A great sadness.

I don't have any sage astrological commentary about Hurricane Katrina, just sadness at the sight of crazy, beautiful New Orleans under 20 feet of water.

We'll kick down some bucks to our favorite relief organization, but if feels like such an inadquate gesture. Certainly not as magnanimous as leaving a month-long vacation two whole days early...

Bloggus interruptus

Yikes... the Astroblog is languishing in neglect. Have had a completely enjoyable visit from relatives that ended up being an almost total vacation for us as well. More bloggage soon. Meanwhile, there is a new article up on my website, though, in honor of the full moon on August 19:

There is a good reason for Leo energy in our birth charts, and in the world. Where would we be without the joyful spirit of Leo, and without the individual bonds it represents - the ferocious attachment to one's lover, mate, or child? These celebrations of individual need and attachment are the cornerstones upon which societies are built. The Full Moon asks only that you look at your shadow self from across the horoscopic wheel and listen to the other side of the story....

Finding the Inner Puritan

Garrison Keillor, no doubt responding to transiting Saturn approaching his Sun in Leo, ruminates in Salon today * about "finding one's inner Puritan" as the road to "weight loss and eternal happiness."

When I tell people I want to lose weight, I wish they’d look at me in slack-jawed amazement and cry, "You? Lose weight? Are you mad? You are the very picture of slim-hipped elegance." But people don’t, they say, "Have you heard about the North Shore diet?" or "I was reading something about losing weight while you sleep." So there seems to be a perception out there that less of me might be a Good Thing.

* You need to be a Salon member or watch a "Free Pass" advertisement to view this article. Ironically, the "Free Pass" ad I was offered was for an ultra-slim cell phone advertised with the phrase "Thin is in." Heh.

New article at Big Sky Astrology: The Astrological "I"

Now posted at my website: My article "The Astrological 'I': Putting the Self Back in Astrology", which originally appeared in the April/May issue of The Mountain Astrologer.