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Mystic Blog Wednesday, November 29, 2005

New Moon in Sagittarius on Thursday, December 1st

There's a new moon in the fiery sign of Sagittarius tomorrow. It happens at 10:01 am EST here in the US. We're still in Mercury retrograde, though, so the new moon energies may be a bit slow to kick in. By Sunday the 4th, when Mercury goes direct, that new moon spirit will feel a lot stronger.

Read all about this in my latest article:

New Moon in Sagittarius December 1st

Mystic Blog Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The Passing of Earl the Cat

I've noticed that there can be more chaos surrounding our animals out here on the farm during Mercury retrogrades. This time, something very sad happened.

I'd been having the feeling over the past few weeks that something was going to happen with Earl, our tough old outdoor farm cat. Earl is the beautiful white cat who came with the farm. He belonged to people who used to live here, and we happily adopted him.

He sort of became the patron spirit of the place. Loving, sweet, and funny, he would come inside for cuddles and food and then be off on his merry way keeping patrol at the perimeter of the property. This was his job, and you could tell he was glad to do it.

I've always had a strong psychic bond with Earl. I seem to sense when he's in danger.

One New Year's eve several years ago we went for a short visit to New York. That night I had a vivid and frightening dream in which Earl showed up at the door like usual with a gaping head wound.

When we drove home the next day, Earl came in with a gaping head wound, byproduct of a tussle with another animal. Fortunately, one emergency trip to the vet and a round of antibiotics later, he quickly recovered.

Earl hated to be confined and didn't like to stay inside for long, so we never tried to make him an indoor cat. We honored his sovereignty and independence and were simply happy to see him each day when he showed up for food and petting.

About a year and half ago Earl was diagnosed as being diabetic, and we wondered how treatment would go. We would have to start giving him an insulin shot each day. In the past, Earl didn't always visit us each day, and he travelled so far in his daily journeys that we could never find him on foot or by car. We generally just waited until he showed up again.

But he seemed to realize that he needed to slow down and be closer to the house. He immediately entered into a predictable routine and it was surprisingly easy to give him his daily shot and spend some time with him each day. (If you ever have a pet who is diagnosed as a diabetic, don't be afraid. Giving an animal a shot is very easy. They have so much fur that they don't even feel it, and it's not like giving a person a shot. It's much less nervewracking.)

Things were fine for the past year or so, although we did notice that Earl was looking a little more tired and worn down. He still spent most of his time outdoors and was an avid hunter. He was fond of bringing Smoky, our pretty gray lady cat, presents like birds and mice. (We always tried to rescue them, but sometimes Smoky was too quick for us. Earl had mastered a kind of baton pass where he'd meow, giving Smoky the signal that he had a gift for her, and she'd dash over and grab whatever poor creature he'd captured.)

Earl was proud of bringing in his prey. He was a good hunter, and he liked his role as "provider."

Earl was due for a checkup at the vet but I hadn't taken him in yet. At the same time, I had vague premonitions that something might happen to Earl. I especially remember right before we went away for Thanksgiving when I looked at Earl's photo next to my desk and had a bad flash that pretty soon, photos were all that we would have of Earl.

I tried to shake these sensations off, though, and kept my eyes open. We made plans to go away and have our neighbor look after the cats. She's given Earl his shots before and knew his routine, so we weren't worried about him.

He didn't show up the two days before we went away, and we couldn't find him anywhere. I was starting to get worried. He had gone without his insulin shot in the past, and it didn't seem to bother him, but it wasn't the preferred way of doing things. He needed to check in with us and let us know he was okay. He was only on a small amount of insulin, though, so that was good. He wasn't hugely dependent on it.

Wednesday night as we were packing up for our drive out-of-town the following day, I grew worried about Earl. I had been oddly tense, almost to the point of panic attack, all day long, only I didn't associate it with Earl at first. I just thought I was tired or overworked. But by the time it grew dark, I sent out a mental message to the cats in our area to "Send Earl home. We're worried about him."

