“Friend Frenzy” – Getting Personal with a Mouse

May 16th, 2012

 

“Friend Frenzy” Getting Personal with a Mouse, But Little Else

The history of humanity is laced with elegant, rhythmic and elemental ways of sending out the messages from hill top to glen, from tower to city square, through drums and bagpipes, and TV and radio and public announcements.  Big messages about life changing events, and yes, the small, friendly and dare I say, “social” ways humans have met and touched and smiled and kissed each other, shaken each other’s hands and given a good bye hug.  Yes, we are social creatures and alas, we do love to lean over the fence, tip one at the pub, share gossip at the laundry or talk about politics at the softball game.

Whether it was big or just every day, whether true or not, it had an element of “sweaty significance”.  When I say, “sweaty significance” I mean real people were inter-relating.  The way you convinced yourself of the truth you looked at their bloodshot eyes and not letting the onion on their breath overcome you, you tried to believe that some farmers shot up the Brits at a place called Concord.

It was “sweaty significance” for thousands of years when you heard from afar that Jerusalem was destroyed, when London burnt, when Napoleon was marching toward Waterloo.  And the socializing part was always getting to know the real people.  The getting to know you part was pretty much the same throughout the generations.

To be doggone honest, (please permit me to feign some sweaty reality on the printed page).   “Getting to know” someone used to mean you met them, spent time with them, did unimportant passings of time, and saw each other in more formal occasions.  You decided if you could “get along” with them if you had shared some times, told some personal tales and laughed at the grandiosity of drunken times with each other.   The phrase that many mock these days in their lofty urban heights is the phrase “good ole boy”  To further this idea along,  I am not longing for the old days, obviously.  I am saying that “the Social Media” lacks “sweaty significance”.   You’ll notice “Good Ole Boy” is not a category.  There are not enough intimate, personal and embarrassing factorial assessments to come up with that designation.

This Friend Frenzy Self Pleasuring Completely Misses Some Basics

The world is always going forward technologically and ever changing behaviorally.  The
“Social Media” is an awesome informational tool but it can be misused.  People are made to get to know each other through “sweaty” connections.  In fact, people are “getting to know” each other electronically initially and much of the time continuously, through a self pleasuring frenzy, “dissing” normal tried and true ways of taking time for homework, going to get a Coke with your room mates, accidentally meeting a knockout with great potential. as you cross the street.  There is less and less sweat (work, hanging out and face to faceness) involved in our interactions, and I think that is a shame.  Because when an orgasm does come, people are going to be screaming out:  “Oh Irving, my God!” instead of “Oh Mikey, you beast!”

“Oh God, I am sorry I forgot your name!”

The Friend Frenzy Self Pleasuring Time Consumer is a kind of “score keeping of almost”.  If you just show pix from your beach party and all your buds are in the pix, that’s just cute.   If the Friend Frenzy Mass gets to see all those great pix, then they get to “friend” and “like” and follow some fantasy that those gorgeous babes are now related.  My use of the word “sweat” is a metaphoric code for pulse, breath, skin moisture, vocal tone, the accidental touch of lips, the purposeful caress of an elbow – getting to know and then really caring about the human before they become a “statistic” on your “wall” who others have “friended” and you have decided you “like” and now can start up an electronic conversation with.   Like people have said in one way or another about the quest for real life connections:

“He was popular, but he didn’t have any real  friends.”

If marriage suffers from a 50% divorce rate now, how much do you think the institution will be valued and sustained if the time spent in communion has been originally, fundamentally and largely electronic.   And then as you get to know each other, and the real honest electronic pulses and deeply felt conversations that guide couples through the tough years happen; they have even less to stand on, shallower roots to grow with and less fruit of the joy of togetherness to manifest than such similar situations do today?

“Why do you keep on looking down at your Feet?”

So, there I was sitting at my favorite Szechuan Restaurant with my wife.  She especially loves one of our six grandchildren, because he is 13 and they have gotten along well for years.

Tonight, his Grandmother was trying to engage him in their usual banter, asking about his life.  He kept looking down at his feet and giving half way, monosyllabic responses.

I was getting upset.  She was her ever polite self.

“Hey, how come you keep looking down at your crotch and how come your hands are down there fiddling?”

He smiled sheepishly, “Just texting.”

“Just texting?  While you are talking to your grandmother who is socializing with you and buying you your Sesame Chicken?  Just texting?

You look to me like you’re down there fiddling with yourself.”

Of course this angered my wife.  “Christofer….Grandpa.  That is impolite!”

Your Grandmother has spent years with you, changing your diapers, babysitting you, and listening to your tales of being 13.   You won’t give her your smile?  You won’t give her your time?  You won’t give her your interest?  But you will eat the Sesame Chicken!”

He looked over at my wife and apologized.

“Are you in desperate love with that person?”

“No, it’s just a couple friends.”

“So, during our dinner, did you say anything significant, historic, and important to your relationship with these two other 13 year olds?”  I was trying not to fume.

“I just told them I was at dinner with my Grandparents.”  He was sheepish, He looked away from me.

“I am glad you announced this all important dinner to your friends.  It’s too bad, the dinner was not that important to you —- for you to actually be here!  We can go ahead and invite them over to our dinner, if you think you would have a better time.”

Gail made me be quiet with a knock on my shin and a holding of my hand.  This knock on my shin and holding of my hand is a 30 year technique of hers when she wishes me to change the subject, or just shut up.

“Sorry Grandpa and Grandma.”

“When all the world had were phones, they were at home.  Sometimes, parents made rules about phone use, because homework had to be done.”  My wife was trying to give him true instruction.  “Why don’t you just put your cell phone in your pocket and give us some of your wonderful charm during this short little period called Dinner.  I am sure you will be able to contact your friends later.”

You must understand.  This kid lied to get on Facebook.  He spews dirty jokes and feels big talking confidently to older “friends”.  He is building a sense of a personal theatrical image.  He sounds like another person on Facebook.  When you see him and get to know him, you think:  “What is he going to do when he actually represents himself in the flesh?”  There is that word “sweaty” again, emerging from the stormy waves of human interaction.

Faux Feeling, False Intimacy, Phony Friendship

There is a new way for humans to do relating, and this new way of relating (notice, I said “relating” not “acting”.  Acting is a misnomer.)  This relating not only causes traffic accidents and reduces real communication, it also makes people THINK they are being intimate, have friends, can handle conflict and are really living when they are just “collecting friends” and “likes” and having plastic conversations and relationships that don’t really exist in a fundamental way.  Certainly, they can become evolved authentic relationships, but those occur, not because of the Social Media, but because of real human forces and qualities.

Oh, yes, they can shoot remarks back and forth to each other, but those remarks do not arise from the heated and sweaty engagement of personality – facing each other in joy, or anger, or disgust, or intimacy.   They are just choosing optimal remarks for their on line image.

It’s about Youth – Its Development, Maturation and Growth

Our youth, the ones who participate in a “student community” are frankly spell bound by all of the technological manifestations set in an array before them.  But while they participate, they are losing the essence of their profession/studies. They are derailing from focused effort.  They are deviating in multiple directions, and getting away from their goals (have they even taken their time to state certain goals they think they have), and motives (emotional self assessment is necessary before we can understand “motivation”).   “Destiny” is a great sounding word, but it gets bounced around in the “advertising world” that people participate in with their tools.

As Zeewager77 declared on Hubpages, during question and answer type discussions:  “Their minds are becoming stagnant and static. Creativity and innovation is blocked by the consistent telephonic conversations spread over the whole of night.”

Alienation, Depletion of Energy and Destruction of Important Purpose

People are indeed losing their interest in sweaty human interactions and sociality.  The actual state of being in front of a New Person is a challenge on the human mind and personality.  If you actually get someone and they can touch, and you can touch – we are being tested and testing others in ways that we always have.

