I've decided to start cross posting the Astrological entries from my Heavenly Cooking blog here.  Granted this idea came to me a few days after my last entry, but as it relates to a rather long event, I'll post it anyhow...

Mars, who has already been on the down-low with his fires seething in  the waters of Cancer, has gone retrograde until the end of January.  This event only occurs once every 2.2 years, so has some oomph behind it, and will continue to be felt to some degree all the way until April 4th, when the planet passess the station it was in when it hit reverse.
Every retrograde cycle generates some degree of introspection, but in Cancer this phase of introspection will be especially intense!  Many will feel at the mercy of their environment instead of their self-directed actions, and will be put in the situaiton of re-thinking and re-addressing family issues, domestic environments, and any thing which helps to create security and comfort.
As Mars relates to the Mouth (via the Letter of Light, Peh) and Fire, things ingested may not sit well in the stomache.  Indegestion, allergic reaction, infection, and food poisioning are all more likely at this time.
Also take precaution against irrationality, yours and others, most especially on the homefront, or in any environment related to security and comfort.  People will be prone to rethink previously granted freedoms and replace them with momentary restrictions and controls.
The best approach to this periord is to take as many long, slow breaths as you can muster and indulge in thoughts and daydreams more than impulse and action.  This is a perfect time for going back to your drawing board to see if your life is as you really want it to be.  Spend time envisioning the future you would like to create.

My dear friend Anthony recently asked that I help to illuminate for him the correspondences relating to each of the seven Interior Stars or chakra centers.  While my initial impulse was to direct Anthony to buy my book, I decided instead to turn my response into blog matter, as the topic is one near and dear to my heart.  Besides, with the moon still in my native placing of Aquarius, I am feeling compelled to examine sentiments that digress from the norm, and if truth be told, rarely do my interpretations of those seven inner lights flow with the mainstream.

I am a fan of the Ageless Wisdom.  That is, the strands of fundamentally alike Knowledge found in the Mysteries of places like Tibet, India, Sumer, Chaldea, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Cypress, Russia, even South America, and called 'Ageless' because it remains timeless, being as pertinent to the modern world as it was to the ancient one.  Like some hunt for the Grail, I hunt for these strands, these threaded points of connection and correlation, and partake of the same through contemplation and inner reception.

It is important to remember that a symbol tongue - a Wisdom - remains Ageless only when existing beyond the walls of exacting definition.  For example, I study the Tree of Life.  That includes - but is not limited to - the Qabalah.  While I'm sure many would argue, and I mean no offense, the Qabalah does not qualify here (in my reality) as an Ageless Wisdom, as, even given the variables of the various Traditions and the inherent belief of reception and revelation, there are simply too many pre-defined, pre-labeled components for the Qabalistic tradition to be specifically Ageless.  Yet the Tree of Life in general – a symbol to be contemplated, conceptualized, experienced, received, and revealed – is Ageless; an element of what some might call the Universal Religion, those aforementioned strands which exist beyond place and time.  True Knowledge is experiential, and certainly embraces the revelation of personal experience even when there doesn’t happen to be a pre-existing text to lend its support, or happens to show a relationship with another doctrine.

 

Not to sound contrary but the Hebrew alphabet is often used in Wisdom Traditions or by proponents of an Ageless, Universally-minded Religion in the attempt to communicate correspondences, even when there is no intention to connect to specifically Qabalistic or otherwise Jewish themes.  This draws more questions than almost anything else, and so I will address it in advance… While there are certainly other, simpler reasons and different answers to the equation, where the Wisdom Traditions are concerned it is because the letters of the Hebrew alphabet remain closest to the original Proto-Canaanite script thought of as the “flame letters” or “language of light”.   The language of light is visible to us today through elements of the letters of all alphabets descended from the Proto-Canaanite script, constituting nearly every alphabet presently in use.  However, it is the Hebrew alphabet which remains closest to its earliest predecessor, with only slight modifications having been made to the letter’s form, while sounds, symbolisms, and vibrational constitutions have remained largely intact.  Those who refer to the Hebrew letters as a seed alphabet may not be far off.  Some have suggested that the distinct shape of each of the twenty-two letters can be discerned by biochemists in the twenty-two amino acids used to build the protein structure of the Human body, and by neuroscientists in the phosphene flare-patterns of the Human brain.  There’s also been some demonstration of the correctly pronounced letters appearing in their spectral fingerprints, and correlations to the letters and the electrical origins of the heartbeat and to a specific rotation of the Golden Mean spiral.

 

The twenty-two letters are organized into three categories.  Three are called “Mothers” or “Primaries” and correlate to the three primal forces (heat, magnetism, light), the three primal elements (fire, water, and air before the condensing of earth), and the three vibrational emanations (sound, number, and letter).  Twelve are called “Simples” which represent the twelve zodiac signs – or the interplay of the three primal elements with the four lower ones.  And seven are called “Doubles”, seemingly because the letters have more than one sound or role to play, but also these are the seven “living” planets that correlate to the seven Interior Stars which have two states… quiescent or active.

 

Which brings me to Anthony’s foremost question – what’s the difference?  What does one get when they Master the trials of each chakra center?

 

The difference, my friend, is consciousness – the difference between creating reality by default or by intention.  Each, of course, pertaining to a different realm of existence…

 

The first corresponds to the physical body and to consciousness of cause and effect.  This is all about appropriate action – intentionally planting only those seeds we really want to harvest the fruits of, which for many is indeed most apparent through their sexual activity.

 

The second relates to the Etheric body and the energies which connect All Life.  It is all about appropriate relationship – caring for others as you care for yourself because ultimately we are all emanations of the same ONE THING.

 

The third is not a body, but the first state of consciousness in our three-fold, three-dimensional consciousness… self-consciousness.  It has to do with the identifications we make… do we identify with the egoic self or the Truth of our Self?

 

The fourth is often called the Seat of the Soul, or the abode of our Astral body, the Heart.  Some refer to this chakra center as a Door, the passage through which is said to make the difference between perceiving happiness or perceiving hell.  It is all about Love and appearances… do we Love the image or do we Love actuality?

 

The fifth is another of our triune presence, our Will.  It is where the Hero/ine is faced with a choice (and therefore is sometimes referred to as the chakra of choice) as to whether to choose for his/her perceived Heart’s Desire, or to choose for the greater good of the realm.

 

Sixth is the Third-Eye.  The Mental Body.  Command Central, where the dueling twin hemisphere’s must achieve neutrality so that All can be rightly perceived.

 

Seventh is the “final” state of earthly consciousness… Awareness.  It is called the Crown and relates to Liberation (from the material condition) and Expansion (beyond the cube of Time and Space).  It is where one often encounters the Eternal Now and comes to Know a facet of their own Immortal Nature.

 

For more specific relationships, one can view my page on the subject, here.

If Honey is indeed the "Immortal Essence"... then, considering the truth of what Honey is... the Immortal Essence must be Nurture. 

As I have a deep seated passion for social architecture and new world design, I thought I'd share my interest by sharing this story I'd recently come across...

Masdar Plans World's First Green City

This 3.7 square mile city, Masdar (i.e. "the Source), is intended to be fully constructed and operational by early 2009.  It will use electricity from wind, sun, and geothermals, and completely ban cars within city walls.  The intention is to be zero-carbon and zero-waste, utilizing the most advance technologies available.  This intentional city is being developed by a private joint-stock company that is ultimately owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, which has expressed its commitment to being the world's premiere source of sustainability solutions.  The company has partnered with many larger organizations including MIT, who will open a graduate-level engineering facility there.

The direct link...

The Masdar Initiative