This works, believe it or not, sending telepathic messages to your animals. I also usually ask some of our other cats if they've seen Earl when he's gone missing, and I usually get some information from them. This time, though, none of our other cats knew where he was. I was really getting worried.

We continued to get ready for our trip, and I went down into the basement to do some cleaning up. That's where the cat doors are where the cats can let themselves in and out.

I saw Earl laying in front of the washer and dryer, and right away, I could see something was terribly wrong. He was very still and unresponsive and his vital signs didn't seem good. He was barely responsive to my touch and just wanted to lay there. I brought him food and water and tried to see if he was injured. He didn't seem to have any exterior wounds, which was good. He didn't want any food but he gulped down lots of water. Something was wrong.

We took him to the emergency vet and went through a very sad six hours. At first, we assumed that Earl was having troubles simply because he hadn't had his insulin. I gave him his shot shortly after I found him in the basement, but he didn't rally.

At the vet's we worked with a wonderful and loving young lady vet who carefully gave us as much information as she could gather at that point from Earl. She promised to call us later, too, with more info.

We talked with her around midnight and found out some bad news. His blood sugar was fine, so it didn't seem to be the lack of insulin that had been the problem. But his vital signs were still poor, low temperature, low heart rate. And one of his kidneys was very enlarged. The vet couldn't say with 100% certainty that this was the case, but her best professional opinion was that Earl was suffering from kidney cancer and probably had been for some time.

The choices were all heartbreaking. Earl has always been completely stressed out when you try to lock him in a room by himself, so this wasn't going to be an easy cat to nurse. The treatment for kidney cancer is a big risk, at best. It would involve chemotherapy. Or we could simply bring him home and let him decline here. Or. . .

After lots of prayer, meditation, tears, and continually checking in with Spirit and with Earl's Higher Self to see what was best for Earl, we were told that he wouldn't be living much longer and that his pain and discomfort would be severe if we brought him home in a few days. In fact, we were told, he probably wouldn't even survive for a few days. He hated feeling so awful.

It's at time like these that I am very grateful for my intuitive abilities, because I was able to ask Earl what his wishes were. He said he hadn't been feeling well for several months. He had been gradually getting more and more tired and had many pains he couldn't tell us about. If he wasn't going to get better, he said, then he'd like to make the transition to the Spirit world.

We made the difficult decision to put him to sleep, which is never fun, but this truly felt that it was the right thing to do.

Through sobs and tears, Tom and I went downstairs and took out our shamanic drums. We invoked God/Goddess/Great Spirit, Jesus, the angels and Cerambriel, the cat angel, who looks over the spirits of cats. We also invoked the nature devas, who had spent so much time with him during Earl's outdoor adventures, and the power animals and Indian runners. And we prayed for everyone to help Earl make a safe and painless transition while the vet put Earl to sleep at the vet's that night.

We drummed for Earl and felt the loving helpers from the spirit world come in. Some surrounded us, some surrounded Earl. We drummed for a long time, crying and honoring all that Earl had been to us. I felt Earl make the transition. It was a very clear moment.

Earl's energy was still very much around us for the next three days. When someone dies, whether they are an animal or a human, they remain in a dimension very close to this one while their spirit disconnects from the chakras and energy points of their physical body. This also gives them time to connect with loved ones and convey last messages from the spirit realm. After that, if a spirit has made a clean passing (your prayers for their protection and well-being are VERY important so they don't get lost or confused,) then the spirit goes to a more refined dimension. From that point, the spirit will still sometimes visit back and forth, but it's best for the loved ones to release the soul from their hearts and minds as best they can so as not to magnetize the departed to this realm. They need to move on, and people need to go through their greiving process down here in this realm.

Thanksgiving morning Tom went to retreive Earl's remains. It was a solemn, cold, and cloudy morning with an unexpected inch of snow on the ground. We found a spot outside where we knew Earl should be, near one of his favorite lookout and hunting areas. And we buried him with sacred sage, tobacco, and frankincense, marking his gravesite with some of the natural rose quartz pieces that occur here on the property.

