MARY MAGDALENE HAS BEEN UPGRADED BY THE POPE

This week the Pope announced that Saint Mary Magdalene 'apostle to the apostles' July 22 Day would be bumped up from a 'memorial' day to a 'feast' day.  For those of us who are not Catholic, like myself, this doesn't sound terribly impressive  And, even for Catholics I am guessing it is not hugely significant but any gesture that gives the life of Mary Magdalene more attention is welcome.

She is a very mysterious character and every branch of the Christian religion seems to have a different interpretation of who exactly she was and what exactly was her relationship to Christ.  All agree that she was the first one to see him and speak to him after the resurrection.  That in itself makes her extraordinary and very special.  Where the confusion comes in is that there are a lot of Marys mentioned in the Gospel.  Some will talk about the 'three Marys' or Mary of Bethany being different than Mary Magdalene and the prostitute Christ saved from stoning being a random woman never to be heard from again etc...  Who really knows.  I have my own version and I will share it with you.

I think Mary Magdalene is the prostitute, the one who washes Christ's feet with her tears, the one who becomes his dearest and closest disciple, the one who finds him alive after his death and the one who becomes his wife and moves with him to France and has his children!  Yes.  I believe that story.  It adds up perfectly and is a beautiful example of Christ's teaching and what his life would have been like.  He would in no way have been celibate as that would go against Hebrew traditions (rabbis were always married), and he was with her constantly and loved her.  Why not?  Anyone who would argue and say Christ would not take a prostitute for a wife need only think on the moment when he stopped a crowd of hypocritical villagers from throwing rocks at a woman until she was dead.  What a horrific punishment.  If that wasn't Mary Magdalene then why is she the repentant saint?  What is she repenting?  And when Christ told her to go forth and sin no more he was giving her a clean slate.  A chance to start all over.  So why couldn't he view her as an appropriate wife.  His crucifixion was to give us all a clean slate, so if we want to believe it of ourselves than we had better believe it of Mary. 

She also is shown with the jar of oil in so many images.  Of course she is the same Mary who anoints Christ's feet with oil after washing them with her tears. Those were tears of gratitude and joy. Think about how amazing this woman is.  She was obviously dealt some sort of very bad hand to end up a prostitute, then probably didn't do something someone wanted so that angry 'customer' turned on her, got the whole town riled up and almost killed her in a very brutal way, but along comes a man who speaks the plain and simple truth to the crowd, forcing them to look at their own hypocrisy and blood lust and her life is spared.  She then devotes her entire being to the service of that one good man.  She becomes his most ardent apostle and follower and loves him with more heart and soul than anyone. (not including his mother)   Christ mentions her by name many more times than any other of the apostles.  His love for her is quite clear.  And he is a man.  A very real man and he lives by the rules.  And the rules are to marry and have children.  Which I believe is what they did.

So this July 22 I am going to have a feast day celebration dedicated to love, forgiveness, and gratitude!  And remember that we are not fit judges... let God sort that out.

Astrology : The Best Council

Lately I have been checking astrology blogs every morning with my coffee etc. and have found it to be very useful... and way more comforting than daily news!  Astro reports actually have answers.  If you have been missing a lot of appointments or things being cancelled or emails not being answered, chances are there is some kind of Mercury action (retrograde most likely).  Or maybe you haven't been able to sleep for a couple of nights in a row... check the Moon phase.  Yeah, most likely full.

But that's all pretty amateur.  When you follow daily planetary aspects then the sh*t starts to get real.
Transit, squares, trines, mutable crosses, it's serious and it really let's you know what is in the air, so to speak.  You know when it's best to bite your tongue or when to speak up.  You know if you should push that idea through or save it for a few days.  That kind of knowledge is priceless.  Nancy Reagan wasn't crazy.  She had an astrologer on speed dial!  24/7 access.  And it seemed to have worked really well for her (them).

This is the kind of stuff they are looking at, this weeks new moon in Gemini.  If you have ever had you natal chart done you probably got something that looks like this.  So you could take that copy of your chart and cross reference with a current chart showing where the planets are today (every day) and there you go.  Problems solved.
Or even easier, you go to one of many astrology blogs, (find the one that speaks to you, that you relate to) and let them do all the very time consuming translating and intuiting and 'reading'.  This kind of  information and interpretation is extremely helpful.  Even for small stuff like the best time to cut your hair or whether or not to make that purchase or take a day off.  It sounds 'superstitious' to a lot of people but in fact it puts you more in the driver seat of your own life.  You get in touch with the rhythms of natural life like seasons and lunar cycles, there is a right time for everything.  It makes more sense to use some planetary energy to your advantage to make things run smoother.  Human beings have been studying the affects of the planets and stars forever and there is no reason to believe that because we live by electricity the rest of the universe no longer has any affect on us. It does. And there are so many gracious and giving astrologers in the blogosphere it's crazy not to use it!

ALICE: 150 YEARS OF WONDERLAND

Exhibition @ The Morgan Library 6/26-10/11/15

"The enchanting tale of Wonderland was first told 'one golden afternoon' to Alice Liddell and her two sisters, and it was published in 1865 with the iconic illustrations of Sir John Tenniel." - from the Morgan calendar of events.

First off, this exhibit is spectacular! If at all possible - Don't Miss It!!!  Here is the New York Times write up that gives a good idea of how truly amazing this event is. 

This storybook with it's profoundly evocative illustrations has influenced and inspired for 150 years in a way that is quite astonishing.  Rather than talk about the details of the books original publishing and popularity, I would like to focus on the art.  The artwork of Sir John Tenniel has clearly imprinted itself on the psyche of so many and has  inspired sooooo many artists to create their own images based , I would say , on his interpretation.

