Companions on the Path

Gathering Allies

I went to sleep in the historic Virginian hotel and was intrigued by the concept of being surrounded by six walls, including the floor and ceiling. It was much different than a tent, mainly because the walls were much farther away from the bed and you can't just reach up and touch them. I felt more comfy in my tent. Sleeping in this box of a room seemed strange, yet secure. I understand the need for security while sleeping, I mean, who wants to be eaten by bugs. The psychological impact of being in your shell is worth the price of struggling against the unknown.

So I drifted into sleep hoping to meet my teacher or the dead writer in the astral plane. There were three tropical paintings on the wall of beach scenes that reminded me of my ten years in Key West. I slept peacefully with no spiritual visitations. My teacher's spirit helped me lay out the structure of my next astrology documentary in the tavern all day and the dead Western author inspired my Blog post. So I woke up ready to go!

I had 58 miles to get to Rawlins over a road that had little water, but with my new camel back water carrier I was on top of that challenge. My friend and colleague Moses Siregar said that in Vedic astrology this was an interesting beginning to my Saturn Dasa a long planetary period that shapes your life. In the Sidereal Indian Zodiac, I have Saturn in Aries in the 6th House of Struggles. He says my actions are the perfect response to this energy, facing lots of physical challenges and struggles in a heroic Aries like Dare Devil way. And since Mars governs Aries and I have Mars in Scorpio on the Ascendant in Vedic, a mark of a master of Martial expression, and it is conjunct Jupiter, I have the most amazing strength and support for overcoming anything. I feel like that!

So I carried all my panniers and water bottles down to the tavern, had a cup of Green Tea, loaded up the bike, and took off riding hard into those 58 miles. When you have that far to go, it's better not to think about it and instead just stay in the moment enjoying the ride, the scenery, and focusing on logging one mile at a time. After several hours I had gone about 20 miles and saw a Windmill farm, which was cool. I thought about how during the Piscean Age, oil became the dominant resource for energy. Back in the Age of Aries it was the metal ages (Iron, Bronze, etc) and the smelting of metals through fire. In the age of Aquarius it seems like Wind will rise to a dominant force, even though windmill farms get a bad rap for killing birds or not being very good at generating enough energy. Maybe space will be our resource and we'll channel the power of the stars.

The road down to I-80 to get me to Rawlins, WY was very serene with Elk Mountain off to my left the whole ride, standing as a testament to the strength of the earth element topped with delicious crystal white snow. Every time I would work hard to get up another great hill I would come over a pass and get to see a whole new vista. That's the mystery of travel and exploration restored just because you're moving at a slower pace. When you're zooming by in a car, you're concentrating on driving and not wrecking and you barely notice the scenery. When you are a passenger, you occasionally look out the window and notice the new and different, but you pretty much get bored and focus on your thoughts. When you're on a bike pedaling you definitely think about things with intense concentrated focus, but you also find yourself in communion with everything around you.
All the problems that plagued you when you were living an abnormal "normal" life seem to melt away.

The pain in my body started to return around 25 miles. My rear and the seat were not friends, so you try and compensate by standing up or pushing hard on the pedals to lift yourself even a millimeter off the seat to let the sharp pain subside. But then your feet go numb and your toes cramp up, and it hurts even worse because now your butt and your feet are screaming. So you try and compensate again by moving your feet forward so that you are pedaling with your heels in the most awkward way possible. You look like your trying to hold back some gas, and of course you can't sustain that going uphill at all, which is why the uphill slopes have a piercing sharp pin to your nervous system. You feel like a voo doo doll chained to a bike.

Then the scenery changes to help you deal with the pain. I stopped on top of a pass and looked back to study the route I'd traversed and saw the road winding down and then up over the last pass. Then I looked ahead and saw the same thing. In a way it was poetic, an endless trail stretching from the past, reaching toward the future with you on the side of the road enjoying a Clif bar and some water wondering how you are in this present moment. The road to the past looks just like the road to the future, which is dismaying in some way. However, you realize from this perspective that you can change the road to the future at any time. You are free to go anywhere as long as you are ready o deal with bike repairs. So you stay on the paved timeline striving toward your destination.

I leapt on the bike with renewed energy and enthusiasm and charged down the hill with the Horse Lord Riders of Rohan music playing on the i-pad. What an epic moment. I pedaled so fast that I felt like a mounted warrior charging into battle. At first I screamed in triumph, but the emotion of the music overcame me, and I started crying and laughing at once, and then I just cried as the wind blew over my face. Then I saw a male Pronghorn with the big antlers and he was startled by my wildness. He ran right at the fence and leapt through the air with marvelous grace. I stuck up my hand pretending to hold a card and screamed 9.3! It was an amazing jump to make that fence, gliding through the air till his hind legs were clear.

I passed the village of Hanna and was impressed: Population 834. The last two towns I had been through were less than 300. I didn't even know there were hamlets in the modern world! I thought about stopping, and my spiritual guides assured me it would be interesting but unnecessary. Something told me to keep going, I had enough water to get to Rawlins, hopefully. So I sped ahead and looked back on the little village as if I had missed something. But at least I was conscious of missing something and freely choosing to miss it in order to experience something else. I was reminded of one of my son's poem lines where he said, "Sometimes you have to destroy the perfect way to experience something else." Very cool you can check out his other poems at arianbrazenwood.com

So I continued along my merry way going up and down long, desert-like hills, until I finally saw the Interstate in the distance with lots of trucks going east and west. The last hill was spectacular, a grand hill, until I saw the recently slain dear right in my path. I had to swerve around it at top speed and I held my breath to keep from inhaling death, but I forced myself to look at it. It looked like its guts had been rent open by the blow of a car and you could see all its innards hanging out of a muck cherry sauce pool of blood with a colony of flies buzzing about. I almost threw up, but I managed not to wreck and join him in his demise. No one was blaming this atrocity on an oil company. I wondered if the dead dear right in my path was a sign I should not get on the dangerous freeway ahead. But I didn't think there was any other way to get to Rawlins.

When I got to the top of the next hill I could see a Shell gas station and a cafe. I have never been happier to see a gas station in my life! I rolled into the station to see real human beings filling up their cars and motorcycles. The cafe was unfortunately closed, so I turned and did a victory lap around the gas pumps, free of the oil driven lifestyle at last. I made myself look at the charge card interface with the three choices of gas and thought never again. I am no slave to oil.

A very white lady came in and asked the attendant if he recycled the yellow plastic oil containers, trying to hand it to him as if the answer had to be yes. He looked at her as if she had gone bonkers. He was a young twenty-something guy with tattoos and he smirked and said, "Yeah lady sure, the recycling truck will be by in an hour." The lady was outraged that they didn't recycle trying to guilt trip him with her neurosis. She stood there holding the plastic container refusing to throw it into the trash. The gas station attendant stared at her, waiting for her to resolve her inner struggle. I stood there and sucked on my water tube, studying her body language. She looked like she took better care of her car than her body. Lots of time on the computer. Takes one to know one. She had gone completely neurotic over her recycling craze. So I walked toward her and helped her toss it into the trash. And she hurried out to her car grief stricken and mad at herself and the gas station. I turned to the attendant and he just shrugged and held up his arms and said, "I see 5000 customers a day. What am I supposed to do? It makes me happy if the trash ends up in the can and not the field over there."

I asked him if there was any other route to Rawlins besides the Interstate and he said he'd lived out here his whole life and knows every single backroad and that I-80 was the only way, 20 miles. So despite the dead deer sign, I knew I had to attempt it. So I filled up my water bottles, downed a Fusion drink plus an energy potion, and hopped back on the bike to ride toward my possible doom. I took a picture right at the top of the exit watching the diesels and cars zoom by at light speed, just in case it was my last one.

