Benjamins Yarn

There is beauty in the turn of every season and knowledge within each of life’s transitions.

Just as each season of the year has its own color of light, each season of life will shine its beautiful light upon the soul. Open the eyes of your heart. Enjoy the splendor.

Each spring shower, summer storm, falling autumn leaf, and icy winter wind is necessary to complete the portrait of its season. Likewise, each human trial is necessary to teach, build resilience, strengthen faith, and guide you forward.

Every yesterday holds treasures, sometimes concealed by hurt, misfortune, and disappointment. Nevertheless, if you stay alert, you will discover blessings you would not have known had you not lived through darker days. All events affect your tomorrows; their lessons ripple through time like love spreading from parent to child to grandchild.

What treasures could you find within the clouds that surround you today? How will you view this day in a way that will benefit others and you?

Rest assured, each event, circumstance, and person you encounter blesses you. Each brings a rainbow of beauty and immeasurable value, a gift to help guide you along the path of your life’s purpose.

Say a prayer of thanksgiving today for yesterday’s treasures.

© Copyright by Steve Brunkhorst. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration bringing great stories, motivational nuggets, and inspiring thoughts to help you achieve your top potential. Get the next issue by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com

Have you ever heard the little story of Mr Little?
For your ready reference the story is given below.

Mr Little lived in a little house in a little town and he worked for a very little salary. The neighbours wondered how Mr Little and the whole Little family could get along on such a small salary. He was asked, “Mr Little, How do you and Mrs Little and the seven little littles get along on such a little salary?”

He replied, “Every Little helps!”

Yes, every little helps in everybody’s life. A famous Tamil proverb often quoted is : ‘Small drops make ocean’!

The famous Ganges originates from Gangotri. It is situated at a height of 10,319 feet.

The most sacred river of Hindus originates as little drops! Then Mother Ganges comes out of a crevice and falls as a cascade, twenty feet high, into an egg shaped place.

From Himalayas it flows 1567 miles southeastward across an immense undulating plain.

The Ganges drainage basin covers an area of around 376,800 Squaremiles, roughly a quarter of the Indian Subcontinent. Flowing through one of the world’s most densely populated areas, the Ganges carries an enormous cargo of sediments at an annual average of 2.4 billion tonnes, that is more than any other river!

Greatness comes from little things!

Here is a story from The Bustan of Sadi: ” A rain drop fell from a spring cloud, and, seeing the wide expanse of the sea, was ashamed.
‘Where is the sea’, it is reflected, “where I am? Compared with that, forsooth, I am extinct.”

While thus regarding itself with an eye of contempt, an oyster took it to its bosom, and Fate so shaped its course that eventually the raindrop became a famous royal pearl.

It was exalted, for it was humble. Knocking at the door of extinction, it became existent.

Orison Swett Marden quotes Gothe and Sydney Smith in his book ‘Cheerfulness’ to emphasize a few good points.

“One ought, every day ,” says Gothe, “at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words”

Sydney Smith recommends us to make at least one person happy every day: “Take ten years, and you will make thirty- six hundred and fifty persons happy: or brighten a small town by your contribution to the fund of general joy.”

Every great journey starts with a small step.
Why don’t you start now?

S.Nagarajan is a vehicle body engineer by profession. He has written more than 1300 articles in 16 magazines and published 18 books so far. He is revealing Eastern Secret Wisdom through T.V.Programmes, magazine articles, seminars, courses. His email
address is : snagarajans@gmail.com.

As small children, we were all wild. Not unlike the wolf pup in the den, we ran when we felt like it, sniffed or tasted things to see what they were, yelled when the mood struck us and danced at the drop of a hat. We loved to dig in the earth, heave a rock into a pool, roll and tumble on the ground and run naked whenever we could. We loved ourselves and we loved our bodies. We knew no fear.

Of course, we were also taught to give that all up. “Act your age!” “Don’t be such a wild thing!” our parents told us. Grow UP. The list of unacceptable behaviors got longer and longer, until the wild part of us just went to sleep.

But the wildness is still inside of us, and we all need to make the connection to it to be a whole, happy person. It is there for a reason, and when we can find it, wake it up and make it a working part of our psyche, we are all the better for it.

