Uranus

The orbit of Uranus is 84 years, but variations during that orbit can alter the time of the all-important half-return. Uranus is going through a speeding-up process at the moment, so those who are now approaching their forties will experience the half-return at the age of 39. Older subjects will have experienced this at 40, 41 or even 42. Uranus, the ‘breakout’ planet, brings issues of freedom and originality to the fore, so, if a subject has been living a very conventional life up to the time of the return, they may kick over the traces when it comes. Read the rest of this entry »

Jupiter

Jupiter takes 12 years to make its return. If you understand natal charting, when trying to interpret this return you will need to take into account the sign and the house that natal Jupiter occupies as well as any planets that aspect Jupiter natally.

If you don’t understand natal charting, then just remember that Jupiter is a bit of a double-edged sword. As you begin to read and learn about astrology, you will soon come to see Jupiter as ‘the great benefic’, or the planet that, along with Venus, bestows all kinds of good things upon its subjects. Read the rest of this entry »

The Moon

The Moon travels around the Earth once each month. Therefore there will be one day in every 27.32 days when it returns to the place in which it was when a subject was born. This is called a lunar return. At this point in the book I suggest that you forget about the Moon, because apart from obvious things such as a woman having a menstrual period or one’s credit card bills coming in, there shouldn’t be too many earth- shattering things happening on a monthly basis. Read the rest of this entry »

Third house

Mercury

This is a great time for communications and for having an active mind. Don’t wear your nerves out by thinking too much! Try to finish one task before starting another.

Venus

Good relationships with those who are around you and a peaceful frame of mind are likely. A good old gossip with a woman friend from time to time will perk you up. Socializing with neighbours and siblings will be pleasant. Read the rest of this entry »

Mercury/Uranus

Pleasant aspects will stimulate your mind and take you into new realms of thought. Original and unusual ideas can be successfully pursued. Computers, astrology, science and other modern techniques will appeal to you, while teaching and studying are other possibilities. You should make new friends and become involved in institutions, groups and social clubs that are stimulating and amusing. A new job or a new way of doing a current one are possible. You may become involved in alternative therapies and spiritual_ healing and your intuition level will increase dramatically. Read the rest of this entry »

Feng Shui has been practiced “I in China as a formalized technique of selecting auspicious sites since the Tang Dynasty, and probably the most famous Feng Shui master of his day was Yang Yun Sang, who is widely recognized in the old texts as the “founder” of Landscape Feng Shui as we know it today. Master Yang left a legacy of classics that have survived the centuries. As a leading figure at the court of the emperor Hi Tsang (888 B.C.E.), Master Yang’s books on the capturing and harnessing of the dragon’s breath were required reading in the Imperial exams. He thus exerted tremendous influence at court.

Master Yang’s books on what eventually came to be recognized as Feng Shui were also the basis upon which succeeding generations of practitioners set their knowledge. His emphasis was on the shape of the mountains, the direction of water courses, and most of all, on searching for the green dragon’s lair hidden in the undulating ridges and valleys of mountain ranges. Read the rest of this entry »

Wilhelm’s I Ching was translated into German, and it was left to another scholar, Cary E Baynes, to translate it into English, thus making the great wisdom of the IChing available to a wider audience. Overseas Chinese, like the author and many of her contemporaries, whose knowledge of and exposure to so-called “authentic Chinese culture” is at best adapted and juxtaposed from a hodgepodge of secondary literature, superstition, and hearsay from the old folks, owe a debt of gratitude to both Wilhelm and Baynes for making this great work accessible for study. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to spaceconsiderations, Feng Shui alsohas a time dimension. This is related to the relevance of time cycles, and the technique of analyzing the Feng Shui of time periods is collectively practiced under what is known as Flying Star Feng Shui. This focuses on the significance of changing forces during different time periods. The process highlights the intangible influences of the numbers and combinations of numbers of the magic Lo Shu square.

This adds vital nuances to”good” and “bad” Feng Shui and explains that good or bad luck in terms of the harmony or disharmony in the environment does not necessarily occur continuously or last forever. Nor do auspicious and inauspicious orientations remain the same throughout one’s entire life. Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking things through

Cognitive developmental theory is the study of the development and maturation of thinking. A Swiss psychologist named Jean Piaget is the father and reigning king of cognitive developmental theory. Piaget began thinking about thinking as he watched his own children grow up in front of him, analyzing their behavior and theorizing about the thoughts running through their little heads. I guess having a psychologist for a parent really can be a little scary.

Piaget is considered to be a mentalist because his theory holds that our overt behavior is due in a large partto how we think about the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Why would Carl Rogers think that making a genuine connection with his patient and really trying to understand what it’s like to be that particular individual has a helping or healing effect? The answer to that question may seem obvious: All of us like to feel understood. (See Chapter 13 for more on the importance of relationships.) Having people “get” what we’re about seems to give us a sense of well-being, a feeling of being more alive and present against the backdrop of a dark and uncaring world.

Although he’s not considered a client-centered therapist, Eric Fromm introduced a concept that attempts to explain why being understood is so important to all us. Fromm believed that we all make constant attempts to check our perceptions and experiences against the perceptions and experiences of others around us, particularly people whose opinion we value. You may have heard of the concept of a reality check — like asking someone if he or she just saw the UFO land in the field next to the highway. “Did you just see what I just saw?” If the other person saw it too, you experience something Fromm called validation. Validation is the experience of having someone concur or support your experience of reality. Validation gives us a sense of presence; it makes us feel like we exist. According to Fromm, we would feel as if we didn‘t existence without validation. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always marveled at people like Mother Teresa who devote their entire lives to helping others. Her sacrifice was unquestionable. What drives people to help in this way? It certainly wasn’t money. I never saw Mother Teresa driving around in a Rolls Royce. Altruism, having concern for and helping other people without asking for anything in return, seems to have been a favorite topic among social psychologists. Maybe, they studied altruism with such zeal because it’s an integral part of our everyday lives. Nearly every day, we’re presented with a situation in which someone needs our help, even if it’s those sad, late-night commercials showing starving children in developing nations.

I think that most of us like to see ourselves as helpful people. If we’re not particularly helpful, then at least we’re willing to help in certain situations or when the need is severe. Hundreds, if not thousands, of studies conducted by social psychologists have investigated why, when, and who we actually help. Some of the findings are surprising, even shocking.

In New York City, 1964, a woman named Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered outside of her apartment by a man with a knife. She struggled with the attacker and screamed for help for nearly 35 minutes. No one came to her aid. There were later reports by 38 of her neighbors stating that they had witnessed the crime and heard her screams, but they did nothing to help her. Read the rest of this entry »