I turned on my I-pad and lunged forward to join the chaos and the fury of the modern Interstate called I-80. The first diesel blew by and almost knocked my bike over, but it was a rush nevertheless as I gripped the handle bars as tight as I could. Just think of it as waves of free AC, I told myself. I tried to ride the furthest edge of the shoulder, buffeted by the crazed winds. It was like being on the super-galactic bike freeway! My attempt to stay the course on the furthest edge from the insanity of 80 mile per hour metal husks flying by were thwarted by hundreds of rubber tire shreds littering the roadside. I zoomed in and out like a star fighter pilot dodging through an asteroid field for 14 miles until finally I made a mad dash for the exit to Sinclair and another gas station.

After that mad dash, it was delightful to see a truck stop. I knew the diner would be open because truckers are a hungry lot. Of course, by the time I haggled with the waitress and taught her how to cook me some simple vegetarian food, I was kicking back having a nice baked potato with chives, apple sauce on crackers, stir-fried mushrooms, and a garden salad with vinegar and oil.

I glanced up through the diner window toward the top of the exit to see two cyclists emerge from the freeway. I watched them with a certainty that we would be meeting soon and sharing stories over food. Their tans were dark brown and they looked like southeast asian islanders. They were two college kids from New York City heading to college in Olympia Washington. They had been on the road for two and half months since leaving New York on bikes, a half Puerto Rican-half British girl named Iris and a half Japanese-halfirish guy named Alex, a couple of hybrids. Alex studied Visual Arts and Iris wanted to teach. They were old pros at this bicycling thing by now and I asked them when the pain subsided. They said it just kinda moves around, but the rear pain does decrease in time, depending on the day really. After eating and talking and sharing many exciting stories, we all caravanned down the last road through Sinclair on into the city of Rawlins, Wyoming. I had gone 60 miles and everything hurt. I wanted Thai food and they wanted the Library so they could check email. We came to the library first and I decided to wait for them, and took a siesta out by the bikes on my thermarest matt. They spent an hour on email and my tummy was grumbling and aching for the taste of Thailand. Anongs, the Thai restaurant, was only two blocks away!

It was bizarre to be suddenly waiting for someone, but I enjoyed their company so I just relaxed and talked to this local guy named Guy, who had two playful dogs. He was very friendly, but also down on politics and pretty much everything else. He would ask you a loaded question to see if you gave the "correct" answer. If you did give the answer he was looking for, he would stand their in stunned confusion and declare that most people don't know that. Then he'd fire another question. If you gave the "wrong" answer, he would launch another rant about the evils of the politicians, Rawlins, the border situation, Iraq, etc.
He had a supposedly educated opinion on everything.

Then a random guy rolled up on a Unicycle, a very large wheeled Unicycle, 36 inches in diameter. His name was Sky Horne, and he joked about wanting to become a gynecologist named Doctor Horne. He was a riot, and he just Unicycled his way across the US starting from Yorktown, Virginia. He had met Alex and Iris back in Kentucky and had just now caught up to them after taking a detour and more and more rest days. As fate would have it, he was from Brevard, North Carolina where I lived for the last four years. I had seen him on his Unicycle around town and he had seen me at various coffee shops, but we had never talked. Bizarre how the Universe relocates you across the country to finally talk to a guy who was in your neighborhood for years. He was an amazing guy with a Capricorn Sun, and Aries Moon, and Aquarius rising, the soul of an adventurer walking the path of the Wise Elder Advisor, wearing the mask of the shocking Humanitarian Inventor. He certainly looked bizarre unicycling down the road bobbing up and down like he was on a pogo stick! As it turns out, we both have friends in Hamilton Montana that we're going to stay with. How cool! I found allies on the journey. I'm not the only rebel out here escaping the drudgery of wake up, consume, drive, and pay mortgages! His traveling website is thirtysixer.com

So we all four went down to Anangs and had the most amazing feast together talking about out lives and learning about each other. Iris was especially interested in astrology and fantasy novels. I told them I'd look a their charts at camp. Sky informed us that the town was showing an outdoor community movie at the city park that very night. So after we wrapped up the delicious meal, we all convoyed over to the city park and got out our sleeping bags to watch Top Gun on an outdoor big screen with the locals. The locals were especially interested in us and our journeys. A lot of cyclers and backpackers apparently come through this town. We asked if we could camp at the city park, but were instructed to go to the KOA campgrounds instead. They said the police really patrol this area due to the two nearby bars.

Suddenly out of nowhere a giant sandstorm came cutting through town, and all the farmers market vendors went scattering. Then a blustery rain storm followed that and forced the town to cancel the communal movie. We took shelter under a large circular pavilion in the corner of the park to wait the storm out. We all four decided to hang out there and I did everyone's astrology chart. By the end of Iris's reading she was convinced that she wanted to be an astrologer. Before that she was going to run for Mayor of NY city. What a difference! I had discovered another potential Magi!

After that we played a four-way game of Scrabble on the I-pad. Iris was especially competitive, expressing angst when I naturally pulled ahead in score. They didn't know they were playing with a Scrabble master with a high score of 651 and hundreds of victories over my Scrabble-wise father. They all played well, but in the end I pulled ahead and barely won!
The game ended and the rain had subsided but we were all too tired from traveling to ride over to find the campground, so we just made a barricade of tables so the Law had less chance of seeing us, and placed our matts on the hard wooden floor, and crawled into our sleeping bags to get at least a little sleep before dawn.

Getting to sleep was rough. The trains kept going all night and Alex joked that they were robot driven. We all laughed and kept talking. Finally everyone drifted off and I had to imagine I was sleeping on the deck of a ship to fall asleep using my shoes as pillows. Of course, we were all awakened by my roster alarm at 6 AM! Everyone slept well even though it was uncomfortable. It was the first time in my life that I slept outside in a city surrounded by urban jungle sounds. I was a real life dharma bum! We all woke up and stretched and hurried over to the first internet cafe we could find to get chais and hot chocolates and coffees. Here we sit ready to return to Anongs all-you-can eat Thai buffet. We all decided to have a rest day, my first with no travel since I left Colorado. We probably won't be able to peddle anyway with full bellies!

Prophets, Rocks, and Rivers

The Human Fascination With Speed

I woke up today ready to ride even though my lungs were only at 80%, but my body felt strong, ready to jump back on Magellan and head north. I rode about 8 miles to get back to Laramie from my host's house. I created some great memories in Laramie. The Coal Creek Coffee shop was my base for the two days I spent there recovering from the intense, near-death cycling journey from Fort Collins. They make a vivid soy chai and the college students who stayed for the summer along with the professional adults enjoy congregating there. So I did a lot of people watching.

The first thing that I noticed is that most everyone had some kind of tattoo on their legs or arms, expressing a wild range of imagery. I also met a lawyer who was also an avid cyclist named Charles and he shared some tips of the trade from his experience biking across America. Charles was a chameleon as one moment he was hanging out in his chill clothes, and an hour later he's wearing a business suit consulting with clients.

I also enjoyed the Mussaman curry at the Thai restaurant. I had Indian food with my hosts David and Shelley and their Golden Retriever "Hoodoo" out at their house. I want to thank them deeply for saving my life by just simply being there as a safe haven to land as I stumbled through their doorway barely conscious. They have a beautiful house that David designed and built hidden to the southeast of Laramie and built into the side of a Mesa and surrounded by a sea of blue flowers. You can always see pictures on my Facebook page.

David is a Ph.D anthropologist/archaeologist who studies the lives of American Indian tribes from 9000 BC. He reminded me of an earthy version of Einstein. Shelley is the owner of the Gallery West art gallery that features Western themed art. She reminded me of Nancy Pelosi on the range! The last night I was there I had just enough lung-power to do both their astrology charts, and I think they enjoyed seeing what an authentic Magi does. David, even though he was a skeptic, I think really appreciated seeing the storytelling aspect of interpreting a chart.