Processing all the energies and emotions surrounding Earl's passing is very sad, but I have had the comfort of being in communication with him from the spirit realm. He communicated that he is in a kind of perpetual summer place, a dimension where every day is like the perfect summer mornings he used to know where everything is fragrant, warm, and lovely. And he says he feels like a kitten again, all light and buoyant, unencumbered by that sick body he was dragging around all of those months as he grew more and more ill.

One message that every deceased being, animal and human, has conveyed to me over the years is how happy they are to be out of body after they die. We all remain young in our spirits, and it's so sad to be trapped in sick or aging physical shells that can no longer respond and move the way a young body can. After our soul's passage to the next world, we experience perpetual youth and lightness.

And love. Infinite, unbelievable love.

Thanks for being with us, Earl. You'll always be our Baby Cat. And we miss you terribly.

Mystic Blog Monday, November 28, 2005

Are Newspaper Horoscopes Real or Fake?

Aren't you dying to know? Read what I have to say about them.

Mystic Blog Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Holidays As An Opportunity for Healing and Our Legacy in Iraq

Today's blog entry became an article. Happy Thanksgiving week to you. This blog will resume after the holiday.

Holidays as an Opportunity for Healing and Our Legacy in Iraq - 11/22/05

Mystic Blog Monday, November 21, 2005

My Mercury Retrograde Adventures So Far

I've been gradually making a list of odd, chaotic, or anomalous things that are happening in my little world during this Mercury retrograde time.

1) The other day a policeman pulled up in front of the house around 3 in the afternoon. I went out to see if he needed help with anything. He had tracked a 911 call originating from our downstairs phone a few minutes before and was checking to see if everybody was okay.

That was a weird one since Tom was on the phone with a client at the time that the outgoing 911 call was supposedly being made on our line. So how do you make an outgoing call to 911 at the same time that you're busy on the phone talking with a client?

The trooper was very nice. He explained how this often happens here in the country where we live. The lines sometimes get crossed. Could be squirrels. Could be aliens. Who knows.

It's nice to know that if we needed help and made a 911 call that they'd be here right away.

2) I was shopping at the grocery store this week and had one of those moments where you completely lose your sense of physical orientation. I pushed my cart around the parking lot for quite some time trying to remember where I'd parked the car. I find that I have more of a tendency to get lost, make wrong turns on familiar roads, or misplace my car in parking lots during Mercury retrograde. Retrograde seems to slightly screw up my spatial sense.

3) Every few months during Mercury retrograde, I get calls on my home office phone from people who are calling a doctor's office. I'm never sure whether a doctor's office once used my phone number or what. But it's only during Mercury retrograde that people call looking for the doctor. A fellow named Jose called this week and told me he didn't feel so good. I told him I hoped that he felt better but that I probably wasn't the person he was looking for.

I am a doctor, of sorts - a doctor of good vibes. But I don't have an official license for that.

4) Throughout my life I live in mortal fear that I will be out somewhere and I'll suddenly have this brilliant insight about something I want to write - a perfectly worded sentence or concept - and I won't have a pen to write it down. To assuage this fear I carry about 20 pens in my purse. I figure it's always good to have backup since pens sometimes run out of ink unexpectedly.

Last night I was trying to write down some important business contact information for someone at our local pub to help them with their own marketing and promotion efforts. I pulled out one pen and attempted to jot the notes down on the back of my business card. The ink was dry. I pulled out a second pen. That one didn't work, either. I pulled out a third pen, and it didn't work. The fourth pen was kind of faint but at least some of the ink was working.

The weird thing was the two of the pens were ones I had been using earlier in the day, and they had been working fine then.

Today they're working fine, too.

Hmm.

5) Tom's dry cleaner lost a box of his shirts, which was definitely an anomalous event. We've been going to this dry cleaner for years and they've never lost anything before. Interesting how they lost something during Mercury retrograde.

We're waiting for Mercury retrograde to pick up strength and momentum, because that's when the really interesting things happen. Stray animals sometime show up here during Mercury retrograde; usually these are dogs who managed to break free of their electronic fences or ran away from a dog walker or dog sitter.