Alienation is increasing within these small student type communities and other groups of people. In one room, four roommates are strangers to one another. They never try to tie up their relationships because they don’t have a pinch of time.  Electronic super socializing, where you can go look at your “numbers of friends” is much more important than four “old time” friendships where you have to work through each other’s eccentricities, likes and dislikes, charming individuality and “one of a kind” quirks – the stuff friends have been doing with each other for millennia, first disliking, then enjoying, then fighting, then getting back to a newer relationship.  The kind of stuff we call learning to “get along”.  Sometimes these friendships last a life time.  And certainly the “college” years are about this.

By talking the whole night with the opposite sex, students are getting psychologically weak and pressured. Oh yes, it feels real, but the phoniness of the sexual interplay also affects what could be honest relationships a few feet away from them.

There are many other physical distortions which also arise due to spending precious time on all the basic needs that the human being has:  needed compulsory rest, relaxation, relief and mental health.   It is as if the hyper activity of this emerging lifestyle is causing a depletion, redirection and loss of important purpose.  “Zeewager77” is a real life observer, looking at his compatriots.  He is feeling the special loss of a commodity that youth is legendary for consuming — TIME.

Paying Attention

“Humans are fascinated with technology, and continuous advancements don’t make it easy to lay off the gadgets. The New York Times reports that individuals who multi-task emails, phone calls and social-networking sites have more troublepaying attention and focusing on important information.

 

This is attributed to the fact that daily tasks not involving electronics do not provide the instant stimulation that electronic gadgets do.  The director of The National Institute of Drug Abuse, compares addiction to technological stimulation to addiction to food and sex. Try to limit television viewing to two hours or less a day and use your other devices such as your computer and cell phone for planning and keeping time.

If you need entertainment, try writing, painting or exercising.”

 

This piece from eHow declares interestingly that very much like other forms of addiction we are going merrily on a pleasant walk that ends in ill health, a lack of normalcy and destruction.  We are suffering from an incredible lack of attention and now we are descending into an electronic milieu in which short attention span develops and in fact, is encouraged to manifest more and more.   The “try it you’ll like it” smarmy appeal of the drug dealer, in the end is a mimic of the millions of teenagers pouring scores of frenzied hours in their own private addictions that manifest in frenzy, dissolute focus, fragmented thought and, I speculate, an existential loss of a real sense of self.

Certainly every new manifestation of technology and life style has demanded an adjustment from humans, it would appear that true conscious planning and well developed self awareness is going to be demanded for us to avoid losing these valuable and precious human characteristics and assets.

Read more: Factors Affecting Attention Span | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_7751581_factors-affecting-attention-span.html#ixzz1un0nNSZa

http://zeewaqar77.hubpages.com/hub/Impact-of-mobile-phones-on-our-youth

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“The Lady’s Not for Burning!”

May 13th, 2012

by Christofer French 

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC
“The Lady’s Not for Burning”, But Mother is for Learning

She went to the University of Iowa and “paled around” with Tennessee Williams.  As much as you could pal around with Tennessee, a short, funny-voiced charmer who liked to write about people, but didn’t like people in the flesh that much.  She used to say, “I never thought he would end up being a famous playwright, but I guess writers don’t look any certain way.”

Flo was a porcelain skinned beauty who was very shy when she came out of Cedar Rapids as a 17 year old.   Flo was about learning.  She was about grades.  She was about the theatre.  Her Father, Ulmont Healy had toured the nation with a travelling acting troupe in the 20’s and had given her the theatre bug.
First Fiancé Shot Down Over Germany

When she was a Junior in the early 40’s, a tall strapping senior pursued her and proposed to her as soon as it seemed a reasonable amount of time had passed,  so that an engagement could be announced for his powerful and impatient love.  It was so close to graduation.   She said “Yes”, and then immediately started praying that he would survive the war as a pilot in a B29.  Then he went away to World War II.

Before that time, literally 9 other boys had proposed to her.  Now that she was engaged, it seemed that the “Flo Show” was over.  However, it was not.  Her wonderful young man was shot down over Schweinfurt, Germany over a ball bearing factory, which he was bombing in a daylight raid.

Upon the receipt of that news, the nonstop suiting continued for Flo.  She could not get over the loss of her love for a long time.  Besides, she was going to be an actress.

She had to prepare for her career.  During World War II, the absence and loss of so many boys meant that women would play men’s roles.  Flo, through tearful eyes, that last year, played several, donning moustaches and beards to disguise the delicate jaw line of the female species.

There was one other student there who became a deep friend.  He was a Mormon.  People hardly knew much about Mormons back then, and their friendship was just a wonderful coming together over Shakespeare, the classical theatre and the new American playwrights.   Her family came from  400 years of Episcopalians, though she didn’t have an “Episcopalian” high brow attitude.  Her approach was universal, tolerant and mystical.

The idea that she could befriend a Mormon was done without a thought about religion.  We would find out in the early 80’s on a tour of the famous Mormon Library that her father was a great great nephew of Brigham Young’s Grandmother.  But that was back in New York and a hundred and fifty years ago.  Right now, she was going to live a fairy tale life in the theatre and have “at least 4 kids.”

He (Professor Hansen) went on to Provo and became prominent in the Drama Department at Brigham Young University.  Meanwhile, Flo had become a professional actress and starred on stage at the Cleveland Playhouse and in New York in several off Broadway productions. Her husband, my father, Burt starred in Love of Life, one of the first soap operas.

Mother’s Days of Utah Fun

Mother’s Day in the mid 50’s was thrilling for the four kids.  For four years in a row, Flo would announce at Mother’s Day in New York City that we were going to go to out west to stay in Utah for the summer.   In the mid 1950’s Professor Hansen invited the family to come out.  It was a real teaching job, and she would also be paid especially to in a specially chosen play in which Flo could play a major role.   They were costume dramas with historical themes.

The first special Mother’s Day, I was only 6 and the other three were all younger than me.  Dad did a special Mother’s Day celebration.   Loving his own sense of humor, and not understanding it myself, until much later in my life, when it was explained to me:   “This Lady’s not for Burning”, but she is a wonderful Mother who is taking us all to Utah for new Learning.

“What?  Are we going to cowboy country?”  Of course, I was a fan of cowboys.  For boys back then, that was all there was!

“You kids have the most marvelous Mom!” Dad would declare.

For four Mother’s Days in New York we would have the same kind of celebration.  My Dad was unqualified in his praise for his wife.    This was typical of the kinds of toasts he would declare for her.  “She’s as beautiful as an angel, an actress, a seamstress and costumier, the theatre manager and a Mother of four kids!”

We came to associate our visits to Provo, not only with Mother’s Day because of the timing, but also with Mom because she was this job was the reason we went all the way across the country to star in the theatre.

The “Theeuhtuh”

As the years went by and the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s passed, we would often talk of those idyllic summers in the great west, when we would drive across the country on US 30.  There were no freeways at the time.   We would stay in those classic old Motels, which were really only about 25 years old at the time; and local Mom and Pop restaurants.   Those “Mother’s Day Summers” created volumes and volumes of unequalled memories of “kid fun” in a noisy family.

And then each summer, Dad would take us to see Mom in the “theeuhtah”, as we always said.  The first year it was “The Lady’s Not for Burning”, a romanticcomedy in three acts, set in verse; it is set in the Middle Ages.  It reflects the world’s “exhaustion and despair” following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live.  In form, it resembles “Shakespeare’s pastoral comedies”.  Flo played the “witch who wants to live”.   This was a hit in the late 40’s, written by Christopher Fry.  A very young Richard Burton and Claire Bloom played in the John Gielgud production in England.