When I rode into town to head north there happened to be a bicycle race going on through the streets of Laramie. I pulled up right next to the starting line with my super-loaded Trek bike and the spectators and cyclists in the race looked at me as if I were crazy. Was I really going to race that? Seconds after I pulled up, the race started and I watched them speed away. I went over to Coal Creek and enjoyed one last chai and made it back just in time to see the winner cross the finish line on the final lap. Amazing!

I wondered why we humans have such a fascination with speed and being number One. In the modern world we hurry and we rush and we never get it all done, only to accelerate more the next day trying to cram in more. I laughed today when I watched a truck pass a car, the driver in obvious disdain of the slower traveler. I guess 65 miles per hour is too slow for some, as I rolled along at 10. What's the rush? Why are we all trying to do so much so quickly? Is there a deep sense of unworthiness driving us to do more so we can become a symbol of accomplishment to all the other mad rushers on the third planet from the sun?

Can't we ever just sit back and ponder the mystery and enjoy the breeze? But speed remains fun! From tubing wildly down a snowy hill to racing our bikes, we relish the exhilaration of speed. I enjoy those down hill slopes on Magellan where I can rest my burning legs and feel the wind rush over my sunburnt face. We ritualize the quest for speed in our racing competitions because it makes us feel alive! Yet we don't know how to slow down and be still within. This supposedly eternal bike trip is helping me become even more inward and contemplative. My sense of responsibility is moving beyond the personal and collective spheres to the transpersonal. But I'm also utterly fascinated with channeling the transpersonal forces into daily life.

When I got to the hilltop overlooking Laramie, I turned my head back and felt spiritual energy gathering overhead in the heavens. Gratitude was spiraling through my soul. Instinctively I visualized the invisible stars through the blue sky and raised my right hand in allegiance to them. Suddenly I felt a beam of force enter my hand as the stars shot their mystic rays of light downward. Then I beamed the energy out over Laramie and said, "May the blessings of the stars be with you Laramie, for you have aided a wandering Magi in need." I don't know where that came from, but I hope it brings great prosperity to the people there. The interesting side note is that I got recruited to play football and study archaeology there, but refused to go on the grounds that I didn't want a cowboy as my mascot. I was into more mythological or heroic themes. Interesting how the Universe keeps bringing the cowboy side of the Sagittarian archetype into my life. And fascinating that I launched my new and improved Zenned out astrology website while in Laramie at Coal Creek. I used to play at an actual creek called Coal Creek in Colorado, so the images of my life are blending. You can check out the new site at http://www.divineinspirationastrology.com

Rock River Prophet

So I turned my bike north with my aches and my pains and rode for Rock River, another 30 miles away. My rear was already hurting again! But this time I had plenty of water because I purchased a camel back 3 Liter water carrier that fit perfectly in my pack, essentially doubling my water capacity. The young man who sold me the Camel back at the camping store recognized me from Wife Swap and was astonished. I told him about my adventure and said that the plot was now thickening! he was flabbergasted!

The pain in my body gradually returned and I remembered Charles saying, "You've got to stay in the saddle for a solid week or two before the pain in your rear subsides." So I'm committed to exploring that possibility. People have been emailing me to tell me to change my seat at the next bike shop for one of those big padded comfy mamas, but the guy who sold me the bike said that the sitting bones don't align correctly on those kinds of seats and cause back problems over the long haul. He admonished me to stick with the seat that came with the bike, so I intend to.

Riding north across the flatlands of Wyoming was serene, flanked by two distant mountain ranges on either side. To the left, the train tracks ran north-south, and a train seemed to rumble down them every half hour blowing the whistle like its the Old West. Somebody is hauling a lot of resources somewhere to create something. I saw numerous antelope bounding through the fields incuding two little ones with their mother. They ran away in fear as I rode by, so I sent them a mental email that I was a vegan and would never harm them. They kept on running, trusting their legs over my crazy imagination!

The hours rolled slowly by as the pain in my feet, thighs, butt, lungs and back grew worse, but eventually I came over a rise to see the tiny splendor of Rock River. The rock formations south of town were astonishing and I imagined Indians riding their horses across unfenced plains in ancient times. David and I had plenty of conversations about history. He says that anthropologists are looking for evidence that the Solutrian tribes of Southern France and Northern Spain might have somehow crossed the oceans to the new world around 9000 BC, mainly because they've discovered similar artifacts in America. Now that would be a cool movie! Ancient advanced Solutrians making there way across the Ice Age sheets on a vision quest for the New World. I think David might have been impressed with my knowledge of the cycles of history, especially when framed against the astrological ages and alignments. Hopefully it gave him a new paradigm for understanding cycles as he has Uranus and Jupiter conjunct his natal Jupiter at 0 degrees Aries, stimulating a revolution of his world view and belief systems. Will a scientist integrate the unified field of consciousness into his paradigm? His North Node in Pisces hopes so!

So I rode slow and exhausted into Rock River, leaning into each peddle with my last embers of strength. The sign said the town had a mere 235 people and I hoped they were friendly. I wouldn't want to witness what fierceness would come down from the stars if a town were mean to a Magi! I imagine riding away on my bike camel with Biblical lightning storms raging behind me and buildings collapsing. My imagination is always on overload! Then I looked up and there was the town cemetery. I hoped the inhabitant weren't secretive zombies who only came out at night to grab the traveling campers, ripping their rotting claws through my tent walls and forcing me to join their grotesque ranks.

I passed a warehouse sized rancher supply store and a beautiful park called Holliday park. The General Store was closed and I didn't see too many people, only the far edge of town. So I wheeled around and went back toward the park where I'd seen people. They didn't look like zombies. I rode up to the edge of a lady's property and asked her if there was anywhere I could camp. Her name was CJ, and she said I was welcome to stay in their city park. Even her dog was kind. She said it was the first time in the dog's life that she had not barked at a stranger. Hanging out with Hoodoo, David and Shelley's dog, must have attuned my aura to dog friendly mode, because for the last four years I've been a cat person. I miss Thena and Pahlo sometimes.

Feeling most welcome in the little hamlet of Rock River, I rode back down to the park and began pulling out my gear excitedly. I was anxious to set up my QuarterDome T-3 tent, hoping I would remember all the right steps. I was instantly swarmed by mosquitos the second I stopped. I broke out my tea tree oil and herbal armor spray and quickly covered my body, accidentally shooting the spray into my left eye. The mosquitos were worse than zombies, they were blood sucking vampires!

When I finished setting up my tent, my calves bleeding from the ravages of mosquitos who decided they liked my defense oils, a young boy appeared behind me, parking his bike. I introduced myself and he said his name was Elijah. I thought Whoa, like the Biblical prophet who can call fire from the heavens! Instead, he offered to fill my water bottles with water from his house. He returned shortly and announced that my camel back and two water bottles were full of cold water! I secretly wondered if he was an Aquarian, and thanked Elijah the Waterbearer. An hour later he brought me two more Bottled Waters, just in case.

So there I was lying in my tent protected from the bloodsuckers, night had fallen. My mom texted me and said that she bet I wouldn't find any Thai restaurants there. I proved her wrong because I had rolled in three packs of Thai Bangkok Curry noodles. I set up my stove and cooked my first meal on it along with some hot green tea chai. The stars outside reminded me of being in New Mexico, a silver-speckled blanket of purple majesty stretched across the heavens. I broke in my tent with a delicious meal, spicy noodles covered in Braggs and nutritional yeast, listening to the local teenagers shooting off fireworks on the other side of the park and the soothing chugga-chugga rumble of the train and it's piercing whistle crying into the night. Then I got into my sleeping bag, beat my computer opponent on the i-pad at Scrabble by a point on the last play of the game and crashed into dreamland. The word I played to win was "Qi" another spelling for Oriental chi. It seemed like I was living in another age again.

