| Ask Your Mama: Ceremony & Spirituality Ceremony & Spirituality
by Donna Henes
Dear Mama Donna,
I am wondering how to shift the energy in my house and make it more cozy and nicer to be here after my divorce. I have done the paint job and I feel like I am living in an empty theater in many ways. Any ideas? I haven't had my house re-warming yet because it doesn't feel like I am really ready. I am trying to both keep the creative juice going, and excavate what I don't need. Should I just relax and make soup and knit and do projects and wait for the cold to pass?
—Domestically Challenged
Dear Lady of the House,
It sounds to me like you want to make your house into your home. To personalize it and to claim it as your own. Creating your home is a perfect metaphor for redirecting the focus of your life.
You have cleared away the old energy by scrubbing and painting. Now you need to fill it with your own spirit. I really like the idea of starting with an empty theater. Think of it as a proscenium on which you can stage and star in the production of your own life.
I never could understand how people could design all of the tiniest details of a house on paper and then build from those plans. How can you possibly know what you want and where you want it until after you have inhabited the space? How can you be sure exactly where you want a particular drawer or light switch or outlet, until circumstances and your own habits and requirements show you the way?
I always like to build my home around myself, to it create as I go. To gradually bring into my environment the things that I like, that I need, that I find, that I make myself. I am like a bowerbird or a magpie who forages for the fripperies with which it decorates its nest.
And then, of course, each new thing that I drag inside demands to be set in the environment with thought, feeling and intention. This ritual of placement assures that each each addition makes a relevant statement to me. Nothing that is not a reflection of my own taste and experience.
As you spend time in an empty space, you learn where you feel the most comfortable, or conversely, where you feel agitated or ill at ease. You find your favorite corners and discover your power points.
Do you remember in "The Teachings of Don Juan" where Don Juan assigns Carlos Casteneda the exercise of locating his sitio? Don Juan had him get down on the floor of the porch and roll around until he could identify his perfect place, his sitio. Once he found his place, he was to spread his bedroll there and spend the night. But Carlos felt frustrated and foolish and eventually just drifted off to sleep. In the morning, Don Juan came out of the house and congratulated him on finding his sitio. His body and spirit had automatically stopped looking and relaxed when he was in his proper place.
Finding your sitio is a good way to start domesticating your house. This especially energetic spot is the seat of your power. That is where you should put your altar or drawing table or desk so that it will support your creative juices. This source of nurturing energy is like the hearth. The heat it generates will fuel the room and you can build out from there.
It is tempting to want it all done fast right now this minute, because that would mean that you had already transformed yourself and were settled into your new life, as it were. But your personal makeover will come to pass from the very process of your homemaking.
By simply living in the house, you will be claiming it and enlivening it with your spirit. And once your spirit owns the space, it will speak to you and let you know precisely what you need and what you desire in order to be happy in your home.
So yes, burrow in, make soup, knit and do pro-
jects. Put on music, light some sweet grass and putter around. Live your life and do creative work there. Cook and eat and read and dance and dream there. Relax. You are home.
And there is no place like home.
—xxMama Donna
Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. Send your questions about seasons, cycles, and celebrations to Mama Donna at cityshaman@aol.com.
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| |  | Editor's Notebook: Karaoke vs. KRCL and why we writeby Greta Belanger deJong
How many people do you know who have written a book? A lot, I bet. When I was a kid, most people could play a musical instrument. At family gatherings it was what people did. Apparently it still is that way in some circles: Peter Au, manager of Wing Tai, a Chinese import shop in Murray, also rents out his karaoke machine, which has thousands of tunes in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese in addition to English, French and such. He let me try it. Scary but fun. I sang “That Old Black Magic,” in a slinky, Bjork mood, which didn’t exactly fit the swing orchestra accompaniment. Anyway, Peter said that karaoke is very big in Asian cultures. “We get together. We eat. Then we sing,” is how he describes it. His machine is very popular.
Instead of making music anymore, everybody I know seems to write, or aspire to write. They buy books about journaling, and blank books to write in, or carry their laptops everywhere. Writing classes abound, for those interested in mining their pasts for the gold of something worth remembering and repeating, or inventing new lives from hearsay.
People write for all sorts of reasons, and it’s commonly said that “real” writers write because they must—that it’s painful not to, much like a cow with an udder full of milk. They get cranky if they don’t. Which is not to say that it’s necessarily much less painful to actually write.
I will reveal something potentially embarrassing: I like to write because I like the feel of my fingers on the keyboard. I love the tapping, the rebound; I like to wiggle my fingers. (Perhaps this is merely an extension of my earlier piano-playing family life.) It gives me pleasure to see the letters, words, sentences appear. I like the look of punctuation, and the declarative thump of a period.
A fellow once endeared himself to me by saying, after a thoughtful pause, when I asked him what were some things he liked: “I like to spell.”
Similarly, I like to hear my own voice in a microphone. For a few years I did open mic poetry readings, not through any strong belief in the writing but for the joy of hearing my own magnified tones, so lush and round.
I remember about 20 years ago Carly Jimenez had a chapter-a-day program on KRCL, Salt Lake’s community-sponsored radio station. I always wanted to participate but I wasn’t brave enough, having not yet discovered the joy of the microphone. Addressing thousands of people you can’t even see... how do people do that?
But hundreds of KRCL volunteers have done exactly that, for almost three decades. A community of supporters have listened, attended events such as Day in the Park and other KRCL-sponsored gatherings and voted for their favorite programs with their call-in donations.
KRCL staff, management and board took it in the shorts last month with the announcement that volunteers are soon to lose the 6 a.m.-6 p.m. slot. The move to hire three people to handle those hours was characterized by some volunteers and listeners as a “corporate takeover, ” a camel’s nose in the door that will turn our gutsy, feisty station into pablum.
I interviewed station manager Donna Land and board member Paula Evershed recently. It was a good interview, full of great quotes and useful insights. The recording equipment worked fine. The next day, my computer ate the interview, taking a few fire-spinning videos with it. Yes, I was bummed.
But I can tell you this: I came away with the feeling that KRCL will still be our radio station. The music will still be like nothing heard elsewhere in town. Volunteer d.j.s will still be at the microphones more than half the time. We’ll still hear all the public service announcements that guide our social-activist lives. And live musicians will still show up and goof off. As for Day In the Park: It stopped several years ago because the previous volunteer organizers stepped down. Maybe new volunteers will appear.
Last I heard, six volunteer d.j.s were among the many applicants for the three paid on-air positions. The change should happen in May.
Radiothon is this month. I will call in my pledge. I say let’s give the new format a chance.
Perhaps even more important than my financial pledge: I am making an effort to listen more. I want to be a KRCL supporter not just in theory—not just a moral supporter—but in my actions.
FM 90.9. If you’re not already familiar with the station, check it out. And if you don’t like it—well, let’s get together and I’ll sing you some karaoke. u
Greta Belanger deJong is founder, publisher and editor of CATALYST. greta@catalystmagazine.net.
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 | Don't Get Me Started: Mad cow denial in the meat...by John deJong
What is most appalling about the recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef is the almost random nature of the video that touched off the recall.
One would hope that the Westland/ Hallmark Meat Company of Chino, California, is one of the more egregious offenders when it comes to “keeping yields high,” but revelations about the inadequacies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s meat inspection program make me wonder—how many other slaughter houses across the country could be featured on YouTube?
In 2004, the USDA came out with a “no downer” rule that spooked the meat processing industry. The big question at USDA-hosted seminars that year: What is considered a “downer” cow? Is it a cow that has to be electrically prodded onto its feet and into the killing room? Is it a cow that has to be fork-lifted into the killing room? Obviously the answer for Westland/Hallmark was anything that kept profits up. Did forklift operators take the carcass directly to the disassembly line
if a cow died on its way to the killing room?
In an unfortunate echo of the blame-shifting in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the workers caught on the video have already been fired and charged with animal cruelty. Their bosses, on the other hand, will be forced to spend a couple of hours in front of Congressional committees pleading plausible deniability—ably backed up by lawyers from the Beef Council and People for the Unethical Treatment of Animals, PUTA.
