Outfitting Your Character for the Journey

Equipment Lists

When you're about to set off on a journey around the world or who-knows-where-else, you need to get the right equipment. I feel like a Dungeons & Dragons character getting ready to set out on an adventure. In the role-playing game you usually need things like a backpack, a mirror, trail rations, iron spikes (pitons) & hammer, flint & steel, candles, tent, bedroll, a winter blanket, a traveler's outfit, and of course the ever useful standard 10' pole. If you have a riding horse or warhorse you might have some saddlebags to store everything in too!

In the modern world where you are biking across the country and possibly continents you need waterproof panniers to protect your high tech gear and an amazing bike. I've been working on outfitting my new Trek 7.3 hybrid road bike with all this stuff, always worried about the weight factor of everything. The first lesson I learned in my early twenties when hiking the Colorado Trail was the pain of over-encumbrance. 14,000 foot peaks are unmerciful on those who choose to carry too much stuff.

So the struggle here is between usefulness and light weight objects. Being an internet employed astrologer, I need a lap top, but my 17" Dell Inspiron is too heavy, so I'm hitting two birds with one stone by switching to MAC (at last!) and also getting an ultra light 13" Mac Book Pro. The problem is that they cost about $1950 if you want the 500 GB hard drive and 3 years of Apple Care plus I need to upgrade my Adobe Master Collection Software (over 15 amazing programs for creative design like Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Soundbooth, Premiere Pro, etc...

I have the Creative Suite 3, but need to upgrade to the CS5 version and cross platforms to the MAC version, which will set me back another $1200. I have been selling collectibles on Ebay but if I go out on a limb and buy the MAC and upgrade my software, I'm going to head down the road with very little gold left over in my pouch for things like food, shelter, etc. Donations and sponsorships are extremely welcome at Travelingmagi.com!

Today I was back at REI outfitting my cycling shorts and footwear. I decided I loved the feel of the Five-Finger Vibram shoes shown in the picture above. They fit your feet like gloves and you can exercise in them and they are superlight and take up less space than one running shoe! If you wear them with micro fiber socks they won't stink I hear so I bought three pairs of socks too!

I got the new 64 GB Wi-Fi I-pad and it is amazing! This device will change the future for sure, especially since it has come out under the auspices of the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Pisces flowing into Aries. The new tech this year will shape the future of civilizations! So prepare yourself and get on board. Think of it as an affirmation of your desire to be included in the new emerging global village.

Unlike the Sixties, our generation is tuning in and dropping into the internet culture defining a new counter culture movement based on the fluid fast-changing cyber-scape of the glowing extra-dimensional world of the Internet. Back in 1997, I wrote in Celestial Renaissance, that the Internet was an emerging physical replica of the Inner-Net we all possess within us, and that by 2080, the whole human race would be trained to access their inner net through using the Internet.

I think it's happening faster than I originally thought. When I go into a coffee shop I see less Inter-action in the physical plane than I do on the inner dimensions of the internet, with electricity elementals flying all over the place to connect us. Now if we could increase the quality of these interactions and the depth of philosophical contemplation and meaningful inquiry we'll be jamming toward the Aquarian civilization outlined perfectly in The Aquarian Conspiracy and more recently in Aquarius Now: Radical Common Sense and Reclaiming Our Personal Sovereignty

What's Your Class?

The next part of fantasy game equipment selection involves getting the gear that applies to your Class or Profession. If you're a rogue you require thieves tools for picking locks and disarming traps. Fighters need proper armor and Wizards need spellbooks. What does a Celestial Characterologist require? First off, let's define what I am in RPG terminology. I give people life-changing evocative consultations about their character and the shape of their future while simultaneously inspiring them through words of wisdom and poetry.

So I'm kinda like a mix between a Sage and a Wizard/Seer mixed with a serious dose of Scholar/Bard. Obviously, I believe that astrology is not about predicting the future, but rather about creating and shaping the future by working with the archetypal textures of time that you can see emerging through transits and progressions. I incorporate a lot of wisdom traditions, proverbs, poetry etc, so there's an element of bardic lore involved in what I do which requires ample scholarly research and continual filling the well of my own inspiration. That's one reason I got the I-pad with the Kindle App and I-books, so I could carry a growing library of inspiration. I've already downloaded a thirteen hour inspirational collection of Alan Watts lectures called "You're It!" plus an amazing 6 hour piece about cultivating spiritual disciplines in everyday life by my favorite poet and Oh Captain My Captain, David Whyte. Can't wait to zone out on my two favorite philosophers while jamming across the wilds of Wyoming and Montana!

