up other topics entirely. I don’t want to wear out my welcome. It is a good question: What about the outer planets, the planets beyond Saturn: Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and any others still waiting to be found?

Direct download: PDF-1104-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_7.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:20pm EDT

As a counseling astrologer, you want to be able to determine which of the chakras your client is currently living and learning in. It is not that difficult, and here are some general rules that have proved helpful to me in figuring this out. Most of the clients you encounter will be in the Saturn, Jupiter, or Mars chakras, somewhere on their journey to reaching the Earth or Heart chakra, which is where each of us is trying to get to. Those who are in the Earth chakra will not need our help, and these are pretty rare anyway. The type of person who would seek out astrological council will most often be, as mentioned, those in the Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars chakras, one of these.

Direct download: PDF-1103-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_6.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:19pm EDT

The Inner is the Key to the Outer The entire process we are about to describe here refers to the process of our spiritual birth or awakening and, for most of us, this does not occur until after our Saturn return (or just prior to it) at 29.4 years of age, although some precocious wake up a little earlier and witness their Saturn passage . What follows here has to do with the opening of the chakras, what has been called the process of spiritual awakening or self-discovery.

Direct download: PDF-1102-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_5.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:18pm EDT

Background: Digressions

Before we get into the specific chakras and how to recognize each of them and which one you are in, let’s take one step back, and make sure you have all the background you need to understand what I am pointing out here. This will be a digression, but hopefully a very useful one. In fact, this post may be the most important post, since if you understand it, what is coming will be clear, and if you don’t all that follows will be just some words. So please read this section with care.

Direct download: PDF-1101-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_4.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:17pm EDT

Astrology of the Heart - The Inner Meaning In this part of the blog, we will start by examining the astrological planets as they relate to the system of subtle internal energies called the chakras, a branch of esoteric astrology. Also called occult or secret astrology, esoteric astrology is by definition somewhat difficult to study. It is occult (hidden) or secret, not because it is some deep dark secret, and not because someone or some group is trying to keep it from us, but because it is, by its very nature, subtle and hard to grasp with the mind. It might be more helpful to say, as the Tibetans do, that it is self-secret. It hides itself from us. We can’t grasp it.

Direct download: PDF-1100-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_3.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:16pm EDT

In this material, I am not going to try to pursue shamanism as it relates to personal totems, power animals, or to any of the more exotic practices that we might read about in books like those of Carlos Castaneda, and other worthy writers, although these are, of course, very legitimate interests. I am not going to skin animals, dig (or take) herbs, draw magic circles, or perform any of the many rituals that you might find in a book on traditional shamanism. Here we are looking at shamanism within the tradition of astrology itself, in particular the role of the modern astrologer as a ferryman or guide to the inner states of the mind and life.

Direct download: PDF-1099-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_2.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:15pm EDT

A number of you have written to me about my studies of esoteric astrology, in particular shamanism as it relates to astrology. As it happens, this is my favorite kind of astrology so I will attempt to create a series of blogs on this topic. Let me know if you like it and I will continue. Astrology is, above all, an oracle, albeit a complex one. An oracle is a direct way for the cosmos (and our own inner life) to actually speak to us, if we will listen. This writing is about listening to that inner oracle and learning how to read and interpret the signs and messages that are endlessly appearing all around us each day of our lives.

Direct download: PDF-1098-ASTRO-SHAMANISM_-_PART_1.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:14pm EDT

I have not been wearing my astrology hat lately because my mind has been on other

things. Also, I don't often direct my life using astrology, but tend to check in only now

and again on what is happening in the heavens, especially if my engine seems to be

running off the track I imagine it is on. I'm not saying I am headed for a train wreck just

now, but I do find myself a little up-in-the-air these days, what the occultists call "out-ofthe-

body," a much misused phrase.

Direct download: PDF-1094-ASTROLOGY_UPDATE_-_OUT_OF_THE_BODY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:12pm EDT

Astrologers are not unlike their more psychic cousins, the psychometrists who use

various objects to get in touch with different types of interpretive information. However,

instead of handling some personal object belonging to the person in question, we

astrologers tend to use all the available astronomical facts as a touchstone or pointers

to whatever meaning or interpretation we are searching for.