When I awoke the next morning I thought my Droid wake up alarm was sounding. I have it set to the rooster sound. But my phone battery had died during the night so I was confused. I got out of my tent and ran over on the public port-a-potty and used their facilities. This town thought of everything! Three real roosters were standing on this thick tire that had been converted into a flower planter crowing their heads off! They would certainly receive the blessings of the stars along with the town of Rock River. Elijah might even grow to become a Magi, although he said he was really into his X-box wrestling game right now. I stopped by the General Store and charged my Droid and downed a bottle of Gatorade. I also bought another tube of lip balm to fight the dryness of the West.

Today my mission was to make it to the town of Medicine Bow to the north and possibly to Rawlins. But Rawlins would require another day of hell, so I half-decided that I would stay in Medicine Bow and either camp or stay at the famous Virginian Hotel that I had been hearing about from David and Charles. It turns out that a famous Western writer named Owen Wister composed the novel by the same name there. You could go and sit at his writing desk. That might be an inspiring homage to pay to a fellow writer. First I had to get there!

On the way, I saw my first fellow cycler going in the opposite direction. I waved wholeheartedly, studying his gear. The universal spiritual force of destiny was with me as the wind was mostly at my back and the road declined so that the peddling was fierce. I made it to the Dinosaur Bone-built house in an hour and snapped some pictures of the monument. It was closed so I ate a Clif Bar with the bugs and continued on my merry way. When I saw Medicine Bow on the horizon I was overjoyed. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see hamlets in the distance before.

I got to thinking about travelers in my fantasy worlds and what they go through when approaching settlements. There's a strange feeling of warmth that soothes your heart and makes you feel like you've not only accomplished something by getting somewhere at last, but also you get to banish your aloneness for a time among fellow human beings. But you still have to cover the distance between the actual town and where you spot it, and that gives you time to get more excited. I take careful note of the first human being I encounter once I pass the city limit. But this day, I forgot to watch.

A Magi joins the Magic

I received a text through my Droid from my childhood friend Lee Wingo, son of my astrology teacher Bonnie Wingo, who had been teetering on the edge of life for many months at age 82. She was born in 1929, nine moths before Pluto was discovered, and she used to joke that her generation gave birth to Pluto. I received his text just as I passed the Medicine Bow city limit sign, Population 241 I think. I couldn't stop to take a picture.

Lee's text said that she had died that morning. I almost crashed my bike, but held the course steady. He said that she had left some books behind for me. I held onto the handlebars and contained my tears. I was glad she had finally joined with the Spirit at last. She had been struggling to stay alive. She had that gleam in her eye like a kid at Christmas every time I visited. I showed her what I was doing these days with astrology and technology and her look of amazement never ceased, as if primitives were meeting Atlanteans for the first time.

I rode my bike slowly into town, not tired at all, but caught up in remembering the one lady who had influenced my life more than anyone else on the planet, the lady who inspired me to become a Magi. I felt her spirit smiling down upon me, happy to see me following my nature, living a collective dream for humanity. She was such an inspiration herself, a veritable Renaissance woman that inspired me to the same lofty cultured heights. She was a master teacher of astrology, a religious and spiritual scholar, a seeker of truth. She was also an avid cook, gardener and painter. She used to go on trips to the mountains and foreign lands like Peru to snap pictures of birds. She loved watching birds and she loved painting them even more. Her house is a museum of birds, nature, and astrological imagery.

I remember the look of surprise on her face when she drew my chart up. I watched her draw the little symbols on the chart in utter fascination as this magician before me peeled back the secrets of the universe to reveal my destiny. She said, "You are a born astrologer. How would you like to attend my classes." Not only that, she used to give Lee and I private lessons on the weekends to home-cooked bread and hot tea. I still remember pushing through the mazes in the wheat fields between our neighborhoods to go study astrology in great anticipation of what I would learn that day.

So I found myself sitting in the Virginian Hotel, sitting at the desk of a famous dead writer, thinking about my released beloved teacher, released from her bodily pain. It didn't take long to decide that I was staying in this Old West hotel tonight to commune with their spirits. The people that run the place seem strangely disconnected from this era by a shade or three, wrapped in the history of their hotel, but I trust in my heart and see goodness in their spirits, despite their struggles with ordinary life. Maybe I'm the weird one, because I've released my cares of worldly things.

I will strike out for Rawlins tomorrow morning when the roosters crow again, the Droid and the real ones outside. But tonight, I write this blog post and remember my teacher Bonnie Wingo, the greatest most influential woman I've ever known. I write this with tears streaming down my eyes in a booth inside the hotel's busy tavern. People stream in and out in time with my tears, eating, renting rooms, living their lives as I contemplate death. It's a strange life we live on all these varying wavelengths...

The ancient Indians used to come here for Pow Wows specifically to make sacred medicines. They also found the hardest trees here for making bows. Tonight I shall let their spirits mingle with Bonnie's and Owen's and see what magic happens. I feel inspired to work on editing my next astrology documentary on chart interpretation. Medicine Bow I ask you to open my heart to anything! Pierce my wounded heart with your medicine-laden arrows...

Pushing the Limits

An Amazing Start

The night before my departure into the unknown I went to sleep at 9 PM. My acupuncturist says that each hour of sleep before Midnight is worth two hours after Midnight because the Yin force of rest is reaching its peak, and I found this to be quite true, especially that hour between 11 and 12. So I woke up excited to go and saw that it was light outside, but it was just the illumination of a street light. I checked the clock and it was only 1 AM. So effectively I had already had 7 hours sleep! Now I had to lie there waiting till dawn broke. I tried to catch some more Z's but my brain was racing with excitement about the upcoming adventure. My brother Marc told me that 65 miles in a day would be too much, but I knew I could do it if I willed myself to.

The problem with that theory is that I've actually had little time to train and prepare for such a grueling ride beyond visualization. I had ridden a mile here and mile there but without a full load. I basically loaded my bike down on the night before I rode to Loveland, 31 miles. That ride hurt a lot, but I thought I had worked through the aches and pains of a sore bum and was ready to go. I was terribly mistaken!

The short ride to Fort Collins was about 7 miles where I spent some time with my friends form high school, Melissa, Jim, and their daughter, who took a liking to me on the playground chasing her around the rocks and play structure. I even walked on my hands for her and haven't done that for a while. One of my core intentions for this journey is to really get back into my body and spending time in nature. I didn't realize that this trip would make me all too familiar with my body through ache!

So I woke up supercharged from spending time in Fort Collins hanging at the Alley Cat local coffee shop and enjoy the tasty Bann Thai food. I was recharged and ready to ride with the wind again. I knew it was going to be a tough day, and that I might not make it to Melissa's friend's house on the outskirts of Laramie, but I was determined to give it my all.

The day started off with great energy and omens like the street signs "Constellation" and "Uranus" for an astrologer on a bike. Uranus was the old Greek Sky Father, creator of the starry heavens, the constellations, so that seemed appropriate. I asked myself, "Which came first the Constellations (star groups) or the Sky Father, and decided that the Uranus archetype working from the archetypal dimension that glues the Spiritual Realm to the Emotional, Mental and Physical Realms had to precede the actual creation of stars. The Greeks were right!

I started off the day with great energy, despite the interruption in my sleep period, and rode quickly through the ten miles of Fort Collins passing the University. I saw the football team out there doing conditioning drills in shorts and t-shirts and fondly remembered the days when football training was the center of my outward existence. Such a long time ago, and so unimportant now. But the dedication to the sport, to training, to the team were great lessons for life. But for now, it was me and my new TREK bike called Magellan.

I headed up through the foothills often stopping to take pictures to upload to Facebook. I found the slope of the hills starting to grow and my legs were burning and enjoying the workout. My cyclist brother said that I needed to constantly sip water so that I didn't become dehydrated so I kept on gulping down water with a lime-flavored electrolyte wafer dissolved in it. I felt fine. I'm only carrying two water bottles with a back up third in my saddle bags for camping. The problem with that practice is that, while it is lighter, filling up can be a problem when you find yourself in isolated territory. And this ride was definitely through isolation.

