Sagittarius (November 22 - December 20)
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Take advantage of the New Moon in Sagittarius on November 27th because this marks a new beginning if you can let go of what hasn’t worked in eons. God may not be a Santa Claus pandering to your oftentimes childish behavior but Lady Luck will smile on you for about two weeks. Prove to yourself that you have learned from those many painful growth years of Pluto having been in your Sun Sign. Now let us see what changes have been wrought by your ability to plant seed in a fertile field. This is your time. Make the best of it. |
Capricorn (December 21 - January 19)
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Jupiter is in Capricorn until January 6th, 2009 which will validate and give you a ‘thumb’s up’ for the blueprints you have been drawing for the better structure in all areas of your life. No sign is more deliberate and more resolute than you Goats. Since Pluto is moving into Capricorn on November 27th you are on notice that of all the birth signs yours is the one who is going to be the pilot ship for the mass reconstruction that will be going on here and abroad. |
Aquarius (January 20 - February 17)
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The excitement you’re feeling is not early rumblings of the arrival of Dasher and Dancer, Vixen and Comet and all of Santa’s reindeer—you are picking up on the gift of Jupiter moving into Aquarius in January for a whole year. This means that you will have the cosmic expansion of your ideas; things will begin to fall into place for this will be your time to shine. In the meantime, bathe in the blessings of the New Moon in Sagittarius on November 27th. |
Pisces (February 18 - March 20)
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When Uranus goes direct in Pisces on November 28th get ready for more sudden changes in your life. You leaners, dreamers and schemers are going to be jolted once again into making what you conjure up—what used to be too good to be true—actually manifest because you have taken all the airy, fairy impossibilities out of your game plan. With Saturn still opposing you throughout 2009 the Universe is trying to do for you what you won’t do for yourself: learn that simple is better than convolution. |
Aries (March 21 - April 20)
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Astrology is all about timing and if you Rams can get it together the Scorpio cycle just might be what you have been looking for to make a progressive move in business, pleasure and launching one of your novel ideas. You’ll be aided and abetted by the New Moon in Sagittarius and you can expect some benefic fallout when Jupiter moves into Aquarius in January. If you follow your Stars carefully you will be able to build a better mousetrap. |
Taurus (April 21 - May 20)
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Since this is the Scorpio cycle of the year (Scorpio is your opposing sign) you might want to take an inventory to see where you stand personally with the Stock Market melt down. As the smart guys have told you, what goes down eventually goes back up—but this may be a low period for you. Don’t sell, buy. Don’t panic, just accept the fact that it rains on the just and the unjust. Get ready to make some cautious but profitable money moves in later December. |
Gemini (May 21 - June 20)
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We always forget to tell you that more of the ups and downs in your life have to do with where Mercury, your sign ruler, is than anything else. Mercury will be in Sagittarius throughout this solar cycle—and with the New Moon in Sagittarius on November 27th—it is better to learn how to be a bit more carefree, and dance the dance, than live in your head. What the month holds for you is a big payday for all your hard work and a silver lining that will break through the dark clouds. Have fun but don’t forget to be you: weigh and balance before you speak or act. |
Cancer (June 21 - July 22)
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If it weren’t for the water trine from the Sun in Scorpio this solar cycle would find you feeling more like a duck out of water or a boat without a paddle. With Jupiter opposing you from its staid and stolid run through Capricorn and Neptune inconjunct from Aquarius you might be feeling that the world is out to get you. But there are some planetary aspects that are favorable to you. Uranus in Pisces showers you with sudden inspiration and Saturn in Virgo is helping to stabilize you without the harsher lessons to be learned. Thanksgiving is here. Be thankful for what you have and more so, what you don’t.