Direct download: PDF-1078-ASTROLOGICAL_PSYCHOMETRY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:10pm EDT

A number of you have written asking me about the various tarot-card-like astrology images I use and where they came from. I don’t mind telling you how these came to be, but as you will see it has a personal element to it, so take note. Some years ago, I went through a period of loss. I won’t go into detail, but it kind of stopped me cold and popped me out of whatever day-to-day distractions I was into. It was quite a long period, years. There was nothing at that time that really could cheer me up.

Direct download: PDF-1076-ASTRO-IMAGE_CARDS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:09pm EDT

Ever wonder about the place where you have lived most of your life? Places do have qualities and are we too a product of those qualities? Is the state of Michigan where I live also a state of mind? I didn't used to think too much about this, but I got my eyes opened a bit back in the 1980s, plus back in the 1970s I developed an astrological mapping/relocation technique called "Local Space," which is now used by astrologers all over the world. Here are three things that I have learned about Michigan (where I live in a small town called Big Rapids) that I consider interesting.

Direct download: PDF-1072-ARE_PLACES_SACRED.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:08pm EDT

Most of us have a home town where we came from. Ann Arbor Michigan is my home town; I grew up there. In the 1960s Ann Arbor was very different from the overly-caffeinated and sophisticated city it is today. For one, it did not used to take me 20 minutes to drive across town, but that is beside the point. Back then Ann Arbor appeared much less sure of itself (or was it just me growing up?). It seemed to be overly self-conscious and playing second fiddle (weak sister) to other college towns like Cambridge, Madison, and Berkeley. Ann Arbor had not yet found its place in mainstream America and what it lacked in bravado, it made up for in introspection and a quiet humility. What I did not fully grasp back then is that Ann Arbor is fecund, a fertile place, indeed a womb. It is pure feminine

Direct download: PDF-1070-ANN_ARBOR_MICHIGAN_-_A_WISHING_STAR.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:06pm EDT

Well, I tried to load a short video taken by my wife Margaret of the Earthwork-Women's

set at the Harvest Gathering where I have been for the last week, but it failed. The video

was poor, the sound was poor, but the spirit of the Earthwork woman is not. The woman

artists in the Earthwork music collective offer a special set each year for listeners, where

each of them sings a song. In this case, my daughter Anne is singing Dylan's "I Shall Be

Released.' Thought you might like to hear a little taste of their solidarity.

The Annual Harvest Gathering is over; I am back home where my dog has been waiting

for me all this time. I have way too many mosquito, spider, and bug bites than I would

like and it feels so good to have my own shower and bathroom back, not to mention

sleep. I have not slept much in days.

Direct download: PDF-1068-AND_THEN_IT_WAS_OVER.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:05pm EDT

We have two wonderful violinists or “fiddlers” here, Bob Bernard and Kailin Yong. Bob Bernard is known throughout northern Michigan for his love of fine waltzes and great skill at playing them, and that is what these two violinists are here to do, make an album of American Waltzes, a duet between two great musicians.

Direct download: PDF-1064-AMERICAN_WALTZES.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:03pm EDT

I have always been intrigued by Tibetan Buddhist comments on what they call the

"Three Times," the past, present, and future. Two of these which I have often presented

in blogs are:

Don't Prolong the Past

Don't Invite the Future

I get that, but it is the third one I have been considering for a while, which is.

Don't Alter the Present

Direct download: PDF-1061-ALTERED_AWARENESS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:02pm EDT

I am a believer in the expanding universe theory, at least the universe of my family. It keeps getting larger. No need to send out for friends. My growing family is a party all on its own, just waiting to happen. And every once in a great while everyone shows up and hangs out. We did that yesterday, all four of my kids, their partners, their kids, a few close friends, and a surprise guest. I will get to the surprise guest in a moment.

Direct download: PDF-1056-ALL_DAY_PARTY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

Not all stories are as touching for me as yesterday's blog. My life is not "that"

interesting, so here is a more mundane story from the depths of last winter; at least that

is when it all started.

We live in a cold spot in Michigan or so the weather maps tell me. I don't like to think

about this fact, especially around February and March. Worse, I was browsing through

CNN (or some site recently) and I clicked on an article that said "The Ten Worst Cities

to Live in the United States." Of course, I just had to see that.

Direct download: PDF-1055-ALL_ABOUT_HAPPY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:58pm EDT

On my journey as baby-holder this last weekend, we drove a lot of miles. And this event

happened. I had pulled into the passing lane on an expressway getting ready to pass a

slow-moving semi-trailer. There was still a little gap between my car and the semi, but I

was gaining on it.