Cats turn up, too. They have a tendency to end up inside with us. I'm not quite sure how that happens.

Mystic Blog Friday, November 18, 2005

Spiritual, Religious, Or Both?

A Newsweek/Beliefnet poll from August of this year found that of 1,004 Americans, 55% think of themselves as "religious and spiritual." Another 24% describe themselves as "spiritual." Two-thirds say they pray daily, and a third meditate.

Nathan Katz, PhD, director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality at Florida International University, describes what he calls the emergence of "secular spirituality." He defines this as the contemporary, largely American phenomenon of applying spiritual insights to issues such as health care, the environment, physics, art, and education. He feels that this is why the movie What the Bleep Do We Know? was so popular last year. It took spiritual ideas and applied them across a wide range of subjects, showing how spirituality can plug in to all aspects of our lives.

I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this approach in the years to come. Spiritual seekers are looking for dynamic, user-friendly ways to take metaphysical ideas and apply them to their lives. Most people are so busy that they don't make time for regular church-going. And many who were raised in traditional faiths have grown disenchanted with what they largely feel to be stale, outmoded forms of spiritual worship. So they're seeking a path that is dynamic, inspiring, and results-oriented.

Yes, results-oriented.

I predict that the most active area of discussion among spiritual seekers, healers, and students of metaphysics in the years to come will be "power prayer," applied faith, or "white magic."

If great teachers like Jesus laid out a path for others to follow, what are the components of that path? And while dusting off the crusty interpretations of the aeons, might we unearth a new, more contemporary approach to making his message real?

This is the dialogue that is happening among all the seekers I know. To unify the discoveries of quantum physics, science, archeology, and the arts and come up with a roadmap for the human species that makes sense - that's what is on everybody's minds.

Some self-correction is surely in order, and we need to continue to find ways to make this work in our lives.

To me, it's all about lightening up and clearing out psychic cobwebs, mind controls, societal programming, and disempowering traditions which tend to distance people from the embrace of a loving Creator and cause them to become separated from that amazing, miraculous energy.

Remove the barriers to union with the Divine, and you're on your way.

I believe we can all get there, whether we nestle in to a more traditional path and make it ours or we choose to do our seeking on our own, outside the "flock." Exposure to innovative thinkers and researchers is a great help.

Mystic Blog Thursday, November 17, 2005

How Is Your Mercury Retrograde Coming Along?

Mercury is retrograde in the sign of Sagittarius until December 3rd. I welcome your letters about what has been happening to YOU during this retrograde time. Any weird mental snafus happening? Have you been having mechanical problems with computers, cars, cell phones? Have you experienced any missed connections with people? Report any odd or anomalous events to me at: editor (at) lipstickmystic.com and I will collect them for a future blog post.

So far, this retrograde time has been affecting me on more of a physical level than other recent retrogrades. I felt really tired as Mercury slowed to a station over the weekend, and then when it went retrograde on Monday, all I wanted to do was sleep. . . and then sleep some more. . . and then take a nice long nap. . . and then feed the cats and sleep a little bit more. You get the idea.

Moon voids occur about every three days when the moon changes signs. The moon will be void for anywhere from a few minutes to almost a full day. I've noticed that I often feel the "take a nap now" urge during a moon void. I also find that my writing impulses are clouded and I feel less mentally clear and inspired during a moon void, so I've learned to arrange my writing schedule to accomodate moon void times.

Right before Mercury goes retrograde, it slows down, or "slows to a station," before going backwards in retrograde motion. During this time, I often feel just like I do during a moon void. I find it harder to focus on stuff and, mostly, I just feel the Call of the Nap beckoning me.

One of the advantages to being self-employed is that, depending on the type of work you do, you can take naps. I'm fortunate that I can do this.

I've always thought that adulthood should be more like childhood. Remember in kindergarten when the teacher would have you take a half hour nap? That's what happened at my school. In fact, we were doing this well into the second grade. There was an area of the room where all of these multi-colored squares of carpet were stored. When it was nap-time, students would go and pick out a piece of carpet, which would become their nap rug for the day. Then everybody would lay down and take a short nap on their rug.