In addition I downloaded an enlightening reading of the Tao Te Ching, essential for my soul! And those are just my first few audio books! I also started downloading astrology books that I find inspirational by some of my favorite astrology authors, It looks like Liz Greene's publishers beat everyone to the punch with Kindle version of her books! I think I'll follow suite! Hillman's Planets in Play was one of my first I-books! Turns out the the Adobe Creative Suite CS5 is primed for the creation of e-books including the cool i-books where you can actually turn the digital pages. But the upgrade to MAC is $1200! Did I mention compassionate donations are accepted on my TravelingMagi.com website. LOL

The difference between me and the average D&D character is that I won't be needing any heavy weaponry like swords, maces, halberds, longbows nor any armor or shields. So that cuts down on encumbrance right there. I could see myself in platemail armor and a lance trying to pedal my bike! That would be hilarious! But this character isw following the way of the peaceful warrior, and so martial arts will have to do if I find myself in the proverbial dark alley...

What's Your Vision?

The next step in outfitting myself for this epic spiritual quest involves focusing on my vision. What do I want to accomplish? For instance, I'm not just traveling around to see the sites like a tourist. I feel a deep devotion to spreading inspiration through astrology, a servant of the archetypes. So I will be quite busy either talking to people wherever I go or working on creative projects like e-books, films, spiritual games, etc. That's one reason I need to be able to record charts and type books on a lap top. Most travel writers either have blogs or submit pieces to publications. I depend on the generosity of astrology clients and internet sales of products I design.

I see myself leaving sometime after the Jupiter conjunction to Uranus on June 8th, after I complete my adventure of gear compilation, which is taking longer than I thought it would. In the meantime, I'm practicing riding my bike (My bum already hurts!) downloading HD video for my next film, selling stuff on E-bay to make funds for the journey and equipment, and I just sent my kid off on a plane to be with his mom and other family for the summer.

I always well up with emotion when my kid goes away to his mom's. But I know we'll be rejoining each other in the fall somewhere cool and ready for semesters at sea! I woke up this morning and there was no parenting responsibility to attend to like making breakfast or driving him to school, which was at the same time a relief as well as a vast empty hole in my heart. I got to turn the rooster alarm on my Droid off for some sweet serene sleep!

We get used to being useful and important. We wear our responsibilities like clothes in our soul. And when they disappear like that we feel a nakedness, an aloneness that both soothes and hurts. It's even tougher not having any water sign planets in my chart and a Gemini Moon that needs to talk about emotions to feel them. So here I am talking to you dear readers about missing my beloved child.

I opened him a bank account at Wells Fargo so he could have his own Debit card and I created him a Pay Pal account on the day Urnaus went into Aries. With 6 planets in Capricorn he'll probably be a millionaire by the time it gets into Taurus in seven years! The kid is chomping at the bit to work a job at Noodles & Company here in Colorado. With Cancer Rising and a love of noodles and food in general he thinks it's wrong that he work there and receive free food and pay! He is amazed at the prospects. Those earth signs are weird like that! They can't wait to get on the workforce roster.

Anyway, I digress...time to go hunt me down a bluetooth wind canceling headset for the Droid cell phone!

Electricity & Thunder Rising

Jupiter conjunct Uranus

This week we'll be experiencing a Full Moon in Sagittarius the archetype of journeys, education, and spiritual quests for enlightenment, and this is the week I'm finally finished releasing my possessions (most of them anyway) storing the rest (I've reduced it down to a 5' by 10' storage locker, and heading north on my first leg of the adventures of this celestial characterologist. One of my colleagues (and favorite astrologers Greg Bogart sent out this email today:

"Sunday I watched the sunrise, gazing into its bright orb over the ocean at Amagansett, gulls flapping over open waters. Uranus in last degree of Pisces a time of endings completions spiritual wholeness reconciliation. Breathe surrender let go this is how it all needs to be. Then feel June’s windthunderlightning of UranusJupiter in Aries. Like mighty Thor, conjure Aries will power intention strength & power of the individual. Rise up inspirited by Jupiter-Uranus energy surge. All the current you need is available, feel it pouring through you."