I ran out of water just as I came across an old boarded up cafe as I had planned. But I didn't plan on it being closed! I had to beg for water from the post office clerk who was happy to help. I began worrying about the journey ahead, seeing how that was supposedly the last stop before Laramie. I decided to practice faith and strike out up the next grueling hill. The hills kept growing in slope and distance and my legs were killing me, my butt was in excruciating pain from the seat, and my ams were getting sunburned but I didn't even realize it! I was just struggling to make it to the next apex, only to find another apex in the distance. Uphill, Uphill, Uphill...that was the name of this game.

I ran out of water again at Virginia Dale, almost to the state line, and thought about stooping at an Abbey to ask the sisters for a drink but ended up stopping at an isolated house hoping there wasn't a big mean dog waiting. I yelled from the road and got the attention of the lady who dwelled there and asked her if she could help me out with some water. Not only did she help me, she gave me an extra water bottle filled with water and lemon juice! I was ecstatic! She was my savior in that moment. If she was Christina Jesus would be proud, when I was thirsty she gave me water. I asked if I was near the summit of the road and she basically said I still had a long way to go. Oh no!

Just when I thought my body couldn't feel more exhausted, my lungs began to hurt from the shift in altitude. I hadn't realized that I had ascended 3000 feet, and the oxygen levels in the air had gone down. So now my lungs were hurting bad, my legs were burned past their limit, my arms and legs were burnt, and my head was spinning. I kept looking on the roadside for hidden potential camping sites. Then I saw it:

A Rest Area!

I have never in my life been so happy to pull into a rest area until now. I rolled my bike past the bathrooms up this small hill to a set of picnic tables under a sun shelter. My body was done! I called my energy healer friends and asked them for some distance healing and they went to work. I rolled out my Thermarest mat on one of the tables and figured I'd snooze for a few hours before deciding to either camp or go on. After my nap I felt slightly recharged. I went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. The healings had worked, because I felt amazing suddenly. I decided to brew my first cup of Yogi Green Tea with Triple Echinacea to help my immune system adjust to all this exercise and altitude.

My Yogi teabag had a message printed on the little piece of paper attached to the string. "You must live for something higher, bigger, and better than you." That got me thinking. The purpose of my journey was to share astrology with whoever I met that showed even a passing interest, in addition to other purposes, such as Locational Independence and experiencing the world through travel. I remembered the people asking Forrest Gump why he was running, what his "CAUSE" was, world peace, hunger, etc, and he just said he felt like running.

I thought about the Oil Spill in the Gulf and realized we already had the same crisis before the spill as I rode down the road. It's just been hidden from view because it's so spread out. The most common things you see off the side of the road are dead animals about every mile, and rubber. Dead birds are the most common behind snake skins and other gruesome sights. We live in the land of rubber and death already! And it doesn't look like we're even remotely ready to change our ways as a culture as we keep glorifying the Oil resource over truthfully developing new modes of harnessing energy. If only we had an extension cord to plug into the sun!

But I didn't want my cause to be about suffering animals or anti-car platforms. I spent too many years in secret hatred of cars as a bicyclist. After owning and operating a vehicle this past four years, I have compassion for everyone who owns a car. We are slaves to our automobile culture. I'd rather live in a town where I can walk or bike to everything and save my money for creative projects. Cars just eat through your wallet! They always need repairs, fuel, insurance, not to mention the monthly payment. I've come to the realization in my life that nothing can justify that sacrifice of resources just for the convenience of puttering down the freeway full of angry drivers who are trying to text someone at the same time. We've gone batty as a culture trying to accelerate ourselves to be effective. We just need to slow down and take a deep breathe a rethink our priorities for being here.

At this point I see my creative projects, my son, and possibly future love and the experience of other cultures the only true motivating reasons to continue my existence on this planet. I've never been suicidal or anything, I love life and will live it to the fullest extent of the cosmic laws! However, I see what we're doing and I'm disappointed in humanity. Most folks are good people with loving hearts and concerned for their fellow brother and sister. I just think we get into trouble with our tacit mental and emotion ascents to a runaway lifestyle that we are simply indoctrinated into and that pushes various philosophies and religions on us which divide more than unify. Religious differences has been one of the greatest sources of heated conflict throughout history, spurring religious war after religious war. This seems ironic given that most religions preach the love of your neighbor, and some include your enemies in that field of love.

But I digress. I guess my cause is two-fold. The first cause is astrology. Astrology needs a champion after years of being downtrodden by the educated elite whether of scientific or religious persuasion. Why isn't astrology taught in universities, even as a social/anthropological study? It has been systematically repressed and driven out by those who misunderstand or misinterpret it. That's going to change with the rise of the Internet and global free access to your astrological birth chart. I think the religions of the Aquarian Age will be influenced by the magnificence of the heavens and the direct connection to inspiration drawn from the cosmic consciousness that pervades the Universe. Everyone I encounter, including the so-called skeptics, are absolutely amazed by even a brief interpretation of their character an the seasons of the soul revealed through astrology. It's as if a whole new universe with new implications opens up. There is magic after all and it's contained in the field of consciousness!

So I woke up from my nap and pondering such questions and wondered if I should press on. I put on my red long-sleeve shirt to protect my arms from further burning. I went to the bathrooms again and this traveler told me that it wasn't to much further to the summit, and that after that it would be downhill. That got me excited, so I packed up and pointed the bike toward another steep hill! The guy was way wrong! The hill he was talking about only came after many more smaller hills and my legs were already shot. I got to the state border and clicked a quick picture of the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign and trudged on. The Sun was making its descent on the Western horizon and I needed to reach that supposed downhill stretch. A telephone company man stopped to see if I had enough water and told me that the distant hill ahead was the last one before the downslope. I would believe it when I saw it!

I reached the hill and indeed he was correct. I started my gradual ascent and enjoyed the breeze, stopping only once at this ancient general store where a toothless old man sold me three bottles of delicious juice. As the Sun crept closer toward the horizon I decided it was on, between me and the Sun. Who would get to their destination first? I pedaled like a madman through the worst pain ever in my rear. My legs burned and I was ready to fall off the bike, but my spirit soared with the downhill slope. I just needed to reach the cement factory where my hosts said to turn at, then I'd be there.

My cell phone died and I couldn't get my charger plugged into it because when I stopped about a hundred mosquitos swarmed me. I passed a fellow cyclist with a flat tire and asked if he needed help, but he was fine save the mosquitos. It turns out that Wyoming has experienced a lot of rain this year, which has left an overabundance of standing water where the mosquitos love to breed. So now, I couldn't call my hosts to tell them I was going to make it and despite being more exhausted than I've ever been in my life, I couldn't stop for even a second as mosquitos were swarming around me! To make matters worse, when I reached the Cement plant, I realized that there house was another ten miles or so out into the country down bumpy dirt roads! And the Sun had touched the rim of the mountains! I wanted to panic, but I held myself together. At that point I was too spent to cry or freak out, so I just kept pedaling.

Luckily, as the Sun went down to defeat me the wind picked up and I could walk the bike without too many mosquitos attacking me. I pushed on riding alternating with pushing the heavy bike. The Gibbous Moon in Sagittarius rose as a beacon to light my path, illuminating the forlorn dirt path and I thought about just camping in a ditch after almost falling into it several times, slipping on the loose rocks and dirt clods. This was hell on earth, but I couldn't even engage my philosophical brain. All I could do was put one foot in front of the other and push, or jump back on the bike and pedal till my legs screamed in agony inside and pray no farm dogs would attack me. Despite all that, I had forgotten the last part of the directions, and my head was spinning in delirium. Which way to go? I stopped and asked a rancher if he knew the Rapsons, my hosts. He said just go about two more miles to the cattle gate, push the button to open the gate and then go about two more miles and its at the top of the hill on the left. Great! I almost collapsed going back down his steep driveway where I had left the bike at the bottom.

