snakes that could kill

I had my chance to kill this snake who was hanging around my deck yesterday. It was slow-moving; maybe it had just eaten something. I don't like to kill anything, except for mosquitoes that land on me and suck my blood. Mosquitoes can cause encephalitis and give my dogs heartworms. Obviously, I must kill them. Snakes and other things that aren't hurting me, but have the potential to, I leave them alone. Snakes emit a nasty odor when they are killed. This one probably is a water moccasin, aka cottonmouth. It's poison could cause local tissue damage one informative web-site said. When I showed it to my husband, he asked me if I was ready for him to kill it. I didn't want to make that call, so we both blew it off and went about our business. I don't know if we did the right thing, since I imagine that it is now living under my raised house and will bite my dogs, or cats, or aim for my ankles as I descend my steps.

Two peas in a pod

This is my daughter, Julia, with the basketball shirt we had airbrushed in Pigeon Forge, TN. It was supposed to be a mountain scene, but we didn't see that the design had an A behind it, as in 158A, not just 158, which was a basketball going through the hoop design. We gave our order to the airbrusher and left to go ride go-carts. Julia has nothing to do with basketball. My niece, Shelby, also shown, said she could borrow hers sometimes when Julia had a tearful fit after seeing it. Their names are also painted on. It was sweet of Shelby to offer her shirt. I wasn't spending another $20 on a t-shirt.

Julia has Sagittarius on her ascendant, which endows the individual with a good attitude and the ability to rise above whatever bad news comes their way. She has worn the shirt twice now.

I am back

I wish I could say that I am refreshed after my vacation, but it was too short for relaxing. I hooked up with 5 of my 7 siblings, plus my mother, nieces & nephews, and several friends of theirs. There was lots of chaos with a group that big. Putting together communal meals was an ordeal. I made biscuits out the wazoo one morning. Another morning, I made beignets, while my sister, Sue, cut up fixings for omelets. My brother-in-law boiled them in a bag. They came out good. My sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, made chicken chimichangas for dinner one night. I had mine stuffed with beans and cheese because I don't eat meat. I am the only semi-vegetarian (I eat seafood) amongst us. My brother, David, had beans and rice, and bar-b-q sausage, hamburgers, and hotdogs all ready for us when we arrived.

Tonight's guest on Jupiter's Girl is Sandra Slifer, a feng shui master. She is going to give us tips on making our private spaces enduce peace and feelings of security and nurturance. Check it out. www.outoftimeradio.com, hit the eclectic radio link and find our discussion. The show is taped and available for the next two weeks.

I'll be in the Smoky Mountains if you need me.

Just till next week. I'd like to get a trip to Gulf Shores in before the end of the summer, which is soon. School starts Aug 14th. That's too soon. We just barely get into it and then it's evacuation time for hurricanes. Last year, the schools were closed for 5 weeks in my area during September and part of October. My kids didn't mind at all. I digress. I am going on vacation, leaving early in the morning. I am not even packed yet. I have made peanut butter cookies and tuna salad. The grocery and supply bin is organized. The carrots and broccoli are cut and bagged for snacking. And the kids and husband are packed and ready. My sister, Angela, went into premature labor and is on complete bedrest, so we will miss her. My oldest brother and his wife didn't want to join us. So, it will be my Mother, and six of her grown children and their families renting cabins in the mountains and communing. It should be nice, barring any encounters with bears, and even then, that might be cool to see.

Peace,
Janine

Some assembly required

These hundred or so pieces will become clasps for my new carrier that will go on top of the van when we travel to the Smoky Mountains this weekend. The box said some assembly required. I think that is an understatement.

Jupiter conjunct Neptune

"This is a time of heightened intuition during which you feel tempted to explore a more spiritual or artistic side of life."

That's just the first line of the paragraph from my computer generated transit reports. The rest is something about being a martyr and being careful to help only someone who wants to be helped, as opposed to someone who'll just drag me down with them, I guess.

If that was a problem, transiting Mars is opposite my natal Sun today which gives this flavor: "High energy output. Difficulties in controlling energy release. The urge to take action, often without thinking. Self-preservation urges. Conflicts/arguments. Ego competition. Physical injury or illness. Muscular stress. Bodily reactions."