The wildness holds our deeper intuition. That sniffing and tasting to discover what a thing was… it kept us out of a lot of harmful situations! We knew instinctively when something or someone should be avoided. As small children, that instinct was not fully developed, of course, but as adults we can use that wildness to guide us in ways that we need. When we allow our wild side to remain buried and asleep we are a lot more likely to blunder into situations and relationships that are not good for us!

The wildness allowed us to have fun and to connect to the rhythms of the universe at lot more easily. We can all use a good roll on the ground from time to time. A good long howl at the moon when we are sad can really go a long way to making us feel better. Heaving a rock into a pool is very therapeutic when angry.

Women especially have lost that wild nature. They complain long and hard about men being so free with their bodily functions, and the fact that they are acting like “little boys” all the time. Well, ladies, I strongly suggest that you give it a try! Women need to let go of all the civilization once in awhile. We have had all the wildness bred out of us, and it is unhealthy! Many women feel a yearning as they grow older to dig in the earth (gardening), act a little silly or wild from time to time, and yet they are so frightened… what will the neighbors (mates, parents, friends, strangers) think?

Ha! Who cares? I would rather be known as that sort of strange lady who lives down the block than I would be frustrated and pent-up. No chemical hair dye and plastic surgery for me.

An excellent book about this is “Women Who Run With The Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I have a sort of goal to get every woman on earth to read this book! Cast off your pantyhose and dance… let loose the wildness and howl at the moon! You have nothing to lose but your ulcers, your unhappiness, your fear and your yearning.

You will gain your personal power, your joy, your connection and your intuitive self.

I hope to bump into you some night, running under the full moon… in the wild.

About The Author

Sibyl McLendon is 1/2 Navajo, and is a personal spiritual coach for Circle Of Grace http://www.circle-of-grace.com.

Circle Of Grace is a unique blending of Native American spirituality and holistic wellness coaching. Sign up for a free coaching session!

Sibyl can be contacted at sibyl@www.circle-of-grace.com

Okay, before you think that I’m just another “alien freak”, let me say that I don’t mean that little green men from the red planet are on the warpath. The sort of “attack” that I’m referring to has to do with the very noticeable effects in your life whenever the planet Mars forms an “aspect” to one of the factors in your birth chart.

Have you ever had one of those days where you seemed
restless, perhaps even nervous, when you were impatient with others, when you couldn’t sleep at night… and there didn’t seem to be any obvious reason for your agitated state? Well, then you may well have been experiencing what is known to astrologers as a “Mars transit”.

As you may already know, a birth chart is a map of the exact (to the degree and minute of arc) planetary positions on the date (and at the time and place) of your birth. One of the main techniques that we astrologers use to make predictions about the tendencies of a person’s future is that of the so-called “transits”. A transit occurs when a planet on a specific day/time (for example, right now) is passing over a degree of the zodiac that is in a specific angle to one of the important factors in your birth chart. Let’s get more concrete. Suppose you were born on November 8 1955, at 9:48 am EST (as I was). The Sun in your birth chart is (as seen from the earth) in 15 degrees, 25 minutes of the sign Scorpio. Now, on Nov 6, 2005, the planet Mars is in 15 degrees Taurus: exactly 180 degrees from “your” Sun. An 180 angle is known as an “opposition”, and is but one of the various aspects used in astrological work.

In order to interpret such an aspect, several things must be considered:

- The planet making the aspect (in this case, Mars)

- The planet (or other factor) in the birth chart receiving
the aspect (the Sun, in our example)

- The Nature of the aspect (in this case, of the opposition).

- Other considerations, such as the signs and houses these
planets occupy, other aspects that are present among the
factors in the birth chart, etc.

In our example, we’ll simplify. An opposition is regarded as an aspect of tension, and often represents a challenge we have to face. As I write these lines, the planet Mars is in opposition to my Sun, and has been for several days - and I sure have noticed it! I’ve been busier than usual, teaching my students, working on different Internet projects, and have generally not had much time to just sit back and relax. This is often the case when Mars is in aspect to your Sun.

