JANUARY 2016 – MERCURY RETROGRADE

Eminent astrologer Felissa Rose offers her vision about the upcoming Mercury Retrograde.

A few days after the beginning of the new year, Tuesday, January 5 at 8:06 am EST, Mercury will be going retrograde at 1 degree of Aquarius. It turns direct in motion at 4:51 pm EST on Monday, January 25 at 14 degrees 58 minutes of Capricorn.

As the messenger of the gods, Mercury rules communications, data, the way we pick up, absorb and process information. When planets are retrograde their energy is internalized and while Mercury is retrograde people tend to turn inward and become more introspective. Communications and devices connected to sharing and transmitting information slow down. Equipment, particularly tech ones don't work as well. The internet is slower, more dead zones and call dropping on mobile phones, and satellites tend to get more erratic. From January 5 to the 8th Mercury will be moving through Aquarius the sign governed by the planet Uranus. Mercury rules the logical mind enabling us to acquire the information
necessary for functioning in our daily lives. Uranus governs the intuitive and higher mind. Together they can bring those insights and flashes which enable us to look beyond the mundane to the timeless and universal. Both Uranus and Aquarius rule technology and while Mercury is retrograde there's an added likelihood of defects with tech products and the carriers that transmit the information. Ruling intuition and insight, Mercury in Aquarius can help us to connect to increased awareness and vision.

Beginning on January 8 and lasting through the rest of the retrograde Mercury is moving through Capricorn. This sign is concerned with structure, organization and the practicalities of life. With Mercury retrograde it's harder to get things done and accomplish different tasks as quickly as one might like. The key is to think first and not take impulsive action. Use the practical Capricorn Mercury to not act impetuously, plan ahead and if possible implement important tasks when Mercury is no longer retrograde.

Mercury will be stationary on January 25, when its motion turns direct close to a conjunction with the planet Pluto which is now in Capricorn. This will be felt a few days before and after January 25 and right up to and beyond January 30, the date of it's exactly conjunction. Pluto is the god of the underworld and it brings to light what has been hidden and simmering under the surface. Negatively it rules criminal gangs and terrorists. So more awareness , knowledge and actions of these elements are likely to emerge. On a different level Pluto governs transformation and combined with Mercury increased insight. People born with connections between Mercury and Pluto tend to be quite perceptive and even have “x-ray vision.” Not the ability to look at a person or animal and see inside their body and its organs, but the kind as to whether or not the truth is being told. Sort of (excuse the expression), a built in shit detector. So try and tap into this by listening to your inner voice not necessarily what's being fed to us by the media or those individuals governed by fear.

During the entire time Mercury is retrograde there's s a good chance you might have to repeat or go over what's been done so try and have a backup plan. This relates to data as well. Back-up and save your important files, photos and contacts during all Mercury retrogrades regardless of what zodiacal sign Mercury is moving through.

Use the time while Mercury is retrograde to reflect, reassess and reevaluate. People born with Mercury retrograde tend to be good listeners and often excel at writing. So whether you were born with this position or not, think before you speak and write down your ideas and thoughts. You might be surprised and pleased at your insights, perceptions and understanding.

During 2016 Mercury will be retrograde from April 28 to May, 22, August 30 to September 22 and December 19 to January 8, 2017.

LoveScope for the Week of December 30, 2015

Are you feeling more practical and logical this week? Of course you are. Put all your careful plans into action now - they are guaranteed to succeed.

ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 20)
This might be the best time to take over the world Aries... or at least your part in it. You have ample ambition, energy and strategic insight. Have you done all of the prep work to clear a path for your corporate ascent? If not, start right now!

TAURUS (APRIL 21 - MAY 21)
Taureans love to lounge around the house but if you can rouse your sense of adventure, you find some amazing things happening beyond your front door. 2016 will prove to be a time of far afield exploration and enjoyment. How far is up to you.

GEMINI (MAY 22 - JUNE 21)
Flirty Geminis find that their charming words can get them into delightful trouble. If you have your eye on a certain someone, you can steal their hearts easily. But be very sure of who you capture. Too many hearts can get you in not delightful trouble.

CANCER (JUNE 22 - JULY 23)
If you seek a special relationship with a special person, you can achieve that now. You can be practical in who you seek. But don’t leave life up to just practical concerns. Chemistry and hot cha cha is also important. Steam away Cancer Crab!

LEO (JULY 24 - AUGUST 23)
Your hard work and cooperation with others will be rewarded now, Leo. Being a team player can be frustrating but it has an ultimate payoff as you ascend ahead of the cubicle crowd. Bosses like what they see from you. Take advantage.