Doing the math
In 2004, the industry slaughtered 35 million cows, of which an estimated 0.0005% were downer cows, some 195,000 that year. How many more were prodded and forklifted through while the federal inspectors weren’t watching?
The economics of the cattle industry are brutal. So brutal that sellers go to extreme measures to insure their herd isn’t spooked on the way to the scales, for fear that their profit margin will end up as so much cow shit on the auction house floor. On the hoof cattle go for $80-$90 apiece. (I don’t know what they go for on their side.) So every downer cow who makes the cut, so to speak, is another 90 bucks for the cattleman.
No small part of the tragedy is the amount of that beef which went to school children (about a third). It’s one thing to infect old folks with mad cow disease, which takes a couple of decades to develop (depending on many triple-patty-gob-stoppers you ate, estimates are now four to 20 years) and another to expose school children, who have decades of meat consumption ahead of them. By the time any of them come down with the human variant of mad cow disease, the statute of limitations will have tolled and the owners of Westland/ Hallmark will be comfortably retired in their Chino Heights McMansions.
Speaking of the long incubation period of mad cow disease, the award for the most disingenuous remark about the recall must go to the industry spokesman who pointed out there were no reports of anyone getting sick after eating the condemned beef, unlike the recent recalls for E. coli contamination. The runner-up quip has to be the remark by a USDA spokesman who said that since most of the recalled beef had probably already been consumed, it posed no health hazard to the public; conveniently omitting any mention of the fact that, for the same reason, the financial hazard to Westland/Hallmark has been minimized. The meat was already eaten, so they won’t have to buy it back.
Critics have faulted the USDA for both policing and promoting the meat industry, a fox guarding the hen house situation. But it’s worse than that. The USDA has instituted a policy of “self-reporting” where the meat industry sets its own guidelines, reports its own abuses of those guidelines and slaps itself on the hand when it catches itself doing anything it considers wrong. The only grit in the gears is the infrequent and predictable inspections by understaffed federal inspectors.
Have slaughter houses added training to catch the warning signs of hidden cameras, in additon to training workers not to process downer cows while federal inspectors are watching?
So, bon apetit, pardner. Head on down to your favorite steakhouse and order the Inflamed Mignon, a 32 oz. Slaughter House steak, or maybe the Westland/Hallmark special, the Prodded-to-Standing Ribs.
Personal note: I’ll never forget driving past the slaughterhouse just off I-15, south of 126th South, on my way to a vacation in southern Utah and seeing a (I presume) dead cow hoisted by a hind leg being drug across the pen. Needless to say I didn’t buy beef sausage when I got supplies at City Market in Moab.
Speaking of sausage....
The sausage factory on the hill has been doing that doodoo it does so well for the last month and a half. It’s too bad someone can’t get a hidden camera into the Republican caucus meetings. My guess is the video would be even more disgusting than the Westland /Hallmark video.
The closed Republican caucuses are where all the dirty work on the hill happens. They are so efficient that most committee hearings serve only to remind the slower legislators whether a bill was given a thumbs-up or thumbs-down in the caucus. A committee hearing room may be packed with adherents or opponents of a bill, yet the Republican leadership will deign to listen to only a handful of people who wish to speak on the bill, then summarily call for a vote. Occasionally a Republican will vote against a bill (if there are enough votes so that his vote doesn’t make a difference) to give himself cover with the voters in his district in the next election. (I would say “his constituency” but most Republicans are far more beholden to the coffers of the State Republican party and corporate campaign donors than they are to the voters in their district.)
Party caucuses enjoy this shroud of secrecy because they ostensibly exist only to conduct “party business”, but it is in the caucuses where the real work of the legislature happens. The fate of nearly every bill is decided in the closed door caucus. In a way, ensuring a Republican monopoly of the legislative process is Republican party business. So why not shut off the entire process and just release a list of passed bills at the end of the session? The Governor can veto any bill he likes, but the party lock step imposed in the caucus will insure a veto proof majority in both houses.
Since there is no chance of getting a video camera into the Republican caucuses we can only imagine who has the cattle prod and who is operating the fork lift to get the downer cows through the sausage factory.
So, bon apetit, pardner. Would you like your democracy with a shroud of secrecy, or do you just want to turn a blind eye? u
John deJong is associate publisher of CATALYST and reformed legislative gadfly.
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| |  | Turban Askew: March 2008What goes around comes around and, sooner or later, we all get rear-ended by our own karma.
by Swami Beyondananda
Dear Swami:
I’m concerned. I recently read something you wrote about “Nonjudgment Day” when you predicted that everyone will win beauty contests, and all the lawyers will disappear. Well, I’m an attorney, and frankly, I’m not at all comfortable with disappearing. I like being here, and I like the law. Hopefully, you and I will be able to settle this misunderstanding amicably out of court.
Sue Dehrpantzoff
Dear Sue:
Well, I needed a new suit! The last time this happened, someone tried to sue me for an inaccurate prediction under that new law they had passed in California, the Seersucker Law: “If you’re a sucker for a seer, and what the seer sees sucks, you can redress your grievance in a seersucker suit.” That’s why I don’t make predictions anymore. That, and protecting my nonprophet status.
Anyway, what I meant to say is, on Nonjudgment Day we won’t need lawyers because all our trials will be over. Enlightening will strike, and we will find ourselves innocent! Now of course, innocent people still have conflicts ... and here’s where you come in. And that is also where the Bible missed an important point. After “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,” the part they left out is “and they shall press their lawyers into mediators.” It’s in the Akashic Record book; you could look it up. But who says you have to wait for then? You can open up franchised one-hour mediation centers in malls everywhere. You could call it Just Justice ... “justice in just under an hour.” There. Now I have given you legal advice, so ... we’re even.
Dear Swami:
It seems in every part of the world, nations and peoples have been holding grudges against one another for centuries, each one with a cherished story about why the other is evil. Each generation, these stories seem to get reinforced by new perpetrations. Is there some way we can finally heal these wounds, and move on?
Yuri Laxnow
Dear Yuri,
While it is true that time heals all wounds, it is also true — if you accept the law of karma — that time wounds all heels. What goes around comes around, and sooner or later we all get rear-ended by our own karma. Meanwhile, we seem to focus more on wounding other heels than healing others’ wounds. The problem with these knee-jerk reactions is, we usually end up kneeing the wrong jerks.
That is why reincarnation is so important, because we take turns playing all the parts. We’ve all been wounded healers, we have all been healer-wounding heels. This is true of nations, and peoples too. Show me a nation that has never been a perpetrator, and I’ll show you a nation that doesn’t exist. Yes, every people has perped on other peeps. Every people has been perped upon. But in this shrinking world that could use a good shrink, the perks of perping have peaked. We have reached peak perp.
As cells in the body of humanity, we can no longer keep attacking one another and expect to stay healthy ourselves. After all, how often do you read about the liver invading the pancreas and claiming the Islets of Langerhans as its own territory? After millennia of following a dyslexic interpretation of the Golden Rule — doodoo unto others before they can doodoo unto you — it is now time for humanity to come together and metabolize the toxic residoodoo of this mistaken myth-interpretation.
How? I thought I would I never ask. How about a worldwide forgiveness ceremony where all of humanity does the right thing and admits to our wrongs? I’m sure Brenda Lee wouldn’t mind leading the entire world in singing, “I’m Sorry.” Maybe the Pope would agree to hear confession from the leader of every nation. To make sure it’s not just a Catholic thing, we could hold the ceremony on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Released from our attachment to guilt and shame, we can live like nomads: I no mad at you, you no mad at me. And finally in this moment of “at-one-ment,” there will be no madness on the planet.
Dear Swami:
OK, Swami. I have a riddle for you. What wears army fatigues, smokes cigars and is NOT a Muslim?
Saul Yorz
Dear Saul:
Infidel Castro?
© 2008 by Steve Bhaerman. Visit Swami online at www.wakeuplaughing.com.
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 | Environews: March 2008
Environmental news from around the state and the west.
by Amy Brunvand
Lake Powell:
Going, going, gone?