BYU having this as their special summer production of a  current hit play showed Hansen’s humor as the Mormons were also viewed as “witches”, but quietly virtuous and definitely people who had been persecuted.  In a double kind of irony, years later  Flo and I both pondered that Flo was “not for burning” as she left the Episcopalian Church, marrying an “atheist” Boston Irish actor, then diving deep into all kinds of learning and disciplines that all of her Episcopalian relatives continued to look down on her for their whole lives.  These comparisons made us both smile, as this particular production seemed to have a prophetic tone to it. 

She used to say:  “Christopher F (the playwright) and Christofer F (the son) make one wonder.”  This is the way she was, seeing relationships where few others would ever. “Being profound about the playful and playful about the profound” - we would laugh about so many things in our own unique way.

What I remember Mother for was the relationship that she and I had jointly with literature, the Bible, Astrology, Mysticism, Esoterica, Shakespeare and History in General.  Mothers are not really like that with their oldest sons.  I don’t think it is a stretch to say that.   In any case, we shared all kinds of thoughts and conversations that few people have at all, let alone with their Moms.

Masters Degree

When we moved to Lubbock, Texas in 1964, my father had a position as a Professional Director at the Lubbock Theatre Centre.  Flo immediately applied to Texas Tech.   Texas Tech told her that they would hire her if she was also working toward her Master’s degree.

I thought that was pretty keen.  “Mom, you mean you are going to help support your family, and also get your Master’s Degree?”

“Yes, dear.  After this, I will be able to get even more teaching jobs in California.”

Sure enough, that’s what happened!   Flo was not for burning, but the beautiful wonderful Mom was definitely for Learning!

The “Sleeping Princess” Mountain – Mount Timpanagos

Flo lived until 2006 in Denver, Colorado, having moved here in the 80’s.   Dad died in 1999.  They both loved the great American West, having followed their oldest son out there from California.  I always tell people that I fell in love with the West from the movies and TV, but really, it was from visiting Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah in the 50’s, looking at Mount Timpanagos directly over Provo.  It is called, locally as the “Sleeping Princess” mountain, and every year we would point at the womanly shape lying down, looking face up at the heavens.   (You can see it in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which is the time and place in which Robert Redford fell in love with that part of the world.)

My passion for the mountains started there, in this life, and I can still see my Mother, in her 30’s, calling us to come in for Dinner, as we played in our special campus home, made available through BYU.  On this Mother’s Day, as I view the Front Range with all of her glorious peaks, I will think of that view, held in my mind for all these years, of “Mount Timp”, as you look up from Provo.   I will envision and think about my own “Sleeping Princess” that is my incredible Mother.

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Diary – I Have Not Been Intimate with You

May 9th, 2012

by Christofer French 

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

Dear Diary:  I never took you up.  Yes, I was probably afraid of writing down intimate events, faults or situations.

Then, in the fury of youth, when I was young, I didn’t take you up as an exercise.  I was afraid I was sure I would miss something – something pretty, something drop dead strikingly arresting, and have it not be a Cop; or something inebriating, or something that I had not yet seen before.
 

Then when I would come home, there was always something to take my attention.  Then if I ever were to grab you, my diary, I would try to weigh the reason I wanted to memorialize my drives, my dissolute mistakes, my “wasted days and wasted nights”.

Diary, you seemed like a confessional to me.  I know that was my guilt, but that’s what it felt like.  Once I thought about it about a place where I could mourn or cry.  It did not seem manly.   Then, I thought, “Yeah, this is for women.”   I did not have any empirical or anecdotal information regarding that, but that was one of the reasons I never took you up.

Journaling

Now my life has slowed down, and I have more time for “diary-like reflection”.  Still my brain goes at such a fast pace,  I think I feel that writing in my diary might slow me down.  Again, Diary, don’t take offense.  It’s not like I haven’t thought of you.

Dear Diary:

I was just told that “journaling” was good for therapy, for reaching goals, for contemplating the best me.  I could not see a difference between “journaling” and you, dear Diary, so I did neither.

Journaling to me, sounded like a Construction Project for the Mind.  The person who recommended it to me seemed to be the analytical, methodical accountant type.  Somehow it did not appeal to me.  I am not even saying it would not be good for me, but it looks like I will never know.

Journaling is like you get a grade, or give yourself a grade for doing well.  A diary is much friendlier, and that is much more emotional and psychological.

Maybe, that’s it.  I am afraid of being intimate with myself!   Oh, Diary!  I did not say that correctly.  Well, there you are – with a Diary, you don’t have to go back and change it, because you know what you meant to say, and you are the only who is going to read it anyway.

Diary, Do you make me Self Conscious?

And then you can go back and read your “intimate with myself” line, and you can smile and not be embarrassed by it.   There, now that is something to be said for a Diary.

Then I was told by someone who knew that I had “graphomania” and that doing a diary was kind of redundant.   Like, “Hello, I have already met you today, why should I talk to you again?”

Once when I was very young, I tried to do a diary entry which was really an extended tribute to a beautiful woman.  It was beautiful, as she was, but then I found out she did not care for me like I thought she did.

But then I felt stupid. Like why would a guy be so dumb  wasting all of his time writing to a “Diary”, which is not a person – about a woman who does not appreciate me, who I will never talk to again?

Well, Dear “D”.  Sorry for the name shortening.  Familiarity, you know, but it’s exhausting coming up with thoughts for you.

Graphomania – Is that a Sickness?

I researched some, and found that Graphomania is probably what I have. Although, taken seriously, as a condition, it can be described clinically and destructively.  I see what I have as an emboldened aspiration ignited by fluid flow.   I see Graphomania, when viewed in its healthiest state, as a place where torrents of mountain streams come crashing to a little valley with a cabin.  It’s all white water.  Even in the cabin you almost go deaf with the noise.  You see a wolf staring at you, but he is wondering why you are in the cabin writing.

The Diary is a Verb, that ends up being your own Personal Collectible

A diary for me, is like a languid stream.  You stop.  Put your chin in your hand and wonder if that’s how you really feel, is that the way it really happened.  Is this going to be a good enough “entry” for today?  The little birds chirp, a hawk makes lazy circles in the air, and you feel like the very act of doing your diary has some transcendent purpose, that it doesn’t really matter what you say in your diary.  So, as the years pass, the diary shows age, you keep making entries and your heart goes into the process, and the words matter less than the doing does, and it really does become your own Collectible.  Actually, this is the reason I would start to take up a diary.  There is something powerfully personal and romantic and meaningful for you, and the sharing is done with you yourself alone.

Now, I like that.  I think I might start doing a Diary.

Thinking about why I don’t do a Diary has been a helpful process.

But it wasn’t actually a Diary.  It was writing about doing a Diary.

“There I go again!”

Maybe my emboldened aspiration ignited by fluid flow is the collective reason for a Diary.

“Oh this is all so embarrassing”, I said to myself.  “Self”, I said, “Shut up!  Don’t get cross-eyed over your “Diary problem”.

Just because healthy people do diaries, that doesn’t mean you have to do a diary to show you are healthy.  Just go ahead and don’t do a diary and be whatever you are!

After all, the diary is a private process, and no one knows about it.

And, oh, by the way –

This is not a diary, it’s an article!

Oh, that’s why I am enjoying it so much.

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Getting a Date Could Save Your Life

May 9th, 2012

by Christofer French

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

The worst calamity that could befall a tribe or family in pre-history was to lose possession and ownership of the date gardens upon which it depended. Always near a source of life-giving water, human activity and conflict was always buzzing around these essential plants.

Thus an unending series of raids and battles flared up around all of the more strategic date groves that marked the water holes in that desert country.

Kill the Bedouins, But Don’t Touch the Date Palm

To destroy a date palm bearing fruit was unthinkable. There was no ‘scorched earth’ policy here.

The most life destroying act, even in a war where both sides were destroying each other, would be to destroy the date palms themselves, for then NO ONE could live there, and the entirety of the thread of civilization and the thread of life would be rubbed out, and have to move to new locations.