VIRGO (AUGUST 24 - SEPTEMBER 23)
Party like there is no tomorrow, Virgo. You are in the center of all of the fun. Be very creative and flexible in what you do and where you celebrate. The folks you boogie with now will figure prominently in your new year plans. Plan ahead.

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 23)
Libras can create the perfect home environment now. Will you host the new years’ event of the year? Maybe. You might also be planning a few remodeling projects now too. Combine both and have an unforgettable way of welcoming in 2016.

SCORPIO (OCTOBER 24 - NOVEMBER 22)
You have some great ideas, Scorpio. Try to share them with those who can help you make your dreams come true. Be especially charming and disarming. You never know what type of relationship you can form with some enticing stranger.

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 22)
The end of the year may be a time to make a few extra dollars, Sagittarius. So check your financial statements, your bank accounts and in between the pillows of your couch for extra change. There is a windfall coming. Get gusty.

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 23 - JANUARY 20)
You are the one to know now, Capricorn. Very powerful and influential people gravitate to you and you can begin to launch some of your personal plans.into action. Start new things, meet new people and create a new look for yourself through 2016.

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 19)
If you are feeling a bit more mellow now, go with the cosmic flow and see what divinations you can divine. Aquarius can get very stressed as the new year approaches so this smooth groove is very welcome. Resolve to relax for the entire 2016.

PISCES (FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 20)
Find all of the most important parties now and celebrate with the most influential folks you can find. Pisces should have their eye on the new year and what they can accomplish. You can achieve anything you set your mind to do. So set your mind.

Never miss your horoscope again -- free sign up here. Here is my favorite book on astrology and a "must" for anyone interested in learning more: Secrets from a Stargazer's Notebook: Making Astrology Work for You and here's a guide to the best books available this month. This column is (c) 2016 THE STARRY EYE, LLC., All Rights Reserved. For Entertainment Purposes Only. Madam Lichtenstein is the author of the best selling astrology book “HerScopes ” now in its 8th printing and available as an eBook 

 

Bleigiessen

A fascinating article from the Forward about ridding yourself of evil by reading the formation of melted lead. It called Bleigiessen

You came just in time!” Aidel Miller said when I walked into her home in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. Wearing a polka dot shirt and a long black skirt, she was standing over a woman draped in a beige blanket. The woman peeked out shyly and tucked her head back in. Miller held pots of molten lead and water above the woman’s head, and poured one into the other. The concoction hissed and popped, revealing twisted shapes: metallic embodiments, Miller said, of the woman’s psychic state.

I had just walked into a Bleigiessen, or lead pouring session. Bleigiessen is a common folk practice in Germany, where the term originates. There, it is a New Year’s custom to predict the coming year by deciphering shapes in the lead. But in some Orthodox communities in Israel and beyond, it is used to cure a specific spiritual affliction: the evil eye. Miller is a well-known Israeli practitioner of lead pouring to “null all Ayin Hara,” or the evil eye, as her business card puts it.

The evil eye is mentioned in the Bible and also in ancient Sumerian texts. According to the late anthropologist Alan Dundes, the belief dates back 5,000 years and is found all over the Mediterranean, and also in India and Ireland. “This idea that a malign glance can do grievous harm to a person and property is of great antiquity,” he wrote in “Evil Eye,” his 1981 book of case studies across the world about the phenomenon. The concept still resonates powerfully today among Israelis and Palestinians alike. Talismans and amulets of eyeballs, sold in virtually every tourist shop in Jerusalem’s Old City, operate on the principle of sympathetic or homeopathic magic, said Lenny Wolfe, an amateur anthropologist and antiquities dealer in Jerusalem. That is, the evil eye can be thwarted by the image of another eye.

But should the evil eye strike, a curative is needed. That’s where lead pouring comes in.

Miller has been practicing Bleigiessen for about 15 years. She first learned of it as a child in Jerusalem, when her brother was exhibiting extreme fears: of cats, of his father’s shoes and of the man who sold the family gas to heat the house. “My mother called a lady” for Bleigiessen, Miller said. “And after that he stopped worrying.”

Miller learned the procedure about 20 years ago. Her neighbor taught her the craft to repay Miller for helping her raise money for her daughter’s wedding.

At first, Miller was afraid to use it on others, worrying that she would remove the evil eyes of another only to have them refocus on her. She also worried that she would contract lead poisoning, a fear that was put to rest some years ago, she said, when a doctor tested her and she came out clean. Miller’s first client was a neighbor who was desperate to find matches for her three children, all in their late 20s. She asked Miller if she knew any Bleigiessen practitioners, leading Miller to use the skills she had learned years earlier. That first lead pouring had strong results. “In three months, they got married,” she said. “I thought, hey, Hashem gave me such a blessing. Why shouldn’t I do it?”

