Rebels Is Witches

''Destruction of the Fertile Crescent'' Claudia Fernety

2005-07-25T16:24:00.000-05:00

Azowano ~ Asoji ~ Asohano

2005-03-30T23:44:00.000-05:00

Image of San Lazaro associated with Azowano, King of the World

Azowano is just one of the many names given to Beloved Babaluaye.
He is also called: Agronica, Sagbata, Asoji, Afimaye, depending on his "camino" or incarnation.
He is the Great Orisha of the Araras, the people of Dahomey.
He is the Orisha of sickness and disease.
He is an Orisha that is very miraculous & can help with the cure of many diseases.
Even though he was a king in Dahomey, he is a very humble Orisha.
We are dedicating this site to him in hopes that you will grow to love this Orisha as we do.
Babaluaye's Best Friend
Why is Babaluaye associated with dogs? This is one of the reasons that the Catholic Saint, San Lazaro, was chosen to represent him in his Christianized version. The image of San Lazaro contains dogs, and naturally he was chosen to represent Babaluaye. He was chosen also for the fact also that Lazarus rose from the dead, just as Babaluaye did. When Babaluaye had to leave the kingdom of the Yorubas (which is another story), he consulted Orunla and Orunla told him to take two dogs with him. Ogun and Ochossi gave him the dogs and they accompanied him on his journey through the rain forest. The dogs helped guide him on his journey to the land of the Araras, where he became King. (That, too, is another story). For that reason, it is recommended that when you see beggars on the street, accompanied by dogs that you give them something. It might be Babaluaye in desguise!

King of the World
Azowano is often called the King of the World. One of the reasons for that is that he is associated with the earth element. Legend has it that his mother died while she was carrying him and he was delivered from the mother's tomb. You can't get more associated with earth than that. He is also called, "King of the World" because of his ability to control that element. Due to this ability, he is able to give material blessings. So he is not only adored as an Orisha that is able to cure diseases, but also as one that can give prosperity. His astrological association is with the planet Saturn, and like Saturn, he is a stern taskmaster. Promises to him are NEVER to be broken. Broken promises to him can incur his wrath and that is not pleasant. However, if Babaluaye is treated with respect like the other Orishas, then you have nothing to worry about.

Dweller of the Rain Forest and Swamps
Azowano is known to dwell in the rain forests and swamps. He likes these places because they are places of life but also of decay and putrification. The old leaves dying on the forest floor give nutriments to the other trees and plants. Another, is the cycle of death and rebirth, just as he was buried in death and reborn from the earth. Most always the offerings that are given to Babaluaye are taken to the woods, after having been placed in front of him for the appropriate time. Sometimes, offerings are made to him at the entrance of the cemetery. He is an Orisha strongly connected with Death, due to the history of his birth, coming into the world resurrected from the dead. Babaluaye lives apart from the other Orishas, sometimes outside of the house. He does not like prying eyes to be upon him. His feast day in this part of the world is December 17th. Usually, one awaits him the night before (vispera) and at precisely midnight, his celebration begins. Often certain cleansings are performed at this hour to ensure health for the coming year.

St. Lazarus - San Lazaro

2005-03-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

St. Lazarus - San Lazaro

"Saint Lazarus"
- traditional Roman Catholic image

Feastday: June 21
Lazarus is the poor man at the gate of the rich man in Christ's parable related in Luke. (Luke 16:19-31) His name was perpetuated in the Middle Ages by such words as Lazaretto (hospital), Lazarone (a beggar in the street), and the Order of St. Lazarus, which though a military order, had as one of its objectives, the care of lepers. His feast day is June 21st.
LAZARUS: Also known as Lazaro
Memorial: 21 June

Profile
Leper mentioned by Christ in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in the Gospel of Luke (see below).

The Order of Saint Lazarus was founded in the 12th century to provide nursing for lepers, taking Lazarus as its patron. The knights of the order were lepers, and besides helping their fellow sufferers, they carried out military duties. They founded a hospital for lepers near the northern wall of Jerusalem.

Patronage
lepers,
leprosy,
Order of Saint Lazarus

Additional Bible Story Translations:
français deutsch italiano português

JESUS, THE CHRIST » HISTORY OF » Enunciates the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (in Peraea) (Luke 16:19-31) (New International Version)

The Rich Man and Lazarus
19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
Footnotes:
a. Luke 16:23 Greek Hades

Lucas 16:19-31 (Nueva Versión Internacional)
19"Había un hombre rico que se vestía lujosamente* y daba espléndidos banquetes todos los días.
20A la puerta de su casa se tendía un mendigo llamado Lázaro, que estaba cubierto de llagas
21y que hubiera querido llenarse el estómago con lo que caía de la mesa del rico. Hasta los perros se acercaban y le lamían las llagas.
22"Resulta que murió el mendigo, y los ángeles se lo llevaron para que estuviera al lado de Abraham. También murió el rico, y lo sepultaron.
23En el infierno,* en medio de sus tormentos, el rico levantó los ojos y vio de lejos a Abraham, y a Lázaro junto a él.
24Así que alzó la voz y lo llamó: 'Padre Abraham, ten compasión de mí y manda a Lázaro que moje la punta del dedo en agua y me refresque la lengua, porque estoy sufriendo mucho en este fuego.'
25Pero Abraham le contestó: 'Hijo, recuerda que durante tu vida te fue muy bien, mientras que a Lázaro le fue muy mal; pero ahora a él le toca recibir consuelo aquí, y a ti, sufrir terriblemente.
26Además de eso, hay un gran abismo entre nosotros y ustedes, de modo que los que quieren pasar de aquí para allá no pueden, ni tampoco pueden los de allá para acá.'
27"Él respondió: Éntonces te ruego, padre, que mandes a Lázaro a la casa de mi padre,
28para que advierta a mis cinco hermanos y no vengan ellos también a este lugar de tormento.'
29Pero Abraham le contestó: 'Ya tienen a Moisés y a los profetas; ¡que les hagan caso a ellos!'
30'No les harán caso, padre Abraham --replicó el rico--; en cambio, si se les presentara uno de entre los muertos, entonces sí se arrepentirían.'
31Abraham le dijo: 'Si no les hacen caso a Moisés y a los profetas, tampoco se convencerán aunque alguien se levante de entre los muertos.' "

http://stlazarus.info.tripod.com/parable.html
The Military and Hospitaller
Order of
Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
International

Our New Zealand Grand Priory

The Parable of Saint Lazarus, Luke - Chapter 16
This is placed here to hopefully avoid confusion:
Please note that the Order of St. Lazarus has Lazarus as their patron saint. However, there is a bit of controversy as to whether the "historical" Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany, who was raised from the dead, in the 1st century, by Christ, was a leper, like the Lazarus in the Parable above. The Order of Saint Lazarus celebrates their feast day on December 17th. Lazarus of John 11:1 and 11:5 was the younger brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany.
It is assumed, by Biblical scholars, that both men named Lazarus were leperous, since the name has this connotation (as expressed above). The Lazarus that Christ raised from the dead, was said to have traveled to Marseilles (with his famous sisters), after Christ's Ascension, and was the first bishop of that city. (Kelly, Sean & Rosemary Rodgers. Saints Preserve Us. New York: Random House, 1993.Kelly, Sean & Rosemary Rodgers. The Birthday Book of Saints: Your Powerful Personal Patrons for Every Blessed Day of the Year. New York: Villard Books, a div. of Random House, 2002)
Be advised that I have twenty-five(25) "Saint Books" in my library and they are basically undecided on this issue. Many books list them as two separate men with two separate feast days, thus the date stated above this box is for the Lazarus of the Parable. Respectively submitted.

Saint Lazarus

http://www.corazones.org/santos/lazaro%20.htm
San Lázaro
Etim: "Dios ayuda"
Fiesta: 17 de diciembre
San Lázaro y sus dos hermanas, María (la que ungió al Señor con perfume y le secó los pies con sus cabellos) y Marta, eran amigos de Jesús y le invitaban a su casa en Betania, cerca de Jerusalén. En aquel hogar Jesús era amado y visitaba cuando estaba en Jerusalén.

Jesús resucitó a Lázaro. Ver: Juan 11,1-44.
Ya en el siglo III se le veneraba en toda la Iglesia. La peregrina a Jerusalén, Eteria (c.390), describe impresionada sobre la gran procesión que se hacía el sábado anterior al Domingo de Ramos al "Lazarium" (sitio en el que Lázaro había sido resucitado.
No sabemos de su vida posterior pero hay muchas tradiciones. En las Pseudo-Clementinas se cuenta que Lázaro acompañó a San Pedro a Siria. La tradición más común en el oriente afirma que los judíos embarcaron a Lázaro en Jaffa en una nave que hacía agua, junto con sus dos hermanas y otros cristianos, y la nave llegó milagrosamente a la isla de Chipre. Lázaro fue, según esa tradición, elegido obispo de Kition (Larnaka), y murió 30 años después.
El año 890, el emperador León VI construyó una iglesia y un monasterio en su honor en Constantinopla y trasladó allá una parte de las pretendidas reliquias, que se hallaban en Chipre.
En el siglo XI, en relación de la leyenda provenzal de Santa María Magdalena, empezó a decirse que Lázaro había sido obispo de Provenza y había muerto mártir en Francia. El Papa Benedicto IX, en ocasión de la consagración de la iglesia de San Víctor de Marsella, hace alusión a las reliquias de Lázaro que estaban ahí.

Hay otro Lázaro en el Evangelio:
El pobre ilustrado en la parábola de Jesus (Cf. Lc 16,20-25), el cual es representado popularmente con perros y muleta. Este NO es un personaje histórico sino parte de una parábola de Jesús. Por lo tanto NO es un santo.
Ver también milagros
-Adaptado de la Vida de los Santos de Butler. San Lázaro

JESUS, THE CHRIST » HISTORY OF »
Returns to Bethany and raises Lazarus from the dead ( John 11:1-46)