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Leo (July 22 - August 22)
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Kings and Queens, princes and princesses of the Zodiac, I know you must be feeling that the sky has been falling for a couple of months. Free-wheeling adventurers and fun-loving types that you are it is time to pay for all those things you thought you could never live without. It is amazing how the priceless turns to worthless when your stomach growls and the repo man is perched at the curb ready to snatch your vanity car. Pipe down and listen up: there is a new day coming; actually it’s here already. It is time to save, not spend. And it’s time to ask the needier, “What can I do for you?” |
Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
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If there were ever a time to get out of your head and be served by the still small voice of intuitive inspiration it is this solar cycle. Although Saturn has been in your sign for more than a year—knocking off the rough edges and making you kinder, softer, gentler—this is a wrinkle in time to exercise the powerful and doable lessons Saturn has taught you:
1) it’s all about all of us and you are not the critic to straighten us all out; 2) it is more important to love and laugh than it is to always be right; 3) and more importantly, this is God’s world on loan to us all. Let Him run the show. Happy Turkey Day! |
Libra (September 23 - October 22)
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Ah, now that the Holidays that are upon us, let us recount what we must do. Thanksgiving you’ll be with family and friends, sitting down to the proverbial feast—all the things you fair and balanced folks are deign to resist except on these special occasions. And the Christmas (or Hanukah if you are one of God’s chosen people) Season is a time to kiss under the mistletoe and walk on the snowy side of the street (if you are in Sedona it’s a climb to the highest Vortex). And I must warn you that this is not the time to change partners or take on a new partner. Weigh in with wisdom and stay with whom you’ve got. |
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)
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“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire; Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” Don’t you just love those old standards that put you in the jolliest of moods? Well you secretive, compulsive, somewhat obsessive and oftentimes fearful playmates in the world’s largest sandbox, this is your time to kick up your heels and throw it around just like they do on Dancing with the Stars because the celestial stars are “big and bright deep in the heart of the Scorpion”. Pick your partner and let the fur fly. They are calling your name and it is your time to shine. Watch for the Bingo, Lotto, and Lottery call on December 12th. |
Sarah McLean
 Gratitude First
The Attitude of Gratitude
This is it, the season for gratitude. Wise men and women throughout the ages have encouraged us to feel grateful for what we have. Why? To put it simply, gratitude makes us feel good. When you’re feeling grateful, your mind is clear, you have a dearer relationship to the universe and its creator, and you become more aware of the big picture. With gratitude in the forefront of your awareness, it is difficult to see the world as something to be dealt with; rather, it becomes your friend, your ally, and your supporter.
According to the latest research, grateful people really are different. Here are some of the qualities of grateful people:
They have higher levels of positive emotions
They are more satisfied with life and have more vitality and optimism
They are more likely to share what they have with others who don't have as much
They have lower levels of stress and depression
They have a greater capacity for empathy
People see them as more generous and more helpful than others
They have a tendency to see the interconnectedness of all life
They have a responsibility and commitment to others
They place less importance on material goods, theirs and others
They are less likely to judge others based on materialism
Are you a grateful person? You can be with a little practice. Gratitude practices are truly transformative. "Practicing gratitude helps people extract the most out of life. People can also experience an overall shift to a more benevolent view of the world. I think it's kind of a spiritual shift for some people because it makes them more aware of life as a gift,” says psychologist Dr. Robert Emmons of U.C. Davis.
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow," says Melody Beattie, author of Codependent No More. Now who wouldn't want that?
I have a wonderful life, and have a lot to be grateful for, so, I went looking for some advice to enhance my sense of gratitude. Here are some simple practices I have discovered:
1. Keep a gratitude journal.
Every evening before meditation or before bed, spend a few minutes writing the answers to the following questions… What have I received today? What have I given today? Ask, then listen for the answers and write them down. You can’t do it wrong.
The answers don’t have to be poetic, but the act of writing them down will bring your attention to how you are being supported in life. We might even become aware that we've received much more than we've given, and not only does that cultivate gratitude, it also cultivates often a sense of wanting to give something back to the world.
