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| Capricorn 2000 edition
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About Capricorn
Capricorn is represented by the mountain goat or more anciently, the sea-goat. The Babylonian God, Ea, was depicted as half fish and half goat. He was the god of wisdom who brought the arts of civilization: agriculture, astronomy, mathematics, reading, writing, architecture and medicine to mankind from the depths of the ocean. Capricorn represents discipline, responsibility and practicality as seen in the mountain goat who scales the most difficult peaks. Capricorn can also be pessimistic, overly conventional, rigid and materialistic. Capricorn is an earth sign and therefore has yin or feminine energy. |
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Inga's Celebration Calendar December 21st The Sun enters Capricorn on the Winter Solstice. This is the shortest day of the year as well as the traditional Yule Festival. This is the time when the people of the Northern Hemisphere celebrate birth and renewal. Egyptians celebrated the birth of Horus, the Greeks celebrated the birth of Apollo, the Persians celebrated the birth of Mithras, and the Romans celebrated the birth of Sol Invictus. The festival of Sol Invictus lasted until December 25th. Christianity eventually supplanted the Solar Cult and in the fourth century, the Christian Emperor, Constantine, issued a royal decree making December 25th the commemoration of the birth of Jesus the Christ. Watch Christmas Unwrapped on The History Channel on December 23 at www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/. The show will be about Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. December 23rd to December 30th - Hanukkah Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews 165 BC victory over the Syrians. December 25th - New Moon, Solar Eclipse and Christmas Day The Moon and Sun are conjunct in the sky. The moon is dark and gradually increases to a crescent. This is the time to begin a ritual involving a new project or to ask for new vision. An eclipse on Christmas Day is a rare event! Astrologically, it is likely to coincide with secret information coming to light for healing and regeneration. So can we expect some clarity in our thinking? Yes, a plan of action you've been struggling with should become clearer now. Should we expect more revelations about our government? Yes, even though (I'm sure) most of us feel we've seen enough already! December 26th to Jan 1st - Kwanzaa
This African American holiday was started in 1966 by Doctor Maulana Karenga, Professor at the California State University, Long Beach, California. The seven day celebration encourages people to think about their African roots as well as their life in present day America. Kwanzaa is based on African festivals. The word means "the first fruits." To read about the history and practices involved with Kwanzaa, visit the Official Kwanzaa Web Site at www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/. Dec 31st to Jan 1st - New Year's Day
In most of America, it means: Midnight, the ball in New York's Times Square, Dick Clark, a whole day of football, New Year's resolutions, champagne, kissing & toasts, black-eyed peas, eggs benedict... In Chicago, one New Year's Eve tradition was to watch Jack Benny's "The Horn Blows at Midnight" on TV. Talk about a strange film; Jack Benny is a trumpet player dreaming he is the angel assigned the task of blowing the trumpet to sound Armageddon. It is directed by Raoul Walsh and is very funny. Click here for information about the film from Amazon.com. Here is a countdown to the New Year that is customizable to your time zone. Click here to visit Time and Date.com at www.timeanddate.com/counters/newyear.html. January 5th - The first IEM Get Together of 2001! Be there! Aloha!January 9th - Full Moon, Lunar Eclipse The Moon and Sun are opposite each other in the sky. The Moon reflects all of the Sun's light. This is the time to perform rituals for protection, clarity of vision and consecration. |
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Stone of the Sign - Snowflake Obsidian
Snowflake Obsidian is a beautiful form of volcanic glass. It is more opaque than black obsidian and has little snowflake shaped inclusions. This is a gentle worker, a good choice for self image support. Wear this one for beginning that new job, for facilitating that important meeting, for recovery after an assault. I wore Snowflake Obsidian when I took my driving test. Click here to learn more about purchasing Inga's Earth Magic jewelry. |
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Book Review Magi : The Quest for a Secret Tradition by Adrian G. Gilbert
Charlie gave me this book last year and I didn't review it before now because it has been hard to find in bookstores. The author now has a website and Amazon.com has picked it up so I can finally review it. This is the most exciting book I've read in years! The author, Adrian Gilbert, uses his search for the legendary three kings or Magi to weave Christianity into the rich fabric of Eastern mystical teachings. From the persecution of the Gnostics and Jews to the Autos-da-Fe to the Salem Witch trials, modern Christianity has violently separated itself from its history and true legacy. Along the way and in my humble opinion, Christianity has lost a lot of its strength. So many of the "occult" teachings that Fundamentalism would condemn are no more than ideas inherent in the very Bible they profess to honor. Okay, enough of that. Back to the book... This is an adventure story of the highest order. Adrian Gilbert travels all over Egypt and the Middle East and Europe to show evidence that the members of the Magi brotherhood seeded and nurtured the ancient Messianic tradition that became a part of Christianity. He ties in the Order of the Knights Templar, Gothic cathedral construction, Astrology, poetry and religion to get you ready for the great revelation. The way he weaves this all together is the exciting part. I loved the combination of history and travelogue. One discovery leads to another; all of history leads up to right now. -- Inga Duncan Thornell
A second opinion Inga enthusiastically gave me this book to read and I quickly got into trouble in the first chapter. Why? Because I don't have a Liberal Arts degree nor do I have an extensive background in history. The author must fully expect the reader to know who he's talking about because he drops names of historical people left and right and he never slows down to tell you who these people are. I ended up so befuddled and lost that the adventure story aspect was wasted on me. I felt like I'd need a year of intensive study to prepare to read this book. So I bailed out, grabbed a beer and read some Pleadian channelings instead! -- Scott Bruce Duncan Click here to learn more about purchasing this book from Amazon.com. |
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Frequently Asked Questions What stones should I wear? What makes this a good question, is that wearing stones is not like wearing clothes although some people have not yet gone beyond that level of use -- they only wear their stones as accessories to their outfits. This is not to say there's anything wrong with accessorizing with stones; but it's somewhat like restricting the use of your food processor to grating cheese. You are not taking advantage of the stone's real value. Magical tradition imbues stones with qualities that attract, hold and alter energy. Shouldn't we take every opportunity to harness these qualities for our own well being? If you are looking for harmony in your life, you may choose a stone that is compatible with your Sun Sign or Chart Tone and wear it all the time. For example, if your Chart Tone is Leo, a tigereye necklace will enhance your self-image and creativity. If you are working on specific goals, you may choose a selection of stones that is compatible with those goals. When I was working on getting my motorcycle driver's license, I programmed a snowflake obsidian for protection and cooperation with hierarchical systems. (See "Stone of the Sign" in our Capricorn 2000 issue for Snowflake Obsidian and see "Frequently Asked Questions" in our Leo 2000 issue for more information about programming your stones.) The chart below assigns stones to astrological signs and indicates the qualities the signs represent. Use this chart to choose stones to enhance your intentions, not just to accessorize your clothes.