Juan 11:1-46 (Nueva Versión Internacional)
1Había un hombre enfermo llamado Lázaro, que era de Betania, el pueblo de María y Marta, sus hermanas.
2María era la misma que ungió con perfume al Señor, y le secó los pies con sus cabellos.
3Las dos hermanas mandaron a decirle a Jesús: "Señor, tu amigo querido está enfermo."
4Cuando Jesús oyó esto, dijo: "Esta enfermedad no terminará en muerte, sino que es para la gloria de Dios, para que por ella el Hijo de Dios sea glorificado."
5Jesús amaba a Marta, a su hermana y a Lázaro.
6A pesar de eso, cuando oyó que Lázaro estaba enfermo, se quedó dos días más donde se encontraba.
7Después dijo a sus discípulos: --Volvamos a Judea.
8--Rabí --objetaron ellos--, hace muy poco los judíos intentaron apedrearte, ¿y todavía quieres volver allá?
9--¿Acaso el día no tiene doce horas? --respondió Jesús--. El que anda de día no tropieza, porque tiene la luz de este mundo.
10Pero el que anda de noche sí tropieza, porque no tiene luz.
11Dicho esto, añadió: --Nuestro amigo Lázaro duerme, pero voy a despertarlo.
12--Señor --respondieron sus discípulos--, si duerme, es que va a recuperarse.
13Jesús les hablaba de la muerte de Lázaro, pero sus discípulos pensaron que se refería al sueño natural.
14Por eso les dijo claramente: --Lázaro ha muerto,
15y por causa de ustedes me alegro de no haber estado allí, para que crean. Pero vamos a verlo.
16Entonces Tomás, apodado el Gemelo,* dijo a los otros discípulos: --Vayamos también nosotros, para morir con él.
17A su llegada, Jesús se encontró con que Lázaro llevaba ya cuatro días en el sepulcro.
18Betania estaba cerca de Jerusalén, como a tres kilómetros* de distancia,
19y muchos judíos habían ido a casa de Marta y de María, a darles el pésame por la muerte de su hermano.
20Cuando Marta supo que Jesús llegaba, fue a su encuentro; pero María se quedó en la casa.
21--Señor --le dijo Marta a Jesús--, si hubieras estado aquí, mi hermano no habría muerto.
22Pero yo sé que aun ahora Dios te dará todo lo que le pidas.
23--Tu hermano resucitará --le dijo Jesús.
24--Yo sé que resucitará en la resurrección, en el día final --respondió Marta.
25--Yo soy la resurrección y la vida. El que cree en mí vivirá, aunque muera;
26y todo el que vive y cree en mí no morirá jamás. ¿Crees esto?
27--Sí, Señor; yo creo que tú eres el Cristo, el Hijo de Dios, el que había de venir al mundo.
28Dicho esto, Marta regresó a la casa y, llamando a su hermana María, le dijo en privado: --El Maestro está aquí y te llama.
29Cuando María oyó esto, se levantó rápidamente y fue a su encuentro.
30Jesús aún no había entrado en el pueblo, sino que todavía estaba en el lugar donde Marta se había encontrado con él.
31Los judíos que habían estado con María en la casa, dándole el pésame, al ver que se había levantado y había salido de prisa, la siguieron, pensando que iba al sepulcro a llorar.
32Cuando María llegó a donde estaba Jesús y lo vio, se arrojó a sus pies y le dijo: --Señor, si hubieras estado aquí, mi hermano no habría muerto.
33Al ver llorar a María y a los judíos que la habían acompañado, Jesús se turbó y se conmovió profundamente.
34--¿Dónde lo han puesto? --preguntó. --Ven a verlo, Señor --le respondieron.
35Jesús lloró.
36--¡Miren cuánto lo quería! --dijeron los judíos.
37Pero algunos de ellos comentaban: --Éste, que le abrió los ojos al ciego, ¿no podría haber impedido que Lázaro muriera?
38Conmovido una vez más, Jesús se acercó al sepulcro. Era una cueva cuya entrada estaba tapada con una piedra.
39--Quiten la piedra --ordenó Jesús. --Señor --objetó Marta, la hermana del muerto--, que ya debe oler mal, pues lleva cuatro días allí.
40--¿No te dije que si crees verás la gloria de Dios? --le contestó Jesús.
41Entonces quitaron la piedra. Jesús, alzando la vista, dijo: --Padre, te doy gracias porque me has escuchado.
42Ya sabía yo que siempre me escuchas, pero lo dije por la gente que está aquí presente, para que crean que tú me enviaste.
43Dicho esto, gritó con todas sus fuerzas: --¡Lázaro, sal fuera!
44El muerto salió, con vendas en las manos y en los pies, y el rostro cubierto con un sudario. --Quítenle las vendas y dejen que se vaya --les dijo Jesús.
45Muchos de los judíos que visitaban a María y que habían presenciado lo hecho por Jesús, creyeron en él.
46Pero algunos de ellos fueron a ver a los fariseos y les contaron lo que Jesús había hecho.

San Lazaro

John 11:1-46 (New International Version)
The Death of Lazarus
1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”
9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”
11After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
28And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Footnotes:
a. John 11:18 Greek fifteen stadia (about 3 kilometers)
b. John 11:27 Or Messiah

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09096a.htm
Lazarus
Lazarus (Gk. Lazaros, a contraction of Eleazaros--see II Mach., vi, 18--meaning in Hebrew "God hath helped"), the name of two persons in the N.T.; a character in one of Christ's parables, and the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethania.
I. LAZARUS OF THE PARABLE
(1) The Story
The dramatic story of the rich man and the beggar (only in Luke, xvi, 19-31) is set forth by Christ in two striking scenes:
Their Condition Here: The rich man was clothed in purple and byssus (D.V. fine linen), and spent each day in gay carousing. The beggar had been cast helpless at the rich man's gate, and lay there all covered with sores; he yearned for the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, but received none, and was left to the dogs.
Their Condition Hereafter: The early banquet is over; the heavenly banquet is begun. Lazarus partakes of the banquet in a place of honour (cf. John, xiii, 23). He reclines his head on Abraham's bosom. The rich man is now the outcast. He yearns for a drop of water. Lazarus is not allowed to leave the heavenly banquet and tend to the outcast.
(2) The Meaning
Catholic exegetes now commonly accept the story as a parable. It is also legendary that the sores of Lazarus were leprous. The purpose of the parable is to teach us the evil result of the unwise neglect of one's opportunities. Lazarus was rewarded, not because he was poor, but for his virtuous acceptance of poverty; the rich man was punished, not because he was rich, but for vicious neglect of the opportunities given him by his wealth.
II. LAZARUS OF THE MIRACLE
This personage was the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethania; all three were beloved friends of Jesus (John, xi, 5). At the request of the two sisters Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John, xi, 41-44). Soon thereafter, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, Lazarus took part in the banquet which Simon the Leper gave to Jesus in Bethania (Matt., xxvi, 6-16; Mark, xiv, 3-11; John, xii, 1-11). Many of the Jews believed in Jesus because of Lazarus, whom the chief priests now sought to put to death. The Gospels tell us no more of Lazarus (see ST. LAZARUS OF BETHANY).

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09097a.htm
St. Lazarus of Bethany
Reputed first Bishop of Marseilles, died in the second half of the first century. According to a tradition, or rather a series of traditions combined at different epochs, the members of the family at Bethany, the friends of Christ, together with some holy women and others of His disciples, were put out to sea by the Jews hostile to Christianity in a vessel without sails, oars, or helm, and after a miraculous voyage landed in Provence at a place called today the Saintes-Maries. It is related that they separated there to go and preach the Gospel in different parts of the southeast of Gaul. Lazarus of whom alone we have to treat here, went to Marseilles, and, having converted a number of its inhabitants to Christianity, became their first pastor. During the first persecution under Nero he hid himself in a crypt, over which the celebrated Abbey of St.-Victor was constructed in the fifth century. In this same crypt he was interred, when he shed his blood for the faith. During the new persecution of Domitian he was cast into prison and beheaded in a spot which is believed to be identical with a cave beneath the prison Saint-Lazare. His body was later translated to Autun, and buried in the cathedral of that town. But the inhabitants of Marseilles claim to be in possession of his head which they still venerate. Like the other legends concerning the saints of the Palestinian group, this tradition, which was believed for several centuries and which still finds some advocates, has no solid foundation. It is in a writing, contained in an eleventh century manuscript, with some other documents relating to St. Magdalen of Vézelay, that we first read of Lazarus in connection with the voyage that brought Magdalen to Gaul. Before the middle of the eleventh century there does not seem to be the slightest trace of the tradition according to which the Palestinian saints came to Provence. At the beginning of the twelfth century, perhaps through a confusion of names, it was believed at Autun that the tomb of St. Lazarus was to be found in the cathedral dedicated to st. Nazarius. A search was made and remains were discovered, which were solemnly translated and were considered to be those of him whom Christ raised from the dead, but it was not thought necessary to inquire why they should be found in France.
The question, however, deserved to be examined with care, seeing that, according to a tradition of the Greek Church, the body of St. Lazarus had been brought to Constantinople, just as all the other saints of the Palestinian group were said to have died in the Orient, and to have been buried, translated, and honoured there. It is only in the thirteenth century that the belief that Lazarus had come to Gaul with his two sisters and had been Bishop of Marseilles spread in Provence. It is true that a letter is cited (its origin is uncertain), written in 1040 by Pope Benedict IX on the occasion of the consecration of the new church of St.-Victor in which Lazarus is mentioned. But in this text the pope speaks only of relics of St. Lazarus, merely calling him the saint who was raised again to life. He does not speak of him as having lived in Provence, or as having been Bishop of Marseilles. The most ancient Provencal text alluding to the episcopacy of St. Lazarus is a passage in the "Otia imperialia" of Gervase of Tillbury (1212). Thus the belief in his Provencal apostolate is of very late date, and its supporters must produce more ancient and reliable documentary evidence. In the crypt of St.-Victor at Marseilles an epitaph of the of the fifth century has been discovered, which informs us that a bishop named Lazarus was buried there. In the opinion of the most competent archfologists, however, this personage is Lazarus, Bishop of Aix, who was consecrated at Marseilles about 407, and who, having had to abandon his see in 411, passed some time in Palestine, whence he returned to end his days in Marseilles. It is more than likely that it is the name of this bishop and his return from Palestine that gave rise to the legend of the coming of the Biblical Lazarus to Provence, and his apostolate in the city of Marseilles.

The Stations of the Cross

2005-03-29T16:04:00.000-05:00

The Agony in the Garden

01 Jesus is condemned to death

02 Sorrowful Mystery, The Scourging at the Pillar

02 Jesus is made to carry His Cross

03 Jesus Falls the First Time

05 Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His Cross

06 Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus

07 Jesus Falls the Second Time

08 The Women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus

09 Jesus Falls the Third Time

10 Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

12 Jesus is raised upon the Cross and Dies

13 Jesus is taken down from the Cross and placed in the arms of His Mother

14- Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre.

Wisdom, The Elements and The Gospels

2005-03-28T11:32:00.000-05:00

Christ as The Manifestation of Wisdom, Through The Gospel of John

- from Edmond Wollmann's site:
http://astroconsulting.com/SDSU/wisdom_and_the_gospels.htm
- November 29, 1996
- Kepler College

After having read quite a bit on the philosophical notion of wisdom, as well as the notion put forth in the old testament in Proverbs (where this discussion must begin), it is my firm opinion that the gospels were written with the escalation of consciousness and awareness in mind. I believe that these were meant to culminate as the ultimate expression of wisdom in the Gospel of John that spawns revelation.

According to most philosophical perspectives, wisdom is achieved through questioning—through critical thinking merged with inspired revelation—is what is implied.
(1) Wisdom then from this perspective is questioning everything, so that we are lead to wisdom through this questioning. It is this questioning or action of the seeking of wisdom which has been replaced, where once, as it is represented in the Judaic tradition, wisdom is seen as existing as an archetypal “thing”. However, most students of philosophy would agree that the search for the wisdom is not the same as the practice of it. In other words, either way it is implied that wisdom is a state of being wherein perhaps questioning, perhaps coherency of thought, or an insight from the two has now lead to this state of being. It is this state of being, this evolutionary awareness of the whole, that is the Christ consciousness.
In Proverbs 8, the existence of wisdom as an archetype is laid down;

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? 2
On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes a stand...
6 Hear for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right; 7 for
my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
12 I wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion.
14 I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight I have strength. (2)

It is important that we remember these passages well. Not only because they are reflective of the perspective of the times, but because they are powerfully reflected in manifestation in John’s gospel. This section of the Bible goes on in the following passages to reiterate that wisdom was laid down and created at the beginning of creation. Curiously it is knowledge and discretion that are “attained” through wisdom! Although these aspects are attained, wisdom still seems to be already there, and that these other characteristics are then the product of this state of being in “wisdom”.
Whether we view wisdom as the product of knowledge and discretion, or knowledge and discretion as being the product of wisdom, wisdom still exists as a state of being and receives or exists as the feminine archetypal reference. Meaning; that it is more of an archetypal reference that attracts the being to the state, whereas, the expression of spirit is the masculine force that expresses it. Spirit is the driving force or motivational force of God expressed as masculine that expresses the wisdom of God. This is expressed in Wisdom of Solomon clearly and is even addressed as a female in verse 6:12;

Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.

