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Mercury turns retrograde approximately three times a year. Each of these periods gives you a time that when all that can happen, will happen – like a cosmic Murphy’s Law campaign has been given the go ahead! Cars start acting up, mail gets delivered to other addresses, “the check’s in the mail” takes three times as long to get there, computers will blowout and people will change their minds half way down the road! You start to wonder what to do when things go haywire! Misunderstandings are par for the course and making sure you reiterate every spoken agreement as you will find that people are not hearing what you are saying. Crossing you “t’s” and dotting your “i’s” is de rigeur. If you are in legal court proceedings, you may find that the other party asks for a continuance or doesn’t show up at all! What is a Mercury retrograde? If you are of the planetary type, a simple explanation is that all the planets seem to “march” across the sky. When a planet goes”retrograde” it would appear in your telescope to move backwards from the forward progression it was making previously. Since Mercury is the planet of communication, the blame for so much confusion falls on its’ shoulders. From a metaphysical perspective, these three times in the year when Mercury is retrograde is to rebalance or regulate what is going on. The big Dow Stock Exchange in the Fall of 2008 came during a Mercury retrograde in Libra, whose symbols is the Scales. Interesting, don’t you think? The retrograde times is to reflect, rethink and re-adjust. It helps us step back and watch the football game from the sidelines to get a better perspective of the whole game and its’ many moving parts. Things will fall in place when it is time for them to and it also helps us make clear decisions of what we really want in life. Years ago, I was delivering flowers in one of my many job incarnations, and in late January and early February, the rule of thumb is to prepare for Valentine’s Day. Well, along comes about that time a Mercury retrograde, of which I announced to the assembled designers, manager and boss, and within a couple of days, the wire transfer system, FTD, had “gone down” and couldn’t be connected to our computer. More importantly, the golden winged dude carrying the flowers as a trademark of FTD is the winged god Mercury, and the message transport system is dubbed “the Mercury’ or “Merc” for short! Needless to say, the boss told me to never let him know when there is another Mercury retrograde after he got the system reconnected to his computers right before February 14th. Because we as humans expect things to run in a straight line for us, when Mercury goes retrograde, we get upset and short tempered with people because of this could of confusion that seems to be permeating everywhere. The easiest way to deal with life during Mercury retrograde times is just know that something, somewhere is bound to go haywire and even if you fix the problem, expect to revisit the issue again once the planet is moving forward again. HINT: Do no, I mean, DO NOT get any car repairs done during a Mercury retrograde. You might get the wrong sized tires put on your car (like me once), or the mechanic will have to “re-do” the work – and you pay twice! Whatever you do – DO NOT sign contracts, buy cars, appliances, upgrade your software, break up with your mate, or conquer a country – you’ll have egg on your...
In remembrance of all whom perished in the events surrounding 9/11 and the lingering effects. May you find peace.
In the last post, I talked about the various foods cooked and served to Yemaya (and our guests). I am now going to talk about setting up your altar. Your traditional altar has either a framed photograph or statue of the image, whether it is in the form of a Catholic Saint or some other piece of art that holds their image. You may also worship in a more indigineous or authentic style, as in Yoruba, where you have the “sopera” or soup tureen-like covered jar with the implements of that particular Saint contained within. Since I have an actual statue from Spain of Yemaya, also known as the Virgen of Regla, I used it as the focal piece of my altar. The dishes that we offered are from left to right: Mexican coconut candy for guests to take as they depart, fried okra and stewed black eyed peas, Pork Iyako (a farmer’s stew) on a bed of rice, fried pork chunks surrounded by fried plantains, and homemade coconut candy with melao (molasses). Notice the corresponding drapery behind the statue and on the tabletop that matches the color related to the Saint. Yemaya’s colors are shades of blue and crystal clear white. To the left of the statue is a raised silver dish with various sea shells in it, a conch shell flanks each side of the statue, and to the right is a mini congo drum made by Carlos Santana to commemorate his album, “Supernatural” with a porcelain and cloth doll in the navy blue dress associated with Yemaya Okute (“She who cuts with a Knife”) that I just had to have when I found her in Sedona, Arizona, of all places. As the day got later, we had more visitors, and more candles were brought to light, necessitating another table in front of the altar. A peaceful and happy time was had by...
Maferefun Yemaya! Sunday, we celebrated the feast day of Yemaya, mother of all the other Orishas. While I began posting yesterday about the three parts I was going to give to you inorder for you to see how a feast day commences, the day got away from me and it was after 8 pm before I had a moment to check e-mails and for some, return calls! When I last posted, I was going in search of plantains, those larger green bananas that are such a favorite with different Caribbean dishes. My daughter and I visited the Red Star Import Company here in Sacramento, a mom-and-pop type store with foods from all of the Carribean countries such as Cuba, Jamaica, and as far away as Brazil and Fiji. Shopping in THE Thalia Took Yemaya shirt at www.cafepress.com, found a bottle of “mojo” by Goya and plantains, yucca, and taro root. Too much good stuff and look at this bottle of Spiritual Healing Roots – hoodoo for sale! We are back home and it is down to work, chopping, peeling, slicing and frying, frying and more frying! Next, we will show you the finished, yet small altar with all the foods displayed and...