Lake Powell could be a dead pool within 14 years according to a January 2008 report from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The report predicts that the combined effects of climate change and human demand for water could drain Colorado River reservoirs within 14 years, saying “A water budget analysis shows that under current conditions there is a 10% chance live storage in Lakes Mead and Powell will be gone by about 2013 and a 50% chance it will be gone by 2021 if no changes in water allocation from the Colorado River system are made.” The term “live storage” means that the reservoir is high enough to generate hydroelectric power so if reservoirs fall below that level, power production would be drastically reduced. Because Colorado River water is already overallocated, the authors fear that legal battles will prevent rational decisions to preserve a river system that is the lifeblood of human society in the Southwest. They conclude, “The challenge is to determine what combination of agricultural, environmental uses and personal consumption is achievable in the future when 10-30% less water must serve substantially more people.”
When will Lake Mead go dry?
scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=876
Support Nongame
Wildlife on Utah Tax Form
According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, nearly all funding to manage Utah wildlife comes from hunting and fishing licenses. If you would rather support watchable wildlife, you can donate part of your tax refund to the Nongame Wildlife Fund on line 19 of the 2007 Utah State Income Tax form. Once you’re there, enter code 01 and the amount you want to donate. Last year taxpayers donated about $37,000 to the fund which supported projects such as a songbird population survey, Mexican spotted owl habitat, and reintroduction of river otters and black footed ferrets. We don’t think that’s very much. Let’s do better this year.
Wildlife News: wildlife.utah.gov/news/08-01/wildlife_fund.php
Oil shale/tar sands threaten strip-mine development
Three things you need to know about oil shale and tar sands: 1) Extracting fossil fuels from them requires strip mining or bulldozing the entire surface area; 2) The geologic formations that contain them lie underneath some of the most wild and scenic areas of Utah, such as the Uinta Basin and San Rafael Swell, near Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and in the so called “Tar Sands Triangle” next to Canyonlands National Park and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. 3) In Utah, the Bureau of Land Management is currently proposing more than 630,000 acres for oil shale projects and more than 431,000 acres for development of tar sands. Under the BLM preferred alternative, 1,991,222 million acres of public lands in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming could be decimated by oil shale and tar sands extraction. The Oil Shale and Tar Sands EIS would amend existing BLM Resource Management Plans, many of which have just been rewritten and have barely finished the public comment process. Public comments on the Oil Shale/Tar Sands EIS are open until March 20, 2008.
Oil Shale and Tar Sands Programmatic EIS: ostseis.anl.gov./ Mail comments to : BLM Oil Shale and Tar Sands Resources Draft Programmatic EIS; 9700 South Cass Avenue; Argonne, IL 60439.
BLM Resource Management plans: What now?
During the past months this column has urged readers to submit public comments on draft BLM Resource Management Plans for Moab, Monticello, Price, Vernal, Kanab, and Richfield. Now that all the public comment periods are closed, the BLM is preparing the final RMP plans which are expected to be released around summer 2008. Environmental groups like the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Utah Sierra Club will review the plans and are very likely to make legal challenges if the final plans are as bad for public lands as the draft versions.
Plan a backcountry
volunteer vacation
Spring has sprung, and it’s time to get out in the sun! Utah Backcountry Volunteers has an array of spring service trips to choose from, including maintaining trails in Zion National Park, to removing invasive Russian olives in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, to restoring vehicle trails in the Wasatch National Forest.
Utah Backcountry Volunteers: www.utahbackcountry.orgr
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| | | Transform U: Till Your Closet
Spring cleaning clears the ground for new growth.
by Auretha Callison
Spring closet clearing is like combing through a garden bed, clearing the old dead growth, and carefully keeping what is still useful and what will bear fruit once again. The prepared soil is the tabula rasa for the foundation of the year’s new plantings and carryover growth!
Like gardening, the process is laborious yet filled with excitement.
Creating space for the new to come into your life is foundational to creating the new self. Old personas (your ’80s corporate suits, your college sweats) and old relationships (the ex’s sweater, your grandmother’s heavy coat) all lay claim to a part of your life as you keep them in your world.
When we face our closets we face our past. We face all the people we once were, whether we liked them or not. Many of us hang onto items thinking that we owe them a space in our life; that getting rid of said items would be, in some way, shameful. That there must certainly be a use... and someday....
All the decisions we make to hang onto things from the past keep us haltingly unable to breeze into the future. We trip over the old things, feel the feelings they bring us, and spend our time and energy stuck dealing with them. Ugh.
Make it easy on yourself to move into your present and your future. Would your grandmother really want you to be burdened by her coat?
Let me tell you that it is absolute liberation to let those things go.
There are exceptions. Some clothing items are of such quality that they can be used every season and may even last a lifetime. Most items, however, will be subject to a clearing at some point.
If you haven’t worn that string of beautiful Morrocan beads from your honeymoon in years, tear it apart and make it useful. If you’ve got wearable art that you’re not wearing, hang it. If the item is usable, sell it or donate it. But don’t spend too much time or energy on any of it.
Have another person help you in this process, someone who will keep you accountabe to the truth of whether each item currently serves you. Most people I work with start slowly, but once the clutter begins to fly, exhileration takes over. All I need to do is stand out of the the path of projectiles headed for the donation pile!
Here are some helpful rules for sorting the trash from the treasure:
Is it pilled? Does it have stains? Does it smell? Does it fit? Can you drive in it? (Touch your elbows together in it) Does it make you feel good or sad, bad, too large, too small, too old, too young, too hot, too cold, too tired, too bored? Does it make you look frighteningly similar to any of your relatives of yours? (You must employ humor, trust me. Make this process as much fun as you can!)
Does it make you want to be a better person? Does it look fantastic? Does it make you feel powerful, attractive, fun, exciting, well-traveled, well-heeled and well-read? Does it communicate the best parts of who you are?
When I finish facilitating a closet clearing, along with the tall stack of donations comes a sparse closet holding three to 10 items that reveal the truth. The truth may be that we haven’t loved ourselves enough to clothe our glorious bodies with beauty and functionality. (Yes, our bodies are glorious, no matter what the gods of commerce tell us! You know that!) The unfortunate truth may be that we have presented ourselves to ourselves and others as someone we are not! We haven’t been dressing for the lead role in our own greatest production!
When this clearing groundwork is complete, the fun begins. To plant the seeds of the future self, we must go immediately to find the clothing that works beautifully for us, the garments that feel best in this moment to capture our vitality and creativity and carry it out to the world!
Auretha Callison is an “image and essence” consultant in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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 | Slightly Off Center: Stimulus PackageAlternative proposals we might get more of a charge out of.
by Dennis Hinkamp
Wow, it is like a second Christmas as I await a festively wrapped package of stimulus to arrive in the mail. Elsewhere, voodoo economists wait eagerly to see what consumers running through the rat maze of the economy will do with their new little piece of cheese. Will they put into savings? Will they buy TIVO for their cable TV package? Will they finally pledge to National Public Radio?
We just don’t know.
It’s like attaching the jumper cables to that dead 1976 Toyota rusting in your driveway. You don’t know if it just needs a jump start or if the thing needs to be hauled to the junk yard. You have to turn the key to see what happens. This economy just might need more than the stimulus of a jump start.
“Stimulus” is pretty odd terminology in a country that has declared most stimulants illegal, immoral or unhealthy. Stimulating the economy sounds vaguely pornographic when you really think about.
Since it is all speculation anyway, I have a few alternate suggestions to defibrillate the comatose economy.
1. A Drug Against Wars: The war against drugs isn’t going so well so why don’t we try the reverse? A drug against wars will save lives and money. People who aren’t trying to kill each other are more likely to buy snack foods and video games. Once they are plump and zombiefied by games, they won’t be able to fight even if they wanted to. Certainly the scientists that brought us Ambien and Xanex can come up with something that will bliss people out enough to keep them from fighting. I’ve even thought of a cool marketing name: Nowar@all. We can get Nowar@all to sponsor the next Superbowl.
2. Reboot the economy: You know how the last resort to every computer problem is to just turn it off and start again? Do that with the economy. Part of our problem is our national obsession with numbers such as the NASDAQ, Dow, prime lending rate, consumer confidence index and so forth and so forth. These numbers really don’t mean anything other than they are relatively higher or lower than the previous time you measured them. Let’s just reboot and start at zero.