Why don't we do this as grownups? When we start a new job, why aren't we assigned our own nap rug?

When we were kids, nap-time was a great tool for helping teachers modulate their students' energy. Some down time helped the kids stay calmer and more mellow.

I think our politicians should reinstate mandatory nap time within the corporate world. Who knows? It might take the edge off of all of that dog-eat-dog, cat-eat-mouse, mouse-eat-cheese behavior going on out there.

Mystic Blog Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Animals As Well As Humans Experience Emotions

I wish I'd been able to attend this presentation:

Dr Filippo Aureli, reader in Animal Behaviour and co-director of the Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology at LJMU will present his findings today (September 6) at the BA Festival of Science in Dublin.

Dr. Aureli has discovered that animals respond to their environment like humans do. Animals react emotionally to others and become stressed and anxious in times of danger. There are other researchers exploring this line of study, but it doesn't seem like many of them show up on the radar. Aureli gave a lecture about his research this past September.

Read a little more about his work: Dr. Aureli's Research On Animals and Emotion

Mystic Blog Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Full Moon Tonight in Taurus; Uranus Goes Direct

Yesterday I wrote about Mercury retrograde, which just started and will last until December 3rd. We also have a full moon today in the practical sign of Taurus, plus Uranus is going direct. The full moon happens at 7:58 pm Eastern Standard Time here in the US and Uranus goes direct at 7:07 pm.

This full moon is likely to be a time when we're focused on material stuff like money flow, the state of our homes, and our physical bodies. It's a good day to take inventory and notice what is and isn't working in the "3-D" aspects of our lives.

If you need more cash flow, you could feel a bit grumpy about it as the full moon stirs up some harsh realizations about how your money situation has gotten out of control. Or if you're overweight, you could suddenly feel overwhelmed as you contemplate losing those extra pounds. If your home is messy or disorganized, the full moon could create one of those "Eurekas" where you go, "My God, I am a total slob! How do I live this way?" (I have those Eurekas every month around the full moon.)

It's good to ask yourself these tough questions, even if the emotions involved are a bit intense. The full moon's job is to shine a light on stuff that we've been hiding, ignoring, or repressing. If we've been disregarding something that is starting to get out of control, drama can get stirred up. Explosive emotions are sometimes necessary so that you NOTICE what is going on instead of just ignoring issues that need addressing.

The full moon itself is not a "bad" thing. But people's emotionality tends to be "loud" during a full moon, which can set everyone's nerves on edge and create tense moments if we're not aware of these energies and how they operate.

The full moon is best used as a "get to the truth" time. Take an honest look at what is going on in your life and examine your progress. You may have a powerful emotional realization as light finally dawns, and this is great! Such breakthroughs allow us to truly see what is happening in our lives so we can make more productive, healthy choices and steer ourselves on a better path.

Which is worse - realizing that you have to lose some pounds in order to maintain your ideal weight and dealing with some depression or anxiety about this, or continuing to gain weight mindlessly and putting your health in more and more jeopardy? Isn't it better to truly see the situation as it is, despite the stress involved?

Which is worse - suddenly seeing that you need to put a better money management system in place because cash flow isn't good, and dealing with the adrenalin rush of realizing this, or going along cluelessly, sinking further and further into debt, assuming no responsibility for the situation because you're busy pretending it's not real? Isn't it better to get a grip, now, before it's too late?

The insights that dawn at a full moon are a gift. Intuition and spiritual energies are powerful at the full moon, so meditation, prayer, and affirmations can be very clear now.

If you perceive something you don't like, then set the intention to make fundamental changes. The full moon will give you the extra motivation to make it happen and set evolution in motion.

I want to talk briefly about what's up with Uranus. Uranus is one of the outer planets and it moves very slowly through the signs. It's been in Pisces throughout 2005. It went retrograde in mid-June and is just today moving out of retrograde, going direct. Uranus is a funny planet. It's a planet that encourages us to innovate, invent, and be creative. When it's in retrograde, as it is for many months each year, we can feel less in touch with our creativity. We may have lots of great ideas floating around, but we find it hard to start executing them.