And again in Corinthians 1:24-30

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God....30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Here it is seen that Christ was embodying wisdom. In essence, that he was the most effective teacher at bringing wisdom—the wisdom that exists eternally—into the world. He, evidently, was the master at the explanation of and expression of this “idea” that exists called wisdom.(3)
That wisdom is the feminine expressed with power as the masculine expression, and is seen again in the Gospel of Matthew 13:54;

He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power?”

This wisdom it seems has been expressed over and over as the power that emanates from another world. That it was the will of a creator from another world that was the true will of what “should” be.
yet not what I will but what you will.. Mark 14:36.
And is expressed in the synoptic gospels as the transfiguration Matthew 17:2-5

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him...when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.(4)

It is this “otherworldliness” that characterized his mission as the Christ.(5) It is this otherworldly orientation that seems to allow him access to the archetype of wisdom as we shall see in John.
So before John, we have;
1) The establishment of wisdom as a feminine archetype that is acted upon through the power of expression.
2) It is expressed as the word, the messenger, the messiah. These are the masculine expressions of the wisdom of God.
3) That from Mark through John we have increasingly mystical expressions or levels of the expression of this idea. In essence, the Christ becomes more and more metaphoric and esoteric as we move through the gospels to John and revelations.

I have been studying the significance of the 3’s and 4’s in all philosophic and actually biological structures as well, and I believe that these choices of 4 gospels and 12 disciples is anything but random.(6) The fact that John is last is no random choice (or manifestation we could say) either in my opinion. The gospel of John synthesizes and acts as the apex of expression of not only the previous gospels, but of the bible in general.
As the expression of wisdom the gospels are written at these different levels for several reasons which are levels in themselves. The first of these is to resonate with all “types” of individuals in these four categories. These four categories are reflected in Astrology represented by the four elements of Fire, Earth, Air and water.
It is apparent that the gospel of Matthew speaks of the birth of Christ with the Magi and the star as a way to establish the identity of Christ in the world (Fire).(7) In Mark, all references such as being in the desert with the wild beasts, establishes Christ and his awakening in the physical or Earthly domain (Earth). In Luke, it begins with the establishment of relationships connected to the Christ (John the Baptist and his birth etc.) and the concepts instilled by angelic beings (8) of what the idea of the Christ was to be (Air).
When we get to Gospel of John, however, we see that he begins with the idea that strongly parallels the wisdom and feminine function and its expression we have been discussing as beingness eternally. John 1;

In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What came into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Now it appears in John that the empathic knowingness of the “all” that has come before is blended in this gospel in a coherent manner (Water). What do I mean by coherent? It is explained rather well through coherence theory in philosophy and is stated thus that;
“An empirical belief is true if and only if it coheres with a system of other beliefs, which together form a comprehensive account of reality.”(9)
Now of course it can be argued whether the overall thrust of Biblical reference could be considered a comprehensive account of reality, but if we look at the definition closely it is empirical belief that we are discussing. Every system of belief has its own reinforcing logic. Therefore, within each system of belief THE truth is the effect of this system of beliefs and their coherency. It is coherency that the Gospel of John seems to be about. The coherency of blending other world awareness, vision, wisdom and insight in application to this physical world.

And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory as of a fathers only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

That this gospel expresses the apex of expression with this empathic theme, is shown in the first sign in verse 2:10 in turning the water to wine;

“Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.

This not only reflects the emotional thematic blending, but, the placement and level of the gospel itself! John establishes his level of coherency in the presentation of the gospel and refers to himself throughout as “the disciple that Jesus loved” to accentuate this emotion. That Christ is married to wisdom is reflected in the statement during the Baptizing (another water reference) in 3:22-28 when in verse 29 he has John the Baptist saying of Christ;

“He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom (meaning himself), who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.

Other water references include; Christ baptizing “more” people than John the Baptist, the Samaritan woman drawing water from the well and his explanation of “living water” that he gives, the washing of the blind man’s eyes in the pool, the royal official who heard of his changing the water into wine’s son being healed as the second sign...so that the momentum of each event flows through John’s gospel into the next with vision through foresight.
In John’s gospel it is made clear that wisdom is made manifest through the life of Christ and that there was no indecision or procrastination in his discernment of it. He also makes clear that everything happens for a reason and the disciples see this—which is not so clearly expressed in the other gospels. He allows us to become aware of the fact that at least from his perspective, Christ knew exactly what he was doing all along and was quite aware of the significance of every event and its meaning, and that relaxing judgment and acknowledging the “real” world, which was actually the other world and this world was the illusion. Is this just great literary ability on the part of John in his expression of the gospel? Was he really there in this interaction and this is the most coherent of the gospels because of his own understanding and wisdom? Or is it as I believe all of the above and the primary reason why he was the “disciple that he loved”?
Although this gospel was written some 100 years after his death, the writing in itself is a superb expression of the wisdom of the probability of other world resource, and its most coherent explanation of a healthy application of those resources. The gospel validates the thrust of the message itself cleverly by using those very resources in the metaphoric as opposed to historic account of the “Good News” (gospel).

Footnotes
1) The Experience of Philosophy, 2nd edition, Daniel Kolack/Raymond Martin, 1993, Wadsworth publishing.
2) Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press, 1989
3) The New Testament Story, David L. Barr, Wadsworth Publishing 1995.
4) This experience parallels the modern psychological experience reported of abduction by "aliens."
5) Living Religions, 2nd edition, Mary Pat Fischer, Prentice- Hall, 1994.
6) Please see, "The Great Pyramids, DNA and The Elements" also by the author.
7) There are many more references I can make for these ideas within each gospel, but for the sake of the focus of this paper only one or two observations are included.
8) Again this experience reflects alien experiences or UFO experiences in the modern era.
9) Philosophy, The Power of Ideas, second edition, Moore and Bruder, Mayfield Publishing, 1993.

References
Kolak/Martin, The Experience of Philosophy.
Wadsworth Publishing, 1993
Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Edition.
Oxford University Press, 1989
Barr, David L., The New Testament Story.
Wadsworth Publishing, 1995
Fischer, Mary Pat, Living Religions.
Prentice/Hall, 1994
Bruder/Moore, Philosophy, The Power of Ideas.
Mayfield Publishing, 1993

"The kingdom of heaven will not come through expectation -- it is spread across the land but men do not see it." The Gospel of Thomas
© 2001 Altair Publications, SAN 299-5603

Women and war – how much do you know?

2005-03-15T13:39:00.000-05:00

March 8 2005 -- International Women's Day...

"Women and war – how much do you know?"
Violence against women in times of armed conflict is carried out by...
(a) Soldiers and the police
(b) Members of armed opposition groups
(c) Peacekeepers
(d) Aid workers
(e) All of the above
Do you know the answer? Take the new Amnesty online quiz to find out.

AMNESTY.CA UPDATES to a friend, send them this link:
http://www.amnesty.ca/updates/latest.html

Home > About Amnesty > History
Peter Benenson - 1921 to 2005
Founder of Amnesty International

The man who lit the fuse of the human rights revolution died last week, having refused all honours and leaving behind him a world changed by the countless protests and petitions he championed.
Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International, was 83.

"The candle burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who "disappeared". That is what the candle is for."
- Peter Benenson

Recent News Releases
26 February 2005
The man who decided it was time for a change

The man who lit the fuse of the human rights revolution died this week, having refused all honours and leaving behind him a world changed by the countless protests and petitions he championed.
Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International, was 83. He was born into a world without the United Nations. Not a single international human rights treaty was in existence. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights had yet to be written. There wasn’t a single one of today’s major human rights organizations on the political landscape. Civil society was yet to be born.
Inordinately modest and self-effacing, the one-time lawyer who launched Amnesty International in 1961 would never claim credit for the sea-change of the last 40 years. He was offered knighthoods by almost every successive British Prime Minister but he never accepted.
Each Prime Minister who wrote to him received a personal response from Benenson - who typed his own letters until late in life -- in which he would cite the current human rights violations Amnesty was confronting in the UK. He would suggest, without mincing his words, that if the government wished to take account of his work for human rights, what mattered was to redress those abuses.
In comparison with the world into which he was born, Benenson left behind him one changed so fundamentally that it is hard to conceive of the scale of the transformation. Nearly a hundred human rights treaties and other legal instruments are now in force internationally. Over ninety percent of the world’s countries are now party to the most comprehensive of these, the twin international covenants on civil/political and economic/social rights. Almost all of those states have now formally given the right to their citizens to make international complaints.
In addition to the human rights bodies of the United Nations, there are now regional intergovernmental bodies covering up to three-quarters of the world’s nations.
Women’s rights, child rights, minority rights, workers’ rights, the rights of disabled persons - all of these have been codified and strengthened by successive declarations, conventions and acts of national legislation. Torturers have become international outlaws. As we enter the 21st Century, more than half the countries of the world have rejected the death penalty - either by abolishing it altogether or ceasing to carry out executions.
However, the most extraordinary phenomenon - and the one on which Peter Benenson left his indelible mark - is the birth of what has come to be known globally as "civil society". Today there are well over a thousand domestic and regional organizations working to protect human rights. Among them, his brainchild Amnesty International, is one of the best known, with almost 2 million members, subscribers and supporters in more than 64 countries and territories.
But to think of Peter Benenson merely as the founder of one organization (indeed he started several others) is to misread perhaps the single most distinctive political feature of the period from the end of the Second World War to the present: the emergence of organized, non-violent public opinion as an increasingly powerful force in domestic and international politics. Historians may locate its origins in any number of social changes following the war. But there is one event that will incontestably be told and retold in any social history of that period.
It is the story of a man in a bowler hat reading his newspaper on the London underground in late 1960. He reads a small item about two Portuguese students being sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom. He is outraged, decides to go to the Portuguese embassy in London to make a personal protest and then changes his mind. Instead he gets off at Trafalgar Square station and makes his way to the church of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields. He goes in, sits down for three-quarters of an hour, and thinks. In his words,
"I went in to see what could really be done effectively, to mobilize world opinion. It was necessary to think of a larger group which would harness the enthusiasm of people all over the world who were anxious to see a wider respect for human rights."
That man was Peter Benenson, then a barrister in London. When he came outside into the square, he had his idea. Within months, he launched his Appeal for Amnesty with a front page article in The Observer newspaper.
Nothing quite like it had ever been attempted on such a scale before. The response was overwhelming, as if people worldwide were waiting for exactly such a signal. Newspapers in over a dozen countries picked up the appeal. Over a thousand letters poured in within the first six months. And the post-bags of the world’s heads of state changed forever.
Benenson’s idea was so simple, perhaps that’s why he remained so shy of personal publicity throughout his life. Termed "one of the larger lunacies of our time" by one of its critics, a network of letter writers was set up to bombard governments with individual appeals on behalf of prisoners jailed and ill-treated in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In an age of self-aggrandisement, his modesty was almost hard to fathom. He never went forward to receive the numerous accolades showered upon Amnesty, known universally by its candle in barbed wire. His mind was always fixed on what had not been accomplished and the countless victims still to be rescued.
"The candle burns not for us," he declared, "but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who ‘disappeared’. That is what the candle is for."
In later years, as Amnesty’s impact grew exponentially and went on to harness the power of the international news media, other groups began to adopt and adapt its methods in support of their causes. The extraordinary impact of the environmental movement twenty years later, the women’s rights movement and a host of other single-issue and coalition groups, working in their own countries or across national boundaries, can often be traced to the early examination they made of the methods Benenson’s organization was using.
Today we take the power of charities, voluntary groups and people’s campaigns for granted. But before that day in Trafalgar Square - the day on which a single newspaper reader decided it was time for a change - that power had yet to shake the world.
Nothing has ever been quite the same since. As he said in 1961, lighting the first Amnesty candle, "I’m reminded of the words of a 16th century man sentenced to death by burning: We have today lit such a candle as shall never be put out."