Mercury Retrograde | What to Do when Things Go Haywire
Posted by Jacqueline on Oct 15th, 2008 in Rants and Raves, Reversible Candles, Special Announcements | Comments Off on Mercury Retrograde | What to Do when Things Go Haywire
Mercury turns retrograde approximately three times a year. Each of these periods gives you a time that when all that can happen, will happen – like a cosmic Murphy’s Law campaign has been given the go ahead! Cars start acting up, mail gets delivered to other addresses, “the check’s in the mail” takes three times as long to get there, computers will blowout and people will change their minds half way down the road! You start to wonder what to do when things go haywire! Misunderstandings are par for the course and making sure you reiterate every spoken agreement as you will find that people are not hearing what you are saying. Crossing you “t’s” and dotting your “i’s” is de rigeur. If you are in legal court proceedings, you may find that the other party asks for a continuance or doesn’t show up at all! What is a Mercury retrograde? If you are of the planetary type, a simple explanation is that all the planets seem to “march” across the sky. When a planet goes”retrograde” it would appear in your telescope to move backwards from the forward progression it was making previously. Since Mercury is the planet of communication, the blame for so much confusion falls on its’ shoulders. From a metaphysical perspective, these three times in the year when Mercury is retrograde is to rebalance or regulate what is going on. The big Dow Stock Exchange in the Fall of 2008 came during a Mercury retrograde in Libra, whose symbols is the Scales. Interesting, don’t you think? The retrograde times is to reflect, rethink and re-adjust. It helps us step back and watch the football game from the sidelines to get a better perspective of the whole game and its’ many moving parts. Things will fall in place when it is time for them to and it also helps us make clear decisions of what we really want in life. Years ago, I was delivering flowers in one of my many job incarnations, and in late January and early February, the rule of thumb is to prepare for Valentine’s Day. Well, along comes about that time a Mercury retrograde, of which I announced to the assembled designers, manager and boss, and within a couple of days, the wire transfer system, FTD, had “gone down” and couldn’t be connected to our computer. More importantly, the golden winged dude carrying the flowers as a trademark of FTD is the winged god Mercury, and the message transport system is dubbed “the Mercury’ or “Merc” for short! Needless to say, the boss told me to never let him know when there is another Mercury retrograde after he got the system reconnected to his computers right before February 14th. Because we as humans expect things to run in a straight line for us, when Mercury goes retrograde, we get upset and short tempered with people because of this could of confusion that seems to be permeating everywhere. The easiest way to deal with life during Mercury retrograde times is just know that something, somewhere is bound to go haywire and even if you fix the problem, expect to revisit the issue again once the planet is moving forward again. HINT: Do no, I mean, DO NOT get any car repairs done during a Mercury retrograde. You might get the wrong sized tires put on your car (like me once), or the mechanic will have to “re-do” the work – and you pay twice! Whatever you do – DO NOT sign contracts, buy cars, appliances, upgrade your software, break up with your mate, or conquer a country – you’ll have egg on your...White Candle for Remembrance – 9/11
Posted by Jacqueline on Sep 12th, 2008 in Special Announcements | Comments Off on White Candle for Remembrance – 9/11
In remembrance of all whom perished in the events surrounding 9/11 and the lingering effects. May you find peace.Feast Day for Yemaya/Yemoja/Iemanja Sept. 7, 2008 | Part 3 of 3
Posted by Jacqueline on Sep 10th, 2008 in Special Announcements | Comments Off on Feast Day for Yemaya/Yemoja/Iemanja Sept. 7, 2008 | Part 3 of 3
In the last post, I talked about the various foods cooked and served to Yemaya (and our guests). I am now going to talk about setting up your altar. Your traditional altar has either a framed photograph or statue of the image, whether it is in the form of a Catholic Saint or some other piece of art that holds their image. You may also worship in a more indigineous or authentic style, as in Yoruba, where you have the “sopera” or soup tureen-like covered jar with the implements of that particular Saint contained within. Since I have an actual statue from Spain of Yemaya, also known as the Virgen of Regla, I used it as the focal piece of my altar. The dishes that we offered are from left to right: Mexican coconut candy for guests to take as they depart, fried okra and stewed black eyed peas, Pork Iyako (a farmer’s stew) on a bed of rice, fried pork chunks surrounded by fried plantains, and homemade coconut candy with melao (molasses). Notice the corresponding drapery behind the statue and on the tabletop that matches the color related to the Saint. Yemaya’s colors are shades of blue and crystal clear white. To the left of the statue is a raised silver dish with various sea shells in it, a conch shell flanks each side of the statue, and to the right is a mini congo drum made by Carlos Santana to commemorate his album, “Supernatural” with a porcelain and cloth doll in the navy blue dress associated with Yemaya Okute (“She who cuts with a Knife”) that I just had to have when I found her in Sedona, Arizona, of all places. As the day got later, we had more visitors, and more candles were brought to light, necessitating another table in front of the altar. A peaceful and happy time was had by...Feast Day for Yemaya/Yemoja/Iemanja – Sept. 7, 2008 |Part 2 of 3
Posted by Jacqueline on Sep 9th, 2008 in Special Announcements | Comments Off on Feast Day for Yemaya/Yemoja/Iemanja – Sept. 7, 2008 |Part 2 of 3
Maferefun Yemaya! Sunday, we celebrated the feast day of Yemaya, mother of all the other Orishas. While I began posting yesterday about the three parts I was going to give to you inorder for you to see how a feast day commences, the day got away from me and it was after 8 pm before I had a moment to check e-mails and for some, return calls! When I last posted, I was going in search of plantains, those larger green bananas that are such a favorite with different Caribbean dishes. My daughter and I visited the Red Star Import Company here in Sacramento, a mom-and-pop type store with foods from all of the Carribean countries such as Cuba, Jamaica, and as far away as Brazil and Fiji. Shopping in THE Thalia Took Yemaya shirt at www.cafepress.com, found a bottle of “mojo” by Goya and plantains, yucca, and taro root. Too much good stuff and look at this bottle of Spiritual Healing Roots – hoodoo for sale! We are back home and it is down to work, chopping, peeling, slicing and frying, frying and more frying! Next, we will show you the finished, yet small altar with all the foods displayed and...