Madam Lichtenstein's Cosmic World

5 Crystals Every Traveler Should Have In Their Pocket

 Protection against lost luggage? Good luck making it through airport security with your sanity intact? There's a crystal for that.

Departures magazine takes a look athow crystals can help smooth our most difficult travel experiences:

We all have our tiny travel rituals. Be it rolling our clothing vs. folding when packing, always putting our passport in a certain pocket of our backpack, or indulging in a Cinnabon each time we’re at the airport (we all do that, right?), these specific movements help us feel calmer, and more collected through our journey. And while all of these practices are fine, there may be an easier, and tinier, way to both center ourselves and feel more at home no matter where in the world our travels take us.

“Remember when you were little, you’d go to the park, you’d go to a lake, you’d go to a beach, and you'd pick up pebbles and stones and shells. They were your little treasures. I think a lot of people resonate with the crystals for travel because they remember when they were little kids and went on trips, they would do the same thing,” Heather Askinosie, co-founder of the crystal healing business Energy Muse, told DEPARTURES.

In her new book, Crystal Muse, Everyday Rituals to Tune into the Real You, Askinosie, along with her business partner, co-author and best friend Timmi Jandro, explains how anyone can use the power of these little rocks to feel more centered in both their every day lives and along their travels. Askinosie and Jandro were also kind enough to break down a few key crystals and rituals people should be taking part in when they jet off to a new destination.

Shungite: For Going Through Security

“That's really good for when you have to go through the scanner,” Askinosie said of carrying shungite, a dark, dense mineral rock that comes from the village of Shunga in Karelia, Russia. “The shungite is a kind of energy protection. I have that on my body because I want to go through that machine and be able to have some kind of shield.”

Moonstone: For Protecting Your Luggage

“Moonstone has a reputation,” Askinosie explained of the colorful, popular rock that has long been believed to carry healing properties. “You want to either wear moonstone on your body or have a piece of moonstone in your luggage because there is a rumor that if you have a piece of moonstone in your luggage, your luggage won't get lost.” And, according to Askinosie, it’s worked for her every single time she’s hopped on a plane.

Blue Lace Agate: For Turbulence

“For up in the sky turbulence, I don't go very far without my blue lace agate, which is an amethyst stone,” Askinosie said of the stunning lavender stone that allows people to think more clearly in stressful situations. “So that when the turbulence is happening I have something to hold on to and to rub. I could look down on it and it's soothing and know it's going to be okay.”

Salt: To Cleanse a Hotel Room

“We always bring a little bag of salt with us so that when we get to the hotel room we put a little pinch in the four corners of the bed frame,” the partners said. And typically, travelers will want to go for a Himalayan salt rock, which also comes with its own purifying properties. “It creates an energetic protective shield around your bed that you could sleep better.”

Selenite: To Ward Off Jet Lag

“I also always bring selenite because it's something you could lay on your chest and it helps with jet lag,”  Askinosie explained of the milky white crystal known for its ability to remove negative energy. “These are minor tweaks that make the room feels more grounded. When you're traveling, you want to do little things that help you feel at home so that you could really tap into the environment that you're now in.”

Looking to learn more? You can, of course, pick up a copy of their new book, but if you happen to be in Southern California, Askinosie and Jandro also welcome any and all visitors to check out their showroom. There, you can take a tour and even build your own jewelry pieces so you can bring a little magic with you wherever you go.

Center for Psychological Astrology - Summer Webinars

CPA Summer Webinars

Dear All
Here are the details for our Summer Webinars - you can see the full details and book at http://www.cpalondon.com/seminars.html

Our webinars are real-time, online seminars in psychological astrology. You are able to interact with the tutor and other students as the session happens via a chat box. Experience a MISPA seminar live from anywhere in the world through your computer browser. If you can't make it live you can still book and receive four weeks access to the recording of the event afterwards.
 

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Clare Martin
Signs of the Times
Sunday 29th April 2018 - 15.30-18.00 BST

Charles Harvey wrote that “the deeper significance and purpose of our own lives can only really be understood when seen in the context of the major cycles of which our lives are a particular expression.” (Astrological Journal, March/April 1982) 

In this webinar we will explore the significance in our birth charts of the two major planetary conjunctions which occurred in the last century:  Uranus/Pluto and Uranus/Neptune.  We will also discuss the three planetary cycles currently in their final stages and due to renew in 2020:  Jupiter/Pluto, Saturn/Pluto and Jupiter/Saturn. 