Resource News Archives Search

Full Moon in Virgo ~ Wednesday February 23, 2005

2005-02-24T15:17:00.000-05:00

Moon at 5.41 Virgo at 8:54 pm PST / 11:54 pm EST

Sabian Symbol: "Excited children ride on a blatant, gaudy merry-go-round."
23:54 EST

Sun at 5.41 Pisces

Sabian Symbol: "A prade of West Point cadets is held as the sun sets."

Join us in reverence:

Virgo Full Moon Reflections: Further Adventures with Water
by Jean Hinson Lall

Regular readers of this column may recall that in our Baltimore home my husband and I occasionally have very engrossing adventures with water (basement flooding, leaky pipes and roofs, back-yard drainage issues, even weird hemorrhages in our cars). Last month, returning to Canterbury to resume my studies, I thought I might, as a side benefit of the trip, get a break from all that. After a bit of searching I found a great place to live near the campus, but when I came to see it the owner of the house explained that the ceilings in two rooms would have to be taken down and replaced in the near future as a result of a leaky roof on one side and a broken pipe on the other. While I was talking with her, in fact, a new leak was discovered in the dining room ceiling, producing a nasty puddle on the parquet floor. I had to laugh; there was no evading my drippy destiny even by relocating across the ocean!

Repairs are proceeding, however, and my own room is snug and dry. I’ve settled in and begun to get engrossed in my research. One day last week, after reading some particularly stimulating material, I lay down for a short nap and dreamt that water was pouring in through the illuminated light fixture above my bed. I ran downstairs to look for a dishpan or bucket to catch the water.

When I woke up I laughed again. As the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours": when something significant happens to us on one level, often it is working on other levels as well. While I keep on encountering unexpected water events in my physical existence, the dream hints at an influx of a more subtle kind of water.
It would be much too tedious and disheartening to take all these leaks personally, so I referred them to the planets. In the Aquarius New Moon column we looked at the image of the Water-Bearer who not only irrigates the land but pours out the "living waters" of spiritual renewal. Now the Sun has moved into Pisces, and at the Full Moon will be just a day away from an exact conjunction with Uranus, the planet whose name means "Heaven." While, as we noted last time, Neptune sojourns in the rarefied air of Aquarius where Uranus is co-ruler, Uranus is making a reciprocal journey through Neptune’s watery realm of Pisces, making for a "mutual reception" between these two slow-moving outer planets. It does seem a suitable time to reflect further on the waters and their relationship to "Heaven."

On the first day of creation, according to the Book of Genesis, when the earth was as yet formless and void, God’s Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, and then God created light and separated the light from the darkness, and Day from Night. On the second day, ". . .God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven."

Heaven, according to this version of events, is designed as a support structure, a strong framework or vault that is needed to divide the upper waters from the lower waters. In this, as in creation narratives generally, a good deal of the creator’s job involves separating and dividing things, creating distinctions and polarities. "Waters Above/Waters Below" is an interesting polarity, not so familiar and self-evident as pairs like "Earth and Heaven," "Light and Darkness," "Day and Night," "Water and Dry Land" or "Male and Female." We have to stop and think why it would be important in the divine plan to separate the waters, which appear to be the first matter of creation, in this definitive way.

One thing this separation accomplishes is to create a space for reflection and for metaphor. We are able to experience our lives consciously precisely because of this division, through the resonance between events on different levels. Imagination and thought dance in the space between, drawing down water from above – poetry, mystical vision, music or inspired ideas -- to meet the humble water of daily existence. Spiritual water becomes more accessible to us and more potent through its resemblance to physical water, while physical water and all the labour of dealing with it (rivers and seas, navigation, flood control, irrigation, bathing, household washing, plumbing repairs) are lifted up and infused with meaning when linked to the higher waters through metaphor and symbol.

The Moon now is opposite Sun and Uranus in One thing this separation accomplishes is to create a space for reflection and for metaphor. We are able to experience our lives consciously precisely because of this division, through the resonance between events on different levels. Imagination and thought dance in the space between, drawing down water from above – poetry, mystical vision, music or inspired ideas -- to meet the humble water of daily existence. Spiritual water becomes more accessible to us and more potent through its resemblance to physical water, while physical water and all the labour of dealing with it (rivers and seas, navigation, flood control, irrigation, bathing, household washing, plumbing repairs) are lifted up and infused with meaning when linked to the higher waters through metaphor and symbol.
The Moon now is opposite Sun and Uranus in Virgo, the mutable Earth sign that complements Pisces. Virgo is stereotyped as the practical housewife and caregiver who cleans up after everybody, as well as the teacher, the student, the nurse and the researcher or technician busily at work. (She’s definitely the one who rushes downstairs in search of a bucket to catch the water pouring in through the light fixture.) But she is also the Cosmic Mother who gives birth to the divine. Spiritually, she is that in us which is well-defined, disciplined and bounded yet exquisitely receptive, able to receive and contain the fertile water of Pisces. Just as Pisces (depicted as two fishes swimming in opposite directions) has its dual Waters, Virgo meets them with an upper and a lower Earth, uniting in herself the practical and the sublime.
The conjunction of Sun and Uranus in Pisces could be a potent time for the descent of new ideas or images. As they meet and look across at the Full Moon, have your buckets ready to catch what may flow from above.
© 2005 Jean Hinson LallAll rights reserved
Look for the Pisces New Moonon March 10, 2005. , the mutable Earth sign that complements Pisces. Virgo is stereotyped as the practical housewife and caregiver who cleans up after everybody, as well as the teacher, the student, the nurse and the researcher or technician busily at work. (She’s definitely the one who rushes downstairs in search of a bucket to catch the water pouring in through the light fixture.) But she is also the Cosmic Mother who gives birth to the divine. Spiritually, she is that in us which is well-defined, disciplined and bounded yet exquisitely receptive, able to receive and contain the fertile water of Pisces. Just as Pisces (depicted as two fishes swimming in opposite directions) has its dual Waters, Virgo meets them with an upper and a lower Earth, uniting in herself the practical and the sublime.
The conjunction of Sun and Uranus in Pisces could be a potent time for the descent of new ideas or images. As they meet and look across at the Full Moon, have your buckets ready to catch what may flow from above.

© 2005 Jean Hinson LallAll rights reserved

Look for the Pisces New Moon

on March 10, 2005.

Claudia Fernety ~ artist

2005-02-13T18:20:00.000-05:00

"To a Safer Place"

Claudia Fernety, Online Gallery
I recommend regular look-see's of her web-site ~ Claudia Fernety has three gallery sites filled already...and counting:

"Claudia Fernety Galleries"

Please note the "Copyright" embedding in all the images I uploaded. I might have used thumbnails without the word allowing you to download a clean sample but that would be cheating, not to mention illegal. I uploaded her paintings to spread the good word about her mission and her talent:
© Claudia Fernety. All rights reserved.
Images may not be reproduced without written permission.
For more information, send email to address below.
Claudia Fernety, Artist

If you would like to know more about Claudia Fernety's work in the arts and in her community, send her an email at: claudia@claudiafernety.com

"Little Rose"

Claudia Fernety's Statement

I have always had a desire to create, and when I was a child, I thought it would be my life's work. At one point, I pursued the theater and later, music. But I lacked direction, and so I nurtured my other interest, which was sociology, and became a social worker.

I counseled battered women and later worked with the homeless/mentally ill. I was dedicated to my work, but not fulfilled. I always joked that I was good for social work, but social work wasn't particularly good for me.

In 1998, I had the chance to travel to Italy (the Etruscan town of Cortona) with my husband, and everything changed. I quit my social work job and for those six months abroad, was determined to teach myself to paint. I visited Florence and Rome to study the paintings of the Renaissance period, and painted constantly (we had no TV!). Despite that what I painted was pretty awful, I found I loved painting nonetheless, and eventually, I did get better.These days, I am passionate about painting and exhibiting my work. I live in San Diego with my husband Marty Sereno and our cat, Bella. When I'm not painting, I volunteer my time to Peace and Justice work.

Claudia Fernety, Exhibits

"House Wife"

Small Image Show, Gallery 21, San Diego, CA. 2/00.
Mural, The U.N. Assoc., Balboa Park, San Diego, "Esperanza por la Paz", 1999.
Mural, The UN Assoc., Balboa Park, San Diego,
"The Children's Mural: Peace Through Education", 10/00. (Featured in the Winter 2001 issue of the L.A. Mural Conservancy's journal on new murals of California).
Gargoyle Gallery, San Diego, Two-person show, 11/00.
ArtWalk, The Refrigerator Project, San Diego, 4/01.
A Hunger Artist Gallery, New Mexico,"Psychologically Charged," 8/01.
San Diego Children's Museum, Solo show,"Faces of Humanity," 10/01 through 1/02.
Self-Help Gallery, East Los Angeles,Recent Work, 12/02 through 5/02.
Ray Street - Gallery 999, Solo show,"Recent Work," 2/02 through 3/02.
Sushi Gallery - Group Show"Life Stage", July 26-28, 2002.
World Beat Center, Activist San Diego Exhibit, July 12, 2003.
Galleri Urbane, Silver City, New Mexico, July 25-Aug 25, 2003, Group Show.
La Voz Alta, San Diego, Aug. 30 - Oct. 15. 2003, "Arabs Anonymous", group show.
Espresso Mi Cultura, Hollywood, CA.Group Show, Nov - Dec 2003.
Self-help Gallery, East Los Angeles, "Mujeres de Juarez" Group Show April 13 - May 9, 2004.
Galleri Urbane, Silver City, New Mexico,July 30-Aug 21, 2004, Women's Show.
Hispanic Museum of Nevada , "Mujeres de Juarez," Group Show, Aug. 12 - Sep. 15, 2004
ARK Playhouse, San Diego, "Parallel Visions", Group Show, in conjunction with "Remains," a play centered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,Sept.9 - Oct. 3, 2004.

