On June 20th, the Sun enters the 30-degree portion of the Zodiac we know as Cancer. Cancer is the first astrological sign of Summer, its beginning indicated by the Summer Solstice. The constellation of Cancer is one of the least visible in our time but was one of the first constellations named. The Sun in Cancer indicates a caring and nurturing time of year, a time of involvement with home and family including patriotism, our world and home. We want to focus on home as an inclusive, rather than divisive energy; not my home vs. your home but Earth as all our home. It is no coincidence that family vacations, reunions, and weddings fill our calendars this time of year.

Cancer is complex and variable in temperament coinciding with the variability in appearance of its ruler, the Moon. This yin, cardinal, water sign is nurturing, protective, tenacious, and emotionally sensitive, with strong roots. It can also be smothering, unwilling to let go, timid and reclusive. The energy of Cancer is often invoked in Real Estate dealings and I think it is important to clarify that Cancer relates to safety, security and long-term investment. It does not relate to risk taking or “Making a killing” in the market.

The monthly installment of The Great Astrological Light Bulb Joke:

Q. How many Cancerians does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Just one. But it takes a therapist three years to help them through the grieving process.

Note: I have no idea who originally wrote this. Erika sent it to me years ago and I still think it’s as funny as it is insightful!

Inga's Celebration Calendar

Happy Birthday Cancerians!

June 18th & 19^th: The 2005 Fremont Fair!

June 20th - The Sun Enters Cancer: This is Litha, The Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, The first day of Summer.

June 21st is a Full moon in Capricorn: To learn more about actively using the Moon's energy in your life, see The Moon Through the Signs and Moon Phases. These guides are located in our Library.

July 1^st is the First Friday of the month and the Dunthor Open House! Click here to see details below.

July 4^th is Independence Day in the US. It also marks the first anniversary of Freya finding Maggie in the storm sewer.

July 6^th is a New Moon in Cancer. To learn more about actively using the Moon's energy in your life, see The Moon Through the Signs and Moon Phases. These guides are located in our Library.

The 14th of July celebrates Bastille Day: On July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille immediately became a symbol of historical dimension; it was proof that power no longer resided in the King as God's representative, but in the people, in accordance with the theories developed by their philosophers of the eighteenth century. On July 16th, the Revolution had succeeded. The storming of the Bastille symbolizes, for all citizens of France, liberty, democracy and the struggle against all forms of oppression

July 21^st is a Full Moon in Capricorn. To learn more about actively using the Moon's energy in your life, see The Moon Through the Signs and Moon Phases. These guides are located in our Library.

Stone of the Sign - Nautilus

This pendant is a cabochon cut from the curve of a nautilus shell. It is wrapped in a sculpted setting of sterling silver. The chambered nautilus is an ocean dwelling cephalopod with a romantic history. Oliver Wendell Holmes referred to nautilus as “the ship of pearl”. Jules Verne named his ship after it in 20,000 leagues under the sea. The nautilus appeared in Earth’s oceans in the Cambrian period several million years before the first primitive fish. The external shell of these animals provides both protection and rigid open spaces that can be filled with gas for buoyancy. They can descend to a depth of 476 meters. As far back as the ancient Greeks, the shell of the chambered nautilus has been a symbol of perfection. This shell’s shape can be described mathematically as a logarithmic spiral. Silver is a conductor of energy and is said to aid in communication, it improves the transmission of nerve impulses. According to tradition, it is a good metal for healing purposes because it is in tune with the body. Silver can reduce anxiety and help you to relax when solving problems. It is believed to help conduct the energy of stones into your body and auric field.

Click here to see this item and more in my Jewelry Catalog.

To learn more about how to use Gemstones in your daily life, see "What Gemstones Should I Wear?" guide in our Library.
 

Inga's Space

"When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Here's Freya helping out in the back yard. She monitors squirrel activity and fetches pinecones while we toil and sweat!

Here is my newest garden toy, I mean tool: the Flame Weeder! Who needs Round Up when you can use propane?

Letters from our Readers

We think of this newsletter as a community forum. You, our friends and clients, are welcome to participate. We celebrate diversity and we'll print whatever you send in be it Wiccan, Christian, Pagan, New Age, etc., as long as it reflects Love. You may choose a one-time holiday to write about or have a regular column. We'll give you space and a byline! Please send in your own book reviews, ideas for rituals, ideas about stones, your journal excerpts, your experiences and most of all, ask us questions. We love answering questions!

Where is everybody?

The Monthly Dunthor Open House

Please come join in the community that has been created over the years with the friends we've made through Inga's Earth Magic. You'll find insight, sharing, healing and fellowship and you are most welcome. 