These cycles provide a valuable context for all our chart work and lend an astrological perspective to our understanding of the Baby Boomer generation, Generation X and the Millennials.

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Lynn Bell
Seized from Within: Planetary Hijack
Sunday 6th May 2018 - 15.30-18.00 BST

Strength in a chart can turn to discomfort if one planet grows too dominant, seizing the psyche. A sensitive Moon can morph into an emotional Diva, a penetrating Mercury may leave little room for feeling; Mars can dominates as an abusive boss or parent. If one planet is overactive in our chart, another may stay minimally expressed, unable to give its full range of possibilities.  How do we deal with these power imbalances in the chart?  Planetary strengths and weaknesses don’t always take a predictable form. We will look more closely at traditional notions of strength, and how this may contribute to “renegade” chart patterns.  How do we bring aliveness to those parts of the chart that remain underdeveloped or underused?

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Shawn Nygaard
Astrology, Psyche, and Imagination
Sunday 13th May 2018 - 15.30-18.00 BST

Following the path initiated by Jung, yet paving his own way, depth psychologist James Hillman devoted his life’s work to returning soul to psychology. In his Pulitzer-nominated book “Re-Visioning Psychology,” Hillman lays out his rigorously well-considered vision (or re-vision) of a psychology rooted in the imagination and the kind of imagining identified by Jung as the primary activity of the soul. As Hillman describes, “Fantasy-images are both the raw materials and finished products of psyche, and they are the privileged mode of access to knowledge of soul.”

This webinar explores the archetypal perspective in Hillman’s “Re-Visioning Psychology” as a natural complement to astrology, via the book’s four main sections: “Personifying or Imagining Things,” “Pathologizing or Falling Apart,” “Psychologizing or Seeing Through,” and, finally, “Dehumanizing or Soul-making.” Chart examples will help illustrate how these ideas connect to astrology, can enrich our astrological work, and offer a unique perspective rooted in the depths of the soul.

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Darby Costello
Uranus in Taurus: Awakening Venus
Sunday 10th June 2018 - 15.30-18.00 BST

When Uranus went into Aries in 2010-11, we certainly experienced an awakening of Mars energy – individually and collectively. Those who could express it became extremely active, in all sorts of positive – and negative – ways. Those who could not express their Mars energy became depressed or helplessly angry against "them." Now, with Uranus newly in Taurus we can expect to see Venus awakening in all the wonderful and uncomfortable ways we can imagine. Here we shall explore how we might experiment personally in navigating this new Venusian energy.

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John Green
The Chart in a Nutshell
Sunday 17th June 2018 - 15.30-18.00 BST

One of the questions always asked when teaching astrology is ‘Where do I start in a chart?’ It’s an important question and one which has many answers. So how do we quickly get to the essence of the main themes and narratives of a chart? In this webinar we will explore ways to get into the natal chart quickly, see what the main points of importance are and, most importantly, how we then relate those ideas to the client.

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Helen Sewell
The Astrological Ages and Shifts in Human Consciousness
Sunday 1st July 2018 - 15.30-18.00 BST

Some astrologers believe we are living on the cusp between the Ages of Pisces and Aquarius, a potentially illuminating subject which is not always given the consideration it deserves. Carl Jung recognised the importance of the ages and the tumultuous changes that they herald. When there is the death of something a deep collective anxiety pervades society. Many of us feel this right now as we’re faced with an unknown future where our old familiar attitudes, beliefs, structures and mores are crumbling. As a species we don’t like change and we may well be dragged kicking and screaming into the Age of Aquarius.

This webinar looks at the synchronicity between myth, history, religion, and the evolution of humankind over the past astrological ages, and looks at the compasses which might help us through these shifts. Some planets are happier than others in specific ages; for instance, Mars has struggled to live out its true essence in the sign of Pisces.

Carl Jung was not very optimistic about the prospect for humanity in the coming Age of Aquarius, but this webinar presents a case that has rather more faith in the generations to come.

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Just a reminder that this year's Liz Greene live webinars are also ongoing!
Neptune Webinars
Three new live Liz Greene Webinars on Neptune in March, April and May 2018. These in-depth webinars are on the planetary symbol of Neptune. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear Liz Greene live from wherever you are in the world!