A faster-moving driver suddenly pulled up behind and tailgated me. When, instead of

immediately moving over directly behind the semi, I proceeded with my attempt to pass

the semi, the tailgated car roared into the right line next to me, surged ahead, and

dangerously swung in front of me in space that was hardly enough and tore past the

semi. I didn't look, but if I did I would not be surprised to see the driver giving me the

finger. I guess this is called road rage. But it underscored how much aggression and

anger there is around us much of the time.

Direct download: PDF-1053-AGGRESSION_AND_ANGER.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:57pm EDT

What happens when you mispronounce a name and end up left in a cow pasture with a five-foot pile of luggage watching your plane fly away? And then you manage to lose two of your children to a runaway cab driver. Here is the story.

Direct download: PDF-1049-ADVENTURE_IN_NEPAL_-_JUNGLE_BY_MISTAKE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:55pm EDT

A quick check of the weather forecast shows that we are going to hit 70-degrees today, with a lot of wind, and maybe a 20% chance of rain. That is pretty warm for mid-November. And we are only a couple of days away from the start of hunting season here in Michigan. As it turns out, the town I live in (Big Rapids, Michigan) sits on the edge of almost a million acres of national forest, the great Manistee National Forest. We are on the very verge, so to speak. Normally that is all for the good, but right now it means that our town will suddenly be the vortex of a hurricane of hunters who descend each year like locusts. All dressed in red and orange, the grocery stores will be filled with them in the act of provisioning. Beards are big, so are boots and hats. The local Big Boy and other restaurants will be filled. More women hunt all the time, but mostly it’s a boy’s game, two weeks of bachelor parties, and too many drunks on the road.

Direct download: PDF-1048-ADVENT_OF_THE_HUNT.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:54pm EDT

I made my living doing sit-down astrology readings with clients for many years. I still do readings, but mostly for friends and acquaintances these days. I am just too busy running a company to have the time anymore, but I still like to do them. One thing that comes up in many readings is what do we do when something really devastating happens to us in our lives, like losing our job, our life savings, our partner, or what-have-you? These kind of events happen all too often, and to almost everyone at some time in our lives – a really big setback. It has happened to me, for sure – big time.

Direct download: PDF-1047-ADDING_INSULT_TO_INJURY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:53pm EDT

It is easy for me to smile here on Facebook or to the friends and neighbors I bump

into, but much harder to always be at my kindest in a 24x7, one-to-one relationship

like marriage.

And please keep in mind that the word "yoga" means union, and the most common

form of yoga is marriage. Most of us (particularly me) are not masters of yoga. And

marriage reminds me of that each and every day. In my experience, there is no

closer mirror of the mind than intimate relationships. Perhaps this is why most

monks don't marry. They already have found their mirror. The rest of us find our

mirror, sooner or later, in relationships, ready or not. It seems we are drawn to this

by love. Amazing!

Direct download: PDF-1043-A_WORD_ABOUT_MARRIAGE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:51pm EDT

In the previous section I point out that at around thirty years of age we begin to emerge from time. At that point time as we know it stops for all practical purposes and our soul is mentally frozen in our prime of youth like an insect in amber. It never decays. But the body does decay and after its prime, it embarks on a long trajectory downhill that personally ends with death. In other words, at thirty years of age the spirit up and leaves the body, or begins to, and this transformation has not gone unnoticed by certain religious groups. “Born Again” is what I am talking about here. A Christian concept? Hardly, but some Christians have been aware enough to claim it, although it is available to us all.

Direct download: PDF-1042-A_WHIFF_OF_IMPERMANENCE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:50pm EDT

I don't know why, but I don't like the name "vegan," even worse if I am becoming one.

The reason why is that probably, as a sometimes vegetarian, for years vegan marked

the line between yummy and not-so-yummy. There is a little story here, so I might as

well tell it. It is early in the morning and it is cold outside. There is snow on the ground

that had to be plowed. If the sun shines today I will try to walk outside. If there are gray

skies, probably I will hunker down, chicken that I am. That says it all.

I have been on and off vegetarian for years, sometimes decades at a time. I will spare

you the details… for now.