Oy vey.

And then this: The Sun and Mercury are in the 25th degree of Cancer today - opposite my Venus/Mars in the 11th. It's not all good, I tell ya. I should just shut the hell up today and not pick fights for no good reason. Wouldn't be prudent.

Sun opposite Mars - "The desire to fight; competitive reactions. Self-motivated reactions. Intense output of energy. Stressful muscular activity. Impulsiveness. Headstrong. Fever and temperature. Accidents and injuries."

I should have read that before going roller skating a couple of days ago. Transits start feeding the energies before the actual angle is struck. I am sore from falling a dozen times. Those wheels were defective, yet I obstinately kept going. I used to be a skating fool and I was determined to be graceful. My knees are telling me I wasn't very successful at it.

It isn't all bad, though. Venus in Gemini is creating some nice flows to my Sun and Moon. It is called a Grand Trine. And I'll take that Jupiter conjuncting my Neptune. It is also trine to my Ascendant and then my natal Mercury. That should be cool for meeting some righteous people.

Speaking of... Jupiter's Girl, on out of time radio this week, will host Nori Muster of www.surrealist.org. She is a very interesting lady with a lot of positive, practical ideas for visualizing and creating a harmonious society. It can be done. That's what Jupiter is good for. He sets up our interactions with society at large, to bring about consciousness. And I am Jupiter's Girl. There's millions of us.

I am reading Eckhart Tolle's latest book. I love his writing. It provides such a peaceful relief from insanity.

Jupiter's Girls

This is my friend, Diane, who has been a guest astrologer on Jupiter's Girl at least 5 times now. If I had a talk show, she'd be my co-host. She is a lovely being inside/out. More than an astrologer, she is a Professor of French, and a dance critic. She follows ballet, like others follow the sport of their choosing. Her Jupiterian spirit stands out and if you are not having fun in her company, it's your own fault.

I drove up to Baton Rouge, a 1 hour drive, this past Saturday - to visit with her and meet her friend, Garrett. He is not in the picture because he was playing all manner of stringed instruments and singing in the background while Diane and I visited and ate at this little cafe. The last song he sang stayed with me all evening..., "I once had a girl, or should I say she once had me?"

My new Kia Spectra

I am pretty sure the dealership and I were mutually thinking, "sucker." I have been on my job for all of - what? - three weeks almost. I haven't had a new car in 26 years. My husband has gotten me one used vehicle after another. The car I am laying to rest had a broken back door and the passengers had to be let out as it only opened from the outside. He had another one in mind for me - a Taurus that needed front end work and freon - so the owner claimed. He made fun of me for thinking they'd give me a car, and wouldn't take me to the dealership, so I got a friend to take me. I relate to the little red hen, "well, I'll just do it myself." Now, he loves the new car and wants me to have his Blazer. I will let him take it when he has a long commute a couple of days a week. It gets 34 mpg on the hwy. and 25 mpg in the city. I am psyched about that since gas prices are climbing. Somebody is going to have to explain to me what oil drilling has to do with gas.

How Astrology helps

Last Saturday was an intensely bad night on the job. Orders were messed up, people walked out, co-workers were dissin' me. I went to quit the following Monday, but the co-owner smoothed it all over and we made an arrangement for my working that will satisfy me until I get my next assignment from on high, or within. I worked two days without a hitch since then, made some money, and saw many customers happily served. It restored my confidence and helped me overcome my distaste for the job.

I looked at the transits for Saturday night, and saw that the full Moon in Sagittarius was conjuncting Pluto which could cause intense encounters with others - pulling out deeply buried subconscious issues and bringing them to the fore. Uranus was intercepted part of that time, taking with it my Mercury - which caused many misunderstandings because the communication system was totally backed up and skewed, and at 9pm when it was the worst moments of the evening, Neptune was on the Ascendant everywhere. I think that was the main reason people didn't see one another for who they really are, which is aspects of themselves, and caused some to treat me pretty badly and blame the whole fiasco on me. We are all from the same source, made up of the same stuff. It is silly to pretend otherwise.