This is the photo Lewis Carroll gave to Tenniel to use as his 'muse' for Alice. ( this isn't Alice Liddel, it's another family  friend)

adorable!

I just want to post a ton of artwork done by many, many talented artist all paying tribute to this charming, wonderful tale of a somewhat know-it-all little girl who is proud and curious and polite and bossy and bright and absolutely lovable in a very 19th century way...

This is but a smattering...
How amazing that one story told in an afternoon while lazily boating on the Thames could inspire such creativity and obvious affection.

And last but not least:

American McGee's Alice.  A very good game but more importantly, visually stunning and more importantly still an original soundtrack that is hauntingly gorgeous and does everything all of these artists have done which is to thank, congratulate and admire the genius that is Alice in Wonderland.

SUMMER 2015: A GREEK TRAGEDY

Athena, goddess of wisdom. Fierce and brave in battle.

It just happened that I came across a beautiful edition of Homer's Odyssey a few weeks ago and read it with much joy.  Last time I read it was in high school ...
At any rate with the last weeks of current events in Greece, I couldn't help but make some comparisons.  The entire country of Greece needs to see itself in epic terms.  This is pretty much an epic moment for them so why not decide to be the Hero!

According to this chart, Greece would seem to be somewhere in the Abyss ( death & rebirth) phase.  It is indeed a tricky phase.  They seem to have already failed quite a few of the "challenges and temptations" and my guess is that they failed to call upon the appropriate helper/mentor/helper.
This is where their ancient past is a serious bonus.  They have an extraordinary wealth of mentors and helpers in their gods, goddesses, philosophers, mythologies, etc...

Odysseus winning back his kingdom

They need look no further than Homer's Odyssey.  It's truly all there.  He, like modern Greece, spent a few too many years whiling away the days on a tropical island crying himself to sleep fearing he would never regain his former awesome life.  But the wise and concerned Athena, lit a proverbial fire up under his ass and got him started for home.  And as the chart clearly shows, part of the journey home involves going down into Hell and conversing with the dead to gain some insight.  Greeks, are you listening?  I think you know what this means.  The sh*t just got real.  But, Athena cares.  She cares a lot and she goes the distance to help.  Which in normal language means wisdom, clarity and a sound plan are crucial.

And learn from past mistakes!!!  Pissing off Poseidon costs way too much.  Come up with an alternate plan...

This bizarre escape plan just doesn't fly in the modern world.  Don't even try it.

And you have definitely already lost too many men to the siren song.  Take an alternate route.  It's obvious that it's going to suck.  Odysseus continually refers to himself as the most unlucky man alive.  But, he is brave as Hell and feverishly devoted to his home of Ithaca.  The gods love him for these qualities.  And so do the readers of Homer.  So, Greece, find your inner hero and win the day... which according to mythology (and the above chart) is possibly 20 years away, but worth every challenge and sacrifice when the home you are trying to preserve looks like this:

Odysseus' own sweet Ithaca

You can do it Greece!

CELEBRITY PERFUMES

Yikes!

 I started out wanting to review celebrity frags with an optimistic outlook and a slight hope that I might find, to my surprise , that I actually bonded with and decided to purchase one.  I had an open mind... Sort of.  I have had a closed mind towards celebrity perfumes since around - forever.  Based mostly on the ad campaigns and the occasional whiff of a magazine fold over.

So... this smells like armpit?

So with my generous attitude I ventured out to sample some of these scents.  I went first to Bloomingdales.  I have a dread of department stores almost equal to my dread of celebrity fragrances so I was really giving it my all... Only to find that Bloomingdales can't be bothered with such things.  I had to respect that choice even though I was now faced with having to try another unpleasant venue - Macy's.  I smiled at my mistake. Of course Bloomingdales had try to keep some snob appeal alive even though they lost all snob appeal by 1980 something.  Anyway, off to the everyman store.

Wow, part pirate costume, part fruit salad

Alas, even the Everyman store was too busy trying to look fancy to be bothered with Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian.  Hmm.  Now I'm more than frazzled from having to walk through the ground level of not one but two department stores!  But, I am super curious. Where the Hell does one go to purchase some Katy Perry or Taylor Swift essence?  I had read that people were finding Gloria by Gloria Vanderbilt at Walgreens.  It was getting a lot of buzz because it's an older classic scent and people were finding it for $10 !  I was def into that kind of treasure hunt so I made a beeline for the nearest Walgreens.

"Catch the Fever" from what? The STD causing her to air out her crotch?

The perfumes at Walgreens are kept locked up in a glass case and obviously no sample bottles and scent cards available. Also no Gloria.  Now I was going from generous  and upbeat, to mystified, to just plain pissed off.

What the Hell is even going on here!?

On my way home I passed another Walgreens that looked newer and bigger and I thought I would just peak in and see if Gloria might be there.  No.  No Gloria, but there was a strange vending machine like apparatus for spritzing  a sample of most of the fragrances. And they had Britney Spears Fantasy which I had read quite a few positive reviews about.  So after much fiddling with this bizarre machine and even collaborating with some other customers who gave up and walked away, I finally got a huge blob of Fantasy dumped into the palm of my hand. And , yes, it was atrocious.

This bottle is already giving me nightmares...

 So I am going to let this entire experience validate my original contempt for the currently tanking arm of the perfume industry known as the Celebrity Fragrance.

Why is this an ad?

It's really not that hard...