Also typical of Mars is, on occasion, accidents, or
experiencing pain of some sort. Well, a few days ago, one of my back teeth began to hurt. My dentist had warned me it was going to give me trouble some day (it already has several fillings in it), and I’m afraid that day has arrived. A toothache is a painful thing to have, as I’m sure many of you know, and in just a half hour, I’ll be leaving for the dentist’s to see whether the tooth can be saved, or must be extracted. In any case, the inevitable unpleasantness/pain associated with undergoing dental work is also typical of a Mars transit.

Nervousness, impatience and impulsiveness often occur under a Mars transit, so if you’re experiencing such a time, I suggest you try to relax, take your time, drive more slowly than usual… for when under the influence of Mars, we tend to get ahead of ourselves, and this can, depending on the circumstances, lead to an increased risk of accidents.

How can you know when a Mars transit will be affecting you? Well, just about any good astrology program allows you to calculate transits. Our own “Omnicycles” program lets you do both your birth chart and transits (in graph form) for the weeks/months when Mars will be showing its influence most strongly in your future. There are also some astrology sites that let you calculate the positions of the planets for different time periods: use seach terms such as “astrology”, “on-line ephemeris” (put this one in quotes), and “aspect” in Google to find sites that offer such a service.

Despite the occasional upsets that Mars transits can bring you, I should also mention the positive side. During these times, you will have more energy, and will no doubt be able to get a lot more done in your work, studies, etc. Take advantage of this trend: if you feel so “worked up” that you don’t know what to do with all that excess energy, maybe it would be a good time to paint the porch, indulge in your favorite sport, or work it off in some other way. Just resist the temptation to do too much, or to tax your strength to the limit: be active, but don’t take any unnecessary risks.

Since Mars can, in its worst manifestation, represent
violence, we can be pretty sure of one thing - If those little green men from that neighbouring red planet ever DO decide to attack and wipe us all out, it will probably happen when Mars is in a rather bad aspect to the Earth!

David E. Bolton, born in Baltimore, MD, began his astrological studies in 1977, in Kassel, Germany. He has been teaching the subject for over 20 years, and has been especially active in the area of research. His primary interest lies in the refinement of predictive techniques, as well as the redefining of traditional systems of interpretation. Working with the Spanish programmer, Juanma Puertas, Mr. Bolton developed the “Omnicycles” software program, that allows users to view the “ups and downs” of their lives in many different areas: love, finances, work, social life, and more. A free working demo is available at his website, http://www.omnicycles.com, so that you can test the program’s effectiveness in your own life. Mr. Bolton is also a professional harpsichordist and language teacher. He now lives in Granada, Spain.

Astronomer Johannes Kepler did not have the benefit of sophisticated telescopes or computers yet, in the 17th century, he was able to establish a proven harmonic relationship between the planets. In his third law of planetary motion Kepler states: The orbital period of a planet is proportional to its distance to the Sun This was first revealed in his seminal work Harmonice Mundi or ‘Harmony of the World’ in 1619. It is also known as the Harmonic Law.

Kepler’s discoveries still hold firm today and corroborate the Pythagorean based theory, that the fabric of our existence is woven with number.

One of the ways that we can visibly observe the presence of this theory is in the relationship and planetary intervals between the Sun, Moon and Earth. More specifically in the observation of Eclipses that occur in regular, repeating numbered patterns known as The Saros Cycle. On Earth we can witness anything between two and five solar eclipses in a year. The periodicity of each cycle is 18 years, 11 days and 8 hours and there are some 70 eclipses (lunar and solar) in each Saros series, spanning 1,260 years.

The Sun is but one star amongst an infinite number of others, within an infinite number of galaxies. However, without this star and indeed the solar system, life would just not exist. Although, in the greater scheme of things, the Sun is a fairly insignificant star, its size may be better appreciated when I tell you that, hypothetically, it could accommodate one million planets the size of Earth. Being approximately 109 times the diameter of the Earth, the Sun is 400 times greater than the Moon’s diameter, whilst the Moon is approximately one-quarter the Earth’s diameter.

In one of the most beautiful displays of perfection and synchronicity known to Man, under certain conditions the disc of the Moon is able to completely blot out the light of the Sun, which throws a path of darkness over the surface of the Earth. It is an event known as a Total Solar Eclipse.