When Uranus is in direct motion, as it will be tonight, creative ideas can sometimes hit you in a flash, only this time, these dreams will be within your grasp. You'll feel clearer about planning steps that will allow you to accomplish your goals. So even though Mercury is retrograde right now, the full moon plus Uranus going direct could provide some powerful insights and motivation to get your life in order. Drive, determination, and courage are amping up on a subconscious level, and by the time Mercury goes direct on December 3rd, we'll all feel inspired to push ahead with projects we feel are important.

So take some time tonight or tomorrow, when the full moon energies are strongest, to get in touch with your inner self. What is out of balance in your life? What would you like to improve? How might you set about making changes, even if you don't start them today?

And don't be afraid to unleash that creative energy that is bubbling beneath the surface, because Uranus will be inspiring you to access quirky, unconventional, and imaginative energy.

Mystic Blog Monday, November 14, 2005

Mercury Retrograde Now Through December 3rd

Yep, it's that time again. Read all about it here:

Mercury Retrograde November 14, 2005 to December 3, 2005

Mystic Blog Friday, November 10, 2005

Kim Meyer, Animal Communicator, at About.com

Kim Meyer is an animal communicator (otherwise known as a pet psychic) who has a cool Q & A column on About.com where she answers people's questions about their beloved animals.

Check it out: Kim Meyer Talks to the Animals

Mystic Blog Thursday, November 10, 2005

The Hobbit People of Indonesia

Debate is still raging about the significance of bones that have been found over the past year in Indonesia. The skeletal remains suggest that a race of miniature people, much like the Hobbits in The Lord of the Ring story cycle, lived between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago.

There is a lot of evidence about both giants AND little people coexisting with modern man over the centuries. Numerous groups of skeletons have been found all over the world that are seven feet to ten feet tall, yet this archeological evidence is largely suppressed. The information is usually presented as if these findings were rare or anomalous, hinting that, well, yes, there might be a giant or two, but these people were obviously genetic anomalies, not an entire race.

But how about a hundred giant skeletons all buried together? Do you call that large of a group "anomalous?"

Is it really so hard to believe that beings of different sizes have existed, even when the remains of these people are right there in front of you?

Apparently so.

Here's a link to a news item about some of the more recent findings in Indonesia:

The Hobbits of Indonesia

Keep in mind that here they are trying to make it sound as if there are only a few skeletal pieces that were found. This isn't true. Just last year, news was coming out in scientific circles that there were a LOT of tiny skeletons found which would suggest an entire race of beings, not just a few short members of a taller human family.

Also keep in mind that around the time of last year's tsunami, suddenly the story seems to have been altered. News went from announcing multiple remains being found to "Oh, we just found a jawbone or two."

A convenient time to "disappear" the evidence, when the locals were busy dealing with the fallout from local natural disasters.

This stuff happens all the time. Significant finds are conveniently "removed" from the public record, and deniability becomes the operating procedure.

And the articles last year stating that there were lots of miniature skeletons found are suddenly difficult to locate. Hmm.

Where are Scully and Mulder when you need them? The truth is out there, somewhere.

Mystic Blog Wednesday, November 9, 2005

You Must Play This Mindless Time Waster Game

On deadline days when I have more columns due than I can count, I tend to resort to mindless time wasting activity as much as possible. I sort of procrastinate my way into being productive, allowing the tension of pending deadlines to build to an intense crescendo.

Along the way, I've become addicted to this time wasting game.

It's sort of a "move the squiggles so they bump into each other" game. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. Turn up the sound on it, because the sounds it makes are cute.

Mystic Blog Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Note: Readers have kindly informed me that the link I had posted on my main page to an interview I gave to Mary Bayliss of Australian website Yellow Flower wasn't working. Here is the corrected link if you'd like to read the text of her interview with me:

Mary Bayliss Interviews Jennifer Shepherd

Now, On To Today's Blog Entry:

Law of Attraction and a Dump Truck

Linda Miller is a motivational and sales coach who runs the very cool site SpiritualEntrepreneurToday.com. On it she has posted lots of great articles about combining personal integrity and spiritual wisdom into one's business practice.

