The current retrograde is supposed to last until September 22.  It's a long one.  Lots of people think that this planetary phenomenon is the reason that things haven't been going their way.  You're not supposed to make any major decisions or stick your neck out during a retrograde.  Why?  Superstition, in a word.

Most people who believe this bunk don't understand what the mercury retrograde really is.  They think it's something serious, when it is really just an optical illusion in the sky.  Mercury appears to be going backwards because of our perspective from here on earth, and the relative movements of the other planets.  For a sky-watcher, it's interesting.  For the superstitious person, it's momentous.  Like zodiac signs in astrology, it guides their choices and gives meaning to events.

People who embrace "new age" spirituality are the most likely to believe in the negative effects of a mercury retrograde.  They also tend to believe in karma and reincarnation.  These beliefs are indicative of the overall ignorance of our populace.  People think that because they have shed institutionalized religion that their new superstition must be better.  Too many people seek explanations for what they experience, and then latch onto them without further consideration.

How is reincarnation any more plausible than heaven and hell?  Are we capable of living with "I don't know" as our answer?  Is intellectual laziness really our future?

 It is man's pretense that because he has choice, he is free.
--Krishnamurti

I have made a vow to attain Enlightenment in the female form - no matter how many lifetimes it takes.
--Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Buddhist nun

All the rivers run into the sea;
yet the sea is not full;
unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.

The Herb Fest was good. I met some really cool people. I found the ND population to be more cliquish than the rest, so I wandered among the botanists and MD's, herbalists and nutritionists, asking everyone their opinions about the lectures. I got a great many opinions and came to a grasp of what people believe in these days...like for example, I would hazard a guess that maybe half of the people at the herb fest believe in past lives. Maybe more. They believe in reincarnation and that your current life is a product of what you did in past lives. Do you? If you do, I'd love to hear the story. I confess: I'm a skeptic. As I've said before I don't "believe" in reincarnation...though it is widely accepted among the alternative healing community.
( the science mind travels in energy-healing circlesCollapse )