So important to everyone, though, was the date palm, that conquering armies as well as bands of raiding Bedouins carefully avoided injuring them. Whoever might win the battle, the date palm trees remained, for upon them life itself always depended.

Assyrian Empire Based on the Strength Imparted by the Date Palm and its Virtues

The indisputable foundation of the might of Assyria was based on their early control of the productive date gardens, interplanted with other types of fruit, vegetables and grain.

 

The Assyrian soldier could remain in the field for months at a time without the necessity of maintaining lengthy supply lines, for his basic supplies accompanied him in the form of hundreds of beasts of burden, loaded with dried dates and other food, and herds of sheep and goats to provide milk, meat and clothing. Since these supply units were tended by the wives and children of the warriors, family life of a sort was maintained.

Under these conditions a body of troops could remain absent from the home oasis for years at a time, living off the natural increase of their herds and the scattered date oasis through which they laid down their trails. The Prophet Mohammed, years later declared that dates and milk were a complete and nutritious diet.

“What is the date palm?” He said, “The date palm was one of the first plants to be cultivated, and has been grown for at least four thousand years along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It has been for ages, and is still, the most important food plant of the great deserts of the Old World, and many regions in Arabia and in the Sahara would not be habitable were it not for this tree. Not only does it yield a delicious fruit of great food value, but it also furnishes, in many regions, the only timber suitable for use in the construction of houses and for making a thousand and one necessary objects.

Food, Shelter and Shade for Thousands of Years in Judea

The date palm was considered a staple in the Judean Desert , as it was a source of food, shelter and shade for thousands of years, and became a recognized symbol of the Kingdom of Judea . It grew around the Dead Sea in the south, to the Sea of Galilee and Lake Hula in the regions in the north. The tree and its fruit caused Jericho to become a major population center and are praised in the Hebrew Bible in Psalms and Song of Solomon.

It was even said by some to have medicinal properties, supposedly curing many diseases and infections, promoting longevity and acting as a mild aphrodisiac. Its likeness was engraved on Shekalim, the ancient Hebrew monetary unit. According to historical sources, the taste of them was something splendid. Pliny the Elder, a Roman Naturalist of the 1st century AD, wrote that Judea’s dates were known for their succulence and sweetness.

When the Romans invaded ancient Judea, heavy, thick forests of date palms towering up to 80 feet (24 m) high and 7 miles (11 km) wide covered the Jordan Valley from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the shores of the Dead Sea in the south. The tree so completely and thoroughly defined the local economy, that Emperor Vespasian celebrated the conquest by minting the “Judea Capta” a special Bronze Coin that showed the Jewish state as a weeping woman beneath a date palm.

Recent Germination of a 2000 Year Old Date Seed

During 1963-1965, excavations at Herod’s Great Palace on Masada, Israel revealed a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. They had experienced a very dry and sheltered environment for centuries. Radio carbon dating confirmed the seeds dated from between 155 BC to AD 64. The seeds were held in storage for 40 years at Bar-Ilan University at Jerusalem, until in 2005, the seeds were pretreated in a fertilizer and hormone-rich solution.

Three of the seeds were subsequently planted at Kibbutz Ketruah in the Arabah desert in southern Israel. Eight weeks later one of the seeds had sprouted, and by June 2008, the tree had nearly a dozen fronds and was nearly 1.4 m (4 ft) tall. By the summer of 2010, the sapling stood at about 2 meters tall.

All That Grows Beneath the Date Palm’s Leaves

Its leaves furnish a partial shade, under which it is possible to cultivate other fruit trees which could not exist were they exposed to the direct rays of the sun and the burning winds in the desert; thousands of fig, almond, pomegranate and peach trees and grapevines, forming veritable orchards, are cultivated in the palm-covered oasis, especially in the northern Sahara. For centuries the transportation of dates has been the chief motive for the formation of the great caravan routes which run in every direction through the deserts in Africa and Arabia.”

When people consider buying dates, it is mainly for use in a fruit cake or cookies, but dates are also a wonderful alternative to a fruit snack. While many people don’t often consider eating a couple dates for a snack, if they only knew what was packed inside these small fruits, they would probably begin adding them to their diets. In fact, researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services in London referred to them the “almost perfect food,” based upon their nutritional content and possible health benefits.

Minerals

One of the top notations made by the London researchers is the mineral content of dates. A minimum of 15 were listed. Potassium is needed by the body to help fight high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease, and to assist kidney function, and one cup of chopped dates contains 964 mg of potassium, which is 28 percent of the RDA. According to Colorado State University, the way this works is that as the amount of potassium in the body increases, it encourages the excretion of sodium, thus lowering blood pressure.

Of the minerals listed, one cup of chopped dates contains 4.4 mcg of selenium (6 percent of the RDA); 63 mg magnesium (16 percent RDA); 0.3 mcg. copper (15 percent RDA); and 57 mg calcium (6 percent RDA).

Antioxidants

The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports that dates are an excellent source of antioxidants, primarily carotenoids. Carotenoids are listed as pigment compounds that help produce vitamin A in the body, build the immune system, and protect the cells from damage.

Antioxidants are continually being studied for their positive effects on cancer protection.

Fiber and More

There are many more benefits packed into this tiny fruit. As noted by the London researchers, dates have a high fiber content. Fiber is needed for elimination of toxins from the body and to help lower the risk of many digestive disorders, even colon cancer. The Mayo Clinic also lists fiber as being necessary to control weight, blood sugar and cholesterol.

Moslem Appreciation of the Date Palm Tree

So ancient is the date palm that tradition even places it in the Garden of Eden. The Prophet Mohammed of Islam said, “There is among the trees, one tree which is blessed – it is the date palm, for it was created from the earth left over from the creation of Adam.” Moslem tradition definitely regards the date palm as the legendary “Tree of Life” mentioned in the Genesis story. And, as some writers have said, the date palm is like man. It is tall and erect. It is separated into male and female, and the female must be pollinated. If its head is cut off, it dies. If its heart is strained, it perishes. If its leaves are cut off, it cannot grow others in the same place, and it is covered with a fiber very like the hair of human beings.

“What is the date palm?” He said, “The date palm was one of the first plants to be cultivated, and has been grown for at least four thousand years along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It has been for ages, and is still, the most important food plant of the great deserts of the Old World, and many regions in Arabia and in the Sahara would not be habitable were it not for this tree. Not only does it yield a delicious fruit of great food value, but it also furnishes, in many regions, the only timber suitable for use in the construction of houses and for making a thousand and one necessary objects.

Domestication Took Time But Made All the Difference

The date palm ‘Phoenix dactylifera’, was one of the first fruit trees to be domesticated. Credit for the accomplishment of domestication must be given to the Sumerians. About 3000 BC, representations of the date palm, often with fruit, began to appear on pottery and cylinder seals, and within a few hundred years references in cuneiform recorded that date gardens had become very extensive, that a number of varieties were cultivated, and that the crop afforded one of the staple foods of the people.

The presence of uncultivated date palm throughout the zone where we find it at the dawn of history can be accounted for by the probability that over a period of several thousand years preceding cultivation of the date palm, prehistoric man utilized its fruit and thus greatly extended the area over which it originally occurred, aiding unconsciously in the evolution of better edible fruit. Dates are easily transported and seeds grow readily in moist soil in a favorable climate.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/17923-nutritional-value-dates

http://www.somethingquiteodd.com/Dates_pg1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm

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Karl Jung’s Magical Soup in Utah

May 9th, 2012

 

by Christofer French 
Rain Dancer Associates, LLC
I really like hot soup from my local Szechuan restaurant here in Lakewood, Colorado. 

Egg Drop and Hot and Sour.