Direct download: PDF-1040-A_VEGAN_BY_ANY_OTHER_NAME.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:49pm EDT

The solar influx from flares and CME events can be likened to the flood plain of a river after inundation, in this case by flooding our known and familiar internal landscape with change. When the Sun quiets down and the solar tides begin to recede, you might imagine things would begin to look normal again. Not so. If you have ever seen a river or stream flood, when it recedes, things are not as they were before. The flood tides remove things from one place and makes new deposits in another. Often the course of the streambed itself is altered and there is an entirely new channel. So it is with solar tides and their receding.

Direct download: PDF-1036-A_SOLAR_INFLUX_PAUSE_-_WHAT_THAT_MEANS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:47pm EDT

I want to continue this discussion of sacred space, consecrated objects, and blessed people. The word "sacred" comes from the Latin "sacer," which means to be set something apart from the ordinary as holy, as in to consecrate, venerate, dedicate, or associate a place or time as special or sacred.

Many countries, mostly ancient societies like China and India, have sacred places or sites. That is what pilgrimages are all about. I have been on pilgrimage to Tibet, China, Nepal, and India in West Bengal and Sikkim, etc., but have heard very little about making pilgrimages here in North America except to places like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Elvis's home, etc. Why is that?

Direct download: PDF-1033-A_SENSE_OF_SACRED_SPACE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:46pm EDT

My topic is a dear one to all astrologers: aspects between planetary pairs. When you consider we have eight planets plus The Lights (Sun and Moon) and each body has an aspect with every other body, we soon have a lot of aspects to consider when looking at an astrological chart. Perhaps that is why over the centuries astrologers have tried to reduce the number of factors they have to consider to just the exact aspects, and each astrologer has their own idea of aspect orbs, so we won’t go there in this brief presentation. Like most of you I grew up with aspect orbs and aspect grids, painstaking filling out the grids and marking the aspects I felt were in close enough orb for me to consider them. And of course when computers came along all of this was done somewhere inside the computer and all I got was the finished aspect list. Those aspects that were not within the orbs I set were ignored and I was happy about that for the sake of making my job preparing for a reading with a client easier.

Direct download: PDF-1030-A_QUESTION_ABOUT_ASPECTS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:44pm EDT

My family loves Autumn. I acknowledge it too, but for me there is also something desperate about the fall season, all the bright days pointing away from summer and toward the solstice in December; that is the moment I start to look for spring, much to my wife’s shaking of her head. I was born a summer baby, on the hottest day in summer my mom said. I guess I am a spring and summer soul. Some like it hot. I am a bit melancholy or perhaps it is just the passing of our dog Kota that lingers. Kota passed away quietly Sunday afternoon, a prince to the end. My wife tells me he was sitting out in the yard where she had carefully helped him stand up to pee. When he flopped back down, Margaret tells me he raised his nose up to the sky, sniffed the air, and then lay down again and his poor heart gave out. We were with him in the last moments. It was a peaceful death.

Direct download: PDF-1029-A_PASSING_MOOD.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:43pm EDT

We all have directions embedded in our mind, which we try to follow. They are not the

directions north, east, south, or west, but rather some itch inside us that wants to be

scratched. When other interests fade away, these itches still are present. They last.

For me such an itch happens with photography, which is more than just a hobby for me.

Since I (without meaning to) mixed photography with mind training many years ago, the

two practices, photography and mind training, are almost hopelessly mixed with one

another. It is the mind training that brings clarity to the photography, but as mentioned

the two are intermingled. They are mixed so that one is the other and vice versa.

Direct download: PDF-1028-A_NATURAL_IMPRESSIONIST.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:42pm EDT

Many years ago in the 1980s I had a dream. In that dream I presented my dharma teacher Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche a drawn image or portrait of himself. It was one of those dreams that is magical, somehow more real than waking life. For that reason I felt it was important that this dream be made real and acted out in real life. After the dream I began actively to consider how this could happen. I tried on many ideas.

Direct download: PDF-1025-A_MARVELOUS_STORY.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:39pm EDT

I want to share with you one of my life's turning points, creatively speaking. The early 1970s found me in a very exciting period in my life. For one, I was emerging from the 1960s, had finally found someone who wanted to marry me (and vice versa), was discovering fatherhood, and was committed to making my living as an astrologer, come hell or high water. Equally important, after a lifetime of looking out at the world, I was also learning to look inward at the mind itself. And the mind, as I was then finding, is a vast storehouse of treasures, perhaps the last great frontier that remains to be explored, at least by we Westerners. The Tibetan Buddhists had planted their flag in the mind centuries before. In the early 1970s I was unearthing some of the hidden treasures of astrology and sharing them with the world.