3. Get better economic indicators. I propose a new unit of measure called the Consumer Chillin’ Index (CCI). This will take the emphasis off of consumer spending always being considered a good thing. Maybe sometimes we just want to stop spending, enjoy the stuff we have and take a nap. Maybe the stuff we bought is actually so good that it lasts a long time and we don’t have to buy new stuff. Maybe we just have too much stuff to fit in the house we have, but we can’t afford a bigger house. Manufacturers might look at the CCI and say “Hey, I guess consumers aren’t buying as much stuff this year; let’s cut back on production.”
4. Find a new Ralph Nader: Nader is getting pretty old, and there is no successor on the horizon. He and consumer education are becoming a distant memory to this generation. If we still had consumer education, maybe people wouldn’t be fooled into thinking anyone could afford a $250,000 home on a $35,000 salary. Maybe people would know that you can’t pay off your credit card debt by paying the monthly minimum. Maybe they would know that if you consume 10,000 calories a day and only burn 3,200 calories a day, you are going to get fat.
Dennis Hinkamp says his favorite stimulus package is a one-pound bag of double French roast from the Straw Ibis.
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| animals |  | Animals Animals: Bassetts on ParadeThe St. Patrick's Day Wasatch Waddle.
by Sunny Branson
Do you like drool, short legs, and howling out of tune? If so, then the Wasatch Waddle fundraiser is the event for you! March 17 marks the fifth annual Basset Hound Wasatch Waddle during the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Among the marching bands and floats, Utah Friends of Basset Hounds (UFBH) waddle their long-eared, droopy-eyed friends through 10 city blocks of Salt Lake City.
UFBH members, past waddlers, and previous basset adopters make up most of the participants, but they always encourage new basset-hound lovers to join in the fun.
“We love meeting new waddlers and people who share our passion for rescue,” says Peggy Chudd, vice president and adoption coordinator for UFBH. “But the real thrill for us is having our adopted hounds come back with their families to see us. Next to saving the lives of the hounds, seeing them so happy with their forever-after families is what truly warms our hearts.”
UFBH works with local animal shelters to take in homeless basset hounds. The organization provides veterinary care, food, shelter and support until they can place the dogs into carefully screened permanent homes. Offering continued support to adoptive families, the organization is involved with the dogs throughout their lifetimes. UFBH works hard to provide education about the basset hound breed, not just for new adopters but for all basset owners looking to enhance the life of their pet.
Basset hounds and their families support the event by walking in St. Patrick’s Day attire: shamrocks, derbies, and of course lots of green! The goal, of course, is to raise money for the rescue. The cost to preregister your first hound is $30 and includes a basset bandana and a human t-shirt. You may bring additional hounds for $5 each.
In addition, waddlers can raise money for UFBH by obtaining pledges for the walk. There are no rules for pledges so waddlers can get creative.
The person with the most pledges receives a framed version of the artwork that appears on the UFBH t-shirt this year. Second and third place prizes will also be awarded.
Info: www.ufbh.org/Waddle2008
Utah Friends of Basset Hounds: 915-dogs (3647)
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| |  | Coach Jeannette: Law of Attraction - March 2008Spring training for your brain: Building mental muscle requires practice.
by Jeannette Maw
March brings us spring training, whether we’re following athletes at training camp or focusing on creating our own beach-ready bodies. But perhaps the best training we could participate in this new season is retraining our brains.
We each have well-worn habits of thought we didn’t consciously adopt. Whether we inherited these patterns from those who raised us, or took them on from co-workers, friends, or even the media, many of our thinking patterns are not deliberately chosen.
Some of these habitual thoughts serve us; some don’t. This spring consider training new mental muscle that serves you much better than some of your old habits of thought.
Pop quiz
It’s grindingly slow traffic during your commute home. As traffic crawls forward, you glimpse flashing lights to the side of the road and see several cars piled up with body damage. Is your first thought something like:
I hope no one’s hurt.
These rubberneckers are slowing us down for no reason.
I hate commuting.
Peace and love to those involved.
Noticing your typical response to situations like this lends insight as to whether you have room for improvement with your ingrained thought patterns. Cultivating the habit of choosing new, better-feeling perspectives can dramatically improve your experience of life.
Deliberate creators know that negative thought patterns stimulate negative feelings, which attracts not-so-fabulous stuff in life (which is where our traffic accidents come from in the first place). Positive thoughts—and their accordant feelings—not only enhance our quality of life, but also upgrade what unfolds in our future.
You can see how the person who is annoyed at the inconvenience of a freeway accident arrives home more irritated and stressed than the person who feels compassion for victims. Once you’re stressed out, you’re a vibrational match to things that cause more stress. Conversely, flowing compassion puts you in greater alignment with desirable outcomes.
You can also gauge whether your habits of thought serve you by holding something in mind you want. As you think about this thing or experience you’d like, what additional thoughts surface? For example, if you’ve dreamed of changing careers, do you have inspiring thoughts like, “That will be a nice change” or something more like, “Dream on, buddy”?
One of my clients is a business owner who wants to negotiate the sale of her portion of the company to her partner. Since the only way we get anything is by aligning with it vibrationally, I asked her what it would feel like to have this outcome. She put her head in her hands, closed her eyes, wrinkled her brow, and struggled for several minutes to imagine what that positive outcome would feel like to her. That was a tough mental workout, and a crucial one which I asked her to repeat daily. In identifying what it would feel like, in imagining it unfolding, she built new thoughts and a new vibe that would allow the happy result to unfold.
Many people don’t naturally hold supportive thoughts for their dreams and desires (let alone dare to dream); it is an excellent mental muscle to build. As you think encouraging thoughts, you create and strengthen neural pathways that make it easy to vibrate what you want, and thus achieve it.
What about the truth?
Some argue it’s irresponsible to take a pollyanna view of life; that seeking the silver lining just sets us up for disappointment. Some believe that not preparing for the worst makes us vulnerable to it.
But if what we vibrate is what we attract (as asserted by the law of attraction), then it makes good sense to release habits of thought that inspire not-so-great feelings.
When we think we’re protecting ourselves from failure or being virtuous by playing it small, we really just handicap our ability to create our world as we want it. The truth is we can have whatever we can imagine, and it starts with daring to imagine it.
Holding thoughts in alignment with what we want is an incredibly powerful and highly underrated step in the direction of dreams come true.
Retraining the mind
So how to cultivate new habits of thought? Once you commit to choosing better-feeling perspectives, do what athletes in spring camp do. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Sitting down to lunch to discover your order is wrong—again—gives you an opportunity to practice. Instead of responding “Why do I keep coming here? These people are idiots,” you could try something lighter like, “I wonder if it’s just me this happens to” or “Someone else must be having a bad day, too.”
When you arrive at the theater to discover your movie sold out, instead of muttering about how long your wife takes to get out the door, reach for a thought that feels better. Maybe “Now we can linger through dinner” or “Perfect excuse to see the other show.”
Daily reality not only gives you practice to build new habits of thought, but your best dreams and desires can, too. Instead of sabotaging your goals with negative thoughts, practice reaching for thoughts that breathe hope and encouragement into your goals. Like “I’m getting this figured out, learning more every day” rather than “When will I realize it’s not meant to be?”
Going through the process of choosing better feeling thoughts retrains your brain and creates new neural pathways that grow in strength with each repetition. Pretty soon you’ll find it natural and easy to see the bright side, which is when you’ll notice life brightening up as well.
Jeannette Maw is an Attraction Coach and founder of Good Vibe Coaching in Salt Lake City.
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 | The Herbalist Is In: MDs and Herbalists
A visit to an integrative medicine conference.
by M.L. Harrison
When people learn I am an herbalist, they often share their frustration and dismay that their “regular doctor” does not sanction the inclusion of herbs and supplements in their diet and health care. Discouraging comments or disagreeable advice from their very important primary healthcare providers perplexes many people. Doctors’ responses range from “I don’t know anything about it” to “Where is the data? It has not been clinically proven.”