Full Details and Booking at: http://www.cpalondon.com/lizevents.html

The Integratron - The Perfect Place for a Sound Bath

When you are next in Palm Springs or Joshua Tree California, check out The Integratron which is a 38 ft tall cupola structure designed by Ufologist and Contactee George Van Tassel. In designing this beautiful structure, Tassel claimed that it was capable of rejuvenation, anti-gravity and time travel.

He built The Integratron in Landers, Califronia (near Joshua Tree National Park), supposedly following instructions provided by visitors from the planet Venus. The Integratron machine was started in 1957, the structure erected in 1959 and was financed predominantly by donations, including funds from Howard Hughes.

After Van Tassel's death in 1978, the building had a series of owners (and was left in various states of disrepair) before sisters Joanne, Nancy, and Patty Karl bought it in the early 2000s. The sisters promote the Integratron as an "acoustically perfect structure," give tours and offer "sound baths" they describe as "...meditation-like sessions accompanied by tones from quartz bowls."

 

Using Superstitions and Beliefs to Help Endangered Animals

As reported in Atlas Obscura:

Caroline Ward had brought snakes back to camp with her, and the locals were not happy.

The Malagasy villagers who passed through the camp, located in Northwest Madagascar, cautioned Ward that she should kill the snakes before they killed her. (Never mind that the University of Leeds PhD student was studying the species, known locally as fandrefiala, for her conservation research.) Yet the reason for their fears wasn’t that the snakes were poisonous or aggressive—rather, it all had to do with the color of their tails. Because the fandrefiala has a tail the brick-red color of dried blood, the Malagasy believe that the snakes can transform themselves into spears, plummet out of trees and kill anything passing below them.

It was a connection that Ward’s PhD supervisor, Dr. George Holmes, had noticed in his field work all over the world: “magical” beliefs—a broad category that ranges from beliefs in mythical animals, to connections with animals’ fabled properties, to spiritualism and traditions—have an impact on the welfare of real-life animals and ecosystems.

In a paper recently published in the journal Oryx, Ward and Holmes propose that conservation biologists more closely consider beliefs in magical animals, and superstitions about animals’ magical properties, in making conservation policy. “[Conservationists] often talk about the role of economic incentives in shaping behavior, as in, can we pay [locals] to not kill a species?” says Holmes, who has been researching interactions between conservation efforts and human society for several years. “But there are all sorts of other ways that people react to, and behave around, endangered species. This issue of people’s belief in magic is actually really important.”

In some places, magical beliefs lead to grassroots protection for particular animals; for example, in Kombolcha, Ethiopia, hyenas are believed to eat evil spirits and pass on supernatural messages through their howls—as well as keep crop-eating herbivores in check. As such, they are tolerated, even supported, by people who share their habitat.

A village in Madagascar. Rod Waddington/ CC BY-SA 2.0

In contrast, certain beliefs can clash with conservation efforts. Across much of Madagascar, in particular the north of the country, the appearance of an endangered aye-aye lemur is seen as a harbinger of death or sickness. Reactions to a sighting vary between groups—from specific rites to the abandonment of entire villages—but in many villages, it is believed that the only way to prevent bad luck is to kill the aye-aye and display it on a roadside pole. On some Caribbean islands, including Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic, the same treatment is given to owls, which are believed to be connected with witches.

Fitting conservation science to these beliefs can be a challenge. Another Malagasy fady, or taboo, prohibits harming the radiated tortoise, which is critically endangered. Yet this rule is only strongly held in certain villages; and even in those villages, locals do not see the rule as applying to outsiders, and therefore do not stop poachers from harming or removing them.

Radiated tortoises in southern Madagascar. Leonora (Ellie) Enking/ CC BY-SA 2.0

Beliefs can also evolve over time as people change, migrate, encounter new beliefs, or work to rejuvenate and protect old traditions. “I think it’s somewhat frustrating, because we can’t really give one approach fix to every situation,” says Ward of the interplay between magical beliefs and conservation issues. “It’s more a matter of being more aware that these beliefs exist, and that just because they don’t follow the scientific belief system doesn’t mean we can push them to one side.”