Direct download: PDF-1023-A_MAP_OF_THE_CHAKRAS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:38pm EDT

There is no doubt I love flowers and green plants, just look at what I photograph. Here is

a flower I photographed last night. In some of the Buddhist texts this is known as the

Kamala flower, which is used (along with the Lotus flower) to adorn various deity

statues and drawings. This one is also called the Night-blooming Cereus in popular

speak, and it only blooms one night a year and can be about a foot long. There is no

other flower in the world that I am happier to see than this one. And aside from its

beauty, it has the single most beautiful fragrance I have ever known, so piercing that it

literally goes into your brain, deeply. It is like spiritual smelling salts, one whiff and you

are all tuned in. Well, this big sprawling plant lives in our bedroom and the single bloom

for this year bloomed all night. When the sun comes up this morning, it will be done,

hanging there like a tired sock.

While I am on flowers, I might as well tell you about the time that Margaret and 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, but it will

stretch out a bit.

Direct download: PDF-1022-A_LIFE_OF_PLANTS.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:36pm EDT

Here is a story from back in the days when I was running AMG, the All-Music Guide, All-Movie Guide, All-Game Guide, etc. For those who don’t know AMG, it is the largest music review and biography database in the world (http://allmusic.com/), while the All-Movie Guide is one of the two largest film web sites in the world, and so on. Anyway, I founded and created AMG, was its president, and at the time of this story we had about 150 full-time staff and over 500 free-lance writers. Aside from a massive web site, we also produced a series of printed music guides. To make this happen meant that we had to divide up all of the great musicians and composers in the world among our music editors and the hundreds of free-lance writers we worked with, having each music writer doing this or that band or musician.

Direct download: PDF-1019-A_FUNNY_STORY_-_ENGLEBERT_HUMPERDINCK.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:35pm EDT

Of course I was a proud father at the birth of each of my children, all four of them. What father is not? Pride is often made out to be a terrible thing, but a fathers pride is not arrogant or flippant. It is sincere and humbling. And as strong as that pride was, I want to tell you of another experience of pride that was literally overwhelming, beyond my imagination or even wish, and a total surprise in the middle of a life. It had to do with my second born daughter, Michael Anne. Today she likes and goes by “Michael Anne,” but back then she was “Anne” or more familiarly just “Annie.” This is the story of how Annie made me proud. Michael Anne was born November 14, 1974 at home, attended by a woman doctor who also was willing to midwife if asked. After a night of labor, Anne was born in our house by the river just as the sun came up, and rays of light shot through the windows and onto the bed. Anne is a Scorpio, with Scorpio rising, and Moon in Aries, a very hot combination. From the first moment when that tiny baby’s eyes met mine, I knew this being coming into the world was very strong. I found myself immediately having to make room for her in my mind.

Direct download: PDF-1016-A_FATHERS_PRIDE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:33pm EDT

I want to tell you a little something about a very close friend of mine. To look at him, you might see just a little black dog. If you did, you would be far away from the truth, for this dog has probably seen more of the world than most of us reading this now. He has traveled the length and breadth of the country. He has hitchhiked, walked, hiked, driven in cars, and hopped freight trains going who-knows-where. He has busked in cities from the east to the west coast and played music at coffee shops, bars, colleges, and (of course) most often just out on the street.

Direct download: PDF-1014-A_DOG_STORY_RETOLD.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:26pm EDT

A few words about out-of-the-body experiences, aside from whatever we might have imagined from movies, books, and so forth. I can start out by saying that we are more or less out of the body these days and it has nothing to do with the recent eclipses or even the lunar cycle. And I don’t want to give you a lecture either. Suffice it to say that our consciousness moves in and out of the body all the time. If we wander too far out of the body we can fall ill or simply be carried away in some hair-brained scheme or another. We lose touch with reality. This is why the traditional Buddha reaches down with his right hand in the earth-touching gesture or mudra: grounding himself. Keep it real. On the other hand, if we wander too far ‘into’ the body we can get bogged down (even depressed) and unable to see where we are going in life. For many of us it is a case of feast or famine. Our consciousness circulates in and out of the body.