Do you feel the coming storm in your life? I certainly do. Folks, it's time to do it! It's time to launch the best adventure of your life with those planets transiting into Aries as the Full Moon strikes Sagittarius in your chart (which is the most sensitive area of my chart, my Ascendant, representing ME).

Ebay Merchant Adventures

I guess in a way I've always been a Merchant selling chart interpretations and educational materials, but I've never felt like a Merchant until now due to my Ebay adventures. I've always thought of my own business as selling inspiration. People have asked me what I do for a living, and I've been known to say "I'm an Inspiration!" I do so many different things, being so mutable, that it's hard to be characterized as one thing. At the core I'm a scholar of character, a characterologist, one who studies character and its evolution through time. Since I'm also an astrolgoer and inspired by the cosmos, I describe my job as being a celestial characterologist. That seems large enough to encompass what I do including writing fantasy novels, designing fantasy worlds, creating role-playing game systems, designing board games, making inspirational films/video, writing books on metaphysics and astrology, etc.

But lately I've felt like just an ordinary old Merchant plain and simple. Since I started selling collectible miniature figures that I used for games over the last seven years, plus selling books for games, I've made over $8000! I've been spending a lot of time at the post office. I love when the Ebay auctions come down to the wire and that last minute your bidders press the charge button and the price jumps by like $75. What a cool way to experience and perform Mercantilism. We've come along way since the Phoenicians would ply there trades throughout the Mediterranean, inventing writing to facilitate trade. We owe a lot to trade as a civilization!

The hard part about letting go of stuff you value is packing it up and realizing you'll never get to read that cool book again or place that cool dragon on the table for your players to fight. One way I've dealt with this is to keep telling myself that I will rebuild my library digitally through my new i-pad, which has yet to come. I've had some logistical conflicts trying to order one plus some shabby customer service. Mainly because the Apple store is a madhouse right now. People are lining up outside the store whenever a new shipment of i-pads comes in ready to throw money at Apple for a crack at this new technology. So I sent a critical email to Steve Jobs and he actually got it! Within 24 hours, I had Store Managers calling me with apologies and willing to set things straight so that I would continue my epic switch to a Mac!

Inventions that Will Change the World

Now I've been talking about the new inventions that will come out in 2010 that will change the world forever since May 2000 when the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn shifted the culture with that famous alignment in Taurus the sign of stuff and resources. Remember the Y2K scare? It took several years (namely when Jupiter reached the sign of its depression/fall in Capricorn in 2008) until the economy actually did collapse. But we dealt with it, and now everybody is simplifying their lives and buying i-pads. Now Jupiter is 180 degrees away from Saturn, an opposition, striving to express the flowering of what the cycle is all about, the last Earth Sign conjunction that signals the end of the Industrial Age. Anything that comes out this summer is going to jam! This is one reason I've decided to buy an i-pad and start collecting a digital library! Those Apple people must know some astrology for such an epic release date. (I would have waited till the summer myself)

I mean, during the last Jupiter/Uranus conjunction (1997) (which always brings scientific breakthroughs and new inventions) an unknown author who used to write her stories on napkins published a little cute fantasy novel for kids called Harry Potter. Now she has more money than the government of the country she lives in! And they told me to stop dreaming of fantasy worlds. The age of gatekeepers is ending as long as you become the keeper of your own gate. I incidentally published my first astrology book, Celestial Renaissance during the same year.

So what clutter do you have just mucking up your space that you could stand to trade for cash on Ebay to fund your dreams? I still have a lot of stuff, three computers, cases of Return of the Magi DVDs and Brazenwood novels (I probably won't be warehousing any products I create in the future due to my unrestricted mobility lifestyle design choice) my astrological library (which I plan to replicate on my i-pad with ebooks by the time I return,if enough astrologers will go digital!