Holmes also emphasizes that utilizing magical beliefs in conservation introduces some tricky ethical questions. “This subtle ethical issue comes with treating people’s worldviews in a very utilitarian sense,” Holmes says. “It’s saying, okay, we’re not going to treat your worldview and spirituality and culture holistically; we’re going to carve it into individual bits, and promote the ones that are good for our purposes and suppress the ones that are bad for our purposes.”

While conserving biodiversity might be an admirable goal, Holmes says, so is allowing people spiritual and religious autonomy. Paige West, an environmental anthropologist, has seen the negative outcomes of this sort of use firsthand. The Clair Tow Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University and Barnard College in New York, West has spent decades conducting ethnographic research among the people of Papua New Guinea. In one case, after eight years of research among the Gimi people in the village of Maimafu, she concluded that a local conservation project—which attempted to protect area forests and their inhabitants by linking them to market-based enterprises, on the assumption that the Gimi people only valued local biodiversity as an economic resource—“got it wrong.”

An aerial view of Papua New Guinea. Alan & Flora Botting/ CC BY-SA 2.0

Conservation planning failed to account for the fact that the Gimi people see everything in nature as a gift from the forest, as the physical incarnation of their ancestors. The Gimi believe that trees and animals in their forests, particularly marsupials, carry the life-force of the dead, and can be embodied by the spirit while sleeping.

“Marsupials are not simply animals to Gimi, they are the literal embodiment of ancestors; what has been translated as ‘environment’ is not simply a place filled with floral and faunal resources waiting to be used or made into commodities, it is a place of social relations between the living and the dead,” West wrote in a 2005 case study. This oversight was detrimental to the conservation project, as well as anthropologically problematic.

In West’s view, even dubbing these views “magical” can present issues. “When people in the European intellectual tradition hear the word ‘magic,’ they immediately think of a series of beliefs that are false, or are somehow antiquated or less than rational,” she says. “To every indigenous person I’ve ever interacted with, who has a different set of ontological propositions about what animals are in the world than I do, that set of propositions is highly rational. It makes sense in the total system that is in their cultural upbringing. To use the term magical indexes those beliefs as less rational than European and western beliefs.”

Holmes and Ward also highlight that European and western people are not exempt from these beliefs themselves. Their research details animal beliefs spread throughout the world; they cite the example of the Loch Ness Monster, which brings hundreds of thousands of ecotourists to the Scottish lake, and the Icelandic respect for Huldufólk, or elves, which halted the construction of a highway through their traditional lands.

“It’s genuinely around the world,” says Holmes. “And these things matter. People’s beliefs genuinely have a material impact on the well being of endangered habitats, and ecosystems, and species.”

Center for Psychological Astrology - Fall Classes

Just received the recent schedule of classes at the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London. Many of are online classes so you don't have to travel far to learn.

Foundation Course

Booking is now open for this year's intake for the Foundation course. The classes will be held on Wednesday evenings 19.00 – 21.00 GMT/BST. Dates for the first term are 4 October – 6 December 2017 starting at 19.00 BST. Full details are on our website here: http://www.cpalondon.com/foundation.html

This is a three term online certificate course with John Green and is ideal for those wanting to learn the basics of psychological astrology or those interested in a foundation for other school’s diploma courses such as the one run by MISPA.This course is run as real time online tutorials. Cost of the course is £255 per term (payable by PayPal only). To reserve your place on the course you should book as soon as possible as places are strictly limited and do get sold out very quickly.

Autumn Webinars

Our Autumn Webinars start on Sunday 15th October 2017 - you can see the full details and book at http://www.cpalondon.com/seminars.html Our webinars are real-time, online seminars in psychological astrology. You are able to interact with the tutor and other students as the session happens via a chat box. If you can't make it live you can still book and receive one months access to the recording of the event afterwards.

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John Green - You are not Normal
Sunday 15th October 2017 - 15.30-18.00 BST
You are not normal! Ever had that said to you? How do we actually define what is normal in regards to the mental and emotional states of human beings. It seems daily we are asked on social media questions like ‘Was your ex a narcissist? A psychopath?’ The haphazard diagnosis of people as being depressed, or suffering ADHD and so on, both by the public, media and some mental health professionals seems to ask a larger question – ‘What is normal?’ This is the question we will look at today.
We will be exploring if anyone can be considered normal, and if there are any definitions we can usefully apply. Is there is an astrological pattern to certain mental and emotional states, and should we be categorising anyone within our astrological practice?

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