I wanted to scream! The heroic superhero complex I live with had been defeated at last. I felt human and weak. I felt like giving up and shipping my bike to my friend's house in Missoula and just taking a bus, my old favorite form of travel. After almost collapsing four more times, I turned my bike light on and prayed to Venus shining brightly behind me to let them see me. They did, as I saw the lights inside their house flashing to me that I had the right place. I barely made it up the rocky driveway with the bike. ANd I could barely talk to them as they guided me into their beautiful house after parking my bike in the garage.

They went to bed and I took a long hot shower, even though I could barely stand up. I crawled into bed and recharged my phone and called the people who were concerned about me like Mom and Dad and my friend Melissa. I had made it! I couldn't believe it. I pulled out some Thai Curry noodle soup packets and boiled some water, sipping hot spicy soup in bed. My lungs felt terrible, cringing within like they were clawing at my ribcage. In seconds after I downed the soup, I was asleep and wasn't quite sure I'd wake up again.

I had left at 7 AM and arrived at about 9:30 PM, 14 hours of pain including the two hour rest. I was impressed by my courage to press on and make my destination but angry for being so stupid. Why fight the river? I should have just camped at the rest area, but I'm too Aquarian stubborn, especially when I get an idea in my head. It might take me a few more days to recuperate here in Laramie. I'm almost afraid to get back on the bike as my rear and the seat are not on good terms this instant. It hurts just to sit here in the coffee shop chair. At least it's padded! I met a lawyer named Charles just now who has cycled across the country and we exchanged emails and information. He told me to keep at it and said it takes about a week of getting used to. After that I will be fine. That was comforting. The Universe moves in mysterious ways, and I'm committed to following its textures!

The First Stop!

The First Sojourn (aka my rear hurts)

Yesterday I rode my bike from the Boulder area up to Loveland, thinking it would take 3 to 4 hours at 31 miles. I made it in 2.5 hours plus a 30 minute break for lunch! I was flying over the terrain so fast that I forgot to take one picture. I wanted to see how fast I could actually go in order to dispel any delusions of grandeur I might have had about the distances I could cover in a day.

I did have a minor repair to make when I first got going at 1:45 PM on Jun 20th. The front tire began rubbing hard against the left front break pad. I guess the weight I added to the front panniers (saddle bags) shifted the tire over. It was a quick fix in the grass with an allen wrench, but such a bummer when you are heading down the road full of inspiration!

After that it was smooth sailing, and I man sailing. When you're carrying so much gear, you can peddle one time and the gear momentum keeps you going for a while at a cool 10 miles per hour, unless of course you hit an incline even of 1 degree. Then you have to peddle hard in a low gear (I never downshifted into the lower set of gears) jus to maintain 4 MPH! Whew, and your legs burn deep. But then I managed to break my speed record of 22 MPH set last week with an amazing 31 MPH down a sloping hill. I sped past a field full of cows and moo'd at them loudly, and they all looked at me like I was crazy, turning their heads toward me! I felt blessed by the Taurians!

The main problem was that I'm wearing a backpack and I'm too stubborn to give it up, because originally I was going to go vagabonding to foreign lands with no bike. The bike may get ditched in San Fran or Hawaii. We'll see. I hadn't named this blue aerodynamic machine yet. I wanted to experience some blood sweat and tears with the bike first. I take my relationship with bikes very seriously. This is only the fourth bike I've owned in 39 years. But the name hit me in the middle of the trip.

Magellan!

I keep talking about how it would be cool to circumnavigate the world on a bicycle, so in the hopes of attempting and accomplishing that, I dubbed this amazing bike Magellan. It even sounds like a Magi in the first two syllables!

When I finally got to Loveland, I came swooping down the last hill right past my storage locker and waved at my stuff. When I got to my mom's place a mile into town, I was glad she wasn't there, because I immediately unpacked the entire bike and gave serious thoughts to every item I'm carrying. Mainly because my butt and back were in a lot of pain. My brother Marc told me that my bum was going to ache bad, but there's nothing like experiencing it to get you to lighten your load. So I got rid of some of those extra shirts, etc and repacked everything smarter, with minimum weight in the backpack. I like that the backpack shielded my hind side from the intensity of the sun. That was a bonus feature! So now I'm only going to carry my Thermarest sleeping mat, my I-pad, and my Passport in the top of the backpack so there's not a bunch of weight on my lower back causing my butt to hurt even more.

According to the experts you have to develop new muscles in your rear for this. It's like weight lifting. After a good workout you need a rest period to let the muscle tissues rebuild. So that night I watched the Truman Show on my HD TV at my mom's house and thought about how I feel like Truman heading toward that wall that defines the fake boundary of this reality we tacitly accept. My intention is to bust out of this false existence and find a new way of being in the universe!

Fellow Magi Peter Roth, one of my deepest spiritual brothers on the planet called me the next day and asked if he could drive up from Denver and hang one last time. I was delighted. I had settled in at a cool coffee shop called Dag Boz in downtown Loveland, CO where I walked in for my first stop of the journey to work on my lap top and finish digitizing 20 years of writing. Plus I had two more hours of HD video to download of Peter and myself at the Flatirons the other day where we interviewed each other for the new astrology documentary.

Right when I walked into the coffee shop I encountered two baristas who were talking about ASTROLOGY! I walked up and smiled and told them about my profession and my journey. One particular young woman named Marjorie jumped out of her skin, as she had just set a goal to have an internship with a professional astrologer. She loved astrology! So of course I settled in at a table and broke out my lap top for a 20 minute coffee shop special interpretation! And of course, the cosmic muse came through and blew her mind with the wisdom of astrology. I think we're gonna be training together over the internet soon! That's a picture of her with a complementary copy of Return of the Magi above.

By the time I had sat at the coffee shop all day working with Peter, my lower back hurt too. I think they chose those wooden chairs just to get the customers to leave quicker! But I was there from AM till 7 PM! So after that my brain was fried and Peter and I went up to Fort Collins where we had amazing Thai food at Bhan Thai near the University. I had their Mussaman Curry because ever since I tasted the most perfect meal in my life at Thai Orchid restaurant in Asheville NC, I'm on a quest to experience that again! It was quite amazing here too! Plus they had vegan Coconut Ice Cream that Peter, a fellow vegan, and I devoured. They even gave us shredded coconut to put on top of the coconut ice cream, which seemed incestual to me. Peter and I love to laugh together and make up puns, two wise crack machines! Part of me would love to hang out in Fort Collins and work on creative projects for a month and eat at Bhan Thai, but the road is calling me hard, and Nelson BC is my destination where I intend to "settle" for a season or two. I do plan on stopping in south of Missoula to hang with some fellow Magi in the woods of Rivendel (actually Hamilton), so that will be restful.

Today I'm back at Daz Bog doing some last minute computer preparations and writing this blog before I strike out for Fort Collins today. I'll at least spend one night there hanging with my friend Melissa and her family. She's an energy healer and chiropractor, and she's offered me an adjustment, and I can't say no to that! I plan on waking up early the next day and riding for my firs full day into the wilds of Wyoming! Hopefully I'll have that seat broken in a little better with my healed rear, less sore back, and adjusted neck!

One with the Road and Wind

A day may come when the Magi return, this day, we Ride with the Road and Wind! After months of preparation, deliberation, carefully and strategically selecting each piece of equipment for the journey at hand, I finally get to ride down the road! Woo hoo!!!
I woke up in the bedroom that I attained first satori in and sang "Leaving on a bike plane" to my new family, the I-pad, the Macbook Pro, and the Droid (C3KP).

I was supposed to leave yesterday, but I had four charts and numerous things to mail, including a writer's care package, my lap top backpack full of creative supplies. I shipped that ahead to Canada so when I get there and spend my first three months in a cool location working on creative projects and inspiring people with astrology, I won't have to lug my big mama backpack down to the internet cafe. Remember, my vow of the magi is to only linger in an awesome location for 3 months or 6 months if I really like it and the flow is happening, but no more than two seasons. We'll see how that vagabonding lifestyle goes. I think it will fit my nature like a glove.