Due to its distance from the Sun and Earth, and the plane of its orbit when it comes between them, the Moon will periodically cover the face of the Sun in various degrees of obscuration. Thus we can have Total, Annular, Partial and Non Central eclipses.

The next one in the Saros cycle, is a Total Solar Eclipse, which will occur on Mar 29 2006 at 10.11:21 GMT for duration of 4 minutes and 7 seconds.

The area of darkness that the Moon’s shadow will cause is known as the path of totality. This eclipse has a path of totality that sweeps up from Brazil crossing the South Atlantic Ocean and making landfall through Togo, Benin. Nigeria, Niger, Chad,Libya and Egypt and then extending on up through Turkey and ending in Mongolia.

With the introduction of space probes such as SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), those in scientific community are beginning to understand the forces that the Sun can have upon the Earth. Particular attention has been paid in recent years to the impact of Solar Flares and sunspots on the Earth.

In brief, sunspots are the visible affects of the Sun’s magnetic forces. Sunspots have now been shown to have the greatest affect upon life on Earth when they are either most prevalent at times of Solar Maximum (around 100 sunspots), or most absent (zero sunspots) known as Solar Minimum. In yet another display of collaboration within the Universe, this sunspot cycle lasts for around 11 years - just short of the Eclipse cycle, enfolded within the longer-term solar activity cycle that lasts for 80-90 years. (Known as the Gleisberg cycle).

At times of maximum sunspots the Earth’s gravitational field is severely impacted causing migratory animals to lose their bearings, whales to beach themselves and lose directional ability. Power outages occur, electronic equipment, including mobile phones can go haywire and satellites in space can even be destroyed. Conversely, between 1645 and 1715 in a period known as the ‘Maunder Minimum’, the lack of solar activity led to the period known as the Little Ice Age.

It is therefore safe to extrapolate that if alterations to the surface of the Sun causes recognisable terrestrial events, that the entire light of the Sun being obscured from the Earth is going to have enormous consequences. Something that observers of rhythm and pattern (also known as astrologers!) have known since the beginning of civilisation.

This upcoming eclipse is one of three in the last century to occur in the sky at the 8th degree of the zodiac (8 Aries). The other two were in 1968 and 1987. This one however is expected to be the most potent. We judge this by the fact that the other two were not total eclipses and they did not last for even one minute of time. This eclipse is 4 minutes and 07 seconds in length.

The fact that we also have planets aligning with the Galactic Centre at the time of this eclipse and in angular relationships (or harmonic resonance) with other planetary bodies will also prove significant.

Empirical evidence shows that eclipses have most impact on those countries that lie under the path of totality and those for whom the degree of the eclipse resonates with their birth moment in someway. By this I mean that any person, country or manifest object whose inception involves 8 degrees of the cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Capricorn or Cancer) is likely to experience events that mirror the celestial event.

Using our theory of number underpinning the Universe, the conjunction of two planets is thought to resonate to the number one, the number of Unity. Within ‘Unity’ all that is enfolded will unfold in the course of the cycle and indeed, continue to unfold further through subsequent cycles.

As the disc of the Moon is symbolically ‘putting out’ the light of the Sun, this correlates with events, which possess a quality of death and rebirth ‘the ending of one phase of being and the beginning of a new’. As the cycle unfolds the Sun, Moon and other planets will make aspects to the original eclipse degree of 8 Aries, triggering International events at those places where the eclipse is either visible, or is rising or setting at that location, or makes transits to chart positions.

People (or any other thing made manifest) who are born on or around 29 March +/- 3 days in any year, will find their lives and fortunes resonate strongly to the Solar/Lunar cycles and in particular to future eclipse cycles.

In fact, if the planets are analogous to the mechanism of an intricate celestial clock, the revolutions involved in eclipses may truly be described as the markers of time - the important cycles of destiny.

Kathryn Cassidy is a professional astrologer. She was first taught by traditional astrologer, Derek Appleby and later worked with Sun sign astrologer Jonathan Cainer for four years before securing her own astrology column in an internationally distributed magazine - Journal.
She now hosts a blog called Collaborating With Fate http://collaboratingwithfate.blogspot.com
where she discusses all aspects of astrology, with an emphasis on planetary cycles and the harmonic rhythms inherent in our Universe.