I want the best for myself of course, but the warm and comforting taste of Egg Drop Soup is unequaled. The invigorating effect of Hot and Sour is wonderful. I know there are all kinds of exotic Asian creations. I think if I ever get free to really travel, I will call up Hilda Cang and ask her how to best make it around her world. First I want to taste all of the elegant and fascinating soups of her land.

I once travelled through the great Southwest and I told my wife I was only going to eat Bowls of Chili. She rolled her eyes at me and said: “I don’t have a portable potty, boy. You’d better not ruin our little vacation with great gaseous clouds or trips into the sagebrush.”
“Oh honey. I have a strong stomach; I will bet you I don’t have any problems.”

She looked out at the mountains and spoke to the window quietly. The sound of her voice bounced around in our Lincoln Continental. “And this faith that you have…it is based upon what experience? Or did some friggin’ horned alien visit you last night and tell that you would be impervious to poisoned Chili soup that’s been sitting in some kitchen for three days before it was served to you?”

Non-Stop Chili Soup through the Four Corners

I laughed meekly. 

“Honey, it’s an adventure. I promise I will quit the first sign of trouble.” I kept looking forward.

“You mean overlooking the farts?”

“Well yeah, I mean overlooking the occasional statement from my bowels.” I opened the window to take in some air. 

“Close the window, our air conditioning is not as effective when you open the window….what? You are farting already?”

I was really under pressure. “No. Look I will just give this up. You know how much I like good soupy Chili, and all the other kinds of Chili. Let’s just forget it.”

She put her lovely left hand in the air. “Just, just, just. We can try it. But you stop immediately, if I say so. This is my little vacation too!”

There is one place in the US where four states converge on one little point. It’s in the middle of the desert and holds no significance other than it’s a spot on the map. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico at a place that is not very auspicious; but you can have fun straddling the concrete memorial that is really just a spot; and tell your kids that they can pass through four states at once, just prancing around. 

I had had about 4 chili soups by the time I had walked to this spot. 

I heard lots of the German language, some Spanish, what I thought was Swedish or Danish. Definitely Russian and some Asian tongues. I did not hear English that day except when I told my wife that my stomach was really rumbling.

You should have seen the look she gave me. “You gonna make it back to the car?” Her auburn hair bounced in the wind as she turned on her heels to go back to the car.

A Sandstorm and an Old Café Next to a Stand of Big Tall Red Rocks

“It’s just rumbling. No problem. But, yeah, let’s head out to that little Utah town we saw on the map.” I was trying to keep up with her, but it was a little too “rumbly” inside of me. 

We made our way to this little Utah town. Oh, then we hit a sand storm. Yes. Like in Saudi Arabia, where the sand goes up about a mile and the sky and the earth and the sun and the birds and the traffic all turn into one complete curtain of sand. My tummy was still rumbling. My wife was quiet. It is not good for me when my wife goes quiet. After the sand blew over and we waited for the air to clear, then she spoke. We were driving up to this little town. On the map, it was a little town. But all it was one old wooden structure. The Utes standing around made me feel like I was in a John Wayne movie. 

“You call this a town?” 

She looked around at the outcropping of red rocks as big as houses. This café was in a notch between two of these massive monoliths.

“We just spent an hour sitting out a sand storm and listening to your gut and smelling god-awful emissions….not from the car; and now you take me to this town that doesn’t even appear to have a rest room in the one blessed structure in the whole place!”

The White Haired woman in the Café was busy. But she paid attention to us because my wife has an elegant and quiet way about her when in public. She wiped our table clean with an ancient white rag.

“My husband is sick, and we would really appreciate something that could make him better.”

“Uhuh.” She put her hand on her hip, looked down her nose through her glasses and pronounced judgment on me.

“There is a bathroom here; otherwise how could I function?” 

We both smiled.

“When you get back in there; you clean up after yourself.” She threw a key with a piece of turquoise attached to it on the table in front of me. I felt like a naughty twelve year old.

“Make me that Soup or I’m gonna die.”

Really. She said her name was Jung. Her husband had passed away in the 60’s. This was the early 80’s And, his name was Karl.

When I returned I gave her the key back and thanked her. My wife took the key and went to the rest room.

“You know, out here, with the Scorpions and the Spiders and all kinds of critters that crawl and skitter, you’re always sitting on some place something else has been. Ya know?”

I was fascinated but filled with trepidation.

My husband came in one day back in the 40’s. He had consumed some kind of rabbit or something out there, because he was just hungry. But he got bit. He put his butt down in some kind of pit and his rear was all red. He was vomiting. He was a howling like a wounded wolf and he fell on the floor in front of me, right there!”

She pointed to the rough-hewn log floor.

He said: “Make me that strange soup. If I don’t get it I will die.”

“That’s your special soup for when you’ve had alcohol poisoning!”

He said: “Woman. Make it or I’m a gonna die.”

“I have it on the oven right now. But do not ask me what’s inside it.”

I was trying to be appreciative. “How old is it?”

“Do not ask that. My husband scrawled that poster up there on the wall. Read it.”

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – Carl Jung

“No, we weren’t related to him. But he liked that quote. He hated the human race you know. I mean he couldn’t get along with folks. He was drunk one night with a couple of his occasional buddies, and they popped that quote on him. He was in a kind of reasonable mood. He was not an intellectual or anything. But he read a lot. He was always trying to figure out why other people irritated him so much, but somehow he didn’t seem to get any deeper in understanding of himself. He thought that was one powerful quote. So, he scrawled it out on a poster board. This was his philosophical contribution for all the wayward tourists that come through. That poster has been up there for decades.”

I was experiencing quite a bit of duress.

“I like the quote. Are you sure this soup is not going to do me in?”

My wife was listening now as the woman ladled the soup into a very large bowl.

“I gave this to my husband that night and he was walking around a day later, and he was nigh unto death.”

My wife looked away and spoke. “What were you going to do? Make this a special Soup Vacation?

“A soup to cure all other soups” I thought there was a bit of irony there.

I looked down into the soup and then she said: “Do not look down into that soup. Like the scriptures say: “Do not look on the wine when it moves awright.”

“Read that there saying from Mr. Jung, close your eyes and consume it all.”

I started sipping and spooning it in. It was horrid. My wife watched and smiled.

“It’s your vacation.”

I stopped for a second. “At least I learned something about self understanding.”

She smiled again. “Apparently, not enough.”

I would have gotten used to the taste after 5 minutes, but it was so hot, sweat was pouring from my eyes and nose and head and neck.

“I swear, you will feel better. And now you’re a bit wiser too.”

As the sweat poured from me, both ladies laughed.

I felt bold now. It did have a powerful immediate effect. “Could I have the recipe? I will call it Karl Jung’s Soup, and maybe publish it someday.”

She spoke quickly. “I would be cursed if I did that.”

“I wouldn’t want you to be cursed.”

She stood proud over her strange creation. “Feel better?”

“Actually, I do.” I paid her $10 and moved toward the door and my car. My wife was holding the door for me, and smiling.

“Well honey. I did not get the recipe, but I got the quote.” She gave me the quote scrawled on an envelope from her purse. I put it in my wallet.

When I finished that soup, I felt good for several days. However, I did not consume anymore Chili on my Chili Vacation. Not a leap, but a move toward greater self-understanding.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – Carl Jung

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Men from Uranus, Women from Saturn

May 8th, 2012

by Christofer French 

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

Mars and Venus only the Beginning of the Story


Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus . I know it was a best seller. John Gray wrote a great book in 1992 and it helped people see how understanding distinctive separations of gender function could lead to greater harmony. It was a success and I praise it. But astrologically speaking, the Mars and Venus dogs just won’t hunt! There is more to it, if you will permit an astrological continuation of the theme.