Direct download: PDF-1013-A_DIFFERENT_DRUMMER.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:24pm EDT

It is important for me to understand that practicing sitting meditation is just that: ‘practice’ and not the final result of that practice. For many years I assumed (falsely) that sitting practice was its own result and that assumption really cost me time and discouragement. Practice of any kind is “practice,” just as practicing scales and fingering on the guitar is practice and not the same as playing music. The distinction somehow escaped me.

I wish someone had pointed this out to me years ago. Although the word “practice” was right in front of me all the time and I even called the sitting meditation I was doing at the time “my practice,” somehow the common meaning of that word never registered. It was just a label that everyone I knew used. We all did our dharma “practice.” So what is practice, practicing for what?

Dharma practice (or meditation practice) and its goal is a perfect case of Catch-22, a circular argument, each part of which depends on all the others. It is the old razor and shave analogy. It is the shave we are after, not the razor, although the quality of the shave can depend on the razor, and so on. The shave here refers to the awareness and mindfulness that results from meditation practice and the shaver is the meditation practice itself, the technique or means. Meditation practice (the technique itself) is not the result of that practice, but the means to obtain the result. This is true of any kind of practice.

Direct download: A_CATCH_22_-_THE_NATURE_OF_PRACTICE.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:18pm EDT

I am 72 years old today. This is somewhat of a pivotal time for me because I am actively

deconstructing a couple of large mandalas that have been very much a part of me for

many years. So on this birthday I will write something about mandalas in general,

because they have been so important in my life.

We form a mandala every time we are inspired to start anything new from our heart. We

create a miniature universe (a world within our world) in which our own essence-activity

is at the center. And that heart-felt activity serves to transform us, creating a sacred

flower in space and time, a mandala.

The elaborate Tibetan sand mandalas start at the very center and gradually emerge to

embrace the entire universe. Conversely, when then are deconstructed, sand mandalas

are swept from the outer edge in toward the center, and the pile of colored sand is then

dispersed, often in a river or stream, which carries away the blessed particles.

Direct download: A_BIRTHDAY_MANDALA.pdf
Category:general -- posted at: 12:11pm EDT

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.

The outer signs of marriage include the legal document for the state and usually some form of ceremony, but those are just the external signs of marriage. As many religions point out, marriage is a sacrament, meaning that it is sacred, and whatever makes it sacred is what causes two people to marry. In other words (and IMO), what is more important is an inner event that happens before the marriage ceremony takes place.

I am not saying that in this modern world that every marriage is triggered by a deep internal event, because the divorce rate would suggest otherwise. It is my belief that many divorces could be avoided with just a little remedial mind-training. In these articles I am only concerned with marriages that come from some kind of deep (and spiritual) discovery, shared by two individuals, like the act of falling in love.

Direct download: 237_The_Dharma_of_Marriage_Book.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:34am EDT

As an astrologer since the 1960s, for many years I made my living doing readings and counseling clients. It is not surprising that I became skilled at those things I was most asked to read a chart about, and at the tip of the top of that list is marriage and relationships, followed close by vocational questions, and then on down the line. By default, relationship problems became something I am familiar with, not to mention that having been married almost 44 years I was bound to learn something.

Since I have been touching on marriage these last couple of blogs, I would be remiss not to acknowledge some of the problems that marriage can bring, because they are certainly there. I mentioned previously the concept that relationship partners can mirror each other perfectly, down to the last detail, and we don't always want to see ourselves in the mirror.

Direct download: 236_The_Prolem_with_Marriage.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:22am EDT

There is a parallel between the what is called "Recognition" in Tibetan Buddhist practice and "Kenso" in Zen Buddhism with the realization that leads to marriage when we finally meet our loved one, the one we marry. Understanding these similarities is not only interesting, it provides valuable insights into how to revitalize and restore marriage when it encounters problems.

Direct download: 235_Dharma_of_Marriage_Blog.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:20am EDT

Marriage is nothing to trifle with. It is some serious stuff. As the ministers often recite during the marriage ceremony, marriage "is not something to be entered into lightly, but rather reverently, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God." And I say "Amen" to that.

I like to point out that marriage is the most common form of yoga, which makes those of us who are married yoga practitioners, and I am not kidding. The word "Yoga" simply means to yoke or join together, unite, which is exactly what marriage does. So I am not joking when I point this out.