I'm already bored with being a Merchant. I felt that feeling of monotony creep in when I was sending more stuff away at the post office yesterday. I'm not wired for monotony, which is why I never lasted in any "normal" job for more than 6 months. Heck, if I made it six months that was an accomplishment. I've made six months working any job into a ritual of revolution. If I've been at any job, including my own self-directed creative projects, for six months, I ritually fire myself. If I'm at a job I practice Aquarian rebellious tendencies and walk out. If I'm working on a creative project, I switch to another project. I always cycle back around to old projects, each time pushing the ball a little further down the field until I score a touchdown and complete the project. I've made a life of experiencing release and return with my creativity, mainly because I have Ceres the asteroid goddess who symbolizes release and return personified by her release of Persephone into the underworld. Sometimes creative projects need to brew in your own underdark, down in the depths of murky soil/soul where seeds tend to germinate and sprout for a new season of creativity.

The Seeds are Sprouting

With oil spills that are awakening humanitarian concern for the environment, reflected in the heavens by the Saturn (Big Oil Companies, and the land borders/boundaries of our nation) quincunx (Seemingly irreconcilable differences requiring major adjustments and ingenuity) to Neptune (The Sea/Oil). So oil is washing up on the shores and destroying the environment! And Oil companies are trying to cover up the damage but it's too late while governments watch in dismay, but no one has found the ingenious solution yet. Maybe we're waiting for the flash of insight under the New Moon in Sag as 50,000 barrels a day spill into the sea.

Maybe this will force us to change our ways and really leave the industrial age behind for good? Maybe it takes an ecological disaster to slap an oil-addicted culture in the face hard so that under that kind of pressure humanity rises to meet the hour and invents something or some solution that will set things right. The crude darkness of oil in spreading across the sea, threatening to eat away the coastline with its toxicity and its stench.

Humans are designed to adapt under pressure. Maybe we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the oil age. I've been riding my new bike around town practicing for the journey ahead and whenever I drive by a gas station I feel a true sense of Aquarian liberation to know that I will be providing most of my own fuel on the eternal magi mystery bike tour (except for plane rides across oceans). While most people are filling up their vehicles at the pump, I will be looking for healthy snacks.

I'm not to excited about the fare most gas stations offer, but at least they have water, nuts, and some occasional fruit and healthy energy drinks! My main problem will be with going to the bathroom. For vegans, your digestive system is so clean that when you eat, it comes right out the other end in about 30 minutes or less! There's none of this 8 hours of digestion to break animal protein down so that it's actually useful to the human body. So I guess I have to get to a gas station and pig out and wait thirty minutes before I get back in the saddle! Oh well!

Anyway, enjoy the Full Moon in the sign of the Gypsy and the Jupiter-Uranus culture shaking transit as well. Uranus moves into Aries where it hasn't tread for 84 years on May 27th followed by Jupiter on June 6th. I'm waiting till after June 6th to head through the gate and start pedaling north. I won't be pedaling my wares anymore, I'll be pedaling toward inner freedom and a life of adventure!

The Fortunes of Simplicity

Ancient Chinese Wisdom

In preparation for breaking free of everything I've been indoctrinated into I've been continually amazed by the little miraculous aspects of life that play such a small insignificant role, but matter in the great scheme of things. Like my most recent fortune cookie messages for instance. I never eat the cookie, being a vegan, but I consume the message in the writing, a higher form of "nourishment" to those who are mentally inclined.

So there I was sitting there in a Chinese restaurant gazing down at the little folded tan hardened piece of dough wrapped around a paper bearing the gift of promise and a message of guidance. I was overwhelmed with how much work it was going to actually take to shed my worldly possessions. I felt hopeless, like a trapped animal. Going and getting a normal job and trying to fit into society felt like heaven next to the sheer terror of facing the great unknown, the abyss within my heart that's been calling me to explore it. I know the tears will be intense when I truly let go. So I reached down and cracked the first fortune...

"You simplify you life in many ways and find great rewards."

Wow! What a message at that moment. I mean, the fortune cookie oracle even had a Chinese accent by leaving off the "r" in "your". Seriously? A Chinese-accented fortune cookie telling me to trust in simplicity? That was just way cool.