 

Women are as martian as you can get. Who can take off at the beginning of the day and multi-task their lives without stopping until they drop into bed? Women. Who can fire off orders to little ones, teenagers, their recalcitrant husbands and then be dynamic at work giving and taking instructions? Women. Who jams the foot on the accelerator, pushes through traffic and tries not to toss a handy epithet out the window as they make their way to their next appointment? Women. And the wiles of Venus have their ways with men too. Who wants some comfort at the end of a day of hard work? Men. Who seeks the piece of their “man cave” and seeks out the solace of beer in a sweet Venusian moment? Men. Who wants a little reinforcement, but seldom gets the appreciation they crave? Men.

Everybody has Everything Somewhere. 

To give an “astro picture” of the points under discussion, Of course, the “Men are from Mars, Women Are From Venus” metaphor, is only that, an image of a way to understand.

 But we all have the planets and the signs and their aspects somewhere along the horary wheel. As my mother loved to say: “You hate Scorpio? Everybody has Scorpio somewhere in one of their houses”. So to say one sex has the qualities of one planet and one another is a basic misnomer. That is limiting. And don’t “hate” any sign or planet because you have them somewhere in your horoscope. I have Moon in Pisces in my 10th House at the Midheaven. If I were to “hate Pisces”, it would be sad, because it has much to do with my career. And if I were to think of women as only having this, or men as only having that, it would also be a mistake.

But we will go with the technique that the original best seller did, because there is a point to be made. But the point has to do with two of the larger planets, not fiery little Mars and winsome Venus. They are two of the incredibly large outer planets and they have more to do with the making of the world. Its these two big planets that I think, in my humble opinion, have more to do in marking the action of the genders and the sexes. The two big planets I refer to are in the title. Uranus and Saturn and they truly mark the sexes in large and palpable ways.

Uranus – Wild, Imaginative, Technological, Idea Maker, Revolutionary

Uranus is the planet of change and revolution and new ideas. Speaking of man caves, why do men like to go back there? To tinker, to watch TV, to tinker some more, to clear their heads and watch ESPN, and continue tinkering, and yes, to be “themselves”, the self that no one else really wants to hear about, but the self who needs a place to “breathe”. When men were in caves for months and couldn’t really hunt, they had to work on tools and come up with new weapons. They say Neanderthals never improved their spears, like Cro Magnons did. Cro Magnons could hurtle their spears with greater accuracy and subdue game from a distance, thus making the way for survival and more material success.

Uranus is wild and imaginative. Uranus generates new ideas. When one man saw how a the particular structure of a seed clung to his leggings, he came up with the idea for velcro. Uranus also is revolutionary. Men are constantly trying to hold themselves back from little impulses, big impulses, crazy actions, nutty responses and stuff like — Manifestos that want to change the world. Not all men are revolutionary. But revolutions are started by men. You can not name in this modern world all the various inventions that men have come up with in their man caves.

Why did some cultures in history not come up with the wheel for the longest time? I won’t name names, but darn. Where were the guys from Uranus who missed that one? The wheel has saved mucho time and done incredible amounts of work. By the way, Uranus makes men say some pretty inexplicable things sometimes. Its part of their charm. But always ponder that those inexplicable things are just coming from a place that may not yet have the structure that Saturn is later going to give them.

If you came to Edison’s haunts in New Jersey and just looked at the place and asked what was going on, you would have laughed if he had said: “I am inventing the modern world”. And if you were on the sand at Kitty Hawk, you would have giggled at those silly Wright Brothers with that strange beast on the beach. Fast forward to the moon landing and you have an image to hold in your head, as you might have laughed at that funny propellor turning in the sea breeze. Enough of that, the modern world stands pulsating before us with the manifestations of new ideas and revolutionary thoughts. It is this Uranian aspect to men that drives women nutty. But it does make the world seem always new, and then new again.

Saturn – Law Making, Form Creating, Shaper, Judgment Declarer, Kicks Butt

In the Tarot tradition and the Cabbalistic ancient system, Saturn rules the “Cube of Space”. It is Saturn that puts the corral around creation and allows God’s work to form. Without getting too vivid, it is the place in which life occurs, the empty fleshly space in which the Magic of Life occurs. But the box around the occurrence is constantly changing, and as the little human leaves the birth canal, they fall into the world that the woman shapes and creates so that the kid can make to 18. That is about as large a task as creation asks. That is not the all of it. But it is the core of it.

Anciently, when women made their beautiful little tents in the wild wilderness of the total around, way back when, their organized clean home was all the civilization there was. Go back in your head. Way back, no 7-11 around the corner, no cars, no institutions, no cops. Just “my tent, my bit of civilization and the big bad awesome around”. A few steps from most women’s tents was not freeways, but the wilderness. And then the hubby comes home and drops the bloody kill to close to her domain. Do you thank him? No, you kick his butt. Women are the rule makers, habit establishers, societal structure creators. Women are the reason for dances and parties and get togethers and people giving a rip about all that there is. Without women’s Saturnine influence there would be nothing but dead meat on a spit and some dried skins.

Women make the structures of the world. And all the while, they make men care. Insist that they care. Women accept all those Uranian impulses men have and fit them into the structure of their daily and nightly lives. While the tornado of activity that they orchestrate churns around, they issue their orders for safety, sanity and common sense. It is the women who really run everything, create the need for new things, establish acceptable conduct for the little “blankety blank” kids across the street and the order of silver on a beautiful dining table. Women create the “A List”, who is acceptable and who is not. What’s “in” and what is “out”. The Taj Mahal was made because of the love a man had for a woman. The Great Wall of China was made to keep violence off of the village, the integrity of the home. The whole world is here in all of its complexity because of the forming power of Saturn. The mystery of women, that thing that men don’t understand, could probably unfold itself to the light of day, if men would appreciate these Saturnine influences.

The Threshhold 

There is so much poetry here, I must conclude with this. The thresh hold was a board or stone or fresh straw at the front door, to stop the ugly outside dirt from moving in and intruding into the house. When a man takes a woman across the thresh hold, it is a symbol. A marvelous symbol. The home is yours and yours to rule, and I take you across the thresh hold as a symbol of our life together as a unit. We are a unit. I accept this structure and because of this structure, we will make a family and out of this a legacy will come.

In adding to the Mars/Venus metaphor, I have opened my self up to criticism for the Uranus/Saturn one. Suffice it to say, and to quote my mother: “Everybody has everything somewhere.” so these comparisons only go so far. In truth, all these things work together in a concert of harmony. The “Interdependent Co Arising” – the Way All Things Work Together – in the world is all too complex for one mind to behold. But when we think of these separations of function, they should cause us to be in awe. And they should fill us with a warm reverie about how creation occurs. Be understanding with these distinctions drawn. Inasmuch as they give us patience, admiration, love and praise for each other, they are good. If they cause division and dismay, they are not good. And so, I will leave it there. Appreciate the powers around you, and how we all manifest them, for the interplay of all these forces works itself out every day in your life.

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Taurus and Sagittarius

May 7th, 2012

by Christofer French 

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

 Four Legs Times Two

How To Get Along – Taurus and Sagittarius

The Bull and the Archer (the Centaur)

This series on AstroCompatibility will cover all of the potential matchups in the Zodiac. We will continue this series thinking about and commenting on Sagittarius and Taurus.

Sagittarius is Fire and Mutable. Taurus is Earth and Fixed. Sagittarius is playful, idealistic, full of movement and loving travel. Where Taurus is sure footed, Sagittarius stumbles into a group and gets its hoof snagged. Taurus plans its speeches and makes its thoughts clear. Sagittarius is bold, blustery, a bit awkward and suddenly innocently offensive. The high pitch of reckless statements is hard for the conservative bull to abide. Often times the Taurus is confounded by the Archer’s wildness. The Taurus spends its time trying to figure out what makes the Sagittarius tick. The Sagittarius does not spend the same time trying to plumb the depths of Taurus. It appears that Taurus is fairly simple to understand.