2. Remember all things.
In his book, The Wisdom of Wallace Wattles, which inspired the movie, The Secret, Dr. Wattles, says, “It is necessary to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you; and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them. ~Chinese Proverb
Thich Nhat Hanh, believes in including all things. In his book Peace is Every Step, he writes, “If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. …… If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. Without sunshine, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see wheat. We know the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. The logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist. Looking even more deeply, we can see ourselves in this sheet of paper too. We cannot just be by ourselves alone. We have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.”
3. Make thank-you your mantra.
Many ways exist to communicate thank you. Gratitude can be felt inside with quiet feelings from your heart, or your thanks can be expressed in the outer world through acts of kindness toward others, or a simple gift or thank you note. Sharing gratitude replenishes your shared spirit. A heartfelt "thank you' creates a momentary bond and the accumulation of these fleeting moments builds permanent links until one day you have an abundance of loving, helpful and supportive people in your life. You are no longer lonely in your outer world. Giving can be as rewarding as receiving.
4. Keep coming back to present moment awareness.
Every moment offers an opportunity for thanks. And every "thank-you" can return you to the present moment. "On the first day of spring, I was raking the gravel off the grass. It was hard, and I was starting to complain to myself," said Nancy Hathaway, a Buddhist teacher. "When I caught myself thinking and complaining, I switched over to 'thank you.' I remembered I really wanted to rake, and I wanted springtime. Gratitude practice for me is about letting go of thinking and welcoming in the present moment." Accepting this moment as it is, and knowing that everything is happening for your evolution is a great practice too. “Faith is born of gratitude,” says Dr. Wattles, “ The grateful mind continually expects good things, and expectation becomes faith.”
5. Create a thanksgiving ritual.
Every moment, every morning, evening, and every meal is an opportunity to say thank you. A formal prayer isn’t required - easily bring your attention on what you’re grateful for in the moment, it can be a touchstone to the miracles of life that might have gone unnoticed. At our group meditations, before we eat, I often say thank you to the universe, the creator, and its every thing that had to come into being to create the moment. I also express gratitude for the abundance that is present in our lives. That makes me feels good.
Here is a sweet thanksgiving prayer:
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. Keep up the gratitude practice even when you don’t feel particularly grateful.
When life is difficult and when you feel sad, anxious or alienated, or if you are dealing with a difficult relationship, choosing to be grateful can transform your perspective. Even for a few moments your awareness can shift to one of appreciation and contentment for all that is: both the wonderful and the frustrating experiences. Scientists have found that feeling grateful produces the endorphins in your brain, the same chemicals that reduce stress, lessen pain, and improve your immune functions.
Being grateful puts you in a totally different mindset, changes your energy level, and enables you to reestablish your connection to your source, your spirit. It is impossible to be grateful and unhappy or in fear at the same time. The negativity and anger will begin to dissipate. The struggle stops and your inner world calms. An attitude of gratitude trumps all negative emotions every time.
Sarah Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance, says, "You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you."
This is the power of gratitude. Each time you say "thank you", you replenish your trust in the loving power of the universe, acknowledge the infinite abundance available to you, and your right and willingness to share in the infinity of good things. My hope is that each one of us can embrace every experience of our lives as a magnificent gift. And thank you.
Sarah McLean teaches meditation throughout Arizona and is the director of the Sedona Meditation Training Co. Visit www.SedonaMeditation.com , or contact Sarah at (928) 204-0067.
Bill Sharon
Obama
 The election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States has resulted in an outpouring of emotion from around the world. My own response was one of joy, laughter and tears; joy and laughter as I celebrated with hundreds of other people in the street at 11:00 PM on the night of the election. Tears, perhaps because it has been such a long road to get to where we are; it seems that we had to descend to a pretty dark place to see the light.
I was reminded of the experience that I had in Fayetteville, North Carolina when I was a young teenager. One day I was living in Westport, Connecticut and my father was working in an advertising agency and the next day I was living on the Ft. Bragg Army post and my father was a Lt. Colonel in the United States Army. Many of us forget the last time there was a major troop call-up. It was during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. I went to Alexander Graham Bell Junior High School, a segregated school in Fayetteville. The bus lines were also segregated in those days and I remember looking out the window of my school bus and seeing a much older and dilapidated bus full of African Americans drive by.