OK, fair enough. Doctors are reluctant to offer anything that has not been clinically proven because it is a risk. Should anything go wrong—side effects, allergic reaction or negative results from the inadvisable mixing of herbs and pharmaceuticals—they could get sued.
Curious about just exactly what data physicians require to recommend herbs and supplements and also what new information they look to for positive assurance, I attended the conference, “Natural Supplements: An Evidence-Based Update,” sponsored by the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in San Diego. The lineup of 27 speakers from around the country and Canada was impressive, with all but two being MDs or PhDs. The topics were indeed mostly about supplements, but some presentations included herbs, and there were workshops on medicinal spices; one on coffee, chocolate and tea brought herbs to the fore.
Mary Hardy, MD, reported on her review of herb and supplement clinical trials, listing significant results: Increased intake of Vitamin D improves bone health; folic acid was proven to improve cognitive function over a three-year period. Black cohosh is associated with reduced incidence of breast cancer. Red yeast rice has applications for coronary heart disease and diabetes and it lowered cholesterol. Genistein, an active agent from soy, benefits heart and bone health. Essential oil of lavender did not promote gynecomastia (breast growth in boys). Gargling with tea catechins reduced the risk of flu in elders. Smooth Move® tea was effective for constipation. Taking cranberry for four months significantly reduced the incidence of urinary tract infections in women who had been prone to have at least six per year. Hardy suggested that broader acceptance and use of herbs in healthcare would probably come with the introduction of “simples”—preparations using a single herb. Perhaps some day hospitals will offer chamomile tea for poor digestion and warming, or arnica oil might be used topically to relieve arthritis pain.
Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council and editor and publisher of HerbalGram magazine, was the voice of herbalism in his presentation, “The Role of the Herbalist: A Global Perspective and Future Trends.” He pointed out that herbs often offer a gentler, safer approach to medicine that may be more in line with the patient’s philosophy. He predicted wider consumer acceptance and demand as more research verifies the benefits of herbs.
A final presenter was Tierona Low Dog, who was an herbalist before she became an MD. She directs the education program in integrative medicine and clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona School of Medicine. Hearing her talk in the realms of more familiar territory about the sensual, physical and therapeutic qualities of herbs and even explaining how to prepare them put me at ease. Noting that abdominal fat and insulin resistance can contribute to polycystic ovary disease, she listed the herbs cinnamon, fenugreek and bitter melon to inhibit the condition, including directions for how to prepare the melon and a description of how real cinnamon can be identified (“The bark rolls in the same direction and is very breakable”). She went on to talk about the benefits and applications of licorice, peony, chaste tree berry and saw palmetto for hirsutism (hair growth). She proclaimed, “I do not worship at the feet of evidence-based medicine!” It was all I could do not to jump up and yell “Bravo!”
The busiest vendor booth sold fish oil capsules, the substance most frequently mentioned in presentations. Turmeric was another hot seller, recommended to reduce inflammation which many professionals now regard as the root of almost all disease.
To many at this conference, this was breaking news; I have heard this same information at herb conferences for 15 years.
Many clinical studies of herbs validate what herbalists already know. Besides showing whether a therapy works, clinical trials often explain its physiological mechanism. The documentation presents the information in a format that physicians can assimilate into their medical knowledge.
On the plane ride home, I browsed through November/December 2007 peer-reviewed Journal of Alternative Therapies that had been distributed for free at the conference. The Brief Report inside was on the use of nettle stings for pain by Les Alford, MSc. The author researched the age-old use of gently slapping skin with nettle leaves to relieve pain after a patient reported he had gotten significant relief of lower back pain by doing so. Alford investigated a study of such therapy that had shown similar, positive results. At the end of the article, he rhetorically asks “Is it time to add nettle leaf sting to heat and ice as home physical therapies for short-term pain relief?” I say, “why not?”
One glaring omission— the report never mentions that only fresh nettle triggers the pain-relieving action. Confusion and doubt about an herb’s healing potential can develop when essential details are not included about its proper use. This is precisely where I see the role of the herbalist as a necessary affiliate of any integrative health-care team. Herbalists base much of their practice on old healing wisdom handed down to become home remedies and practical therapies.
Attending the conference did not assuage my perplexity at the disconnect between botanical medicine and the widely accepted practice of western medicine. But Krista Tippett’s new book, “Speaking of Faith,” offered me an interesting insight. Substituting the contrast between western medicine and herbalism for that between science and religion in the following quote describes my view of this quandry.
“Beyond our culture’s entrenched debates, a parallel universe of dialogue is unfolding.... It’s not so much true that science [medicine] and religion [herbalism] reach different answers on the same questions, which is how our cultural debate has defined the rift between them. Far more often, they simply ask different kinds of questions altogether, and the responses they generate together illuminate human life more completely than either could do alone.”
Merry Lycett Harrison is a clinical herbalist with a practice in Salt Lake City. She is a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild and owner of Millcreek Herbs, LLC.,
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| |  | Genius Catalyst: Being WithThe charisma connection.
by Michael Neil
There is a famous story about Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortensen) walking in New York City with a friend. When her friend commented on how wonderful it was that she was able to maintain her anonymity in public, Marilyn said “that’s because I’m walking as ‘Norma Jeane’—if I walked as Marilyn, everyone would notice me.” Her friend, disbelieving, encouraged her to show her what she meant.
In that moment, Norma Jeane transformed herself into Marilyn Monroe, the movie star. An energy began to radiate from her and within moments, she was surrounded by autograph-seeking fans.
So what happened? What was the seemingly magical shift that turned an anonymous woman into a movie star in a matter of minutes?
The answer is often referred to as charisma or star quality. In more practical terms, we can call it presence. It is the “it” factor that producers look for in nearly every performer they are considering signing to a contract and unleashing on the world. And it can, in my experience, be developed in pretty much anyone, simply by learning and developing the skill of “being with.”
Patsy Rodenburg is a voice and acting teacher who, along with working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre in London, taught voice while I was in the professional actor training program at Southern Methodist University in Texas. In her new book, “The Second Circle,” she describes this phenomenon in relation to three circles.
The first circle is the circle of introspection—the place where your energy barely extends beyond the bounds of your own body. Here, your focus is inward and you are most likely to be lost in thought, listening to that voice inside your head even while life is going on around you.
The third circle is the circle of aggression—the place where your energy becomes a weapon used to charm, bully, or otherwise intrude your will onto those around you. It also serves as a shield, creating a moat around the castle of your being which is often impenetrable even by those you wish to invite inside.
The second circle is the circle of connection—your energy goes out but it also comes back in. This is the circle of “being with”—whatever you are truly connected with is what you are present to, and if this is another human being or group of human beings, they will be as fascinated by your very presence as you become with theirs.
I experience this all the time with audiences when I teach—I somehow manage to fall in love with a room full of strangers simply because I am “being with” them in as naked and honest a way as I know how to be. When I don’t— because I am too nervous or too confident or too distracted —I can still bluster my way through a talk in third circle, but the intimacy, magic and connection is lost. Speaking becomes a job, and while an audience may still enjoy what I have to say, their experience of what I have to offer will be a considerably more limited one.
This quality of connection makes romantic love so intoxicating and allows new parents to stare into their baby’s eyes for hours on end. To simply be with anyone or anything in a state of full presence is one of the most magical gifts we are given in our lives, and one that few of us fully receive because we think we play no part in its arrival.
Today’s experiment is based on the work of Lee Glickstein, creator of the wonderful “Speaking Circles” program which is, in my opinion, the most useful and potentially life changing program available for anyone wanting to become more comfortable with themselves in public. (I’ve never met Lee and have no affiliation with the program—you can learn more at www.speakingcircles.com....)
Experiment
1. Take a few moments to center yourself. Notice your breathing, eyes closed, and simply be with yourself.
2. Now open your eyes and choose any object in the space you are currently in. Take a minute or so to “be with” that object—that is, allow yourself to become fully present to that object, as if it were the most important thing in the world. One way to do this is by what Patsy Rodenburg calls “breathing to it.” Imagine you are reaching out directly to the object with your breath. When you get the hang of this, you’ll feel a sense of being completely present with it—as though both you and the object are connected in some way.