Hopefulness was invented by Sagittarians, spawning new optimistic dreams, woven with strands of aspiration. Taurus is in a practical, somewhat gloomy, almost pessimism.

 Taurus watches Sagittarius and sees a sign that says: “Caution”. Taurus is not fearful of Sagittarius, more like “wary”. If these two get together, Taurus will have to make the adjustments. If Taurus demands changes of Sagittarius, the Archer will feel that they are being asked to make changes for no good reason, other than that they are being profoundly misunderstood and judged. Sagittarius is seeking justice and fairness, and in that mode, they feel they can say and do what they wish. That is their “raison d’être”. You might be able to restrict the Archer’s misbehavior, but certainly not their “being”.

Positive Postulate: This positive view is appealing. Taurus is entertained by and has fallen in love with the Archer. The Archer’s admiration for the Bull has to do with all of the things that the Archer does not have, but values in the Taurus – predictability, reliability, constancy, simplicity of heart and soundness of head. The “Sag” is smart enough to see what it lacks, and though it does not foresee ever changing, it values in its partner, that which it does not see itself producing.

Romance Recommendation: Romance for this couple is where the Rule of Jupiter could cause pain. Jupiter rules Sagittarius, and thus the Archer is bidden into grandiose behavior. Speaking, acting, predicting, planning — all are characterized by the ebullience of the gaseous planet. Taurus could feel abnormally challenged romantically, by its conservative and understandable desire for normalcy. The archer could feel cramped and dampened by the Bull’s critique. The Taurus will need to loosen up. The Archer not to mind a little restraint.

Conflict Quotient: Conflict for the Sagittarius is what happens after it has opened its mouth and offended family and friends and neighbors with its candid, right off the chest, honest declarations. The archer, shooting arrows all over the place with sometimes incredible accuracy, and sometimes wanton wildness, will tend to cause feelings and senses to be in various states of pain. Taurus, patient Taurus, though normally sweet and winsome, may be forced to lose its legendary wicked temper, just to get Sagittarius’ attention. Sag can defend itself well, and rear up in indignation and neigh and winnie with great drama. However, its sense of fairness won’t let it lie too much, though it might make noise with grand theatricality.

Peace Parlay: Life in the end is repetitive and mundane, and so is Romance itself. This factor asks the question: ” Can we be bored together over the long term? “ It is difficult to imagine the Sagittarius letting things get boring. The contrary scenario might be possible however; nerves worn raw with overstimulation might cause collapse. In the extreme, this is what happens when Sagittarians run like a fly wheel of ever turning activity. In this extreme, the Taurus would provide a wonderful solace of comfort, and peace and security. The Taurus could lend its calm balm to overstressed neurological circuits. This Peace Parlay could be quite healing, and lead the union into new territory.

Keep Up The Interest Graph: Taurus’s default mechanism goes toward what has worked before. The Sagittarius leaps over the next fence to check out the new, not knowing if it can work. With this in mind, you can see that this couple/union would be presented with new options always tempered with the sanity of the same. That could be a nice combination, both affecting the other. If they were working together, and not in conflict, a nice balance could be struck for long term fresh, but stable, interest.

Seven Year Itchiness: There are some signs that by their nature are more stable in their love interests and family concerns as time goes on. Others are not. The actual approach of the 7 th Year Itch might be on Taurus’ calendar, if it had lost its patience and stolid ways. It might note, and act or it just might note and remain frustrated. Taurus can stray, but it needs big motivation. Sagittarius might have strayed accidentally before the 7 th year, if it were unhappy.

RATING: ASTROCOMPATIBILITY POSSIBILITY RATING: 65% Positive Long Term – 55% Short Term . Sagittarius is sincere, but often doesn’t act like it. Taurus is sincere and represents such. These two could have a good beginning. Sagittarius could end up being sarcastic, too truthful, and irritable. The inquisitive Sagittarius would have to hold back its tendency to enquire endlessly of Taurus’s good intentions. This union could have both sympathy and edginess living with them at the same time. If they could do that, it could last. Not too tragic, and maybe comfortably growth causing.

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Virgo and Taurus

May 7th, 2012

by Christofer French 

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

 Virginal and Bullish

How To Get Along – Taurus and Virgo

AstroCompatibility Is The Goal

This series on AstroCompatibility will cover all of the potential matchups in the Zodiac. We will continue this series thinking about and commenting on Taurus and Virgo.

Virgo and Taurus

These two signs are both Earth. Fixed Earth and Mutable Earth. Taurus and Virgo can see the faults and the foibles of the around. Virgo cares and remembers them all. Taurus sees faults, but they are not in the business of carefully splitting hairs, they build new elements with fewer flaws. Taurus admires Virgo’s sense of superiority, with their alacrity and brain quickness. When they see Taurus, the Virgo is impressed with the soundness and solidarity that the bull exudes.

The adaptability of Virgo, in its “mutability” holds the Virgin in good stead. Fast acting synapses help the Virgin cast its speedy critical eyes over the world that needs so much fixing. Steady, organized and calm, the Taurus has the patience to build. This is one of those combinations for which their defects actually fill in for each other. Virgo’s speed leads to worrisome impatience.

The Virgo looks calm, but they are crackling with inner irritability. Taurus does have actual patience. Taurus can employ Virgo’s agenda and make things happen.

Positive Postulate: Both of these signs have an outer warmth and ease about them. Just because Virgo has inner disturbances, they are still the picture of pleasantness. Virgo is preoccupied with itself. Not in a vainglorious or snotty way, but rather, because they are the best people they know. A Taurus who admires their Virgo would probably hold them in great respect. Taurus is shy, but also very sure of itself. These two would walk around with a sense of contentment. Virgo could criticize, and Taurus would not really listen very hard. They could march through public settings and parties with their inner sense of self-assured security.

Romance Recommendation: Initially, Taurus and Virgo might not even get together. I say that humorously, just because neither is a forward firing aggressor. They hold back in their self-assured dignity and restraint. They are not interested in looking around and measuring themselves in some kind of mating contest. Their sincerity and self-admiration would probably magnetize them toward each other on some quiet evening. “I could admire you as much as you admire yourself” might be a funny opening line. In their relationship, they would want to avoid Virginal hyper-criticism and Taurean immovability. These would be the two key romantic downfalls.

Conflict Quotient: A Taurus hopes that his/her Virgo would be above reproach. A Taurean conflict would probably have a good deal of indignation. Taurus feels it is right. Virgos can tell you all the reasons they are right. This means that in a fight between them, they might have to stop and listen to each other. Neither wants to admit, I mean openly admit, that they are wrong. You can say, “Who does?” But lots of signs can admit mistakes and move on. These two do best when they are not trying to extract admissions from each other, but rather, to spend time calming each other and in a sense, “assuming” admissions that may actually not occur. What you are after is the peaceful manifestation of post-fight reconciliation, not the nit picking post fight “counting of coups”. 

Peace Parlay: Life in the end is repetitive and mundane, and so is Romance itself. This factor asks the question: ” Can we be bored together over the long term? “ Virgo resists boredom. They are fundamentally opposed to it. They don’t need to be entertained; they just cannot come to rest. As the relationship matures and ages, the Taurus will be happy to revel in their success and kick back. Virgo will be seeding their garden with new ways to constantly improve. Add a deck, change the foliage. Taurus would probably not object in most cases. Virgo’s desire is to always make things better. Taurus does not hold that same sense. There is so much that is already beautiful all by itself, naturally. Though that might seem to be a conflict, it could actually be the couples’ way of being.

Keep Up The Interest Graph: Virgo’s active mind would be fertile ground for new interest; and Taurus’s sensuality could probably keep up an environment of new vitality. Neither of these signs is adventurous in a venal kind of way, so conventionality would probably be the watchword. Both of these earth signs, guided by their inner clocks and measured standards would find continued interest through self-exploration.

