Still Smilin’

So tomorrow I leave for Phoenix Arizona!! A lot of people have been asking if I’m excited about going “home”. Home? London is my home! It may not be where I was born but it is where my heart loves to live.

Having said that, I am UBER excited to be visiting the US. My excitement takes me by surprise because I’ve never been terribly interested in the US, hate my stupid accent (I’ve been threatening for years to take elocution lessons) and I’ve had absolutely no interest in going anywhere in the US. So while I was thinking about why I’m interested in the US all over sudden, it dawned on me that this is the start of my third Jupiter return living in the UK. And I also remembered that I will be visiting people I haven’t seen for a full Saturn cycle.

And of course, Transiting Jupiter is all over my natal Mercury and will be transiting my Moon by conjunction in a few months.

So this is my itinerary. I have some wriggle room because things are still falling into place.

25 September, evening: arrive in Phoenix

26 September: conference

27 September: conference

28 September: Conference

29 September: exploring Phoenix, meeting an old friend, party at Ray Merriman’s (woohoo!!)

30 September: tour of Grand Canyon

1 Oct: tour of Grand Canyon

2 Oct: tour of Grand Canyon (ends in Las Vegas), Cirque Du Soleil show

3 Oct: Hoover Dam, overnight to Long Beach

4 Oct: see an old friend

5 Oct: LA

6 Oct: San Diego (for an afternoon in Tijuana)

7 Oct: San Francisco (lunar eclipse in early morning—going to have a BEAUTIFUL view!)

8 Oct: San Francisco

9 Oct: LONG train journey to Seattle, dinner at the Space Needle

10 Oct: Vancouver to watch the whales

11 Oct: Internal flight to Bozeman for Yellowstone National Park

12 Oct: Yellowstone National Park

13 Oct: Salt Lake City

14 Oct: Albuquerque

15 Oct

16 Oct: Austin (to see an old friend) to New Orleans

17 Oct: New Orleans

18 Oct: Atlanta (to do some research)

19 Oct: Atlanta (to do some research)

20 Oct: Atlanta (to do some research)

21 Oct: Nashville

22 Oct: Memphis

23 Oct: travel to Niagara Falls for SOTA conference

24 Oct: SOTA conference

25 Oct: SOTA conference

26 Oct: Touristy things in Niagara Falls with my parents then to Port Huron

27 Oct: Kalamazoo

28 Oct: Port Huron

29 Oct: Port Huron

30 Oct: To Toronto then on to Boston

31 Oct: Halloween in Salem Massachusetts!!

1 Nov: Salem

2 Nov: Portland Maine

3 Nov: Concord Massachusetts

4 Nov: New York City

5 Nov: New York City

6 Nov: New York City

7 Nov: Philadelphia

8 Nov: Philadelphia

9 Nov: Boston

10 Nov: Leave for London

11 Nov: arrive in London! Playing Last Post at Walthamstow Town Hall then going to Beaconsfield to give a lecture

And then it’s back to work! Hopefully I will have caught up on the mountain of unfinished writing projects and other stuff that got sidelined over the past few years.

I’ll be posting on facebook, writing the blog, getting back to Don’t Sweat It, Planet (been a little too busy these past few weeks!)  and probably tweeting as well (although I don’t really know how to use twitter very well!!).

So catch you later x

On Learning How to Smile Again

I just had my teeth whitened.

Now before you sarcastically tell me that that’s the most astounding news you’ve heard all day, let me add that I’ve found a lot of reasons to smile more these days.

And maybe you still want to go to the next blog to read about Scotland, Syria or Iraq. And that’s fine: thanks for stopping by and au revior.

So why am I smiling (you must want to know because you’re still reading!)?

I’ve had the most astounding 3½ months of my life. I’ve had a lot of rest, saw Barry Manilow and Wynton Marsalis in concert (not at the same time of course), performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, started Don’t Sweat It, Planet, attended the Faculty Of Astrological Summer School at Exeter College (Oxford University!), started my own school of astrology, written a new book and have just returned from speaking at the Astrological Association’s conference about my book (I know, I know: not that again!!)—and all on the verge of going on the trip of a lifetime to speak at ISAR and SOTA. I decided I wanted to do what was important to me in the manner that was important to me.

For the past year, Jupiter has been transiting my natal planets. It should have been one of the happiest years of my life but instead, I can’t recall being more miserable. Jupiter in Cancer means understanding that we are all connected if not by blood (and if you think about it, we are all related to one another by blood) then by a certain belief that what affects one person, affects everyone. Jupiter in Cancer finds confidence and strength in looking after everyone and everything. To be denied that makes a person with a stellium in Cancer very unhappy indeed. In fact, I’m rather astounded I was able to put up with things as long as I did. So I closed that chapter with great deliberation in my Book of Life and moved on. Was it scary? Yes, at times. Am I glad I did it? Great Goddess, absolutely yes. And although I wish I had done it earlier, I can understand why I didn’t because I learned one hell of lesson: never compromise on what’s important.

And if you want to know what’s important in your life, have a good look at Jupiter in your natal chart!

It’s (almost) funny that I’ve been an astrologer most of my life but that never occurred to me. This is exactly why it’s so important for astrologers to engage with other astrologers, to talk openly in a language we understand and to learn from each other. Otherwise the point of the lesson gets lost. As anyone who speaks more than one language will tell you: to understand the language, you have to practice the language. I spent a lot of my time sometimes speaking the language a little bit and a lot of time being unhappy because I wasn’t allowed to speak the language.

But those days are over and hallelujah for transiting Jupiter on my natal Mercury (also my ruling planet). I’m going to crow about astrology like a motherfucker because I’m free to do so!!

I’m off to the US for seven weeks Thursday week. Bookending my trip is a speaking engagement at ISAR and a speaking engagement at SOTA. I’m landing in Phoenix Thursday evening and speaking Friday afternoon. Then I’m hanging out with my astro homies for the weekend, culminating with a party at Ray Merriman’s house. Then I’m embarking on a seven week tour of the US: Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, San Diego, Tijuana, LA, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Bozeman (for Yellowstone), Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Austin, New Orleans, Atlanta, Niagara Falls, Port Huron, Kalamazoo, Memphis, Nashville, New York City, Halloween in Salem and leaving for the UK from Boston and anywhere else en route I damn well please!! I’ll be updating via this blog, facebook and twitter.

Between now and my flight to Phoenix, I have an exam to finish, an article for Frank Clifford’s book to polish up and a little something for In the Loop. When I return from the US, it’s looking like I have another year packed with teaching, speaking and writing gigs peppered with jazz band practice.

So thank you Jupiter for the courage to take those leaps of faith!! Whoever learned anything by playing it safe?

I leave you with a few highlights of my summer so you can see why I’ve been smiling!!

Here are a few of us at Oxford University for the FAS Summer School!

My Facebook page for Don't Sweat It, Planet

Performing with the South London Jazz Orchestra at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

More jazzy stuff (you can just about see my hat!!)

Having a drink with Rob Hand!!

The advertisement for my classes!

Me and Frank Clifford at the Astrological Association's conference (we are personifying Mars In Scorpio!!!)

And finally, me smiling again!!