New Age Journal

The Ferryman’s Dream by Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

Robert — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:54:10 +0000

Review by Emmanuel Karavausanos

Once in a while one reads a book that not only is a wonderful read, but has a magnet drawing a reader into it and fills the mind with at least a bit of wisdom and good sense. The Ferryman’s Dream is such a book with one difference: it delivers a good deal more wisdom than one might expect.

Often when reading a book one quickly (perhaps all too quickly) dismisses much of what one reads, hastening to get to “the good parts” or even just to finish. Here, the reader cannot but go back and read once again the fully packed package of ideas this work contains. Aside from the story, which itself is joyful to read, ideas emerge right from the very beginning.

The author, Dr. Bitkoff, can be recognized as one who has reached a state of consciousness that we call mystical. We see the wisdom begin to flow. Bitkoff quickly notifies us of a flaw almost all of us have. It is that the instructions given by spiritual teachers is often “denied or overlooked”. Near the end of the book we are reminded that “while our journey through life is filled with trouble and tears, it is filled also with laughter and joy.” Too many of us, too often, forget this and we become cynical, and sadly, not very pleasant to be with. Bitkoff knows well that greatest of all gifts, the gift of mystical insight. He recognizes that even “in the most highly attuned” this gift comes and goes depending upon “the requirements of the situation.”

If one chooses to become enlightened and to care to reach for that higher, wiser mind, this book will add greatly to reach that goal. Particularly distinctive was Bitkoff’s use of brief, wise poetic endings to each of the chapters in the book which actually enlighten the reading mind. One brief example: “This morning as I slept, the sun caressed my lips…then I awoke to brighten the day.” The Ferryman’s Dream is a must read.

Price $10.95
Go To Amazon To Order: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ferrymans-Dream-Stewart-Bitkoff/dp/0615613004/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333935885&sr=1-1

Starcodes horoscopes for May 11 – 17, 2012

Robert — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:44:10 +0000

by Heather Roan Robbins

This week is full of real opportunity that will not grab us but needs our attention and cooperation to live up to its potential. We need to get busy with wise and steady effort. And whatever we do, the outcome is likely more complicated, or may not turn out as we thought; it could even be better than we thought in the long run, but have delayed results, or need patience to come to fruition.

This lesson of abundant if delayed Taurean magic comes as the two largest bodies in our solar system, the Sun and Jupiter, align in fruitful Taurus, while thoughtful Mercury, also in Taurus but earlier in the sign, forms a grand earth trine with motivational Mars in Virgo and empowered Pluto in Capricorn. All while the symbolic ruler of Taurus, Venus, turns retrograde.

We’ve working on diagnosing the problem, any and all problems as Mars worked its way through Virgo for the last four months. Virgo likes to identify and pull out the weeds. We are probably painfully aware of our own faults by now, analyzed all the candidates for various offices, and may have done a health inventory or work-related efficiency assessment. But Taurus isn’t as concerned about the problem; it wants to fertilize and grow, acquire, work steadily and then bask in the sunlight. Now let’s take that careful Virgoan analysis to guide what we grow.

Important conversation get started this weekend as an Aquarius Moon forms a grand trine with Saturn and Venus in air signs along with an edgy Sun-Uranus semi-square. Air signs like to communicate. This trine isn’t about changing people’s minds as about coming to understand what has changed, acknowledging new graduates or honoring Mother as she is now, not once was. Air signs also like to philosophize; if our mother is far away, long gone, or never was much help, we can honor the spirit of the Mother that feeds us all in the burgeoning green world around us.

As next week begins that powerful grand earth trine between Mercury, Pluto and Mars really kicks in and helps us clarify and manifest. But it won’t insist, we have to work with it. We’re encouraged to think about what needs to be done in response to new information or understanding as Mercury trines Pluto. We may be called to a new level of pragmatic honesty, but there’s no need to be hurtful with it. If people swing around data to prove their point, it probably won’t pay to argue, but check any fact before taking it as gospel, as this aspect also brings a temptation to be manipulative.

We need to be willing to look at difficult information and keep the mind open for an alternate interpretation of the facts. If we get depressed, maybe we got stuck on one difficult thought and need to look deeper or farther afield; the tough stuff will have a silver lining somewhere.

Towards the end of the week, we’ve thought it through, and now action is called for as the Moon enters Aries and Mars trines Pluto. We’ll want to see movement, want the relationship to manifest, the work to happen, results to proliferate. We can expect high energy output when we’re in the groove and doing what we both need and want to do. Show the results of efforts so far to encourage support.