Seven Year Itchiness: There are some signs that by their nature are more stable in their love interests and family concerns as time goes on. Others are not. The Virgo would probably acknowledge that the 7 Year Itch exists as a potentially human problem, but not see it as a potential stumbling block for them. Taurus would probably see it as a possibility. Sensual Taurus can certainly be tempted, but also, conservatism is there as a restraint. Virgo would probably have to be angry and outraged, and seek out an answer due to the Bull turning away from them. Taurus could be driven away by the out of control Virginal harassing criticism.

RATING: 

ASTROCOMPATIBILITY POSSIBILITY RATING: 75% Positive Long Term – 50% Short Term . Once they got to know each other, and saw their many similarities, they could be a strong couple. This is a good natural match, and one in which both parties could grow from each other’s company.

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Libra and Aries

May 7th, 2012

 

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

Getting Along 

The Balances and The Ram - 

This series on AstroCompatibility will cover all of the potential matchups in the Zodiac. We will continue this series thinking about and commenting on Aries and Libra.

Libra – Aries  
Libra is an Air Sign. Aries is a Fire Sign. Libra is Cardinal and Aries is Cardinal. This makes these signs with an action oriented style. It could be a good match, if love factors are there. Libra’s airiness could be fired up by Aries. To make up for Aries dynamism, Libra could add tolerance and patience, but still relate to the forward movement of Aries. Aries’s fiery nature and action-oriented style could bring appealing spark. If Libra is seeking more excitement this could be great. If Aries was seeking calmness and outer sense of balance, it could also be positive as a match. The Aries, either gender, would have to value and seek out the Libra soundness and not be off put by what might be perceived as a little predictable and boring. The cardinality of both signs is both a caution and a sign post. Sometimes all action can stumble all over itself. 

 However, many couples need to be mutually dynamic to be happy.

Positive Postulate: 

Aries and Libra would need to be in basic harmony with their values. Positively speaking, if there was basic attraction and similarity of personal values, they could offset their differences and make their unique contributions to the match. Aries fire can be its own dramatic show, and Libran thoughtfulness and hesitance could give the dynamic Aries time to ponder before leaping. Libra could take warm assurance that while they provide stability, things would still keep moving and get done.

Romance Recommendation: 

Aries and Libra would provide romantic fireworks. Librans are artistic in romance and a winsome attractive Libra could give the Aries something to seek on a continuing basis. Arian flame could light the wick of Libra. Aries could love giving nice things, Libra could enjoy receiving them. If Aries maintained interest, and Libra did not get frivolous, it could be a strong continuing romantic positive.

Conflict Quotient:

Libra and Aries could have firey issues getting confllicts resolved. Libra does not like conflict and tends to freeze up if things get too noisy. Aries does have the ability to get confrontational. Libra would ask for more quiet and seek balance during the conflict. Then if Aries takes it up another notch, that put Libra into an emergency state, Libra would want to lower the volume first, and Aries would tend to increase the volume or become even more confrontational. Aries would want to teach itself how to approach Libra. Libra would have to teach itself not to over react.

Peace Parlay: 

Life in the end is repetitive and mundane, and so is Romance itself. This factor asks the question: “Can we be bored together over the long term?” Libra and Aries, would want to try to avoid being too bored together. Libra does not like boredom, but can beboring. Aries would tend to fight the boredom issue, and Libra would enjoy Aries attempts. That could be good, as long as their solutions were from the same page.

Keep Up The Interest Graph:

Libra and Aries could “keep up the interest”. Because of their “cardinality” – ACTION oriented, they would both want to move their issues along to make the lack of interest be a thing to avoid. The only issue here is that they head off in basically, the same direction. If they were attracted to each other in the beginning, there is no obvious reason that would wain. Aries would want new agendas, and Libra, though hesitant, would probably be attracted to new baubles and settings and games.

Seven Year Itchiness:

There are some signs that by their nature are more stable in their love interests and family concerns as time goes on. Others are not. The 7 year itch can trip up any union. Aries, seeking to see what is over the next hill, might fall victim. Libra could be enchanted by temptation and perhaps love the thrill of it, but not seek to upset their world, unless something were quite destabilizing and hurtful. If things were not good, they would both want to be alert during this time, if they valued the basic soundness of the relationship.

ASTROCOMPATIBILITY POSSIBILITY RATING: 60% Positive Long Term – 70% Short Term . Attraction, fun and action could draw these two together in the beginning. As the relationship ages, it would mean that they shared goals and values. Fire and Air is not always the best combination, but the shared cardinality predicts moving along together on fun plans, as life goes on.

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Taurus and Aries

May 7th, 2012

 

Taurus and Aries

Rain Dancer Associates, LLC

The Bull and the Ram

AstroCompatibility Is The Goal

This series on AstroCompatibility will cover all of the potential matchups in the Zodiac. We will continue this series thinking about and commenting on Aries and Taurus.

Taurus and Aries

Taurus is sensual and Aries is driven. These signs, though both Springtime signs are much different. The Ram is experiencing the lightning shock of brand new, post-winter dynamism. It is about moving around through the melting snow and sprouting plants on the sun-drenched hill. Taurus is eating the first blossoms of May and enjoying the earths first bounty on the open pasture. The warming Sun on the bulls chest says ” Enjoy what has come. ”
The Taurus Male/Aries Female combination is a little more complicated, but still provides springtime energies. The Aries has to slow down enough for the Taurus to pursue her. If Aries is all initiatory impulse and makes many first moves, the Aries will have to hang around and encourage the Taurus that Aries is deeply interested. The Taurus could definitely be fired up, but the fires are warmer and smoldering, as opposed to all flames in the open air.

 Once the Taurus is assured of Aries interest, Taurus will pursue; but at a Taurean pace. The match requires some patience, but could be very sensuous and fun.

Positive Postulate: Since Aries and Taurus are of the Spring, the long term positives are substantial. Positively speaking these signs do not have any obvious complicating factors. A positive way to see it is that Aries would be required to become more patient, and Taurus getting a fire going and a ” move on ” . This is the counter balancing factor, that can foresee success.

Romance Recommendation: Aries and Taurus would have a very high romance factor, as long as they let each others vibrations have free play.

Conflict Quotient: Aries and Taurus could rate positive here, but with warnings. Taurus plodding kind of non-firey approach would portend good news for arguments and conflicts. As long as Taurus does not lose its patience and become completely ” bull headed ” , solutions could be worked out as Taurus patiently listened to Aries firey agenda. Potential high rating here, because one could listen, while the other made the noise; but resolution is foreseeable.


Peace Parlay: Life in the end is repetitive and mundane, and so is Romance itself. This factor asks the question: ” Can we be bored together over the long term? “ Aries and Taurus could probably be quiet and mundane together because Taurus would like the quiet. Aries would provide some interest, joining new clubs and going out a little more than usual. They would get a high rating here. Good results here predicted as long as Aries does not blow a gasket slowing down.

Keep Up The Interest Graph: Aries and Taurus energy for life enjoyment predicts good long term interest. As long as Aries stays ” on the reservation and Taurus doesnt ” look over the fence ” , long term interest could be strong. .

Seven Year Itchiness: There are some signs that by their nature are more stable in their love interests and family concerns as time goes on. Others are not. I would not rate the Aries essentially to be ultra stable, when the 7 Year Itch came along. Taurus would have its nose in the air, but tend not to act, if happy.

RATING:

ASTROCOMPATIBILITY POSSIBILITY RATING: 75% Positive Long Term – 90% Short Term . That means that the Aries/Taurus combination, if there is some strong love interest there in the beginning, could have strong promise. Volatility is indicated, but ultimate settling could be foreseen.

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