My own children have wished me a Happy Mother’s Day (it is Mother’s Day here in the UK), I have wished my own mother a Happy Mother’s Day and my husband has done the same to his mother. Now it is time to wish Mother Earth a Happy Mother’s Day and reflect on what we can do to be kinder to her.
Mercury is retrograde at the moment – this means the planet Mercury is in reverse, rather than moving forward – and so far I have been beset by delays, mostly petty, and broken electrical equipment. These things are what one can expect during Mercury Retrograde, along with communication problems, misunderstandings and technical failures. Of course that list isn’t exhaustive, but it does give a general idea of what one can expect during this planetary phase.
It is advisable not to make hasty decisions during this time and this is something I have always adhered to, until this time. I need to solve a problem and have been working out a solution for this problem. I had everything in place, ready to implemet when I was ready, but today a new piece of information became known to me. I have had to double check everything, going back over everything has been time consuming but necessary. And during this double-checking I have found that the new piece of information has actually helped more than I could have imagined, so much so I feel as if I have been saved from making a huge error.
Many astrologers try to put a positive spin on the retrogrades of Mercury, telling us that we should use this time to rest and check out all the details so that we don’t miss something vital. We should acknowledge that there will be delays and a breakdown in communications, we should try to be aware that things can break down at anytime of the year, but probably more so during a Mercury Retrograde. The astrologers tell us that armed with all of this information we should be able to get through a period of reverse movement by Mercury pretty well; armed with all of the information we now have at our fingertips about such events it is assumed that we will breeze through this period quite happily.
Easier said than done though and I always amaze myself each time with how angry I get when I find myself caught up in some high drama during a Mercury Retorgrade, or some traffic jam that seems to have been caused by nothing significant. It usually only dawns on me when something electrical breaks down, and invariably it does.
This Mercury Retorgrade lasts until April 23rd. Yup, another three weeks before this planet turns direct and the astrologers are saying we won’t be out of the woods until May 2nd – a whopping five weeks more of these issues.
Good luck and hold onto your hat.
© 2011 Susan Park. All Rights Reserved.
We’ve all fallen victim to pranksters on this day at some point in our lives. The general consensus is that once midday hits then the joking is over, thankfully. But have you ever wondered where April Fool’s Day originated?
The earliest recorded evidence of this date and the joking comes from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from 1392, but there have been numerous links to it throughout time and history. Some claim it is the first day of spring in many cultures and some sources claim it dates back to when the Gregoriam calender was introduced. The new year was celebrated for eight days from March 25th with the celebrations coming to an end on April 1st. But, during those times it took quite a long time for the news to reach everyone about how the calender had been chaged, and thus changing certain dates, and therefore those who still celebrated the new year at this time were considered fools. They were made the butt of practical jokes by some people, hence how the day may have got it’s name and reputation.
© 2011 Susan Park. All Rights Reserved.
Which Goddess lurks in your soul?
Demeter
You are a true earth warrior! Demeter is the Greek Goddess of the fields, grain and harvest and inhabits those souls who long to be a part of the green. You have a special connection with plants and care deeply for the Earth. You tend to be motherly and protective of those that are in your care and are not above severe aggression when one of your charges is harmed or threatened. 
Well this sounds very like me!
I’ve always been a tad superstitious and mutter the usual rhyme to myself whenever I see a magpie;
“One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four a boy.
Five for silver.
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told…….”
And so on.
I always say “Good Morning/Afternoon Mr. Magpie, how’s the wife and kids?” whenever I see a lone magpie too. And if I can I look about as usually the partner is not too far behind. A while back I talked about Magpies and learning more about the superstitions surrounding them and to be perfectly honest with you what I found was nothing I didn’t already know.
I was quite disappointed by this because I was certain I was seeing far more magpies than anyone else. After a while I gave up my research, deciding I had learned all I needed to about the birds.
But a couple of months back a friend of mine lost her baby – he was stillborn. On the day of his funeral I was leaving my house and a lone magpie flew over – quite apt I thought. Then four together flew over. Now this really spooked me as I have never seen more than two magpies together. I am not saying that it is unheard of – think about the rhyme, it must happen sometimes. I took it as a sign for the day.
Then a few weeks later I was reading a well known Occult magazine and I came across the horoscope section. I do love reading my stars but in this particular magazine they have a lengthy section for each star sign; it gives an in depth reading and says things about colour, gemstone, flower and so on for each sign. This particular time in the list for each sign they were saying what bird was associated with that sign and for Taurus it was the magpie.
I told my husband and he smiled and said – “Well now you know why you see more than everyone else.” which was a lovely surprise as he “isn’t in to this sort of thing”. Now whenever I see magpies I don’t feel angry or expect bad news, I just accept that they are “my” bird.
© 2011 Susan Park. All Rights Reserved.
Not your average crone 