I forgive myself for being ignorant and not knowing how to fix the problems that occurred that night. I forgive the manager for making an ass of me and for his mistakes. I forgive my co-workers (two of them) for acting like the stepsister and brother to my Cinderella complex.

Bad day on the job

I have to quit my job. Again. This time, I lasted two weeks. Doing next year's taxes are going to be a bummer while I wait for all of my W2's to come in.

I am not waitress material anymore, if I ever was in the first place. We had a busy night, the cook got backed up, the owner was no where around, and all the blame for the fiasco went to me. If I didn't feel bad enough, the wait-staff, with one exception, hates me. It didn't help that this owner/mgr. talked about me to them every time they went near him. One of the cooks told me that he was talking about me like I was a dog. I hate that more than waiting tables. So, I was getting it from irate customers, my co-workers, and my own inner world that was wondering how I get myself into such situations. I mean no harm to anyone. I just wanted to do a good job, make some money, and keep occupied. I would like to cavalierly say, "It's their loss." That's not how I feel, though.

Last night on Jupiter's Girl, the radio broadcast.

I just wish to point people out to this special web-site by a new friend, and maybe an old one from a past life, Stephen Sakellarios. He has taken the subject of reincarnation and given enough proof of it's validity, that I would dare anyone to punch holes in this truth. If 1/5th of the mass population holds reincarnation to be true, then it should be shaking things up more in our leadership, causing them to be more thoughtful and deliberate.

We can't just live for today, though I believe in the Power of Now. There are so many dastardly acts being perpetrated with ignorance of natural law - what comes around goes around.

check it out www.ial.goldthread.com

4th of July.

It is just another day to me. I have been writing to some very nice Brits. We were almost related, if not for the events that took place to sever our dependency. Their influence on me is still noticeable. When writing to one of them recently, I used the word 'bum' to discuss what I would normally call a behind, or if I am feeling coarse - 'ass'.

Today's breakfast

These were some of the best beignets I have ever made. Missing from this picture is the delicious watermelon we ate this morning. The feast was after a walk in the woods. I walk out my back door and into this:

Scene at a pond

This was taken at the Lacombe Wildlife Preserve. A visitor to this blog told me he likes seeing pictures of Louisiana. I do too. I take a bunch all of the time. I make no claims to prize-winning photos, but I have my pictures on slide show on my PC so I can recall the place in my mind whenever I see it. It is very peace-inducing.

Evolutionary Astrology

My guest on Jupiter's Girl at outoftimeradio.com tomorrow night at 7pm CDT is the Chair of the Advisory Council for Keppler College, Steven Forrest of www.stevenforrest.com. He and Jeff Greene (of Pluto book fame) have written a book together, and teach classes for astrologers wanting to delve into evolutionary astrology. The first of 7 core perceptions are:

1. An acceptance of the fact that human beings incarnate in a succession of lifetimes.

Mr. Forrest and Jeff Greene contend that the birthchart, and the methodologies they teach for interpreting that, measure the growth of the soul from life to life. They also say that evolutionary astrology is characterized less by a technical approach than by a set of philosophical principles defined by natural law.

And if that weren't enough, next week's guest, July 5th, Stephen Sakellarios, has filmed a documentary on reincarnation. Stephen wrote to me, and I paraphrased...

"An acceptance of reinarnation would blow this society wide open in many respects.

Now, imagine that the country, as a whole, embraced these realities. Suddenly, a great portion of the professors, and their books; preachers, and their churches; doctors, and their hospitals; geneticists, and their funded research; and many more holders of legitimacy in this society would be seen as being not only wrong, but fundamentally and seriously wrong about their respective fields. It would turn the pattern of legitimacy in this society upside down. The people who were seen as nuts would suddenly appear sane; and the people who were looked up to as the bastions of sanity would suddenly appear insane.

Reincarnation is the loose brick in the foundation of materialism. It has been scientifically proven; but so far the scientific mainstream and the religious mainstream have succeeded in holding it in obscurity by ridicule and sophistry. If it ever breaks out, it will render both of them obsolete in one stroke. So, this is why I am focusing all my energy on that one brick. Because materialism must go to make way for what Meher Baba calls the "New Humanity," the coming era when intellect will be enlivened by intuition and deeply guided by true spiritual understanding."