So I spent the last week letting go of attachments to old stuff, selling more and more on Ebay. Mainly I spent a week organizing my fantasy adventure gaming supplies, namely my Dungeons & Dragons miniature figures. The first set sold for $311 and my Dragon Collection went for $222. The next three sets are ending their auctions tonight and they're all hanging at about the $200 range. I love watching those last few minutes as the auction runs down. Someone out there in the world is perched at their computer ready to click the last winning bid through to gain ownership of my addictive plastic crack. That's what we call the miniatures in the gaming community because you just can't stop buying them once you start. Materialism grabs you and squeezes your heart so tight that you don't even know what's happening. You are spellbound by the objects of your possession. And now they are your possessions and they possess you too.

So simplicity has been the enlightenment of this week, realizing what one really needs to be whole. I must admit that I did stash a few of the less rare and less valuable figures away in some plastic cases to be stored at a relative’s place. My kid and I enjoy playing the game too much to totally let go. But if we keep a few hundred and let go of 5000, that's still embracing a little more simplicity.

During the week I kept at it, long hours cataloging every figure and their individual stat cards like a baseball card collector enraptured by the process of protecting and preserving his treasures, but knowing that I was giving it all up. I got overwhelmed again thinking about putting big ticket items like my HDV camera and my HD digital projector on Ebay. Could I let go of this equipment that was once the centerpiece of my visions and dreams to make an astrology documentary. And what of my amazing magazine collection and astrology book library? What would I do with those? My mother called and told me she'd help me transport it all to my brother's house where I could store it in his large closet-sized store locker connected to his apartment. That felt like a relief, but also a cop out. I wanted to truly embrace the life of adventure with minimal possessions behind me. I want to let go as completely as possible.

So I kept cataloging my figures with fierce determination and calling people who were interested in my stuff. Then I got hungry and went back to a Chinese restaurant. I love Oriental food, especially Thai, but Chinese was calling my tummy this week. So I went down to Double Happy, the restaurant that my first love and I used to go to in high school all the time. Right when the little Chinese chef saw me et out of the car he'd run into the back and fire up the egg rolls for the buffet, because the first thing I did was stack up a mountain of them on my plate. Funny, because my kid didn't want to go with me and the last thing he said as I headed out the door of my dad's place was, "Can you get me a mountain of egg rolls?"

I bought him four, and he made it through three. His eyes are massive compared to his Cancer rising sensitive belly. So there I was again staring at that little tan cookie, wondering how I could really help humanity on this spiritual quest by doing people's charts in faraway towns. But what was far away if wherever you're at is home? Then I cracked the cookie and its wisdom poured forth:

"Determination is the wake-up call to the human will."

What!? I've never heard a fortune cookie say something that profound before! Are you kidding me? When did the fortune cookie writer get a degree in philosophy? Usually it's like "The week ahead brings great troubles," or "You will receive something nice in the mail tomorrow," or some clichéd quote from Confucius. But "Determination is the wake-up call to the human will." Wow!

In this instant it's taking everything in me to harness my will for the journey ahead. I went down to the bike shop and tried to get my old clunker bike fixed, but the young mechanic laughed and said, "You could fix this old bike for say $300, or for $300 more than that you could get a brand new modern hybrid bike that would blow this thing off the road." I told him about being the Traveling Magi and my intention to ride my bike to Canada and then down to San Fran and probably around the world. He said, “Then you definitely need to invest in a new bike. These new Kevlar lined tires hardly ever get flats.”

I felt stabbed in the heart, watching my old trusty green bike "Astron" hanging on the bike fixing rack looking at me with sad handlebars. How could I give up my bike and all those memories? Did I sense materialism raising its deceptive head again? Did I really need a supped up modern bike? Astron has served me well since 1992.

I raised my kid on that mountain bike, riding him to the health food store, to movies, to health checkups, to school in Key West and Asheville, through rain, through sleet, through snow. Then the guy said, "We have a guy here in town that takes old bikes and fixes them up for needy children. You should give this new Trek 7.3 hybrid road bike a try. Take it around the block a few times."

So I did. What could one fling with another azure blue bike do to my relationship with my emerald green Astron? Well let me give you some advice: If you like the person you’re with don't try out a new fresher version because you just might come away star struck. I mean, from the moment I hopped on and cruised over the smooth pavement, I was shot into a state of exhilaration. I felt like Gumby sliding across an ice rink; it was effortless, marvelous, effervescent! One push from my powerful centaur thighs and the bike would lunge forward like a wild horse, almost tossing me off the back end. Holy Cow! I couldn't believe my thighs!