Flyer for Exhibit & the play ''remains''

Reception for the Artists
Group Exhibit in conjunction with the play, "remains" held September 9th, 2004

...a larger view of the flyer...

Play Summary: When an American college student is found dead in Tel-Aviv,her mother uses her journal to piece together her daughter's journey. A play about a mother, a daughter and their journey through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, loosely based on the Rachel Corey story.
Most performances followed by a discussion.

Claudia Fernety, Education

"Self-Portrait"

University of California, San Diego: B.A., Sociology, 1990.
San Diego State University: M.A., Social Work, 1992.
Art Education: Self-taught

"Flight of the Sick Bed"

New Moon in Aquarius ~

2005-02-11T10:15:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, February 8, 2005
2:28 pm PST / 5:28 pm EST
Sun and Moon joined at 20.16 Aquarius

Sabian Symbol: A woman is disappointed, as a man leaves her boudoir.
Image symbol: "Potbelly" by artist Claudia Fernety

Join our MoonCircle for February...
What does listening to the zodiac do for us at each moon cycle? It attunes us to the yet living quality of this ancient rhythm. It sharpens our senses to new ways to bring ourselves forth. It puts us on the alert -- as an animal living in the wild -- to something new in the air...

Aquarius New Moon 'Scope by Dana Gerhardt

Walk into a room after there’s been an argument or heavy sobbing; maybe a depressed person has spent time there. You’ll feel it. The energy will be thick, charged, and uncomfortable. To disperse it, you can clap your hands. You can ring bells. You can burn sage. Or you can spray a fine scented mist in the air. Such things work. I mention them now because that’s the best action for this New Moon. Aquarius is THE cycle to raise your energy. In fact that’s the mandate: This is the month to become unstuck. No sign has a greater connection to the future than Aquarius. It’s the sign of progress, innovation and breakthroughs. But first you’ve got to clear out all the musty, droopy, angry, wimpy, static energy of the recent past. Know that your inner genius is ready for a little revolution. Never mind what’s been holding you back. If you’re not living the life you want, Listen. What has your spirit been longing to do?

The Aquarius New Moon chart’s main aspect is auspicious: Jupiter in Libra trines Sun, Moon, Mercury and Neptune in Aquarius. Jupiter represents growth, good luck, expansion, and opportunity. The trine suggests an easy access to these happy potentials. But here’s the problem: Trines won’t make you do anything. Squares will slam doors in your face, oppositions will call you out. Difficult aspects force you to rise to the occasion. But with trines, nobody minds if you decide to stay at home, order a pepperoni pizza, watch Court TV, and paint your toenails. Great forward leaps are favored this month. But they aren’t guaranteed.

That’s where the clapping, bells, sage, and watery mist come in. Aquarius is The Water Bearer, which is a heavenly metaphor suggesting this is the cycle to come clean. In diverse cultures throughout the ages, this is the lunar month when rituals of purification are most frequently performed. The Romans did it. The Mesopotamians did it. At Candelmas and Imbolc, pagans do it today. Likewise in the East, temples are white-washed and given a thorough cleansing this month. Rituals are performed to drive away evil spirits. Offerings are made to please the local deities. In Tibet, the Aquarius New Moon is actually New Year’s Day (called "Losar"). It begins a special month dedicated to spiritual practice, when the power of one’s offerings and prayers are multiplied 100,000 times. If your own spiritual practice has lapsed, this is an especially auspicious time to take it up again. Spiritual practice is the most effective way to cleanse and purify your mind.

The inner and outer spaces mirror each other. If your work has been uninspired, rearrange your office and throw out old papers. If family relationships are not as harmonious as you like, give your home a top-to-bottom cleaning. A simple ritual for this New Moon is to become a your own Water-bearing Angel. Fill an atomizer or spray bottle with energetically charged water. Charge the water by placing a crystal in it for at least 24 hours (before that, clean the crystal by soaking it in a bowl of salt or under the sun’s rays). If you’re familiar with Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work, you know that writing positive intentions on the water bottle ("grace," "radiance," "fertility," "passion," or "peace") will further charge the water molecules. Dip a sprig of pine in the water to double its energetic potency. Pine is purifying--it smells clean too! On the day of the New Moon, visit all the rooms in your house and mist them with your ritual water. You should notice the difference instantly! Enjoy the newly charged air. Wait happily for your new inspirations to come pouring in.

What should you grow this cycle?
Look to the house of your birth chart where the New Moon falls: here’s your personal seed bed. This is the place you usually "do Aquarius." Every year at this time, you engage subtly or wholeheartedly in a purification ritual. A cleansing in this house can energize your whole year. This house is where you’re used to shaking up your status quo—and during this New Moon cycle, you have a unique opportunity here… but you must tune in. Listen for the stray thoughts that get you really excited. It may be your inner revolutionary handing you the manifesto you need.
© 2005 Dana Gerhardt,
All rights reserved

Aquarius New Moon Meditation for 2005:
Vessels for Living Water
by Jean Hinson Lall

Aquarius, the third and last of the Air signs in the Zodiac, is often thought of as representing the highest development of the intellect – dry, cool, remote, impersonal and objective. Its image, however, is not that of the tweedy scholar lugging a briefcase or a white-coated scientist loading data into a laptop, but that of a lightly-clad human figure carrying vessels of water from which the contents are being poured forth.
What is this water? According to ancient philosophy Water is one of the four Elements, or ‘roots,’ from which everything is compounded. In many creation narratives water is the primordial substance, the first matter from which all else proceeds. It is mother, nourishment, the process of growth, the joy and juice of life. It cleanses and purifies, mediates renewal and rebirth, confers blessing and sanctification. And at the end of life it receives us into itself again. Water is the principle of flow, the possibility for things to find their proper level, to adapt and to yield.

Astrologically, Water is often interpreted in personal terms as emotion, feeling, desire, attachment, compassion and sacrifice; and indeed the Water signs do describe and mediate emotional development. At another level, though, Water is connected with Wisdom and with the joy of being in the presence of God. This duality in the meaning of Water is reflected in the notion (found in several cultural traditions) that there are both Higher and Lower Waters.

Physical water, an essential part of our own bodily makeup, is found in rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, wells and springs, and descends as rain from above. Spiritual water, an equally vital part of our nature, is replenished through prayer and study, music and art, contemplation and pilgrimage, devotion and ritual, celebration and divination. Like rain, it comes to us as a gift from above, in the form of visions, teachings, inspiration, clarity of understanding, healing and renewal, mystical union with the divine and communion with our fellow creatures. The soul’s thirst for God can be quenched only by the "living waters" that flow from the divine source.

At this New Moon, the Sun and Moon are joined in Aquarius by Venus and Mercury and also by Neptune, the remote planet named for the god who ruled the seas in classical mythology. Neptune is associated in modern astrology with mysticism, imagination, and all forms of transcendence of ego. It is now situated right at the midpoint of Aquarius (15 degrees), a place of intense concentration of energy. With Sun, Mercury and Moon having just completed their conjunctions to Neptune and Venus moving towards it, Neptune is surrounded and contained in Aquarius, embodying the mysterious Water poured out by the Water-Bearer. Meanwhile Saturn and Uranus, co-rulers of Aquarius, are both placed in Water signs, and Jupiter, planet of higher study and the spiritual quest, trines Neptune, Mercury, Sun and Moon from Libra.

Whatever intellectual, political, artistic or community work we are engaged in, now is the time astrologically to realize more fully the spiritual purpose that lies at the heart of that endeavor and the source from which it springs. Rather than having to be laboriously extracted, calculated or figured out, this understanding should pour forth into the receptive mind and soul like a stream of living water.

* * *
In memory of Richard J. Barnet, and in appreciation of my colleagues and teachers at the University of Kent.

2005 - Jean Hinson Lall

Season Teachings for February 2005: Valentines
by April Elliott Kent

A few days after the Sun entered Aquarius, we organized a breakfast cookout in the park with our friends. Sound nuts? I thought so too, when my husband suggested it. "But it's January!" I complained. "It's been raining for, like, a month. It'll be freezing!" But Jonny, with Aquarius ruling his 9th house, had a stubbornly optimistic vision of midwinter: A barbecue in the park. Friends. Hibachis. Fun.

And you know what? It was fun. There were some harrowing moments leading up to the big event - the day before, when a light rain fell; at 6:30 am the morning of the party, when we woke to find the thermometer outside read 44 degrees. But the day was clear and the sun was warm, and by the time we got to the park the temperature was a balmy 58. About a dozen of our favorite friends trickled in, armed with hibachis, bacon and eggs, and terrific conversation. We fired up our grills, threw ourselves into a chaotic dance of cooking and eating and laughing, then collapsed on the grass and soaked up the sun. And damned if we didn't all have such a marvelous time that after we had packed everything up a few hours later, we stood around chatting in the parking lot for another half an hour.

When we had reluctantly parted ways with our friends, Jonny and I came home and spent the rest of the afternoon putting away camping equipment and congratulating ourselves on having the coolest friends in the world. I suppose everyone feels that way, since friends are, by definition, people you like, or at least have something in common with. And born with Jupiter in Aquarius, it is no surprise I feel exceptionally lucky in the friends department. Jupiter is a treasure map with the location of our greatest treasure clearly marked; Aquarius is astrological shorthand for friendships and group connections with like-minded folks. Is there anything in the world more delightful than rounding up a group of your friends, putting out a tray of food and a bottle of wine, and watching the conversational sparks fly?

Like the other air signs, Gemini and Libra, Aquarius is a communication expert, adept at making connections with others. But where Gemini is content to have fleeting and pleasant encounters with the grocery clerk, and Libra focuses on the magic of one-to-one relationships, Aquarius is a fixed sign that pulls all these connections into his field of gravity and hangs on until they coalesce into a distinctive group - "Friends of Jonny and April," say. And before you know it, a random collection of people who started out with only us in common find they share many of our interests in common, too - politics, coffee, music, astrology.

And yet, whenever I think of the astrological Aquarius, it is cold, off-putting images that come to mind, science fiction landscapes of metal and electrical wires, ice and electric shock. Certainly I don't picture warm times with friends, or the hearts and flowers of Valentine's Day, which never seems quite at home in the platonic Aquarian season. Remember how disappointing it was, as a kid, to get Valentine cards from friends? It's not that you weren't grateful for their affection, it's just that, as you impatiently rifled through your stack of Valentines, you were secretly searching for one from the cute boy who sat across the aisle and two seats back. That one would somehow "count," unlike a Valentine from a friend, or your from your sister or mother. It was an unattractive attitude that followed some of us into adolescence and even adulthood, this notion that friends were lesser attachments to be discarded at the merest whiff of romance.

Now that I'm older and happily married, and no longer looking over my friends' shoulders for my next romantic prospect, I appreciate my friends so much more than I did when I was young. Oh, I wish I'd kept those goofy, affectionate childhood Valentine cards from my friends! Well, at least I kept some of the friends; and along with the other connections I've formed throughout the decades, I'm grateful beyond measure for their companionship and wise words in troubled times. I admire, respect, and rely upon my friends- but mostly, I enjoy them. They make me laugh, they make me think, they inspire me. Friendships are completely optional relationships, an opportunity to examine an alien other up close without the expectations and codependency of marriage or the obligations and resentments of family. The love of friends is Aquarian love, a pair of arms wide open - the better to take you in, and to leave you free to go.