The Care and Feeding of Your Stones
Please call Inga with any questions or if you'd like some assistance with a special project you are working on. |
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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! "To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival." -- Wendell Berry From Scott: "Mice have long been notorious for destroying books. In the vast library at St. Petersburg Palace, over 300 cats were employed to guard valuable reading material. U.S. librarians acknowledged their indebtedness to cats by forming the Library Cat Society in 1987." From Stewart: "The significant problems we face cannot be resolved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." -- Albert Einstein |
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The Monthly IEM Get Together We've always wondered what would happen if we got the friends we've made through Inga's Earth Magic (IEM) into a room together. Why? Because every one of us has a unique gift to offer to the world. And if we get enough of us in one place at the same time, something magical is bound to occur.
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 The Duncan Domain Inga continues to tweak the energy of our house using Chinese Feng Shui principles. If you've come over to the house this past year, you've no doubt seen the new fountain in the rose garden. It straddles the Knowledge/Self Cultivation and Career sections of the house. If you've been reading our newsletters for the past 6 months you'll agree that a lot has happened in those areas of our life! If you are not up on this ancient practice, I can provide some background. The term Feng Shui, pronounced fung shway, means Wind and Water and actually predates Confucianism and Taoism. As such, it has been practiced in China for over 3,000 years. It is referred to as an Art of Placement and its practitioners are known for being highly intuitive. They actually "join" with the Earth so they can be guided by the Elements in how to place and construct a building that is aligned with and protects the Ch'i, or energy flow. According to Terah Kathyrn Collins, author of "The Western Guide to Feng Shui", there are three basic principles that define Ch'i, the vital energy that animates, connects and moves everything through the cycles of life:
Collins states that the real challenge for those of us in the West is to correct the imbalances caused by people constructing homes and buildings with little attention paid to Ch'i whatsoever. When she states the necessity to blend our energies with those of the five elements of water, fire, earth, wood and metal in order to balance the extremes of yin and yang, that sounds like a big challenge. But from my experience in this household, we can start the healing process by building a relationship with the elementals that is focused on co-creating the environment we live in.
Inga's latest Feng Shui effort has been in the Wealth and Prosperity Section of our home; a fishtank with live plants and one fish. His name is Larry and he's a Dojo Loach. He's one of those bottom feeder kinda fish with whiskers. We brought him home to get the tank started and to keep it clean. Little did we realize how much Ch'i and joy he would bring to our home. Larry is down right personable and quite the little clown.
Now with our other live-in Ch'i generators, the cats, you never know which one of them will take a fancy to what. In turns out that our youngest, Malcolm, has discovered the joys of fish watching which he indulges in about eight to ten hours a day. The other cats could care less. We've put them up by the tank while Larry was busy doing loops and barrel rolls and they've acted like he was invisible. But not Malcolm; he finds this infinitely fascinating. At first we were concerned that Malcolm's intense staring at Larry would make the little fish nervous but then we observed what appeared to be Larry going out of his way to tease Malcolm. We're wondering what Malcolm will do when more fish move in once the tank chemistry is balanced. With that much excitement, he might blow a gasket! But for now, Malcolm and Larry are best friends and our bedroom has turned into a center of Ch'i activity. I can't help but wonder how this infusion of playful energy will manifest itself in the Wealth and Prosperity area of our life. Of course, this isn't about doing something and hoping it pays off. It's all about exploring another way of achieving what we are all here to do:
 To create a world that is the manifestation of our loving, respectful co-creation with ALL the inhabitants of those 3 realms.
To create a world where logic and magic, yin and yang are balanced and the needs of all are generously met.
I love how regardless of what you may call this, Feng Shui, Shamanism, Wicca, respect for God's creation, etc., it's all based on Divine Love, partnership, creativity, imagination, intuition and wisdom - certainly our best qualities.
If you'd like to learn more about this amazing Chinese practice, please give Inga a call. She also recommends two books by this author: The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Creating Balance, Harmony and Prosperity in Your Environment by Terah Kathyrn Collins. The first of her books, it delves into the theory and history of Feng Shui and contains many illustrative case studies. The Western Guide to Feng Shui : Room by Room by Terah Kathyrn Collins. In this book, the author guides you room by room through your living space and provides guidance on how to improve and balance the flow of Ch'i. Click here to read Inga's review from our Cancer 2000 newsletter. Click on the above titles if you'd like to learn more about purchasing these books from Amazon.com. In the new year, may your home be a joyous expression of Earth energy, filled with Light, Love and friendship! -- Scott Bruce Duncan */:-)
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Inga Duncan Thornell |
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