Needless to say Astron and I broke up when I got back to the shop. I gave him the "talk" saying maybe he was too old for this journey? Maybe it was time for retirement? Maybe we could help some poor kid in the neighborhood? The whole time my mind was streaming with the memory of gliding through the wind on that new Trek 7.3 bike.

Then the guy said, “We’re having a sale in all through May for $100 off any bike in stock, and that one you just rode is normally $600. So it could take you to Canada for $500.” I had just gotten a donation on my blog for $500! Holy Kalukers!
“I’ll be back to buy it after Mercury goes direct!”

Then last night I found myself at another Asian restaurant enjoying the Szechuan Tofu with mixed vegetables and the inevitable fortune cookie made an appearance at the end of the meal.
“Now what?” I thought.
I was thinking about my journey into the unknown, and pondering what it would be like with long days on strange roads and camping off the road at night, hidden in some secretive copse of woods. Who would I meet? Would I encounter any legal trouble for camping in the wrong place? What would it be like to meet Alisha, a female astrologer with the same cosmic connection that I enjoy? Would she expect me to stay there and give up my travels and my mission to assist humanity through astrology one person at a time? Then I cracked the cookie to receive my third fortune in a week:

"Sometimes the object of the journey is not the end, but the journey itself."

Amazing. Simply, mind-bogglingly amazing. We’ve all heard this before. The journey is the destination and such. But from a fortune cookie? At the moment I was thinking all those thoughts? Wow! Thank you Universe for your wisdom and guidance!

With renewed fervor I went down to my 10X10 storage locker and felt hope. I’ve already gotten it down to half the stuff. I could move it all into a 5X10 and pay half the cost and retain some vital shreds of my old existence (aka. attachments). Or I could just keep unloading box after box and selling stuff on Ebay. A few blog posts back I wondered what it would be like to just give stuff to the homeless guys on the street who hold those signs that say anything helps. So this morning I decided to role-play Santa . There I stood looking into my little cave full of precious junk and I realized that most of it was camping gear, books, bookshelves, and gaming gear: Board games, little ships, maps, boxes of miniature terrain, hex maps, plastic organizer stands, a board room table, 6 foot tables, a marble chess set, etc. What could I get rid of today? Then the thought struck me:

“What if I went by the game store and just started giving gaming gifts to people? And what if I went by the bum on the street and just started giving out backpacks and camping gear?”

That excited me! So I took lots of digital photos of old maps I’d drawn and loaded lots of gaming supplies and camping supplies in my Pathfinder. Two hours later I was on the road. I decided to drop some board games and a computer sound card by a friend’s house who I heard say he needed a new sound card and was interested in having some games. I dropped many other games at another friend’s house. I figured I could play them anytime I was in town at his house. We could all get together like we’ve been doing Friday nights seen I’ve returned to Colorado.

Then I hit the game shop and they were overjoyed when I asked if they accepted donations in the store. Five trips back and forth to my vehicle later and I experienced a lot of happy gamers! The owner is picking up my board room awesome gaming table next week for the new location!

Then I drove down to Pearl Street looking for homeless people. I realized I’d never in my life sought out homeless people to bestow them with gifts before. Interesting.

Then I saw them.

A couple in their thirties, a woman and a man were holding the standard Boulderized Anything Helps signs. I made a right turn and then whipped a U-turn two blocks down and slowly approached them hoping to hit the red light at the right moment. I slowly rolled down the window, thinking this must be how a drive by shooter feels. But I was a drive-by giver. Then the light turned red and I stopped abruptly and screamed out the window.

"Hey! You need a back pack?"

