Happy Birthday Taureans!

The constellation Taurus was one of the earliest to be named. It includes the star cluster known to us as the Pleiades in Greek, the seven sisters or seven daughters of Atlas, whose rising has been used all over the world to mark the dates of Spring festivals. The Pleiades are named Subaru in Japanese and are known as the seven seeds signifying the time to plant seeds. Yes, the auto company's logo is a stylized glyph of the constellation.

Taurus, like Spring itself, represents productivity and growth. The symbol of Taurus is the bull or cow, an animal long sacred to the Goddess. Cattle have had religious significance all over the ancient world dating back at least to the last Ice Age. They have been used as sustenance and sacrifice by many cultures while to the Hindus they are so sacred that they are not used for either. The horns of cattle are symbolic of the moon in Eastern art. The cow's milk exemplifies motherhood and nurture. The Milky Way of the heavens was mythically derived from the milk of the Egyptian cow goddess.

The monthly installment of The Great Astrological Light Bulb Joke: 

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

A. One, but just try to convince them that the burned-out bulb is useless and should be thrown away.

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!

April 20^th - The Sun Enters Taurus

April 22^nd is Earth Day

April 23^rd is Easter

April 27^th is a New Moon in Taurus

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.

May 1^st is May Day, also Beltane

This is the holiday associated with the Maypole in Europe. The maypole is a 30- to 40-foot pole, planted the ground. Attached to the top of the pole are alternating red and white colored ribbons, one per person and usually 50 feet long. The men take up the red ribbons and the women take up the white ribbons. They dance around the pole, the males all moving widdershins (counterclockwise), and the females all moving deosil (clockwise). This causes the ribbons to become interwoven about the pole. In some traditions a large wreath is held at the top of the pole by the outstretched ribbons and moves its way down as the pole becomes wrapped.

Another tradition is the Bel-fire. This is a bonfire into which all discarded, cursed or worn out amulets or symbolic objects are to be cast. Then, as the party went on into the night people would run and jump over the flames.

To celebrate Beltane you could build a bonfire or light a fire in a small charcoal grill, or even a candle placed in a cauldron... Write the name of a habit you wish to end or choose something to symbolize a problem to want to rid yourself of and cast it into the fire. Then, visualize, chant, say, and/or write down the things you wish to nurture in this new season.   

May Day is Labor Day in most of the rest of the world.

It actually celebrates the Haymarket Riots in Chicago on May 1st 1886. Workers organized a city wide strike to bring attention to the need for an eight hour day.

Here is a great website about the event: http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymarket.htm

And another from ChicagoHistory.org: http://www.chicagohistory.org/dramas/overview/over.htm

May 2nd is the celebration of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Poland

The month of May is traditionally dedicated to Mary in many cultures. May is considered the season of the beginning of new life.

May 3^{rd -} The guest speaker for the Kepler College Spring Symposium will be John Lehman, the Dean of the University of Alaska.  He will be speaking about the transmission of Philosophical Ideas (which includes Astrology) throughout Asia Minor, China, and India.  This is one night only at the Lynnwood Convention Center on May 3rd at 7:30 pm in room 1B/C.  The entrance fee is $15 seating is first come, first served.   

Lynnwood Convention Center
3711 196th St. SW
Lynnwood, WA 98036
(425) 778-7155

Kepler College: http://www.kepler.edu/index.html

Lynnwood Convention Center: www.lynnwoodcc.com

May 5^th is the First Friday of the month and the Dunthor Open House! Click here to see details below. 

May 13^th is a Full moon in Scorpio

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.

May 13th - Tukwila Hosts the 6th Annual Backyard Wildlife Festival

Saturday, May 13 - 10am to 3pm

Tukwila Community Center - 12424 42nd Ave. S. - Tukwila

http://www.backyardwildlifefair.org/ 

May 14^th is Mother’s Day and the Boat festival in Olympia WA

About Mother’s Day: http://www.holidays.net/mother/story.htm

May 21^st The Sun enters Gemini

Here is a jade cabochon set in a sculpted wrap of copper. According to tradition, Jade is a potent healer for kidney problems. Jade resonates to Taurus and Pisces, depending on whether it is light or dark green. Copper was the first metal used for adornment by humans. The oldest surviving copper jewelry is over five thousand years old. According to tradition, copper balances the energy flow of the body. Modern athletes are rediscovering copper, claiming that it relieves the pain of arthritis and enhances flexibility.

On Sale this month: 35.00 USD

From Stephanie:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/04/12/10th.planet.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- An icy ball discovered last year in the outer solar system is only slightly larger than Pluto, casting doubt on previous estimates that the so-called 10th planet was significantly larger, scientists reported Tuesday.

From Glen:

15 Best Skylines in the World

http://www.diserio.com/top15-skylines.html#top

From Kim:

Cover girl reality :)

http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/retouch/index.html

Check out the address above; it shows how magazines retouch photos to perfect the models' images...  wait a moment after it loads, and a spot that says "unveil the fraud" will appear, click there and see the reality

Another tax quote from Kim:

Here’s a good one for ya:

War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen and unsupposed circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end. It has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes.

Thomas Paine

Randy sent this one:

While I was watching the NCAA playoff games last weekend, my wife and I got into a conversation about life and death, and the need for living wills.

During the course of the conversation I told her that I never wanted to exist in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and taking fluids from a bottle.

She got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all my beer.

Along those same lines, from Kim:

Dear Friends- 

I found a form in my doctor’s office that I’ve filled out and I thought I would pass the info on to you all too, since it seems like a good thing to do.  It is a Health Care Directive and Durable Power of Attorney For Health Care form.  The info you put on the form specifies what kind of health care treatment you want should you be unable to speak for yourself, and who can make health care decisions for you if you can’t make them for yourself.  After you’ve filled it out, you need two witnesses to sign it and also need to have it notarized. 

If you want this form, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: 

Washington State Medical Association
Suite 1100
2033 Sixth Ave.
Seattle, WA  98121 

Include a cover letter asking for the Health Care Directive and Durable Power of Attorney For Health Care form.

If you have any questions you can call the WSMA at 206-441-9762.  When I called the receptionist was able to help me – no big phone tree or whatever. 

I’ve always known I should have some kind of legal forms done for health care preferences but that’s all I ever knew and I had no idea how to do it.  Now that I know, and I know it’s easy, I’m passing the info on to you.

Here’s to no weird android medical procedures.  (Unless you want them, haha)

Peace,

Kim