She also maintains a periodic blog at http://www.lawofattractionblog.com

I came across an inspiring entry she made in her blog about a funny "synchronicity" she experienced involving the Law of Attraction and the manifestation of a dump truck. Check it out!

Law of Attraction and a Dump Truck

Mystic Blog Monday, November 7, 2005

To Our Politicians from a Working Stiff

Dr. Wayne Dyer has written a wonderful article about his viewpoint on politicians. Are they really our "leaders?" Do you wake up each morning and say to yourself, "The people in Washington are my leaders!"

I'll bet you don't, and neither does Dyer. Have a look!

To Our Politicians from a Working Stiff

Mystic Blog Friday, November 4, 2005

Watch Little Panda Tai Shan on the Panda Cam

Panda cub Tai Shan was born to his mum, panda Mei Xiang, on July 9th of this year. He is now far enough along in his development that his keepers are allowing him to make his first "public appearances." Visitors at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. can reserve tickets and go see the little, fuzzy tyke.

Tai Shan's name means "Peaceful Mountain." I like that very much. You can view Tai Shan and his mum on the Panda Cam here:

Tai Shan and the Panda Cam

I had the fun experience of having some "private" time with pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing some years ago. You may remember Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing. They lived at the National Zoo for a long time until Ling-Ling's death in 1992 and Hsing-Hsing's passing in 1999.

I visited them at the zoo on a quiet summer day right when the zoo opened at the start of the day. I went right to the panda enclosure and hoped to see them. No visitors had walked to that section of the zoo yet, so I had a clear view of the little guys. Both Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing were out front right next to the window of their respective enclosures, and they were bouncy and full of energy. I think they were waiting to be fed and they were all excited.

The first thing that struck me was how little and cute pandas are. You tend to hear their name, "Giant Panda," and think they must be huge bears. And the close-up photos that you see in magazines can give you that impression, too. But it turns out that they are petite bears. Their startling monochromatic colors make them very beautiful.

The other thing that surprised me was how playful Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing were. Each one of them was bouncing around and doing little flips and things, almost like circus bears. So I had the honor of watching this private performance for a while until their keepers came to their pens to feed them.

Mei Xaing, Tai Shan, and Tai Shan's daddy, Tian Tian, are only on loan to the Zoo for ten years, I believe. Pandas are so endangered that the arrival of a healthy, bouncing baby panda is truly something to be celebrated.

And he's darned cute, too! Have a peek.

My honey and I have strong recollections of a lifetime in the mountains of China where we referred to the pandas as "the ghost bears." In that lifetime, we were a husband and wife healer couple. He did healings for people and I was the tea and herb lady. We occasionally saw pandas out in the trees outside, usually with snow falling down, and we always honored their presence as sacred helpers and spiritual guides.

I first connected with memories of that lifetime when I stood there that day enchanted by the bears at the Zoo. Over time, more memories have surfaced and I've been able to flesh out more details of that time. It was a quiet, peaceful, and reflective life, and a very modest one. Probably the most striking thing about it was the mysterious appearances of the pandas, who always emerged from the snow-filled landscape like spectral visions. Were they even real? Maybe they were ghost bears.

Mystic Blog Wednesday, November 2, 2005

New Interview with Feng Shui Expert Gabrielle Alizay

I'm excited to bring you my newest guest interview. Santa Cruz-based Feng Shui expert Gabrielle Alizay sat down to talk with the Lipstick Mystic. You won't want to miss what she has to say about the ancient art of Feng Shui and her exciting new book, Feng Shui for the Rest of Us.

Interview with Gabrielle Alizay

Mystic Blog Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Scientists, Skeptics, and Religious Fanatics

Today's blog entry became an article:

Scientists, Skeptics, and Religious Fundamentalists - Is There Any Difference? - 11/1/05

Click here to read past blog entries.