Should be an interesting next couple of broadcasts. They will be accessible for two weeks after they air. If most of us know there is no death, then wouldn't we act like it and recognize that we are all made of the same stuff? Karma, and the saying "what goes around comes around," should have us behaving better towards each other. I love that sitcom "My Name is Earl." The concept is great, and most of all - laughable.

That wasn't so bad

My first day on the job at the New Orleans Bistro in Lacombe was a good day. The lunch hustle went by fast and then I was offered an Eggplant Pirogue. It was a breaded, hollowed out eggplant half, stuffed with shrimp and crawfish (and yucky mushrooms), topped with parmesan and broiled for a minute. It was so delicious. I can serve the food with pride, in an establishment that is designed with finesse. The co-owner I worked with yesterday calls himself a perfectionist and though he has two degrees, one in horticulture - the other one isn't being used either, but I forget what it was - he prefers what he is doing. It shows.

I can only do this with a good attitude if I take some college classes and work towards a degree I will be using.

I wonder if waiterrant.blogspot.com is still producing. I'm going to go look. He made waiting tables sound so noble.

I just checked. He still has a post there that I read with sheer delight, and made a note of his new site at www.waiterrant.net. His writing will go a long way to making me feel okay about what I am doing. I am not alone.

My new job

I got a flat tire in front of a restaurant last week, which has now become my employer. I just knew it had to be synchronicity putting me there, doing that. I am backtracking into a profession where I can go in to work cash-poor and come out with money in my pocket. It is one of the finer restaurants in town - menu items with to-die-for sauces and decent prices - which will heighten the tip factor. Let's face it, I will only be doing this for the money, and not because I feel called to serve, though that is what I will be doing, and also what I believe I am here on this Earth for.

I had a different kind of service in mind, but things could definitely be worse. My imagination shows pictures of what is worse. So, I will count my blessings and try to do a good job, make some money, and maybe write a book, or go back to school to get a degree in the mental health field. That would take immense effort and I don't know if I am up for that. I can't make myself stay up to read or study. As usual, whenever I have taken the dozen or more jobs in the f&b industry, I am always trying to figure a way out.

I'll keep on with the radio program, Jupiter's Girl, on outoftimeradio.com (hit the 'eclectic link'), interviewing some of the finest minds in the metaphysical fields, mostly from an astrological perspective, but definitely enhanced by astrology, and not limited to just that. Next week, June 28th show (which is available for two weeks after it airs), my guest is the Chair of the Advisory Council for Keppler College. He is a witty astrologer, who has written a handful of books - Steven Forrest, www.stevenforrest.com. I am mainly interested in his take on evolutionary astrology.

My daughter tells me not to drink on the job. I don't know where she got the idea I would drink. I am such a sober Mom, though I love beer. I have been abstaining from that pleasure because, though I love a cold brew, I don't love the fat gathering at my mid-section. I would rather not look pregnant when I am not pregnant.

Me and my good attitude

I am Jupiter's Girl, which means I don't let upsetting things get me down for long. Jupiter is the Lord of Grace, and as such, confers an abundance of faith and optimism. I have philosophy to fall back on. I often panic before finding that faith.

Of course, I have not been challenged as much as others have. I have not experienced the death of a child, nor lost my house in a storm or because I couldn't pay the note; my husband is still alive and helpful. Oh yeah, there are many circumstances that I'd have difficulty rising above if I think about it.

The stress I experience has to do with my thinking that whatever I am doing for a living is totally different to what I should be doing for soul-fulfillment.

I floundered in high school until my senior year when I boldly auditioned and got a part in a play. Then another and another. I found my niche. I am a thespian. The high school counselor tried to discourage me from majoring in theatre in college; so did my Mom. She told me 'those people' aren't happy. I did it anyway. My mother advised I get a minor to fall back on - psychology was it.