Jonny's quirky, midwinter picnic gave us a perfect opportunity to celebrate friendship, the web of connections that keeps us warm even in the coldest moments of our lives. You may be a social butterfly by nature, or you may (like me) be an introvert who finds social interactions a bit draining. But this Aquarian New Moon season, with the Sun and Moon in joyous aspect to Jupiter and touched by compassionate, fun-loving Neptune, is an ideal time to explore the comfort and power of groups. Whatever your disposition, celebrate some part of your Aquarian season with friends - unite your power with theirs in ritual and activism, playing team sports and games, or just throwing a party. There is powerful sweetness in finding your people - and, like Aquarius, holding on tight to them, with your arms wide open.
© 2005 April Elliott Kent
All rights reserved
For more of April's articles, visit her website.

Tarot Reading ~ February 10, 2005

2005-02-11T09:53:00.000-05:00

Saved Tarot Magic Readings
Thursday, February 10, 2005 at 8:52:57 AM

Question: I set up a blog on Billie Holiday, tied it to Black History month & my Sing Charisma blog of “victim women celebs”. My mandate: playing the sacrificial lamb went out with Jesus’ Piscean Age; now the gentler strength of Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter of Aquarian Age respected.
Idea — to enter the Blog anonymously into a website competition or venue active in celebrating Feruary as Black History Month.
Celtic Cross

1: Self
Consider carefully what consequences may result from joining forces.
The Five of Coins in this position indicates the attraction of opposites. The Five of Coins depicts lovers discovering each other, mirroring and matching, magnetized by each other’s qualities. Once the first flush of infatuation is past, however, the same energy of attraction that once felt so exciting may become a source of friction. The seeds of conflict are built into the fabric of the attraction. Even though the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts, it has been known to devour the individuals who comprise it.
This card suggests a relationship opportunity or offer. Examine what the outcome of joining forces would be. Ascertain as best you can if there is enough to keep you engaged, so that you don’t base a long term endeavor on a moment’s infatuation. Successful long term partnerships are business arrangements as well as love affairs.
2: Situation
A dramatic wake-up call is getting the attention of your circle.
When Judgment is in this position, it’s as if you and/or your associates are coming out of a trance. You are gaining greater powers of discernment about current events and seeing through what used to divide you. Reevaluate things; promote change and mutual growth toward the common good. In this way, you can redeem your situation. It takes extraordinary circumstances to evoke simultaneous awakening in an entire group; take advantage of them.
3: Challenges
Balance is required when one is in the presence of blessing.
The Sun challenges you to relax and cooperate with a positive and benign time in your life while not becoming addicted to whatever praise and cooperation you are enjoying. You are being advanced both by circumstances and by having the right connections. You are in the right place at the right time and well prepared for this opportunity. You deserve this good fortune. Don’t become overconfident or carelessly self-absorbed and throw this opportunity away. Remain attentive in a relaxed and expressive state.
4: Foundation
A warrior of peace is coming to the fore; the eternal seeker within you is responding to the call.
The Knight of Cups in this position suggests that it is your natural inheritance to be a pioneer. You actually strive for experiences that others only wonder about. Then you return from the front and describe new horizons of consciousness and understanding. You are a spiritual warrior, and you are striving to win the higher ground. In this situation, it is easy for you to call up the quality of energy that can send you on a crusade and numerous challenges for the sake of the greater good. Perhaps you are now being called to, or are preparing for, another great adventure of this kind.
5: Recent Past
You spent some time in your still, calm center.
The High Priestess in this position signifies that a moment of clarity was recently available to you. An insight born of contemplation has adjusted your outlook and emotional attachments. Lucid realizations may have changed the way you see yourself. You are becoming more detached from things that used to disturb or unbalance you. It was sweet to have had this oasis of serenity. Record it in your journal so you can recall this experience of clarity and centeredness the next time you need those qualities.
6: Higher Power
Your current outlook, so full of warmth and approval, is infecting others with a love of life.
When the Ace of Cups falls in this position, your Higher Power is blessing you with an abundance of loving approval. As you feel this powerfully within yourself, your self-respect rises like the level of a lake in spring. You are elated by the feeling that you are the right person in the right place at the right time. As your self esteem increases, the feelings of your heart deepen. This “inner smile” expands the dimensions of your consciousness, relaxing and awakening you to experience life on a higher frequency. Living life on this level increases your optimism, confidence and generosity — attracting people to you and your gifts.
7: Near Future
As a new path to the future opens up for you, leave conflict behind. Be harmonious.
With the Six of Swords in this position, an imminent opportunity for change will be presenting itself. Seize the chance to let go of your present situation and its conflicts for a realm that is free from problems of the past. Opportunities are opening in new directions; bring the best of your knowledge with you and leave contention behind. Detach your heart and mind from past friction as you put physical distance between yourself and the competitive, conflicting agendas of the past. You can start fresh in new circumstances if you change your way of thinking so as not to remain attached to old problems.
8: Blocks and Inhibitions
Focus some energy on personal pursuits to develop greater spontaneity and creativity.
When the Eight of Coins falls in this position, you may be at a point where you have mastered your work but have neglected your inner self. Are you exhibiting any of the tendencies of a workaholic? Beware of becoming so fixated on the process that you lose yourself. Ask yourself what the purpose is for working so hard and make sure your answers are good ones. If you tell yourself you are doing it for your family, ask them if they agree with you; you may be surprised at what you learn. Your work is not your single highest value. Cultivate other activities to avoid becoming a robot.
9: Allies
Identify an ally whose talents and wisdom can help plan your next move.
The Horseman of Wands in this position supports action that is well planned for — no impulsive leaps into the void here. Perhaps you have an ally or friend who can help devise a plan so you will feel prepared to go forth into the world of action with some skills that will expedite your progress. This is a good time to identify that ally or cultivate that friendship, spend more time with her or him, discuss and study this person’s style and talents. See if you can improve your current situation through the use of this proactive person’s experience, insights and wisdom.
10: Advice
Go with your intuition. This is the time to make your move.
The Three of Wands in this position advises you to act quickly and powerfully on an idea or desire you have been feeling. This card suggests exquisite timing, staying in the moment and responding to your instinct or intuition. Every fiber of your being is saying this is a great opportunity, even if those around you aren’t as convinced. There’s nothing to lose from taking a risk; this is a great moment in your entrepreneurial growth. Make your move and sort out the details later.
11: Long-Term Potential
When you work smarter instead of harder, you won’t blindly repeat others’ accomplishments — you will devise a better way.
The Page of Coins in this position indicates that the more completely you master the basics now, the greater your accomplishments will be in the future. Study how a small adjustment in technique can result in a substantial difference at the outcome. Only after you have learned the traditions of the discipline, the history of the craft and the demands that it makes on all who would master it, can you begin to see where you would make changes or invent better ways. Don’t expect to just repeat what those who came before you did; refine your art and you will put your stamp on what is now a dream in the mind of an apprentice. You have the power to enter the ranks of masters if you remain devoted and committed and put in the necessary time and effort.

Thursday, 9:12:00 AM
RE the psychologicalconcept of the “Bermuda Triangle”
Few of us are “chronic predators” and we like to help but few are “chronically maladaptive rescuers”. Most of us, powerless & somehow wounded as children find that they get the most approval and attention as “pleasers” or “victim-like” acceptance of authority and keep the victim-mentality long after the behavior pattern has become maladaptive.
Celtic Cross

1: Self
This is a time for individuation. Others must step aside as you step forward.
When the Queen of Swords comes up in this position, it is a time to become more autonomous. This queen has learned through challenging experience that she should be her own best friend. She doesn’t need to be rescued, “helped” or condescended to. As such, it’s time to set boundaries as you move your emotional and psychic center back to yourself. In the old tradition, the Queen of Swords was stigmatized as unwanted, a woman who had outlived her usefulness to a man. Nowadays wise and independent people with maturity are better appreciated; now we celebrate her as a self defined individual and understand her as a person who owns herself. She fosters no dependencies because she craves none. In this way she is freer to move in the world unencumbered by the entangling expectations of others. It’s time to become less available to other people’s whims. Strike out on your own. Win or lose on your own merits.
2: Situation
Card: The Magician
Allow genius to operate in this situation and creative solutions are sure to arise.
Involve yourself with a person of genius who can spontaneously and intuitively transform lemons into lemonade, chaos into a higher order. When a creative point of view prevails, solutions come easier; people become less judgmental or compulsive. The sense that one can figure out a novel solution makes this a fertile situation for quirky or unorthodox approaches. Don’t miss this boat; it will be a fun ride.
3: Challenges
Raise the consciousness of those around you. Cooperation instead of competition will bring you to the greater good.
The Five of Wands in this position challenges you to help raise the awareness of those around you, forsaking competition and instead cooperatively questioning the overall system. This card represents the point at which consciousness moves from a self centered place to the desire to join forces for a greater good. As collective consciousness rises above bickering and schisms, you can target the real problem. If you take charge, you’ll be able to count on the support of others who themselves had not yet defined the common good.
4: Foundation
Lessons learned from the past give you expertise and wisdom you can apply to your present circumstances.
The Page of Coins in this position suggests that your education will hold you in good stead. This is an important time for you to tap your memory and apply some of the knowledge you acquired earlier to your current situation. You have mastered some skills that will help you discern what’s going on around you and respond appropriately. These skills are being called forth by current events. Don’t hesitate — be ready to learn more and put that learning to good use. In the process you may influence others who need to apply their own practical knowledge but aren’t quite getting down to business. In this way you can in some measure repay the gift you were given in your past — learning how to learn.
5: Recent Past
You have the confidence appropriate to a capable and proven master of your medium.
The Six of Swords in this position implies that you have recently demonstrated your mastery and seasoned skills, showing finesse in a situation that could have become dangerously out of control. Having seen yourself rise to the occasion, cut through the chaos, solve the problem and hit the target, your self esteem should be high. Not only is your sense of your infinite possibilities reinforced, but your associates are viewing you in a favorable light. Positive momentum is sweeping you into the present.
6: Higher Power
Let other people tend the garden; you are in the sanctum praying.
The Hermit in this position implies that an elder lives in your psyche. This wise part of yourself is trying to wean you from your addictions and social distractions and strivings. Because this inner resource offers you such a subtle and precious wisdom, it must be met in the inner sanctum, the privacy of your meditations, the protected space where a shaman performs ritual and encounters the spirit world. The Hermit is instructing you to pull away from the herd and question the spiritual meaning of what you are involved with. Focus on what is essential.
7: Near Future
You will get the support you need to remain confident and capable.
With the Three of Wands in this position, some of the good fortune and cooperation you have been hoping for is on the horizon. Forces are willing to support you and your good idea is catching on with others: it augurs well. You need to be organized, focused, and ready to face challenges; with a confident and open minded attitude, you will be able to work with changes as they unfold. This is a compliment to your capacity for energetic optimism.
8: Blocks and Inhibitions
Fear is at the heart of whatever resistance or negativity you are experiencing.
The Death card in this position represents the fear of death, annihilation, oblivion, the fear that you will cease to exist. As you search your heart, you may discover that the cause of your resistance is the fear that you will be made inconsequential, that your contribution will be forgotten. Your rational mind knows this isn’t going to happen. You have lived too long and made too many moves to be so totally extinguished. But something inside fears being snuffed out. You must address this fear, because it’s inhibiting your willingness to take risks and act on your best interests and creative urges. It stands solidly in your way.
9: Allies
Seek out others who can teach you empathy and mediation skills.
In this position, the Two of Swords suggests that receptivity and humility are especially helpful to you at this time. If these virtues don’t come naturally to you, then seek friends who are open minded and flexible and contemplate those qualities with them. You know at least one person, possibly several, who are masters of empathy. They can help you put yourself in another person’s shoes and envision approaches that benefit everyone. As you role play with them, take turns advocating for both sides of an issue or problem. Learn their harmonizing and balancing mediation skills so you can look through your adversary’s eyes.
10: Advice
Circumstances call for anonymous action even if you would prefer to receive credit.
When the Page of Swords is in this position, the situation requires subtle change in order for it to be brought to the highest good for all concerned. In contrast to times when one can best serve the greater good by being visible and heroic, this is a time when you must keep your own counsel, cover your tracks and stealthily accomplish what would be impossible to complete without privacy. Reduce your profile and increase your anonymity, no matter how your self image might suffer. Although it would be gratifying to accomplish what needs to be done and be aboveboard about it, that cannot be a priority at present.
11: Long-Term Potential
If you stay on your path, you will become known as an exemplar of wisdom and truth.
The King of Swords in this position reveals your potential to be regarded as a wise leader, a fair and objective resource. Perhaps your reputation is on the rise right now. If you proceed with sobriety and maturity to do the right thing and sponsor the greater good, you may be tapped for the commission of some enterprise where a level headed, clear eyed protagonist is needed. You stand to be seen in a larger context than you have been in the past, as a resource whose insights are valuable to the community, one who deserves to be consulted when significant decisions are made.