The athletic bearded homeless man leapt up from the ground and sprinted to the side of my vehicle with a look of amazement on his face.
“You can have this backpack, I traveled the world with it, but I don’t need it anymore. I have a new one.”
“No fucking way!” he said. “Thank you so much! I just had all my stuff stolen this morning. “
He was visibly moved and excited. Then I reached back and grabbed my other backpack. “Here take this one for your friend.”
He just looked up into the heavens and screamed in delight.
I figured if I was homeless that the one possession I would need more than anything would be a backpack to carry things I’ve found like tools or food, etc. The light turned green and I drove away. I glanced in the rear view mirror to see the woman searching through my old cool green backpack. I carried my lap top and creative supplies in that pack for many years in Asheville. Now its carrying capacity would bless her.
I think tomorrow I will head back to the storage locker to pack another load on my sleigh. It feels amazing to help people who are truly in need. I can’t wait to bestow them with the astrological gift of the Magi. How would a homeless person be empowered with the knowledge of cycles and destiny?
Its two hours before my Ebay auctions end. I like watching them come down to the wire. While I was writing the first half of this post at the coffee shop a fellow astrologer and podcaster Adam Sommer came by my table and surprised me to say hello. I’ve been meaning to meet him since I arrived, but our paths had not crossed until now. Turns out he and his companion are gearing up for travel as well, possibly India. We were both blown away by the similarity of our journeys and how they are unfolding. It was like him showing up was another sign from the Universe that this spiritual quest is the right thing to do. Also, during the writing of this blog, my wife Christina called and expressed how much she truly admires and loves me for my unique person. She said she misses me now and envies the journey I’m about to take. It felt good finally hearing her open up about the time we shared. Our love will grow into something else, but grow it will, even if we are admiring each other from afar. The first week we met, her fortune cookie said:

“The love of your life is sitting right in front of you.”

Our marriage only lasted three years, but now the true relating can begin as cosmic friends.

I think I’ll go to another Chinese restaurant this week after I get my storage locker emptied and see what the Taoist oracle has to say next. I feel like I’m slowly being led toward the gateway of ultimate liberation.

Amen!

PS: Arian and I just watched three of our Ebay auctions go down to the wire and we made $1150! World here we come!

The Fearful Snakes of Destiny

Visualizing the Roadtrip

In preparation for the journey ahead, there are a ton of details to be taken care of. For being an aspiring homeless wandering vagabonging astrological nomad, I sure am busy! I have charts to do stacking up on my desk, Return of the Magi DVDs to ship out to people (customers and distributors), more stuff to sell on Ebay to fund the journey, another astrology documentary to edit, and a few books to write! Good grief!

I think I'll be taking those book projects with me to work on. I mean, that's the spirit of this quest, is to free up my time and devote my time to working on creative projects that serve humanity. To support this vein of activity, I found this cool online data storage place called Notebook.com where you can scan and upload all your data from notebooks to photos. Don't know if I actually need that when I have my own web server where I can store 250 GB of data (minus all my websites). But who knows, it's an interesting service I thought you might like to hear about.

May is Already Here

So today is May 1st! My son is flying out to be with his mother for the summer on May 28th, four weeks! I'm heading north on my mountain bike "Astron" the day after that. I need to get my bike tuned up, maybe even overhauled like a starship pulling into a space port after a long mission. I haven't ridden it since I trapped myself in the woods at Serenity. Bad move! Biking is amazing exercise, especially when you live in a mountainous town like Asheville NC or Boulder CO. No wonder my thighs are so giant, that and Sagittarius Rising! It might cost a few hundred dollars to get my bike ready for the journey. Luckily a wonderfully generous reader of this blog and former client of mine named Roseann decided to hit my donation button and donate $500 bucks. Thank you! Thank You! Thank You! That takes the pressure off as I make my preparations. I did sell a set of rare miniatures on Ebay, but it turns out that you have to wait up to 21 days or until they receive it and notify the system before PayPal releases the funds into your account. I can respect that, so no one gets screwed over, as long as one uses Signature Confirmation to prove that it was indeed delivered.

Oh my god! I'm actually abandoning "normal" settled living and heading north to ride my bike to Canada and then San Francisco, and then flying to Maui in four weeks! It's a courageous step outside the door of security into the bold unknown, and I embrace it wholeheartedly. When I hear about people dying in disasters or car wrecks or bad relationships, I always ponder just how thin the veil is between this world and the next. 8 pints of blood are all that separates us between worlds. So in the spirit of adventure and in honor of the frailty of life I am making this vow to live the greatest life I can live in contribution to the evolution of humanity.

