Word of the Day - Clairvoyance

Word of the Day strikes again with some great vocabulary words on divination:

clairvoyance (klar-VOI-uhns) noun

   1. The power of seeing things removed in time or space.

   2. Intuitive insight into things.

[From French clairvoyance, from clair (clear) + voyant (seeing),
present participle of voir (to see).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=clairvoyance

-Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org)

  "South Africa's national lottery is claiming an unlikely victim: vultures.
   Local people -- convinced these birds' superb eyesight gives them the
   gift to see the future -- are eating vulture meat to acquire the power
   of clairvoyance."
   Robin McKie; Vulture Numbers Are Cut to the Bone; The Observer (London, UK);
   Jul 16, 2006.

............................................................................
I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold,
hungry and unhappy like we do. -Cesar Chavez, farm worker and activist
(1927-1993)

Read your own cards? Part 2

While a student of the Tarot, I was taught that one could never read their own cards. The reason is that we are too close to our issues to be able to read them clearly, objectively and dispassionately. But not reading your own cards is hard to avoid, especially if you are pressed for an answer to a question and there are no other tarot readers around. So I have, on occasion, read my own cards.

As an experiment on this blog, I have done a spread for myself and will read the cards. Then we can map the reading's progress over the next few months.

The first post I had on the subject was posted on July 30, 2006. Here is the spread:

When I first read them they spoke of a business proposition that would take time, patience and diplomacy. I thought it would be about my script. Although that is still in play and it still may happen (I do have a couple more months on this reading) another business situation which was difficult and stressful is beginning to turnaround.  Someone at work who has been underhanded is about to be undone. The worst thing I could have done was to get overly emotional. I needed to stay focused and diplomatic. So it seems that the reading is on course. Stay tuned....

Robert Altman

Karen Kuehn  is a wonderful photographer whose work includes a range of celebrity portraits including this fantastic one on Robert Altman reading --- look for it --- tarot cards!

I do not know if he actually reads tarot - a google search turned up nothing on the subject but did lead me to an interesting site where they have Altman's Personality Tarot Card. Enjoy!

Autumnal Equinox

September 22nd marks the Autumnal Equinox. It is the time of year when daylight and night are equal lengths and daylight becomes shorter. It is a time to take stock, harvest and prepare for the winter. It is also called the Solstice which is a Pagan holiday marking the first day of fall. Take stock of your many deeds and prepare! Prepare!

Autumn Moon Festival

September 25 and 26 marks the annual Autumn Moon Festival in San Francisco's Chinatown. It is a thanks for the harvest commemorated with a parade and street fair. Hereis their Website.

But there is more to it than just a parade. According to wikipedia:

The Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian Calendar, a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. At this time, the moon is at its fullest and brightest, marking an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the moon cake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. It is also common to have barbecues outside under the moon, and to put pomelo rinds on one's head. Brightly lit lanterns are often carried around by children. Together with the celebration, there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers, and fire dragon dances. Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of the mythological Chang's, floating to the moon.