The school was being desegregated the following year by federal court order. My social studies teacher thought it would be a good idea to have a debate about the issue in class. Three kids from the town took the side against desegregation and two other kids from the army post and I took the side for desegregation. I really don’t remember what was said on either side but I do remember that the three of us were jumped and beaten up after school that day. I remember asking this kid who was hitting me why he was doing it and he just said to me “I have to”.
I wish I could tell you that I had some sense of moral outrage on that day, that I saw the depths of man’s inhumanity to man in the segregation of the school I was attending. But the truth is that I simply didn’t understand. I didn’t understand why having black kids in the school was an issue. It wasn’t because I came from a liberal family; far from it and I can tell you for a fact that there were no African Americans going to school with me in Westport, CT. where the resident minority that were identified in my Protestant household were the increasing numbers of Jewish families.
Now, many years later I am married to an African woman. Her father is from the Gambia and her mother is from Jamaica. My children are bi-racial. I, however, am still very white and in the absence of my family I am perceived in a very different light. Some years ago we threw a party for all the people in my department at the company where I was working. There was a consultant who worked there as well and we invited him, but he didn’t show up. Only later I learned that he, a white man, was married to an African American woman and he was afraid that I would disapprove. It was a bit more irony than I am accustomed to; again, I just didn’t understand.
Some say that the election of Barack Obama signals the end of racism, the end of discrimination. Some say it is the end of capitalism. I doubt that it is really the end of anything. But it certainly is the beginning of something.
Bill Sharon has been conducting seminars, workshops and consulting assignments in the area of risk management for the past 12 years. He has 25 years experience in the Financial Services and Marketing/Communications industry in a variety of "C" level positions and consultancies. He is featured in numerous industry magazines including CIO Magazine, Business Finance Magazine, Business Credit Magazine, and has authored an executive briefing on managing risk in marketing services published by the Cutter Consortium in May 2005. He can be contacted at
bsharon@sorms.com.
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When I see or hear from Michelle Obama I feel that we have a real caring and loving woman who will soon live in the White House with President-elect Barack Obama. Every intuitive bone in my body tells me that she is the real McCoy—an asset that comes with the Presidency that we may never have had ever. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was a fashionable woman who spoke a lot of languages but she never affected the people of the United States of America and the world as Michelle Obama will. Stay tuned. 
No matter whom you voted for in the recent election, we now have a new President and we ought to give him our loving support through prayer and proactive behavior. As I write and counsel, thought impressions are more powerful than knives and guns. Words sting but silent and invisible nasty vitriol can affect the energetic universe in which we all live. This swirling movement of resonance impedes the efforts of the Divine to reach us with guidance. And what is at the root of such imagery is fear—fear sired by dark and dangerous pits of anger and rage camouflaged by trying to speak in the name of a great teacher. Christians must be particularly careful about letting their personal dogma or beliefs color their sensibility. 
Now that two major Holidays are drawing near it may be difficult for most of us to feel like celebrating. With the current state of our nation and the world, it is only natural to have a less than positive outlook on what lies ahead for all of us. In these challenging times it is easy to focus on the negatives that we still need to face. But there are actions we can each personally take to see what we can do to help someone else.
by Andrew Bell 
We all need to catch our breath after the two-year long laborious and tedious election cycle. Since the Sun moved into Sagittarius on November 21st we can expect things to be a bit lighter with more fun in our lives. Just don’t expect any shazam miracles with the financial markets. There is going to be a long and winding journey back to monetary stability. Learn the new mantra: How do we get back to financial well-being? The answer is ‘brick by brick and stone by stone’ we rebuild and reconstruct what we have lost. But if you want to stay in depression and anxiety you will create another Great Depression. We all created this lunacy now let each of us dig our way out of this mess with personal spending responsibility, i.e., save more and create less debt.