Thursday, 9:49:17 AM
Time Line
1: History
A warrior of peace is coming to the fore; the eternal seeker within you is responding to the call.
The Knight of Cups in this position suggests that it is your natural inheritance to be a pioneer. You actually strive for experiences that others only wonder about. Then you return from the front and describe new horizons of consciousness and understanding. You are a spiritual warrior, and you are striving to win the higher ground. In this situation, it is easy for you to call up the quality of energy that can send you on a crusade and numerous challenges for the sake of the greater good. Perhaps you are now being called to, or are preparing for, another great adventure of this kind.
2: Recent Events
You have mixed your own medicine and brought about your own healing.
With Temperance in this position, you are now on the far side of resurrection. You navigated well through a transformative experience. You have demonstrated this card’s essential message: “Physician, heal thyself.” Aggrieved by the poison of the past, you created an elixir to neutralize it and help you rise above its negative effects. Good job! Now you can use your own skills and abilities to stay healthy, happy and holy. This has been a wonderful rite of passage.
3: The Present
Your intuitive receptivity is your greatest strength.
The High Priestess craves deep communion with Nature and attunement with cosmic law. She wants to be far from the hustle and bustle, the daily traffic of life, so she can meditate. Get your ego out of the way and let your mind become attuned to a more subtle, spiritual view. Seek to divine the principles behind seemingly chaotic events, daily life or society in general. Take some time out. Write in your journal. Sit on a mountain top. Work with your feelings until you become reflective like the smooth calm of still waters at dawn.
4: Near Future
You are entering a position of creative control.
The Ace of Coins in this position indicates that you are coming into an opportune time. Your bold and original ideas draw attractive opportunities, invitations and offers to you. From the very beginning, you have creative control. Trust that your natural instincts and good intuitions are working for you. Be confident. Success can be yours, and when it is, you will be blessed. It’s time to let yourself fly!
5: Far Future
Take time off before circumstances force you to. Subjugate your outer life to your inner life for awhile; focus your attention there for now.
When the Four of Swords is in this position, you might find that circumstances seem to conspire to sidetrack you for a while. Give your health or the demands of your private life a chance to take priority over your outer persona and your visible role in the world. Agree to temporarily forget about your considerable accomplishments and any sense of worldly importance you may have developed. Just disappear for awhile, then go deep within to revisit and resolve long-ignored core issues. This is not a setback. Those around you who have become accustomed to depending on you may be strengthened as well. You deserve time to not have to be responsive and responsible to others. When you are finished with this period of introspection, you will return to the world with much greater clarity, strengthened for growth and progress in the future.

Thursday, 10:28:53 AM
Question: I have tarot readings on outgrowing victim-mentality, inspired by reseaching Billie's life and tentative astrology work on her birth-time. Holy Spirit, I want to put the results on another blog linked to Billie's as per your guidance ...
Life Cycle

1: Self-Undoing
When you feel uncomfortable about showcasing your unique talents, fully experience the discomfort in order to break through the blockage.
When the Three of Coins falls in this position, it indicates that you may be hesitant or unwilling to showcase your talents and skills at this time. Perhaps the thought makes you feel particularly vulnerable. But you need to bring your talent out of the closet if you are to connect with colleagues and supporters who can appreciate and encourage your vision, talents, and skills. You need to stretch beyond your comfort zone to fully experience the discomfort you feel when you reveal your unique skills. Then you will be able to simply accept your uneasiness, which is the first step towards freedom. Breaking through this blockage will bring incredible rewards. You will jump with joy!
2: Recent Past
Passionate energy has expressed itself. Now what?
The Devil card in this position suggests that some events had gotten more out of control than you ever imagined. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a terrible thing has happened, just that there has been an abundance of raw energy. This could turn out well or badly, depending upon how well you are able to channel the passions. Reevaluate what you expect of yourself and where you can take this situation. Look at the big picture and determine what outcome you would like to see happen, then energetically promote it. If you are not tenacious and proactive, you will be swept away. You have a better opportunity than others around you to harness the energy.
3: Roots
You may be held back from realizing your full potential until you closely examine the family patterns you inherited.
The Two of Wands in this position suggests long experience with procrastinators who could have been giants. This is not a condemnation; there are often legitimate reasons why perfectly capable people do not realize their full potential. This sets you up, however, to stall or distract yourself at a potentially fruitful point, due to a tendency within your subconscious which works against fully completing a desire or dream. There are families in which it would be a disaster to achieve a higher social class than your parents or grandparents, and those families undermine opportunities for their children’s success. You must turn around in your own tracks, look behind you and see if this kind of situation applies to your background. It’s not easy, but such tendencies can be rectified.
4: Higher Power
Allies materialize; your mission can focus and move forward to something rich and innovative.
When the Four of Wands comes up in this position, it points to encounters with spiritual or karmic companions, possibly under unusual circumstances. Intuitively you know that the alchemy is correct. Your group has just the right mix of good sense, risk-taking, skill and freshness. You have the talent to arouse a sense of mission within the group. Pool your efforts, focus team consciousness and create something marvelous.
5: Self
A sacrifice mediates the situation and returns it to normal.
The Hanged Man represents the taking of a loss. He’s the sacrificial lamb, whether it’s accepted with grace or only because it’s been forced upon him. In either case, his ordeal serves to clear the air of general tension, denial and game playing. The Hanged Man’s predicament brings issues to a head, making it possible to clear the slate and allow everyone to start over. Whether it’s purely symbolic or has to do with real events, it clears the collective conscience and helps to break old patterns. It’s a good thing that it’s you playing this vulnerable role, and not someone else who may be broken by the situation. You are resilient and regenerative, someone who can view this experience as educational and not be totally victimized by it. This is the enlightened attitude. Your sacrifice will make a difference in the larger flow of events, even if it’s not fair and you don’t deserve it.
6: Situation
The situation is unpredictable.
When the Fool is in this position, the situation is un-definable and open ended. This can create a feeling of panic or one of relief, because when there is no blueprint, you are freed from rules and restrictions. But only a truly secure individual can stay calm under such uncertain circumstances. It will become apparent who is in tune with the flow and who is not. Watch closely and learn.
7: Far Future
Use your talent for pairing others’ skills to the work that needs to be done.
The Six of Coins in this position indicates that whatever you do now to help other people is going to return to you later in the form of many blessings. Do your best to operate from altruistic motives, share your riches and create new opportunities, and your investment will confer huge dividends. The universe evolves faster with cooperation. Be like a matchmaker, linking people and their capacities to the work that needs to be done. In this way, you are helping them earn a place at the table when the rewards come in. What fantastic synergy! 8: Near Future
An opportunity for improvement and advancement is close at hand.
With the Nine of Coins in this position it appears as if you are going to have an opportunity to be supported, to move up in the world, to get some relief from the survival struggles that affect most human beings. Understand that you have earned the right to this amazing opportunity. Your time and energy belong to you for a while, and you will have a chance to justify the investment being made in you. Allow yourself to receive this benefit and step into the ease and security you so richly deserve.
9: The Lesson
Trust the flow; relax and surrender.
The Queen of Cups in this position requires that you suspend your rational urge to control for a while and allow yourself to be emotionally swept up into the feeling of the moment. Something harmonious and healing is wanting to happen and you should go with this flow. The situation requires you to be calm. Stop trying to control things; just wait until the situation shows you what it requires. Release your attachment to the outcome. When you do so you will go easier on yourself, which will help you to see the larger reason events unfold as they do.

Tarot Read ~ Feb 7

2005-02-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

Saved Tarot Magic Reading
Monday, February 07, 2005 1:52:57 PM

Question: Billie sang of hopes to fall in love when she was born into a situation—a black woman birthed in a whore-house, she anesthetized herself with heroine to be an artist-leper and died used up by chronic trauma inflicted on her, like Christ was—for no good reason. Her legacy was her writing, her recorded voice, and 50 bucks kept in her vagina. Her relics would sell in London auctions.

Horoscope Spread
14 Temperance
The female figure of the Temperance card is a reference to the Soul. She is mixing up a blend of subtle energies for the evolution of the personality. The key to meaning in this card is its title, a pun on the process of tempering metals in a forge.
Metals must undergo violent handling, extremes of temperature, endless folding and pounding, but the end product is infinitely superior to the original ore, fresh from the earth and utterly unrefined. In this image, the soul volunteers the ego for a cleansing and healing experience which may turn the personality inside-out, but which brings out the gold hidden within the heart.