Living Dangerously Courageous

Alan Watts once said that a moth flies into the candle flame because it mistakes the flicker for the sex call of its mate. Imagine the courage and pulsing desire in the moth as he swoops in to experience erotic pleasure and goes out in a burst of flame. Turns out that moths are prolific enough that hundreds or even thousands of them disappearing into candle flames will not extinct the species. I wish more humans could live with that kind of innocence and courage. And hey, if a few of us go out in a bold way, well at least we died with fire in our veins pursuing the activities we loved.

There's a lot of rattlesnakes in Wyoming. I had a dream last night that one was waiting outside of my tent for me one morning while camping just off the roadside. Luckily my new REI tent has to entrances, one on each side! But snakes have always been my worst fear, and I've kinda made my peace with them over the years respecting the Buddhist view that they represent great wisdom of the Yin feminine perspective. My geologist friend Lane in new Mexico lives with 5 Boa Constrictors and she wants me to visit her on my journeys! I will go and I will face my fears.

The snake in my dream was rattling away to the vibration of change. here I am shedding the skin of an old life. I still have a deep love in my heart for Christina and I always will. The saddest part is when people who have seen us on Wife Swap react to the news. They are like, "I can't believe you two are splitting up! You guys are perfect together." Obviously they weren't there for our estranged sex life or stressed bank account/credit card life...LOL I don't need to live up to other people's expectations. I need to live according to the needs of my visionary self which is forever trying to align my incarnated selves desires with it spiritual destiny.

Fulfilling Your Destiny

I think we get in the way of our own destinies. We need to step aside and surrender to the flow of synchronistic events and cultivate the courage to make friends with the unknown. If I die by snake bite in the wilds of Wyoming so be it. At least I went out following my dreams. There will be no regrets for living a passionate life filled with divine inspiration and purpose!

What purpose do you have for your life? I think that astrologically you can discern your life purpose through the combination of three main symbols: The Sun and its Signs House and Aspects (Plus wherever Leo is in the chart). The North Node destiny point and its sign house and aspects. And then there's the Midheaven as a symbol of your Calling and reputation in the community.

In my case I have the Sun in Aquarius in the 2nd house of nature, resources and belonging, and Leo is on the cusp of my 9th house of philosophy, journeys, and publishing. Aquarius being the sign of the inventor, the humanitarian, and the freedom fighter, the message of my Sun Sign is to pursue a highly individual path of invention that allows me the freedom to roam and publish and broadcast while at the same time grounding the metaphysical insights into the all natural and practical simplicity of usefulness and nature reverence.

With my North Node in Aquarius too but in the 3rd House, my goal is to communicate with Humanity and get over my self to serve the needs of the collective. Yes with the SOuth Node in Leo I've lived lives of royalty, creativity, and privilege, but this lifetime is about aiming that generosity and creative flair into project of metaphysical brilliance that will help humanity evolve. So that's what I'm doing!

With Libra the sign of the Artist on my Midheaven and Venus the governing planet of Libra in Sagittarius, archetype of the Teacher, Explorer, Seeker, Traveler, my calling involves the artistic dissemination of meaning and philosophy that inspires and uplifts people. In addition I have two planets up in and near my Midheaven (10th House of Career): Uranus the planet of cosmic genius and astrology and Pluto the planet of transformation and psychology. So no matter what I do it's going to be perceived by the collective as being futuristic and shamanic as I walk the career path of the Cosmic Therapist and the unconventional researcher.

When you add all those images together I get a profound visionary statement about why the hell I'm here! If you order a chart at my website I could interpret your destiny too! Even just a 20 minute Coffee Shop Special interpretation is enough time to focus on delving into your life purpose. Plus, anyone who orders a chart this month will get a free copy of Return of the Magi and a signed copy of my fantasy adventure novel Brazenwood! Check it out.

Hope you have an amazing month of May and dance around a few ay Poles in joyous delirious happiness!

By the way I'm considering moving my Blog to Wordpress because it seems to have a lot more coolness. I really love all the little pictures of subscribers on the sidelines of the e-blogger blog growing daily though. Maybe Wordpress does the same. It seems to be the blogging format of the pros though! Here's the link to it, let me know if you like that format better?