Direct download: 234_Marriage_-_the_Most_Common.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:48am EDT

I want to talk about non-theism, which is not the same as being an atheist. Atheists declare there is no god, period, end of story. Non-theists, such as Buddhists, say there is no being separate, higher, or 'essentially' different from our own being. Whatever there is out there, it includes us as an equal member. That is a real difference.

Direct download: 148_Why_Non-theism_is_Not_Atheism.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:32am EDT

Aggression with or without provocation is no stranger to most of us. We can call it anger if we want, although there is said to be anger without aggression, but for the most part anger in our society is a form of aggression. I probably should not broach this subject because it is vast, multi-dimensional, and what we socially consider anger is but the tip of the iceberg. Anger and aggression are endemic to modern society, but largely submerged. Most of us are unaware of or in denial of our anger and aggression.

Direct download: 146_Agression_and_Anger.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:30am EDT

The Buddhists teach that we must first learn to help ourselves before we can be of use to others. I am reminded of the Gospel quote from Matthew "… first take the speck out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Buddhism is a self-help story, but where do we turn for guidance? Being a non-theist does not mean that there are not higher levels of awareness, beings more advanced than ourselves. There are, but how to contact them?

Direct download: 145_Invoking_the_Great_Beings.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:27am EDT

The key part of the elaborate sand mandalas is not the colored sand that is gathered up and thrown into the water. Dust to dust… or sand to sand. No, the mandala is the act of offering itself, the process of creation and not what is created. The mandala is the concentration, intent, life, prayers, and mantras we pour into the creation of the mandala, not just the resulting sand image which is destroyed. In this case, it is the process of offering itself that is the result. And this holds true for gatherings like these 10-day teaching as well. The offering itself, these precious teachings, unlike the sand, is not destroyed, but is dedicated to the eventual enlightenment of all sentient beings. 

Direct download: 143_The_Mandala_and_s_Personal_Note.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:25am EDT

In my life, the best English wordsmith I know of is William Shakespeare, but it is not just his choice and juxtaposition of words that strikes me. It is the clarity of his thought which he was so kind to share with us. The Buddhists offer this same kind of clarity and even more in my experience. Buddhist offer not only the clarity of thought from their tradition that we may taste, but, better yet, they also show us how to improve and clarify our own minds, something the Shakespeare only does indirectly. This fact is precious.

Direct download: 142_Words_Make_Sense.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:24am EDT

I have been studying and practicing astrology for about fifty years. Although I was a professional astrologer in the 1960s, I did not make my entire livelihood from astrology until the summer of 1972.  That is when I hung out my shingle, so to speak. That was also the year that my wife and I found out she was pregnant with our first child. That sure put a practical hitch in my gitalong. I had to pull something together and fast.

Direct download: 140_My_Life_and_Times_as_an_Astrologer.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00am EDT

A number of you have commented or messaged me, asking for comment on the state of modern astrology and why astrologers are, as a group, so damn poor. That is like asking me to stick my hand in a hornet nest, but I figure I am still too young to resist and too old to be afraid of repercussions. Just keep in mind that, like perhaps many of you, I have devoted my life to astrology and given it my all every step of the way. And it greaves me that astrology today is not light years ahead of where it was when I started out.

Direct download: 139_Stae_of_Modern_Astrology.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:58am EDT

This is a longish one, but it might be very useful for those of you who are curious just what the Dharma Chart is all about. It has been a long journey since I first became interested in things like astrology back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I don’t know if history has always had such an exponential curve, but I do know that so much happened so fast in the 1960s that I cannot possibly tell someone who was not there (in words) how it was.

Direct download: 138_The_Dharma_Chart.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:57am EDT

For me this kind of direct-to-Earth flare usually changes the rules of the game for me, deftly subverts any current sense of direction I might have, causing me to wake up to find myself heading off on another bearing. So far, this seems exactly what is happening now. The direction I have been on recently is fading out (I lose the trail) and another begins to open up, but I can't see it well enough yet to own, much less make use of it. It takes time for the smoke to clear and for me to get my feet back on the ground after change. Strong change is especially like that. If I am true to myself, then I have to drop what I was doing (since it has lost its direction) and pick up on what is new, what change has brought.

Direct download: 137_Solar_Quantum_Change.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:55am EDT