We can get it done. Even if the path is not smooth; frustrations or technical difficulties may test our self-control, we may bump and scrape along the way as Mars challenges Saturn and Jupiter irritates Pluto. Politics may blow into a loud but probably hollow squall. Wise restraint and steady pressure work. Dance with circumstances rather than make it a contest of wills. Timing and pacing is everything,

Friday, May 11: Under a friendly, stubborn, rather oblivious Aquarius Moon, people can mean well and still be clueless. Strangely tangential comments mix with insight. But get the conversation going and make it a teaching moment, not a scolding. Responsibilities to one another call, but take an opportunity to break a habit of overdoing or sacrifice, and change the model to share with one another instead. A collectively sociable evening develops edgier nerves later on.

Saturday, May 12: The friendly stubbornness continues, enjoy the connections and but don’t hurry anyone, their timing will be their own. People’s eccentricities need acceptance, don’t let them distract from an opportunity to create connection. Group activities help, we need to feel witnessed and seen by our community. Spacey, disconnected but pleasant moments abound midday. Evening, a beautiful Moon, Venus, Saturn grand trine in air signs builds layers of understanding if we share and keep the mind open. Information flows from elders and mentors; get people talking about what they do best.

Sunday, May 13: Emotional mush alert in time for Mother’s Day as a Moon-Neptune conjunction in Pisces brings feelings to the surface and a Sun-Jupiter conjunction can take them over the top. General good will with magnanimous undertones helps any small gesture be appreciated, but hurt or slighted feelings can snowball. Guilt seeps in easily around the edges, but drops easily if we just offer our presence. Evening is more direct, tongues sharpen especially if we’re tired or tweaked as Mercury trines Mars. Take breaks rather than act out if feeling overloaded, and rest well tonight.

Monday, May 14: Reassess and reset priorities as Mercury trines Pluto. Our psyches are stirred up, we have a chance to engage in truly penetrating conversation. Depression can whisper to us but let’s take that as a sign to look deeper rather than believe the story it’s telling. Get to the roots. Research and self-analysis are supported. If a goodbye needs to be said, now is a good time. Do not try to manipulate, even though it may seem easier; be direct. Tonight, our actions speak volumes as the Sun sequi-squares Pluto.

Tuesday, May 15: Cross-currents and conflicting needs can keep the waters choppy this morning; if rhythms differ, don’t take it personally. Even if we want to stay cozy and connected, work or some personal goal calls us and can make us look selfish. People are more energized and twitchy later, but relationship subtleties scramble easily; be flexible rather than reactive as Mars semi-squares Saturn, Venus retrogrades and the Moon enter self-directed Aries.

Wednesday, May 16: An early-morning flash requires we sort out inspiration from crazy as the Moon conjuncts Uranus. Be particularly leery about sudden relationship conclusions. An experimental mood makes it a good time to pitch usefully relevant new ideas. Skirt around a potential power trip mid-morning as the Moon squares Pluto, and realign for a dynamic afternoon as Mars trines Pluto. Notice a decisive and energized event.

Thursday, May 17: We talked about it earlier in the week, and now it’s time to follow through. Watch for a pawn forward move in the news, surprising gestures now may be more to tweak our tails than a sign of intention. While it may take persistence to achieve our goal, if it feels like someone’s purposely getting in the way, we may be imposing our will rather than actually solving problems. Patience, grasshopper. Choose carefully when to gently persist, and when to push. It may help to take a break and do something solo and spontaneous; if we give our willfulness a safe free rein for a moment, we can be more cooperative afterwards.

Visit Heather Roan Robbins’ Starcodes website

Spiritual Sight

Robert — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:04:35 +0000

by Stewart Bitkoff

That which is permanent is seldom known to the five senses. It must be perceived by another capacity. Until this capacity or organ of perception is awakened, we are like children playing with fire. Sooner or later our actions create problems for us.

The completed individual, or enlightened one, is able to temper their expectations with reality. Often it is our reaction to daily events and not the events themselves which pose the lasting problem.

We must learn to view and accept what is present; not what we want or expect to be present. By clouding reality with expectation and desire we shift off center. This lack of balance, in turn, prevents us from perceiving what is before us.

This capacity or necessary ‘attitude’ to view what is actually there may be learned. It is the birthright of humanity and is taught to those who are capable of using it in the proper way. This spiritual sight is a matter of function; it becomes available so it may be used to benefit others. By learning to view what is actually present, we are then able to perceive higher or spiritual realities which manifest in this realm.

Check-out my two new books: Sufism for Western Seekers: Path of the Spiritual Traveler in Everyday Life and The Ferryman’s Dream. Both books are available through Amazon.com or local bookstore.

Press inquiries or to contact the author visit: www.stewartbitkoff.com.