I decided to wait till today because the Moon was moving in to activate my Grand Air Trine with Mercury over on my Gemini Moon. That seemed auspicious especially with Venus trine my Jupiter/Neptune/Mars in Sag and Mars squaring them. In addition to day was Father's Day and I wanted to get one last game of Scrabble in with my dad. I just played a seven letter-word "VINYARD" for 80 points and took the lead in the 2nd quarter! In addition to that, my good friend and spiritual sister Toni Toney of NewEarthWisdom.com is on her way back to Asheville from Ashland Oregon and just happened to stop for the night in Boulder, so we shared vegan chile and soy chais at the Book End cafe this morning (Thanks Lea!).

So after this game of Scrabble, I'm hopping on the bike and heading north into the Wilds of Wyoming. I'll be stopping today after a mere 31 miles in Loveland to hang with my mom for a night or two and watch movies and take more digital pictures o my writings before I lock them away in storage possibly forever...and then my next journey will take me from Fort Collins-Loveland, after visiting with my good friend and spiritual sister on the path Melissa the Chiropractor (who I sold my former Dell lap top and HD digital projector). I'm off to Laramie WY, 65 miles away. Hopefully I can make it in one day. I'm staying with friends o Melissa's who own an art gallery in the most liberal town in Wyoming! Can't wait to meet Shannon and bless her baby with a chart interpretation of her newborn baby. That will be exciting. I couldn't find my Gold, Frankincense ad myrrh, but oh well.

The Scrabble score currently stands at 262-210, but my dad looks like he's brewin' a big word over there across the table. I just drew the Q and I have a U on my rack, whew! He's going down on Father's Day. Sorry dad. I love ya but I can't let you beat me on my way out the door!

In other news, I found a great FTP program for the MAC called Transmit so I can upload website updates. We'll see how it goes, but I think it will be great.

I want to thank my stepmom and dad for hosting myself and Arian during these last four months near Boulder, my favorite city on the earth. I also want to thank all those clients and friends who ordered charts and sent donations to make this journey possible. I'll be taking those hand-knitted turquoise socks along for the journey! I look forward to meeting, working with, and playing in life with Alisha, fellow astrologer from Seattle who has fallen in love with nelson, British Columbia. That's the main reason I'm going there first instead of straight to San Francisco. We plan on creating an educational series called the Promethean Fire-Side Chats.

Can't wait to camp near the Grand Tetons on Wyoming and gaze at the stars at night! Finding cool camping spots will be exciting and fun. I'm a bit nervous and excited as I contemplate the future. But I am certain that I was born to undertake this quest, traveling alone at first until Arian catches up at the end of the Summer. Who knows where I'll be by then? Anyway, I hope you keep following this blog and checking in on my continuing adventures!

The last word on my rack is EXILE...very appropriate... My dad just gave in and played his last tile. Final Score 359-305. My 561st victory feels interesting because butterflies are fluttering in my stomach. Time to walk out the door and become one with the road! May the spiritual force of the Universe guide my wheels!

Winter Storms in Wyoming

Gemini New Moon - The Trickster

I wanted to leave under this New Moon, but it ain't going to happen. I have tons of video footage to download for my new astrological documentary on chart interpretation called Astrology Demystified. I have several charts to record and send off! I have my website to launch. I still have to send my son's possessions to him...seven heavy boxes going to Dauphin Island in the Gulf Coast where they are surrounded by oil. And I still have another five years of writings to digitize and upload to Evernote.com, the file storage website. Among other things, there's a winter storm watch on for central Wyoming!

I relish the moment when I actually head down the road, but I don't want to head into a Winter Snow Storm in late Spring. Even the hosts I'm staying with at my first stop in Laramie, WY called this morning and suggested I wait.

In the mean time, I'll be downloading video and taking pictures of everything I'm bringing along for the journey. Look for a new link on the TravelingMagi.com website soon that says GEAR. I'll post pics of all that I'm carrying just so you will know! I hope to get my worldly possessions that are with me down to less than 51 "things" or sets of things like "socks". We don't need to get technical now! Although, technically, I do have a 5 foot by ten foot storage locker a mile from my mom's new apartment in Loveland Colorado, but it's mostly loaded with books and bookshelves, which I'm planning to replace on my I-pad by the time I ever return. I've already downloaded a lot!

In addition, my whole computing life has shifted as I made the switch to MAC at last. You know what they say...Once you go MAC, you'll never go back! I was able to not only get the coolest 13" MACbook Pro on the planet, but also purchase and install the Adobe CS5 Master Collection for MAC, about 15 programs that will blow your mind! Thanks to those who sent donations during these rugged financial times. You've demonstrated great faith in me and I aim to please with this journey! Anything you see created on TV or in print was most likely created on one of these cool programs. Photoshop, Illustrator, Priemere Pro, After Effects, Indesign, Soundbooth, etc.

In addition, the new Indesign adobe program for laying out books is capable of creating e-books in the epub format like on the I-pad with the turnable digital pages. The books I'll be writing will of course come out in holdable form, but I will also be creating them in electronic downloadable form. So be excited, because I finally get to share 18 years of contemplation! Woo hoo!

Right now as I'm typing this I have my Macbook Pro set up next to my I-pad and they are both linked together in Dual Moniter flow thanks to the Air Supply App I downloaded for $10 that allows you to use your I-pad a s a dual monitor with a MAC, essentially doubling your creative screen space! I also have my $5000 HDV camcorder plugged into the MAC and I'm downloading a five hour presentation by Richard Tarnas, author of Cosmos & Psyche as well as Passion of the Western Mind, which was the first thing I ever filmed when I got my new camera. No one has ever seen this footage yet! Not even me. I just left them in my closet for three years waiting to one day get to it. You can thank Jozef Slanda (the musician for Return of the Magi) for lighting a fire under my arse about it. He really really really wants to see this archetypal workshop that Rick does about music and astrology. It will be up soon for your edification on AstrologyIlluminated.TV but I might ask for a donation because it's a lot of frickin' hard work when all I want to do is ride ride ride!

Life the Universe and Renewal

In other news I feel like a new being with a new lease on life. I even finally upgraded my Solar Fire astrology program from Astrolabe to Gold 7! Turns out you're supposed to be able to print a calendar out that list all your pertinent transits and progressions by date! How cool is that. If it's email-able I'm sure I can send calendars to people!

In addition, I got Windows 7 which I can run on MAC through a process called Virtualization, using another program called Parallels. Awesome! Because I have a lot of cool Windows programs that I would love to take on the journey (yes some games too!) I might get lonely at an internet pub in the middle of Wyoming surrounded by cowboys...LOL

I also installed the Windows 7 on the supercomputer that I used to make Return of the Magi on, which is a good thing because it has crashed three times in three years. I think it was too big for its own britches after I bought the futuristic works for it spending over $9,000 on it. Windows XP just could not handle the technology. Windows 7 looks amazing on it. I've never looked into a monitor before and said "Wow!" well until I unpacked the Mac Book Pro the other day. But hey, that's two Wows in two days. Visions abound!

So enjoy the Gemini New Moon centered on reading, writing, learning, speaking, listening, networking, and finding solutions, because this will be a fine one to remember. I love Jupiter and Uranus in the sky together, they look so cool on all three of my astronomy app on I-pad!

The New Layout

I hope you like the new layout for the blog with the maps. I don't really like the brown color, what has brown done for me lately? Oh yeah, the UPS just delivered my new computer from Shanghai, China. So in honor of that we're goin' brown baby! Brown with olde world maps indeed!