3. When you are familiar with what it feels like to “be with” an object, try it with a friend (or in a pinch, a beloved pet!). Just take a couple of moments to center yourself, and then simply “be with” one another, without words and without effort. Don’t worry if it feels awkward or uncomfortable at first—you’ll get past that and the sweet feeling of connection you’ll get to will be completely worth it!
4. Finally, allow yourself to experiment with what it’s like to “be with” the rest of the people who are in your world. No formal exercise here —as you get used to practicing being fully present with others, it will naturally begin to infuse your relationships and enhance your presence in the world.
Remember, you don’t have to “be with” everyone—but isn’t it nice to know that you could?
Have fun, learn heaps, and happy connecting!
Michael Neill is a life coach and author. Hear him Thursdays at 11am on HayHouse Radio or visit his website, www.geniuscatalyst.com. (c) 2008.0
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| Shall We Dance? In With the NewListening to classical music with children and other dancers.
by Amy Brunvand
There are two types of music lovers—those who listen with their brains and those who listen with their bodies. Unfortunately, these two types get along in a concert hall about as well as cross-country skiers and snowmobilers get along in Utah’s backcountry, and this is particularly true of classical music. If you have been to hear the Utah Symphony lately, you have probably noticed that the audience is exceptionally well-behaved. The only two people moving are the conductor and the soloist, who are both engaged in a uniquely beautiful and expressive dance that both engenders and reacts to it. If you watch these two for a while, you will get a glimpse of what people who prefer listening with their bodies are repressing when they will themselves to socially accepted quietude.
I found myself in the center of a costume-drama enactment of this conflict at the Utah Symphony’s Halloween High Jinks concert, which is part of the “Lollipops” kid series so it’s open to everyone from babes-in-arms to their great-great-great grandparents. The kid in front of me was so dead serious about classical music that he had dressed as concert master Ralph Matson for Halloween. His equally serious mom kept turning around to glare at my antsy five-year-old pink princess daughter who kept talking about the music and bumping the seat despite my earnest librarianish shushing. Lucky for me, the Ralph Matson impersonator was so adorable that he won a prize in the Halloween costume competition, and as a result the family of audiophiles was someplace else when Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet wrapped up the concert and my pink princess was completely unable to resist getting out of her seat to perform the role of the firebird.
OK, so I should control my child or be banished to the lobby. I should have consideration for other people who paid for their tickets. I should respect that intellectual appreciation of classical music requires being able to hear the nuances. And yet it seems to me that a child who feels moved to dance to the Firebird ballet music is every bit as much a music geek as the kid whose childhood hero is Ralph Matson.
It seems that way to Daniel J. Levitin, too. He is the author of “This is Your Brain on Music” (2006) and a few months ago he wrote an editorial for the New York Times noting that children at classical music concerts often respond to the music by swaying, shouting and generally participating when they feel like it. “Music can be a more satisfying cerebral experience if we let it move us physically,” writes Levitin, who suggests that stuffy concert halls could be greatly improved by ripping out some seats to give us room to move.
Outraged cerebral listeners wasted no time firing off letters to the editor objecting to this heretical suggestion. They insisted that that people who are truly interested in classical music require respectful quiet so that they can concentrate. The other type of music lovers, those insensitive satyrs and bacchants who want to defile Mozart’s Requiem by clogging or trample on Beethoven’s symphonies by dancing like Isadora Duncan—those people should satisfy their shameful urges by dancing to recorded music at home.
Of course, it’s far easier to control noisy distractions at home too, but nonetheless cerebral listeners don’t want to be exiled from the concert hall. I suspect that’s why they like to convince themselves that dancers and little children don’t truly appreciate music anyhow so recorded music is plenty good enough for them. However, what the symphony conductor and the soloist are doing up there on stage looks undeniably like dancing, and that tends to contradict the notion that dancers aren’t actually listening.
As a mother of small children, I’ve found it surprisingly hard to find places where children can listen to live music with both their brains and their bodies. When adults are listening, kids bother them by making noise. When adults are dancing, kids bother them by getting underfoot. One dance group I used to go to eventually asked me not to bring my annoying kids any more, and I thought of them when I recently read an article about aging polka fans who explained that the tradition is dying out because, “When we were growing up, our parents would take us to the dances. But then when our generation grew up, we got babysitters.”
So even though I find that peaceable evening symphony concerts are an exquisite refuge from daily life, I also agree with David Levitin who says, “When an orchestra builds the timbral mass in Ravel’s Bolero, we want to break out of our seats and dance and show how good it feels.” And that’s why I’ve learned to love the jiggly, chatty kids and the crying babies at Lollipops concerts where no babysitters are expected. By conventional symphony hall standards, the kids are misbehaving, but if you pay attention, most of the bouncing and humming is a direct and enthusiastic response to the wonderful music. By listening through their bodies, kids give new life to the classical war horses, and for those who are willing to drop their prejudices about how classical music ought to be heard, an audience of squirming children at a Lollipops concert can show you a whole new way to hear it.
Utah Symphony Lollipops Concert.
Magic Circle Mimes Company
“The Listener” March 29 (Saturday), 11 am.
www.usoeducation.org/fa_lollipops_concert_series.html
Amy Brunvand is a dance enthusiast and a librarian at the University of Utah.t
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| |  | Babying the Buddha: March 2008Thoughts from the anti-playdate mom.
by Kindra Fehr
Sometime between when I was a child and when I had a child, a new phenomenon started. The first time I heard about it was while photographing some children for a painting commission and the mother threatened, “Behave or you won’t get a ‘playdate’ this afternoon.” As far as I was concerned she could have spoken in a foreign language. What on earth was a “playdate”?
I have come to learn the definition of the word. It is exactly that, a date for two or more children to play. It comes with all sorts of rules and regulations, if you follow the articles in the parenting books and magazines, including recommended time frames, how many children should be present, what kind of snacks to serve and when, activities that should be planned, and how often these dates should occur. Yes, I’ve succumbed to using the word but, mothers of my children’s friends, I must warn you, I am the Anti-Playdate Mom.
What I remember about being a kid was knocking on the neighbor’s door or making a phone call and asking, “Can Jillian play?” Sometimes she could and sometimes she couldn’t, in which case I’d ask the next friend. When we played, it was completely unstructured. We’d see what toys were available and make up our own games, we’d sit in the middle of a grouping of trees (which to me felt like a huge forest) and make mud pies and air tea at a pretend party with the invisible sprites that lived there. We’d have conflicts and learn to solve them or run out to the mom present and tattle. She would either take the toy of question away from both of us, suggest a way, such as sharing or taking turns, to resolve the issue, or tell us to figure it out or we wouldn’t be able to play anymore. We ran wild in the yard making new discoveries, digging holes and chasing each other. The last thing we wanted or needed was a parent present to guide our play.
So the question I ask myself is: When was it that our culture became so structured and scheduled that we felt that it was necessary to structure our children’s lives in the same manner? My feeling is that these kids are all going to grow up and have to surrender to a schedule soon enough. Let’s face it, being alive has its own schedule. They eat, sleep, take naps, go to preschool or daycare at specific times. Why is it necessary to have their downtime scheduled with “structured play”?
Here’s what your kid will get when they come to play with mine: They’ll get a snack if they mention they’re hungry or if I happen to be in the kitchen and think to ask them if they want one. I’ll be within earshot to make sure they don’t kill each other or themselves. If they argue over a toy and the volume raises to a point that I can’t take anymore, I may take the toy away from everyone unless they can solve the problem and lower the volume level quickly. If there’s lots of crying and arguing, I may separate them for awhile, and hitting or hair pulling is definitely cause for separation.
I may put out art supplies (after all, I have been an art teacher for many years) and give some simple instructions, or I might pull out a game or two. Other than that, they’re on their own.
This is when being a silent observer gets interesting. This is when I find two little girls each sitting on their own pillow on the kitchen floor pretending that they’re on boats in the river as they slide themselves around. Or maybe they pretend they’re following a map, while holding a plastic hanger in one hand (which I’m informed is a bow and arrow). Not one idea or project I could come up with would begin to compare to the creativity that they have just exhibited.