Flunked out of college afer 3 semesters - stabbed at it again a year later. Hated college enough to burn my bridges and didn't formally withdraw that second time, which gave me 0's in all of those classes. Stayed away from the theatre for 17 years. Tried to put it behind me. That was child's Play.

Jobs in between college and vo-tech - cocktail waitressing, bartending, became a bit of a social alcoholic for a while and then sobered up, worked the front office at a hotel, night summary (accounting), software sales, and then more cocktail waitressing, worked banquets, temped as receptionist and administrative assistant.

Graduated from the vo-tech with a computer programming certificate. Computer programming caused me to become narcoleptic. As soon as I stopped programming, I could keep my eyes open. No amount of caffeine or rest before could keep me from nodding off as soon as it came to coding in Cobol.

Became a WANG computer operator for a big corporation for years before my job as at-home mom for years. All the while, my husband worked a full-time job and a part time job and I did many things to supplement his income.

So, I read "Conversations With God". There is an exercise in it that has one pretending to have a conversation with an unseen force sitting with you and this force wants to know what you would do if there were no obstacles. By then, I had a million and one reasons why theatre was a thing of the past, but I took a shot and told the force that "I'd be an actress." And then one thing led to another, I was on stage singing and dancing and cavorting with people at rehearsals. I was back in my element. No doubts. I am a thespian. That was in 1997.

Jobs in between 1997 and the infamous 9/11 incident: babysat, cleaned houses, administrative assistant, booked movies, produced an improv show, ran a movie theater.

After 9/11, I hung out my shingle as an astrologer, wrote a solar forecast column for an entertainment guide that went under, then ran and subsequently bought Synchronicity - a retail store.

Hurricane Katrina changed my direction again when it smashed Synchronicity to smithereens one month after making it mine. There really has been no settlement in my life. At 46, one should be counting the days till retirement with a predictable notion of how to live out the next half. It is just not to be.

I have to get a job, again. There is no denying that I need money, though I have am sometimes careless and frivolous with it.

I have had four jobs, not counting my stint as an extra, nor my occasional astrological client, in the past 6 months. One of those jobs only lasted an afternoon, one was 3 half-days, one was 3 and a half days.

The last one, at the coffee house, was 7 days (or 40 hours). It would have been fine if there was business that I could have made tips off of, and if the owner wasn't a bonafide ass. My good attitude could have made it work for me.

I don't know what will become of me. I am a very good actress. I have great timing, learn lines quick, am disciplined and focussed, and take direction well. I will do it for free. I have done plays at local theatres once a year for the past several years.

I am also a very good astrologer. I have gotten excellent feedback from former clients. I have beefed up my toolbox and offer Tarot readings too. I am quite intuitive now since becoming a Reiki Master. I was always perceptive (Mercury in Pisces), but now the pictures come in very clear. Where to go with that?

Square peg seeks round hole. My good attitude will round me out, but do I want to be round again? What else is there to do? "Buck up," I tell myself. It could all be worse. I can't keep telling those wolves knocking at the door, "in a minute." They are on to me and know I won't ever open the door. I'll have to get the machete.

My dog kills snakes

"Stay away from them," I told him when we passed these two halves of a king snake he killed last night. "Leave the snakes alone", I fussed.

He got bit by one last week during our walk to the pond, though I didn't witness it. I did see that he killed a speckled king snake during our walk, but his symptoms of being bitten by a poisonous one came on way before that. I recognized them because he was bitten by a copperhead (my husband saw it) last year, and was rushed to the vet where we were relieved of $90 and got useless pills for him. He was fine the next day, both of those times.

I have no doubt my woods are full of snakes, but I don't encounter them often. When I come upon some fallen trees that I have to walk over, I announce to the unseen that I come in peace. Sometimes I clap and walk hard too, so we won't surprise each other and cause them to have to bite me. We have copperheads and water moccasins in these parts. My son swears he and my nephews came upon a rattle snake out on the road. To this day, he tells me about it if he is walking with me and we reach the point where he saw it. It has been at least 4 years since that happened.

Chip won't leave the snakes alone. He chases after them senselessly. King snakes are good for us here. They keep the rodent and venomous snake populations down.