Many similar stories followed. There was the women who couldn’t find work for more than a year. After the lead pouring she was offered a job, and her brother lent her a few thousand dollars out of the blue. Another woman of 38 couldn’t find a match. Less than a year after the procedure she came back to Miller, married, with her newborn. I asked Miller for the example of which she was most proud. “A soon-to-be bride came to me, her face was swollen. The doctors didn’t know what to do to help her,” she said. Miller poured lead. “A day later the swelling went down. It was in time, and everything was beautiful,” she said.

Today, Miller said that she has the imprimatur of several Orthodox rabbis, even as Bleigiessen is a fringe practice in Orthodoxy and beyond. She sees dozens of clients per week in Ramat Shlomo, but her main income is from the Americans who phone her with their afflictions. She has a separate, higher price for them: $101 to signify the angel Michael. (In Gematria, a Jewish numerology code, Michael’s name equates 101.) But it’s not only Jews who call on her. “The secular world and the goyim very much believe in it,” she said.

I was a Bleigiessen skeptic, but when I visited Miller in October, I asked her to do it for me for research purposes. When I walked into the house, she threw a shawl my way to “cover a little bit” because of the holy books in the room. In a side room off the kitchen was her workshop: a pile of pots filled with bits of flaking lead, camping stoves, oven mitts, a hot-water kettle and a bowl full of lead nuggets. Her husband, Avraham Miller, a rabbi, helps her acquire the metal — often from plumbers — but he said lead is growing more difficult to find, since it’s no longer in widespread use because of its poisonous qualities.

Before she began, Miller showed me a mass of lead that she used on the previous client, the one who was there when I walked in. In addition to extracting evil eyes, Miller uses the lead to divine predictions about the person’s life to come by looking at shapes in it. “I told the lady she’s going to have a house,” she said, pointing to a portion of the lead mass that looked like a small roof. She also foresaw love in the woman’s future, and eventually a child. “She needs a shidduch,” a match, Miller said.

She handed me a Hebrew prayer covered in a plastic sheet and asked me to read it three times, Then she asked: “Do you want to tell me anything about yourself? You’re looking to get married? What?” I thought for a moment. “I’m really homesick,” I said. “I miss my family. I feel guilty that I’m so far away.” She looked at me, concerned. “You have to visit them a lot. When you feel bad, go. Just go. You’re going to feel much better.” She said I should use frequent flyer miles to get cheap tickets, and “It’s also good advice to talk on Skype.”

Then she got to work. She prepared the water by dropping in three evil eye blockers: a clove of garlic, salt and a twig of ruta, a kind of Mediterranean evergreen shrub. She asked me if I needed good luck in business. Sure, I said. In went nine pieces of torn bread. I threw on the beige blanket, and she lifted the pots of lead and water above my head. I heard her mumble a Hebrew prayer, and then I heard that hissing sound as the lead hit the water.

When I took off the blanket, Miller showed me the pot filled with lead formations. I could smell the garlic. She pulled out a shiny piece of lead in the shape of a comet, with a bulb and a tail. It was an evil eye. Next she pulled out a jagged strip. It indicated that people were jealous of me. Then, one in the shape of a thorn. “It shows that things are bothering you,” she said. “Like you miss your family.” She pulled out another thorn. “Maybe there was a boy that wanted you and you didn’t want him and he’s upset. That’s what this one is.”

She did the lead pouring again, and then a third time. There were new revelations, good and bad: People had been gossiping about me; they were very jealous of me. Yet I would find love very soon. Good things — she didn’t say what they were — were coming my way.

There was one last thing I had to do to seal the evil eye removal: something to keep the Sabbath. It could be anything, Miller said. Maybe I could give up cooking for a day. I told her I would do the best that I could.

Bleigiessen nonbeliever though I was, I couldn’t help but be comforted by her words. You’ll see, she said. “Things will change for you for the good.”

Naomi Zeveloff is a staff writer for the Forward.

Read more: http://forward.com/culture/longform/323464/how-i-rid-myself-of-the-evil-eye/#ixzz3rgVu0Gvd

Horoscope for 2016, January 2016 and Week of December 28, 2015

Welcome 2016 with a flurry of cosmic activity. The new year looks bright and shiny as crazy Jupiter trines Pluto. So be a bit bright and shiny yourself.

(Blue Ivy Carter has Pluto in Capricorn)

Never miss your horoscope again -- free sign up here. Here is my favorite book on astrology and a "must" for anyone interested in learning more: Secrets from a Stargazer's Notebook: Making Astrology Work for You and here's a guide to the best books available this month. This column is (c) 2015 THE STARRY EYE, LLC., All Rights Reserved. For Entertainment Purposes Only. Madam Lichtenstein is the author of the best selling astrology book “HerScopes ” now in its 8th printing and available as an eBook.

ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 20)
What monumental personal goal decision will you make this fresh new year, Aries? You are poised for greatness and seem to have your eye squarely on the prize. But craft your personal message carefully so that it is not misconstrued or misinterpreted. The bosses may be hard of hearing, but I know that you will get your message across loud and clear.

TAURUS (APRIL 21 - MAY 21)
Itchy travelling feet must be scratched now, Taurus, or you will wander off into uncharted territories. So carefully plan a faraway exotic trip that not only excites your mind but also your senses. It will get you out of your routine and rut and set you on a course of inspiration. Before you know it you will be ready to tackle anything with new verve. Go for the touchdown.

GEMINI (MAY 22 - JUNE 21)
If you are feeling a little hot under the collar this January it may be coming from other areas of your body. Geminis are sizzly and especially sexy now and might be seeking new and passionate connections. Whatever revs your engine will get you going. But take things slowly and be discerning about who you choose. Are those skid marks I see on the side of the road...?

CANCER (JUNE 22 - JULY 23)
Find ways of connecting with those who are very important in your life, Cancer. Building stronger bridges and spending more time cultivating all types of relationships become especially valuable through the year. It is also a good time to handle those who are obviously not working for your benefit. You muster the self control and charm to win them over... and then...

LEO (JULY 24 - AUGUST 23)
Put your mind to work in ways that can lower your stress and make you a calmer, healthier person, Leo. That means you need to focus on life’s basics - food, rest, exercise and meditation. Before you know it you will have more reserves of energy, more oomph in your workday and will get more things done correctly. Then you can totally relax!

VIRGO (AUGUST 24 - SEPTEMBER 23)
Party season will not end with the holidays, Virgo. You now have the uncanny ability to sniff out any great party or celebration and wrangle an invitation. Pace yourself and have a good time. It might even inspire you to take a new direction in your life or try something artistic or imaginative. But dressing as a potted plant to work may not be one of them.

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 23)
There are many things to do around the house now. Libras with an eye to redecorating or even reconnecting with long lost family members will come up with some great solutions. Plan for the long term in any domestic situation. That can mean saving up for a big move or planning ahead for a big reunion. Whatever you do will make you feel more secure and in control.

SCORPIO (OCTOBER 24 - NOVEMBER 22)
If you see something, say something, Scorpio. Not only can you sugarcoat even terrible news or withering criticism, you can actually make others feel fairly good about it. Practice makes perfect. Try your lines in a friendly arena and see who applauds. When in doubt, talk to yourself in the mirror. Do you like what you hear and who you see?

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 22)
There are times when you should be carefully crafting your fiscal budget and there are times when you should loosen your purse strings and enjoy life a little more expensively. This may be one f those times, Sagittarius. What is it that you have always wanted? If you have the discretionary cash, try to make your dreams come true. Life is too short.

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 23 - JANUARY 20)
If you find yourself in the middle of too many events, take a cold look around and see if there is anyone there who can make your life easier and help you out of a jam. Then make a beeline to them and turn up the charm. Capricorns will rub elbows with the high and mighty for a while. They will show you when to wear the elbow pads so you don’t chaff..

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 19)
With all of this stuff going on behind the scenes, it is no wonder that you might become a little paranoid this January, Aquarius. But you may find that you need not worry about others’ motivations. There is karmic payback with a guardian angle meddling in for good measure. You seem to be protected and will not only survive but also thrive. Take your revenge later....

PISCES (FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 20)
There will be increased importance on platonic relationships now, Pisces. That means that you should reach out to pals who you haven’t seen in a while as well as move in new social circles. Join a new club or organization and see who you can meet and greet. Those who you meet now may play a bigger role in your life in the coming months. And even if not, it will be fun.

 

 

Lucky Numbers for the Week of December 25, 2015

Lottery ads tell us you only need a dollar and a dream. But it is also helpful to have a list of lucky numbers to help spur the good fortune ... or fortunes. So with that in mind, here are some lucky numbers that can be used in any helpful way. I gazed into a pool of water, Nostradamus-like, and contemplated the cosmos. Then I mixed the tarot cards and allowed the spirits to guide me to the cards that represent the lucky numbers for this week. Nothing is guaranteed but who knows ....?

I choose eight numbers because 8 is the number of wealth.

Here are the lucky numbers for the week of December 25-31, 2015:

1, 9, 34, 44, 46, 54, 61, 77

There are many ways to delve into your own consciousness to find luck and intuition. Try reading Dream Power/Improve Your Luck (Super Strength Series) and see if your dreams give you any clues and premonitions. Here's a guide to the best books available this month