1: House of Identity
When you act upon a shared vision it will have far reaching effects.
The Four of Wands in this position suggests a group is forming that shares a common vision more complete and with more potential than any vision the individuals had dreamed separately. Synergy is emerging from the group; the benefits of your serious and significant work will be felt not only in your immediate circle but throughout a wider spectrum. This group is the core social unit necessary to produce a successful business, civic project or creative endeavor.
2: House of Work
All elements are perfectly orchestrated.
When the Ten of Cups is in this position, your circumstance seems to be filled with a feeling of reunion and joyful celebration, relaxation and healing. It comes partly from being comfortably situated among your favorite people. Emotionally, this is like being at summer camp. Friends are everywhere. Cooperation and mutual support prevail. There is a wonderful sense of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It’s really an extraordinary achievement. Even if it can’t stay this way forever, for this moment all is right with the world and everyone knows it. We are united, joyfully at peace. What a lovely closure on the struggles and labors that have led to this fulfillment!
3: House of Ideas
Self scrutiny gives you an opportunity to review and reset your standards.
With Justice in this position, turn what could be a potential embarrassment into an opportunity to be honest, learn and grow. Let correction take place. This card is a reminder to steer your ship back to the center channel where you can move with the current, the natural flow. Chastisement is meted out only if you are greedy or, conversely, self-negating. Justice demands an appropriate investment by all participants. This is an excellent opportunity to raise your standards as well as your self esteem.
4: House of the Family
A warrior of peace is coming to the fore; the eternal seeker within you is responding to the call.
The Knight of Cups in this position suggests that it is your natural inheritance to be a pioneer. You actually strive for experiences that others only wonder about. Then you return from the front and describe new horizons of consciousness and understanding. You are a spiritual warrior, and you are striving to win the higher ground. In this situation, it is easy for you to call up the quality of energy that can send you on a crusade and numerous challenges for the sake of the greater good. Perhaps you are now being called to, or are preparing for, another great adventure of this kind.
5: House of Magic
Now is your chance to recover personal power and self esteem.
With the Eight of Cups in this position, you have been through a situation that left you feeling assaulted. You felt exhausted, overwhelmed, drained — as if a plug had been pulled within you. Take heart; because this card implies that difficult conditions are on the wane. The worst of your sadness and feelings of being overwhelmed have lifted. But you have yet to collect yourself and move forward, which is what you must do in order to fully recover. Take special care to get closure on this episode. As the future brings new influences, you don’t want to be dwelling on the past.
6: House of Apprenticeship
You have the potential to be propelled forward in an area of your life. You must persevere.
When the Three of Wands is in this position it indicates the brink of success whether it has to do with business, spiritual life or the unfolding of personal life goals. You have made an effort over time to say “yes” to life and now life is saying “yes” back. This is a rare and magical opening — a time when you can truly catch the wave. There is a potential to be the person you’ve been striving to become, even though the greatest tests are still in front of you. For one thing, you still have to demonstrate that you will persevere. You have engaged the support of your Higher Power and are practicing the art of right action in your life.
7: House of Relationships
Your heart of hearts is finally illuminating the inner ideal that has been fueling your prodigious labors.
When the Ten of Wands is in this position, you will be presented with an opportunity for reflection and perspective that will take you behind current positions and activities. You will get a glimpse of your heart’s true motivation, the real reasons you are involved in present choices and challenges. This can be a startling realization. You may be reminded of decisions made in your distant past that set you on your course to the present. You will gain perspective into the process that has shaped your personality, matured you and brought you to your present level of power and drive. When you arrive at that level of self-realization, the reasons behind the current events in your life will become clear to you.
8: House of Secrets
Ask yourself why you feel unworthy of the harmony and benevolence you need and which is abundantly available to you.
When the Ace of Cups is in this position, you are struggling with a belief that there is not enough approval to go around. You have internalized the conviction that someone has to do without; apparently you think that person is you. Although the Ace of Cups traditionally represents the fountain of love, abundance and affirmation, times of considerable deprivation cause us to act as if we are unworthy of receiving divine love or the love of others. Aggressively question your feelings of inner guilt and shame because they are preventing divine, beneficent, universal love from pouring down upon you just as it does upon everyone else. Why separate yourself from it at a time when you need it so much?
9: House of Visions
Take advantage of spiritual role models.
The High Priestess in this position points to a mentor or role model who exemplifies true objectivity. This person is skilled in the high art of intuitive receptivity. Like an undeveloped film, the High Priestess can enter a situation and take an impression of all it contains without needing to project personality into it. Such cultivated neutrality and openness to the bigger picture is the foundation of wisdom. Study this person. Develop clarity and humility in your own personality, and use these qualities to up-level all your interactions and relationships.
10: House of Reputation
Realize you are not one of the captains; concentrate instead on a role that supports and promotes the objective.
The Queen of Wands in this position reveals a need to hold your place in the chain of command and respect the hierarchy. Don’t take the helm yourself, even though you are motivated by a strong dedication to completing a task. A perceived deficiency in leadership makes you want to take control, but restrain yourself. Remain loyal to your higher-ups so that you remain focused, willful and energetic, enthusiastically attacking the challenges directly in front of you. Perform in good faith and encourage others to do the same.
11: House of the Future
As you are stimulated to assert your views, you gain valuable insight into yourself.
With the Eight of Swords in this position, you have an ability to formulate what you’ve always sensed into concepts that make sense to others. You may find yourself articulating a philosophy you’ve only known intuitively before this situation forced you to state it clearly. You could be bringing an important new realization to consciousness. Use this as an opportunity to examine all your nooks and crannies. Discover what your responses are when you are tested on your core beliefs. The self knowledge you will gain from this experience will be priceless.
12: House of Surrender
The highest response to fulfillment and abundance is to share that golden energy with others.
The Sun in this position requires that you receive with gratitude all the positive energy being directed at you. In the course of experiencing it, be sure to pass it on as unsullied as you received it. Don’t view yourself as superior to, more worthy than others. Follow the example of the sun in this card, beaming forth and shining indiscriminately on all who enter your domain. Don’t hoard the energy that flows toward you.

2:28:10 PM
Question: I wrote a question likening Billie to strong women who epitomized the vulnerable feminine—Diana, Marilyn, Judy—and, as well to the celebrated Ray Charles, wanting to know if times were ready to dignify more gentle Strength. But, you cut off the electricity to my computer. You always have a reason — perhaps for me to rephrase the question? ...
Celtic Cross

1: Self
A legacy of some kind provides a stable foundation upon which to build.
The Four of Coins in this position suggests that you have been blessed with some kind of inheritance which you are still learning how to put to good use. This endowment may be monetary or it may be some other form of generous support. It gives you a relatively stable base upon which you can build. When you are fully aware of what a blessing it is, you can cultivate a feeling of gratitude and make the best use of your advantage. On the other hand, there is a chance you will squander its value. It’s OK to be playful, but beware of irresponsible pleasure-seeking.
2: Situation
The designated leader needs your support right now, even if he or she does not yet use power objectively.
The King of Wands in this position says that a new level of authority has been assumed by someone in the environment and that person may still be getting used to this new position. Your patience and compassion can help them get their bearings. It is not in your best interests to appear competitive, so lend your support humbly. Resist the temptation to upstage this person even if it would be easy.
3: Challenges
Accepting your role in a team effort stimulates personal growth and leads to reward.
The Four of Wands in this position supports a persistent effort to be reliable and responsible. Effective teamwork sometimes depends on successfully making up for each other’s missing skills, and you are being asked to hold up your end. You have been brought on board for your expertise. While others in the group are working on their specialties, you are expected to work on yours. This creative group effort will push you, stimulate you and demand that you give more and grow more than you would on your own. When you rise to the challenge with enthusiasm, you will be richly rewarded.
4: Foundation
Although they were learned under difficult circumstances, the skills and outlook gained in the past are now proving tremendously helpful.
The Six of Swords in this position indicates an earlier life circumstance that gave you a head start on certain practical and necessary survival skills that are proving to be quite valuable. At the time it may have felt oppressive, exacting or overwhelming to be faced with this body of information, technical skill or special ability. To be held to high and exacting standards may have felt harsh at the time, but the experience has contributed tremendously to your useful abilities and self discipline in the face of challenges. Be grateful for the education you received (unwittingly or not) before you were old enough to consent to it or mature enough to appreciate it. Use your hard-won knowledge, and rejoice in having it.
5: Recent Past
Sharing common ground with another has opened many possibilities, revealed new facets of your feelings, and inspired new responses.
With the Two of Cups in this position, recent experiences of mutual recognition have touched your heart. This may have influenced your sense of priorities in surprising ways. Observe differences in your awareness, feelings and sensitivities. That which is opening within you is stimulating noble feelings. Do not fight this process nor romanticize it. Let yourself be drawn to the harmonious elements of the situation, but don’t let yourself be swept away or commit too soon. Time will show you if this is just a symbolic wake-up call, or if it’s meant to be followed up with further interaction.
6: Higher Power
Your high standards make you an excellent role model.
When the Eight of Coins is in this position, stop and admire your achievements. Through persistent effort at maintaining the highest standards of excellence, you have become a role model to others who want to follow in your footsteps. Your personal imprint and style will be recognized and acknowledged. Your refinements and improvements will be honored and duplicated for years to come. Whether this was intentional or a byproduct of your single mindedness, you have established a hallmark. All you need to do now is keep doing what you do best.
7: Near Future
The mission requires unqualified commitment to a positive outcome; be certain you are well prepared.
When the Horseman of Wands is in this position, it suggests an approaching opportunity to discharge a powerful and important duty that no unprepared person could complete. This mission requires an unqualified commitment to a positive outcome and an unequivocal willingness to do whatever it takes. If the project is a success, it confers success on whoever orchestrates the outcome; if it is not a success, and then the downfall is reflected as well. Search your soul and your conscience before you accept such an assignment, and then proceed wholeheartedly.
8: Blocks and Inhibitions
Fear is at the heart of whatever resistance or negativity you are experiencing.
The Death card in this position represents the fear of death, annihilation, oblivion, the fear that you will cease to exist. As you search your heart, you may discover that the cause of your resistance is the fear that you will be made inconsequential, that your contribution will be forgotten. Your rational mind knows this isn’t going to happen. You have lived too long and made too many moves to be so totally extinguished. But, something inside you fears being snuffed out. You must address this fear, because it’s inhibiting your willingness to take risks and act on your best interests and creative urges. It stands solidly in your way.
9: Allies
Those who hear the call of their higher selves are coming together.
The Judgment card in this position advises that you keep company with those who are shaking off their limits, and expanding their consciousness as much as their imaginations will allow. Let yourself be redeemed and reborn. Start to affiliate with those who twenty years from now will serve as influencers. They are, like you, marching to a different drummer, responding to the call for change resounding throughout the land. Those who have the ears to hear it are lifting their heads, looking around and finding each other. If you let yourself heed the call, you will experience a profound transformation.
10: Advice
Rediscover the idealism and optimism of your youth to reinvigorate your vision.
The Ten of Wands in this position advises you to remember the true, simple heart of your youth and all the idealism it held. As you reach deep into yourself and identify your purest, most wholesome impulses, try to let that optimistic and honorable self help you to see what’s good about the world. Allow yourself to look beyond the challenges, setbacks, disappointments and frustrations you tend to see so easily. As you reawaken your high minded inner child, you will refresh your daily life by looking at it with a joyful purpose and a new optimism.
11: Long-Term Potential
Don’t underestimate your capabilities or trivialize what you do.
The Three of Coins in this position indicates that over time you are going to build a body of valuable works and make quite a name for yourself. Don’t underestimate yourself or diminish the value of what you do. Give priority to nurturing and further developing your vision and skills. Only you can contribute your unique gifts, which are amazing and masterful. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The Work of Claudia Fernety

2005-02-01T12:48:00.000-05:00

Sleep Come Free Me

Mother and Child

Hera's Disfavor

Mary Flies to Austria

Isabella

Assumption of the Strawberry Picker

I am Vertical

Homage to Rousseau

Life from the Outside

The Peace Negotiator

Tell Myself

Wake Up, Anna

Dream of Ceres

Two Sisters

We are Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On

Potbelly

Bending Back

Not-So-New World Order

Palestinian Boy

Sorrows of Afghanistan

Injured Child

Hand Out

Bridge

Bow

A Pound of Flesh

2004-02-11T10:30:00.000-05:00