Don’t get me wrong. I love having kids come to play. I always wanted to have the house where all the neighborhood kids want to hang out. I guess it’s the “date” part that rubs me wrong. I absolutely respect other parents’ guidelines and if given to me, I will follow them. For I am the mom who strictly forbade refined sugar or watching any television until my child reached the age of two, sometimes to the point of being obsessive-compulsive about it.
I’m afraid the “playdate culture” is here to stay, and I do agree that it can have its benefits. But I feel a tinge of sadness as I look at the pages and pages of Google results that typing in “playdate etiquette” brings up. I’m a little bit envious of the freedom and innocence that our parents had as parents, to let us play without all those rules attached and expectations to live up to. And, I rebel against it in my own little way.
Kindra Fehr is an artist and mom to three-year-old Aria Hancock. She co-instructs the Salt Lake Art Center’s KidsmART program.
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 | Aquarium Age: March 2008A wacky, permissive month of complex contradictions.
by Ralfee Finn
March 2008 is an intense ride designed to…well…blow minds or, at the very least, to rattle perspectives and challenge paradigms. You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. While we’re accustomed to March being feisty, this year the “normal” seasonal aggression is extreme. March opens on a dissonant chord — a mixture of pernicious tension and hostile attitudes, driven in part by a persistent urge for personal freedom that overrides patience at almost every opportunity. Fortunately, conflict and confrontation are not the only modes of behavior. March is also knit together by many moments of grounded discipline and thoughtful insight, and those sane interludes provide a welcome respite from stress and struggle.
But the most potent arc of this month’s story is its eccentricity—March is bent toward the unconventional and its fascination with roads not taken has the power to override cruelty. And even though its penchant for the peculiar disrupts even the most reliable schedules, its wit catalyzes a fresh approach. Odd behavior, yours or others, is sure to make some days and nights confusing. And reactions to that confusion could be startling in their deviation from the norm. From whimsy to weird, March is sure to make us think, and think again, about what it means to live with the unpredictable.
Let’s get the tough stuff out of the way, first:
(1) From the 1st to the 22nd a Mars/Pluto opposition riles the air with hostility. Mars symbolizes physical energy, Pluto signifies power, oppositions spell tension, and when these two planets face off, even the air has a brutal edge. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself seething with outrage or planning revenge. Just keep in mind, meeting violence with violence will only beget more violence. And no matter how satisfying in the moment, pointing fingers of blame at others could come back to haunt you, so rather than indulging in negativity, find healthy ways of managing the stress. (2) Fortunately, from the 5th-25th, a Mars/Saturn sextile cools off some of the “attitude” making it possible to keep a level headed focus. (3) Unfortunately, at the end of the month, consistently choosing the high road of peaceful coexistence won’t be easy. From the 22nd-31st, a Sun/Mars square heats up the ethers with a stubborn restlessness that would rather fight than compromise.
But there is also good news: Plenty of positive alignments mitigate the warring factions.
First, all month long, a Saturn/ Pluto trine supports reasonable, rational and responsible attitudes. We love this. Because even though all contacts between Saturn and Pluto are super serious, this trine is about the kind of discipline that promotes spiritual growth. Often associated with adepts and magicians, it provides the psychic strength to renounce what is unnecessary so what’s essential can be appreciated and cultivated.
Also all month long—and for the next several months— the vibrant pulse of a Jupiter/Uranus sextile excites the ethers with innovation and revolution, personal and collective. We love this combination the most because it offers non-stop inspiration for life and living it. Jupiter is the planet of enthusiasm, Uranus is the astro-father of invention, and when they form a positive union, their combined energy can be used to facilitate transformation. From a practical point of view, this sextile provides the potential to quickly assess almost any situation, and then to make whatever adjustments are necessary. What’s more, the combination of Jupiter and Uranus affords an optimistic outlook about the future, even if things aren’t going the way you want them to.
A Sun/Uranus conjunction from the 2nd-18th amplifies March’s inclination toward the avant-garde as it simultaneously intensifies the need to break free from persistent stagnation. Inertia is next to impossible under this conjunction, so even if the first move is awkward or clumsy, get that body, mind, or spirit in motion. Jupiter also sextiles the Sun during that same period, fostering health, wealth, and happiness. The entire bundle is a great antidote to the fractious energy of the Mars/ Pluto opposition. It not only promotes harmony, but it also can be used to smooth ruffled feathers and soothe bruised egos.
There’s more: From the 1st-12th, a Mercury/Venus/Neptune conjunction in Aquarius, the sign of the zodiac ruled by Uranus, emphasizes the zany, so be prepared for spontaneous eruptions of all sorts of free-spirited behavior, again, yours or others. Oddly—which this month means completely in keeping with the arc of the story—from the 24th-31st, a Mercury/Venus/ Uranus conjunction in Pisces, another eclectic signature, signals an equally strong inclination toward the “wacky.”
This month, it would be wise to refrain from making harsh judgments. Not only is March a complexity of contradiction, it is also a month of tremendous permission to try something—anything—new. And while new isn’t always better, it is a necessary first step in finding creative solutions to persistent problems, problems that for one reason or another can’t be solved by old methods.
Aries March 21-April l9
Personal peace and harmony is created internally before it can be established externally. Devote yourself to rooting your mind in compassion and kindness, and you’ll root your life in a fertile and fulfilling environment.
Taurus April 20-May 20
Focus your awareness on creating a bridge between your material aspirations and your spiritual practice. I’m not advising spiritual materialism. I am suggesting that integrating your values into how you live your daily life will create patterns that support a joyous attitude.
Gemini May 21-June 21
If you make the time for quiet contemplation, you’ll find the internal strength to support a multitude of external activities. So no matter how busy you are—and you are plenty busy—take good care of yourself by replenishing your reserves.
Cancer June 22-July 22
While it is often said the devil is in the details, it can just as easily be said that the small things in life matter as much as the larger issues. Take each day on step at a time and you will find the stamina and determination to actualize your plan.
Leo July 23-August 22
You are not limited to one role and one role only—you can be anyone you choose. What’s important is that you embody that role, fully, with your whole heart, for as long as necessary, and through that process allow it to teach you more about who you really are.
Virgo August 23-September 22
While this may sound like a cliché, you are more than the sum of your parts and all that you do—thoughts, words, and deeds—contribute to who you are. Live as if each moment matters, and the totality of your creation will be satisfying and rewarding.
Libra September 23-October 22
It’s an “all you, all the time” phase of life and because the focus is on personal self-expression, your intentions could be easily misconstrued. The best way to prevent confusion would be to take the time to encourage others to be equally focused on personal expression.
Scorpio Oct 23-Nov 21
You can spend your time being angry about your situation, or you can figure out what you’re going to do about it. Sounds like simple advice, but it is deceptively difficult to realize we are the co-creators of our destiny, and that blame only serves immediate gratification.
Sagittarius Nov 22-Dec 21
Depend on others for your joy and you’ll feel like a leaf blowing in the wind. Rely on your own ability to determine what matters to you and you’ll feel yourself centered in true value. And that center will allow you to live and love with a full heart, as it simultaneously provides an endless supply of happiness.
Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 19
Commit to your wisdom by taking responsibility for your participation. Just don’t confuse this with blame—this is not about punishment; it is about living with a desire to learn, as well as grow. Remember, becoming an authority takes time and experience.
Aquarius Jan 20-Feb 18
Sometimes it is actually all about perception—how you see the world, as well as how the world sees you. Notice where you are trapped in an illusion, and you will begin to solve the riddle of why others don’t quite see you as you see yourself.
Pisces February 19-March 20
Your dreams will inspire a greater understanding of just how big a role unconscious intention plays in daily life. All you have to do is attune even more deeply to your internal experience through intuition, meditation, contemplation, and you will begin to connect the dots with greater clarity.
Visit Ralfee’s website at www.aquariumage.com or email her at ralfee@aquariumage.com.