A Question of Precipitation

Robert — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:07:49 +0000

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless?
Wonder no more.
Ask Your Mama, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Spirituality
and Didn’t Know Who to Ask™
by Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman

Dear Mama Donna,

It is raining again. For months now it has rained just about every day. The entire Northeast is inundated with more rain than we can possibly deal with. This seems like a curse from above. Any thoughts?

Soaked to the Bone in Syracuse

Dear Soaked,

I know what you mean. This spring has been so incredibly wet. Here in New York City there are mushrooms growing out of the cracks in the sidewalks!

Rain is the vital, vivifying fluid, which flows down from the heavens to recycle and replenish the world’s water stores. To refresh and revitalize the lands and all those species who live upon it. Celestial substance of necessity, rain is absolutely elemental and essential. But it can be quite quirky. You never know with rain. Too much, too little, too late, too soon, too hard, too long. You can’t really depend on it. And yet you have to.

In the best of times, precipitation is seen as beneficent, raining down life-sustaining liquids for our benefit. And then we are grateful, or ought to be. But there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. We are nearly drowning in the stuff. Saturated, soaked, sogged. Completely waterlogged. Rivers rushing down city streets, the drains overflowing. Towns, fields and highways flooded. Dams, bridges, houses and lives swept irrevocably away. And the predicted storms aren’t over yet.

People have long believed that bad weather is some kind of vengeful divine retribution. Punishment for our earthly misbehavior. Certainly in the face of extreme hardship, this is a tempting response, based, perhaps, on guilt. But, of course, weather is weather, a neutral force. Our perception of whether it is good or bad is based solely and myopically on our own immediate inconvenience. Of course, you can’t take these acts of nature personally.

But maybe this rain is truly aimed at us as a lesson about the cause and effect of our selfish, wasteful, polluting ways.

Maybe Mother Earth is engaged in a deep purification ritual, a much needed purging of Her soiled body and profound pain. Picture Her, like any rape victim standing under a pounding shower for hours, days and weeks, trying to wash away the dirt and degradation that we have heaped upon Her so mercilessly.

Or maybe She is weeping, sobbing, down pouring tears of sad disappointment in us, Her errant, arrogant offspring, so rude and disrespectful. After all, just look at what we gave the Poor Old Dear for Mother’s Day in gratitude for all of Her great gifts to us: greenhouse gases, radiation, drilling, missile tests, oil spills and chemical trails.

The word “precipitation,” is related to “precipitate,” which means impulsive, not thinking, impetuous, rash — perfect descriptions of the way we treat the Earth. Makes you think, eh?

Maybe we should take this deluge is a watery warning. A reminder to appreciate the present and prepare for the future. To re-enforce our roofs, buy Wellington boots and build a safe, waterproof ark where we can collect, preserve and protect, two by two, all of our best intentions and human qualities: hope and love, charity and understanding, forgiveness and peace, compassion and reverence for all life.

Best blessings for keeping dry,

xxMama Donna

*Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. *Send your questions about seasons, cycles, celebrations, ceremonies and spirit to Mama Donna at: CityShaman@aol.com

Donna Henes is an internationally renowned urban shaman, ritual expert, award-winning author, popular speaker and workshop leader whose joyful celebrations of celestial events have introduced ancient traditional rituals and contemporary ceremonies to millions of people in more than 100 cities since 1972. She has published four books, a CD, an acclaimed Ezine and writes for The Huffington Post and UPI Religion and Spirituality Forum. Mama Donna, as she is affectionately called, maintains a ceremonial center, spirit shop, ritual practice and consultancy in Exotic Brooklyn, NY where she works with individuals, groups, institutions, municipalities and corporations to create meaningful ceremonies for every imaginable occasion.

www.DonnaHenes.net

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Starcodes horoscope for May 4 – 10, 2012

Robert — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:49:25 +0000

by Heather Roan Robbins

Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

It could be a blustery weekend in the inner realms unless we listen to Rilke, spend some time housecleaning the soul and getting comfortable in our solitude, but lovingly greet one another when we’re together. A Full Moon in Scorpio this weekend sings to us about both longing and solitude as it shines into the farthest corners of our psyche.

Every Full Moon lights up our inner world, highlighting tension between competing parts of ourselves that may normally hum in our unconscious, and produces us a lot of energy in the process. This Full Moon highlights any tension we feel between our urge towards the Sun in Taurus love of security, ease, and slow steady growth versus the our connection with the Scorpio Moon drive for concentration, intensity and transformation as well as its contrary streak. Taurus looks for safety; Scorpio wants to know the worst case scenario. Taurus describes sensuality, Scorpio wants to either be alone or get serious. Our job is to feel the tension, get past the illusion that we have to choose between safety and intensity and find a healthy way to include all sides.