The Fires of Inspiration are Stoked

Jupiter in Aries - Renewing the Struggles of Ancient Times

Today the planet Jupiter entered the first degree of the Tropical Zodiac, the living evolving Zodiac that takes its beginning point in the heavens from the place the Sun crosses during the Spring Equinox. Jupiter is the planet of philosophy, religion, culture, and divine inspiration and Aries is the archetype of the Dare-Devil, Warrior, Leader, Pioneer, and Hero. Fire upon Fire can lead to conflict or major uplifting!

The first thing I noticed when I woke up is that everyone's plans had changed. Whatever they planned yesterday was off, it was time for action and adventure. I noticed some heated attacks against astrology appearing on some of my AstrologyIlluminated.TV Youtube channel. People are insisting that astrology has been debunked and is some old superstition and that it's a load of crap. It reminded me of Han Solo telling Obi Wan "I can't believe you subscribe to that ancient superstition. No cosmic force controls my destiny." My responses?

First to the Cicero argument about how could a bunch of soldiers die in battle the same day with different horoscopes?

Astrology has not been debunked, otherwise why would millions of souls find inspiration and meaning through using it. Those soldiers who died were serving as part of a nation, and that nation had a birth chart, and astrology has a field of knowledge now to deal with the charts and destinies of nations called Mundane Astrology. Makes me realize that you forgo pieces of your own chart and its magical destiny when you sign up to play a role as an agent of a nation or institution.

What force could possibly influence our lives from the planets and stars? The biggest force at the distances we are talking about is the gravitational force from our own Sun. Then how could those forces, once identified, control human destiny? This is just nonsense.

Gravitation is a mere servant of the Consciousness that pervades the universe. Consciousness is the FORCE, the Unified Force, that allowed you to make that post and think those thoughts, even if they are full of error and ignorance. Obviously you have not experienced the magic of a professional astrological consultation. If you did, your close-mindedness masquerading as culturally-indoctrinated skepticism would rethink it's position...

Also, astrology is part science (orbits, cycles, etc) and part mythic art (mythology, archetypes, character expressions, etc) so it's really a hybrid field of knowledge that stretches back to the first stargazers, and as an art it is rather unintelligent to say that an art form cannot be "proved" Who asks if you can prove painting or music? 

The proof lies in the inspiration and contact with the numinous that one derives from the art, and astrology has inspired me and millions of others in a major way. You should be posting this drivel on religious websites, at least astrologers honor and utilize science... I think you just have it out for astrology.

Astrology relies on a geocentric view of the solar system and cosmos. So if you don't believe the sun orbits the Earth surely you have to call shenanigans on this fraudulent bunkum.

Actually astrology relies on a perspective centered in the consciousness of the individual whose birth chart is being interpreted, a relativistic view of the solar system based on the sensitive dependence of initial conditions defining the first moment of life. Relativity trumps mechanistic thinking again...

The same Western thinking rationalists keep launching the same old attacks trying to influence mass opinion against astrology as defenders of the cult of objectivity. Let me see you write an equation for thought forms, emotions, archetypes, spiritual essence, and then we can talk about metaphysics. As Jung put it, Astrology contains within its symbolism all the ancient world's psychology.

Quest of the Magi

A loyal listener to the Cosmic Weather Astrology Podcast named Shannon contacted me last night. She lives in Wyoming in Cheyenne, near the first stop on my Traveling Magi adventure. I've decided to depart under the next New Moon in Gemini because it falls on My Moon sign and in my 7th House, which means the next six months will be blessed with many encounters with amazing people! She is one of these amazing people. She is due to have her first child tomorrow or the next day! She wants me to do an astrology reading of the child's destiny when I travel through Laramie.

What an opportunity to express my astrological gift as a true Magi. I told her I could bring some Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh as well if she'd like. Maybe she is birthing the next female Messiah of the Aquarian dispensation? Who knows? I actually have some Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh in my storage locker, given to me by a fellow Magian from Canada on my journey to Toronto as a gift.

I feel deeply honored to interpret this child's horoscope. I might have to name my bike "Camel"...LOL Shannon had some basic names picked out but I told her that most parents unconsciously give their children names that match the vibration of their Ascendants and the ruling planet of the Rising Sign, so I suggested she just wait till after the child is born. She liked this idea a lot!

Here's a poem I wrote about the Magi called Quest of the Magi.

Inspiration in the Symbol of Adventure

With Jupiter's inspiration working from the Sign of Aries, which is really a symbol of Heroic Adventure and cultivation of Courage through Action, we all need to evolve our wills toward courage, and have faith in the images that reside in our hearts. Yesterday I put my Seven Sacred Days Weekly Calendar in my I-pad Calendar.

I always wondered why the days are ordered in such a random way: Saturday (Saturn), Sunday (Sun), Monday (Moon), Tuesday (Mars Day as in Martes: Tues was the Norse God of War), Wednesday (Mercury as in Mercioles, Woden was the Norse God of wisdom), Thursday (Jupiter Day as in Jueves Jupiter and Thor like Thunder!), and Friday (Venus day as in Vendredi or the Norse Goddess Freya). Why that specific order to the days? The answer lies in Planetary Hours. When the Sun rises on a given day, the first "hour" after sunset is called the hour of the day, so the Saturn hour begins Saturday at sunrise. Then the hours follow in the ancient order of ascending speed, so Jupiter hour follows Saturn hour, then Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Turns out that these hours are powerful for enacting a planetary energy. So if you want inspiration, choose a Jupiter hour. If you want to organize something, choose a Saturn hour. It will flow easier. I've tested this and it is amazing!

There's a new astrology App for the I-pad that included the Planetary Hours called Astrolgo. I began writing this blog post during the hour of the Sun and finished during the hour of Venus, and posted it during the Hour of Mercury!

So why does Sunday follow Saturday and so on? Well if you track the cycle of these Planetary Hours around for twenty four hours starting from Saturn hour, the first hour of Saturday, the next morning begins with the hour of the Sun, so the Sun blesses the day, and Sun-day follows Saturn-day. This continues through the week until after seven days the first hour is once again Saturn hour and we have Saturn day again. Amazing!

Astrology's Value

Even if one does not practice astrology as an art form of poetic inspiration, it should be honored as a study at universities due to the sheer amount of cultural inspiration and education contained within its body of knowledge. Even our language is permeated by astrological symbolism. The word Consideration means to be together with the stars. The word disaster means to be without the guidance of the stars. There are numerous examples of this in linguistics. Kepler, Galileo, and Copernicus, and Newton, the fathers of modern astronomy, got paid to charts for royalty. They were practitioners of this mystic science and they would be highly dismayed with the direction things went with the so-called Enlightenment. We needed the Enlightenment to break the political power of the fake Salvation Religions, but I think we went to extreme with it, denying all spiritual, extra-dimensional realities.

But instead astrology is cast out of the universities, deemed a pile of superstition just because its magical world view threatens both the established religion of Science as well as the Salvation religions that bastardized the great mythic themes of the Piscean Age, seeking to deify the martyr syndrome. Give us a cut of your income and you can come to our club and compare clothing styles, as George Carland so aptly put it.

As a Magi I know it's my responsibility to travel and teach these truths, but I have to admit that there is a voice in my soul that whispers "Let them suffer in their ignorance...Let them fight their petty wars and struggle with mediocrity...let the this world sink deeper into the Shadow realms and be destroyed. Then I hear the call of Aragorn from Lord of the Rings before the Black Gate: "A Day may come when the world of men falls, but it is not this day! This day we fight!"

We fight for consciousness, we struggle to shed light in a world that abhors truth and worships illusions and fear masquerading as reality and security. This day, with Jupiter in Aries as my witness, I choose to fight for a new world. I choose to dedicate my life to dissemination of the truth of astrology as a language of cosmic consciousness even against the wolves of close-mindedness. The internet is here as a seminal advance like writing before, during the Age of Gemini. It will serve us to reach those who would grasp the essential meaning of life! We will not be suppressed as custodians of the sacred wisdom that will bring in the Aquarian Age!