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| |  | Metaphors: March 2008Suzanne WagnerThis month stirs up individual action for change.
by Suzanne Wagner
Arthurian Tarot: Bedivere, Castle Pendragon
Mayan Oracle: Lamat, Language of Light
Aleister Crowley: Chariot, Oppression, Prince of Wands
Medicine Cards: Turtle, Snake
Osho Zen Tarot: Possibilities, Clinging to the Past, Conditioning
Healing Earth Tarot: Grandmother of Crystals, Three of Pipes, Nine of Feathers
Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Queen of Cups, Ace of Cups
Words of Truth: Gratitude, Death, Mother, Laughter, Dissociated, Discriminate
This month, it is time to let go of your old personality and find the individuality within. It is time to break out of whatever we have been conditioned to believe about ourselves. We are awakening the lion within that is our spirit and passion.
You might see this reflected in the political election campaigns during this amazing year of change. Pluto in Capricorn has taken center stage, and this shifts our perceptions beyond the herd mentality that had thwarted forward movement for many years. Americans finally want a president who is a lion, rather than someone who will continue to tread like a sheep along old paths.
Americans have always thrived when times become challenging. Instead of pulling apart, we have a tendency to come together during crisis. We are willing to find solutions to the many problems affecting our country. Global issues are important, but nothing is more important than the security and welfare of the country that has been a beacon to transform cultures and governments for the last 200-plus years.
The pattern of 9-11 that put the U.S. into shock has finally loosened its grip. We are not willing to let our country fall apart because of fear. We are ready to take back our rights and independence. We know how to get things back on track. Our fear allowed us to collapse into a dysfunctional pattern that has not served us. We are now ready to again become the innovator, mover and shaker of the planet.
I congratulate all the presidential candidates, including the dropouts, for stirring up the discussion of perspectives and beliefs. This has allowed everyone to honor what is really important for our country. We are showing our government that we are not a silent bunch of sheep but more aware and educated than in the past, and this has created an upheaval in the governmental landscape that will continue for many more elections.
So, for March, reclaim your individuality. Let go of your personality. Individuality is given by existence. Your personality is imposed by society, a social convenience for life, but it does not allow you to grow completely as an individual.
You are here and that in itself is a tremendous gift to your soul’s evolution and desire to expand beyond your personality. This is a power that is not to be taken lightly. With it comes responsibility and the need for conscious clarity to help and support other individuals to awaken to their potential as well.
Do not be afraid of the responsibility. We are ready. Now is the time to shift out of the egoic, fear-based place that 9-11 created. All of us are sick and tired of this old pattern. America needs all individuals to voice what is true, to rock the boat, and to instigate the changes that have always made this country great.
Suzanne Wagner is the author of numerous books and CDs on the tarot. She lives in Salt Lake City..
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 | Urban Almanac: March 2008Day by day in the home, garden and sky.
by Diane Olson
MARCH 1 The Sun rises at 7:00 a.m. today and sets at 6:19 p.m. The average monthly snowfall in the Salt Lake valley is 11.6 inches; the average maximum temperature is 52°; the average minimum temperature 31°.
MARCH 2 Look for Mars, in Gemini, straight overhead by 9 p.m.
MARCH 3 This is the time to get your soil tested and make any necessary adjustments. You can get a test kit from your local agricultural extension office or online.
MARCH 4 Keep spring-flowering bulbs covered with mulch as long as possible. Otherwise, they might flower too soon and freeze.
MARCH 5 Check out the great interviews with organic gardening pioneers, permaculturists and chefs at www.seedsofchange.com/
cutting_edge/ground_breakers.asp.
MARCH 6 Studies have found that young snails who eat their siblings and other unhatched snails live longer than those who eschew fratricide or cannibalism. You can use snails to make compost, just like worms.
MARCH 7 NEW MOON. Fishing will be good from now until March 21.
MARCH 8 If an area is hopelessly overgrown with grass or weeds, the best solution is a heavy, light-excluding mulch, laid in around the plants you want to save, then covered with another layer of loose mulch.
MARCH 9 Trees that weren’t fed last fall will appreciate a deep feed now. Punch a series of one- to two-inch holes, two feet apart, around the drip line and fill with organic fertilizer.
MARCH 10 Our sense of smell doesn’t work when we’re asleep, so you never wake because you smell coffee, you wake up and then smell it.
MARCH 11 Now’s a good time to turn compost heaps and add manure to them. If turning a compost pile is too physically difficult, just shred everything before it goes on the pile, and it will decompose just fine.
MARCH 12 Loosen, but don’t remove, mulch around spring bulbs and hardy perennials. Top-dress asparagus, strawberry and rhubarb beds with two inches of compost.
MARCH 13 Fruit trees, evergreens, raspberries and grapevines can all be trimmed and shaped now, before new growth begins. Prune out suckers, the branches that sprout directly from the root stock beneath the soil.
MARCH 14 FIRST QUARTER MOON. This is the perfect time to start edging and weeding. If the ground is saturated, lay down a board to walk on, to avoid compacting the soil.
MARCH 15 Now’s a good time for planting fruit trees, grapes and roses. When selecting bare root stock roses, look for grade stock one; those are the healthiest available. When planting fruit trees, make sure they’ll be in an area with good drainage.
MARCH 16 Garden work can begin when a lump of soil squeezed in the hand is dry enough to fall apart slowly. If the soil is slow to dry and warm, you can cover beds with black plastic mulch for a week or so to speed things up.
MARCH 17 It’s time to plant early crops when the lilacs show their first leaves, or when the daffodils start to bloom. Early crops include carrots, celery, collards, leeks, lettuce, mixed greens, onions, parsley, parsnips, potatoes, radishes, snow peas, Swiss chard and turnips, along with larkspur, pansies, poppies, sweet peas, wildflowers, evergreen trees and shrubs.
MARCH 18 Look for Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, hovering between the Moon and Saturn tonight.
MARCH 19 Forsythia, crocus, daffodils and snowdrops are blooming. Forsythia originated in China and was first sent to in 1842 Europe by a British collector of exotic plants named Robert Fortune. In his 19 years traveling the Orient to collect specimens, Fortune was waylaid by pirates, shipwrecked, felled by sunstroke, and repeatedly robbed and beaten. Who knew that botany was such a dangerous profession?
MARCH 20 VERNAL EQUINOX. An equinox occurs at that moment (not a whole day) when the center of the Sun is directly above the Earth’s equator. Today’s happens at 3:48 a.m. Happy Spring!
MARCH 21 FULL SAP MOON. Add fescue and bluegrass seed to thin spots in the lawn, and apply slow-release organic fertilizer.
MARCH 22 Weather permitting, you can start to plant beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and spinach. Or, if you have an empty or spent garden bed, you can start planting early spring cover crops, including fava beans, oats, speckled field peas and triticale.
MARCH 23 Each beet seed is a dried fruit containing a cluster of seeds, so thinning is always necessary. Don’t pull the extras out, you’ll disturb the remaining roots; instead, use scissors. Also, don’t use high-nitrogen fertilizer on beets unless you want more greens than root. Tom Robbins’ “Jitterbug Perfume” is about a perfume based on beet scent.
MARCH 24 This is the perfect time to thin overcrowded ground covers and herbs.
MARCH 25 Inside, start seedlings of annual flowers and warm weather veggies, such as eggplant, tomatoes and peppers, in flats. They’ll need to be set in individual pots in four to five weeks.
MARCH 26 Burrowing owls collect dung to lure their favorite meal, dung beetles, to their burrows.
MARCH 27 Don’t mulch plants yet, as it insulates the soil from the sun and keeps it from warming up.
MARCH 28 Female songbirds prefer males with large repertoires and chose to mate with the male who can sing the widest range of tunes. It’s thought that the ability to memorize songs is linked to the size of the spleen, which, in turn, is connected to the quality of the immune system.
MARCH 29 LAST QUARTER MOON. Repot and begin fertilizing house plants again. Feed potted plants with liquid organic fertilizer every two weeks to compensate for nutrients leached by frequent watering.
MARCH 30 Cut back perennials left standing over the winter.
MARCH 31 The Sun rises at 6:12 a.m. today and sets at 6:52 p.m. Rainbow and cutthroat trout are spawning. Fox, marten, short-tailed weasel, river otter and badger babies are being born. Songbirds and frogs are starting to sing.
The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.
—e.e. cummings
Diane Olson is a freelance writer, proofreader and wanna-be fulltime naturalist
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