Both Taurus and Scorpio are possessive and territorial, so it’s not a weekend to play around with jealousy or try someone’s boundaries. Hotspots with clear ongoing border issues may heat up or get broody. Even happy relationships can simmer with mixed messages as we work out those inner tensions, we just have to remember this tension is within our own competing needs, and not about the worthiness of our companions. We can also feel alone in a crowd, or crowded in a small group, or feel an unusually sharp longing for something or someone just out of our reach, but feel how large our heart is by the ache around the edges.

An opposition between Mercury in Aries and Saturn in Libra keep our mind grappling with serious things through early next week. We may argue over what’s true, whether we’re discussion differing memories over what happened last night or wrestling with larger philosophical questions. But let’s argue recreationally, and neither try to jolly someone out of their mood nor be a pit bull, we need to know when to let go. Any attempt to tell people how it is or to control the way they think will probably backfire.

This opposition can help us focus our choices and make a clear decision, though sometimes by limiting our options. We may feel frustrated with some structures of authority or red tape, or disagree with the thick-headedness of certain individual in our surrounding. Reality may bite us, and need a radically pragmatic solution. But when we make that clear choice, this aspect helps us make it so. Since our minds will tend to feel tired where uninspired but tenacious where they engage, let’s put this tenacity to work to keep it out of trouble and solve problems.

While it may be hard to be inspired by the future under this aspect, the past has a gift to offer. This could come through wisdom from an old friend or philosopher or the peace of an ancient landscape. Listen to the song of rocks and bones, read the tomes of history.

Towards the end of the week, Mercury joins the Sun in Taurus and brings our mind to more practical and earthy matters. As Mercury moves into a sextile with Neptune over the next week our thinking will still be stubborn, but more relaxed and open, as long as no one pushes us. Our imagination returns. Give us pictures, tactile examples, and seduce us rather than coerce.

Friday, May 4: Don’t talk so much this morning, show them instead; image and action communicate but words can be sticky. Notice both a warm-hearted avoidance of conflict, and a mental tenacity that holds onto opinion as the Moon conjuncts Saturn and opposes Mercury. Exert thoughtfulness instead of control. Feelings have deeper resonance, stronger feelings with musky undertones this evening as the Moon enters Scorpio.

Saturday, May 5: Dreams lingers this morning as the Moon trines Neptune. One side of us may want to pull inside to connect to the soul or spirit or personal ghosts while the other side may be called to actively participate, not just sit on the sidelines as Mars squares the Moon’s nodes under the Scorpio Full Moon, embrace the deep work but watch a contentious streak. Cooperate even under stressful conditions, and then get some solitude. Physical exertion can be really therapeutic. Tonight, we all carry our solitude with us, but can get rowdy nonetheless.

Sunday, May 6: Our tanks may feel empty in this post Full–Moon let-down, it helps to turn inwards and renew; let others wander where they need today, gather again tonight to reconnect as the Moon enters upbeat Sagittarius. Sudden buzz of communication needs attention, but go gently and don’t overload.

Monday, May 7: Assess the situation and jump into action this morning. Check for recent changes that need quick attention, but make sure everyone’s on the same page before proceeding. If people carry a dark mood left over from the weekend, deal with it directly rather than let them pretend it has anything to do with the work at hand. Pay special attention to international contacts and concerns or ecological issues, animals and educational issues.

Tuesday, May 8: Emotional cross current this morning can leave us sideways, timing is off, minimize small awkward moments, use them as an opening to create connection instead of distance as the Moon opposes Venus and then trines Mercury. Make decisions around aesthetics and personnel. We perceive people clearly this afternoon if we can step back and watch with an open heart. Tonight can be more serious or competitive as the Moon enters Capricorn, but respect diffuses tension.

Wednesday, May 9: Get down to business as Mercury enters Taurus, don’t push anyone or ask them to move faster, but do bring their attention to the logical next step to get where they need to go. Unsettled morning as the Moon squares Uranus moves into steadily dynamic afternoon; don’t interrupt people on a roll. If an urgent problem arises, pay it full attention and deal with it practically, but don’t play into drama. The evening is moodier; we can get discouraged as the Moon conjuncts Pluto or need to connect a deeper level. Drop the trivia and sit in companionable quiet.

Thursday, May 10: Begin and continue, get the ball rolling with persuasive speech and persistent action as Mercury moves into grand trine with Pluto and Mars for the next week. Words will have extra power, so use them wisely. Confidence swells in the morning as the Moon trines Sun and Jupiter. Towards the evening we feel the weights and cost of our actions; if depressed, rest first, and reassess in the morning.

Visit Heather Roan Robbins’ Starcodes website