• When: The 1st Friday of every month. Please join us for dinner. We start eating around 7 PM. Or join us for dessert later on!
• Where: Our place (click on LIBRARY in the navigation bar at the top of the screen and then MAP ROOM for directions)
• What to bring: Just your enthusiasm and love! There's a big pot of pasta on the stove, salad, bread and plenty of microbrews and red wine. If you have specific preferences, please bring whatever you'd like.
• How long: Until the good conversation ends! If you'd like, you can spend the night on one of the couches with the kitties or bring your sleeping bag and mat and camp out on the floor of Inga's office.
• RSVP: Just let us know in advance via e-mail or phone if you are coming and if you are bringing guests so we don't run out of food or beer!

The Duncan Domain

I know some of you think that Inga rarely leaves the house, but believe it or not, there was a time when Inga embarked on grand adventures to far away places. Fifteen years ago, Inga and I belonged to the University of Washington Spelunking Club and we went on week long caving expeditions in Montana and Washington. We'd put on helmets with headlamps, knee and elbow pads, and gloves and off we'd go underground. The club had three principal rules to abide by:

1. Do no harm to these highly sensitive ecosystems.
2. Tell no non-caver the location of these caves.
3. While on expedition, no real news sources may be consulted: no radio, no magazines, no newspapers. Only supermarket tabloids may be read in camp.

Whoever did the every other day food and ice run into the nearest town 30 or 40 miles away would bring back copies of all the latest tabloids. We'd excitedly sit around the picnic table while eating breakfast or dinner and read amazing tales out loud to the group. On one such trip, we explored the lava caves south of Mt. Adams. One of these caves was like walking through an abandoned subway tunnel. We walked over half a mile underground, stopped for a picnic lunch, and then headed back out. The walls were covered with pockets of slime mold and previous, less respectful visitors had inscribed their names in it. As a result of visiting that cave, I penned the following article for the "Cascade Caver, Newsletter of the Cascade Grotto of the National Speleological Society". It was printed in the June-July 1991 issue.

The Truth About Cave Slime Mold

Reprinted from The National Tattler, May 1991

They were brought here in faster-than-light space craft from a far away planet. The slime mold species had flourished there for eons and had become sentient over time, much to the delight of the planet's community of species. But the planet's rapidly changing environment caused by a dwindling sun threatened the slime molds' very existence thus prompting the unheard of mass relocation of the slime mold to a conducive planetary environment in order to ensure their survival as an evolving species.

When the ships arrived here, they found a world in balance. (Man was still living in trees and eating bananas.) After exhaustive analysis of Earth's ecosystems, a particular geological formation, known to modern man as the lava tube, was chosen as the new home of the slime mold. Their friends bid them good luck and farewell and returned home.

First Contact

The slime mold inhabitants of a particular lava tube, that will come to be known someday as "New Cave" in Washington State, immediately recognize the creature that has entered their dark home as a new and important species. It is primitive man! By this point, the slime mold has evolved into a telepathic species and they attempt to communicate but the ape-man before them is too preoccupied trying to get some revolting slime off its hand. The brute gives the slime covered ceiling a disgusted look and stomps back out into daylight oblivious to the arrow he's dropped and the attempt to communicate.

Present Day

Their approach to the cave entrance is heralded by a strange sound, one never heard before by the cave's inhabitants. Laughter! The collective slime mold memory is consulted and they recognize these visitors as the same species that visited their ancestors many years ago, but much younger. Telepathically, they reach out to these young minds and are met with chaos. The undisciplined thought patterns are noise to these advanced minds. There seems to be no communicating with these visitors until one of them extends a finger into the slime and begins to inscribe a pattern. Soon the other visitors join in and for hours they cover the walls with cryptic messages. Billions of slime mold cells perish but their death is not a loss if it means establishing a link with these creatures.

The cave is quiet once again except for the sound of dripping water. The tasks of analyzing the messages and reproducing lost slime mold cells have begun. After time, a consensus is reached, a decision is made and preparation for the next encounter begins.

A New Race

Two things are immediately apparent about the new visitors that have just entered the cave. Every one of them has one or more light generating organs protruding from a hard, hairless head and their thought patterns are of a much higher quality; purposeful, quiet and intent. These humans are united by a sense of wonder and reverence as they proceed deeper into the lava tube. "At last!", the slime mold exclaims mentally, "Someone we can communicate with!" The order is given and millions of slime mold cells move according to the prearranged plan thus creating a message in the slime directly above the head of a nearby caver. It consists of patterns based upon those made by the previous cave visitors. The caver does not observe the message at first so the slime mold reaches out telepathically and after a mighty effort, they compel this human to look up. Disappointment dawns on the slime molds' collective consciousness as the caver reads the newly formed message of "Bobby loves Alice!" and mutters to himself. "Damn kids!"

– Scott Bruce Duncan */:-)

New and Updated Pages on our Website

E-Commerce stuff!

Click on this link to visit the Amazon home page. If you buy a product through this link, Amazon will pay Inga's Earth Magic a referral fee that we'll use to help offset the cost of our web page. Thanks in advance!
 

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