Advice

April 15 to 22, 2010
Visible Planets: Morning: Jupiter  Evening: Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn
The World is Flat and the Moon is New

Spaceimages_2099_3472604 The distance and difference between the late degree Pisces New Moon of March 15, 2010 and the late degree Aries New Moon on April 14, 2010 is vast. In late Pisces, we are still vulnerable and trusting, emotionally sensitive and spiritually inclined. We are very near the culminating point of gestation, putting the finishing touches on our amniotic experience and preparing to emerge in the exciting outside world of new, uncharted territory.

By the time we reach the other side of Aries – the April 14th New Moon - we have survived the primal thrust of birth, left the womb-like comfort of illusionary reality and awakened to the power and push of self-propelled action and self-determined movement. It’s all about self-care and self-attention, self-motivation and self-concern. After all, if we don’t take care of ourselves, who will?

It's graduation day for Sam, a young golden retriever who has been training with Ted Hoff at Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel. In this video Ted puts Sam through his paces, emphasizing the necessity for doing the training in a calm atmosphere. Ted also...

April 8 to 15, 2010
Visible Planets: Morning: Jupiter  Evening: Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn

Lunar Waning and Solar Waxing

Cs_baby-lambs-farm The last week of this rather explosive lunar cycle delivers both a waning Moon and a waning appetite for other people’s drama and trauma. We are ready to just ‘take care of me and my stuff’ and put everything else in the backseat as we roll along the journey called Life.

Aries is all about me first and attention me. It’s where we feel the surge of individuality and self-will, the imperative of survival and the desire to fulfill our primal needs. Aries represents the first-born and the newborn. It’s childhood innocence, naïveté and the Buddhist “beginner’s mind.” It is also when and where we rush ahead, initiate and pursue our prey. Primitive and primary, Aries returns us to the rush of spring; baby lambs and newborn calves, fragile foals and fluttering bluebirds, melting snow and sprouts of green – everywhere! 

Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel sits at an elevation of about 6000 feet, nearly half a mile lower than Telluride. So the winters there are typically a little milder than up here in the high country. But there was still enough snow last month...

April 1 to 8, 2010

Visible Planets
: Morning: Jupiter  Evening: Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn
Icons Topple and Ivory Towers Tumble

StPeter-Apos The last two weeks – from the late degree Pisces New Moon on Mar. 15th to the Aries/Libra Full Moon of Mar. 29th, we have been rocked with scandalous news, accusations and testimonies from a variety of sources on a variety of subjects – all of them having to with either sex, violence, abuse or good-old-fashioned outrage. We have seen iconic figures and institutions topple from pedestals and ivory towers tumble to ground zero, where they must fight to survive. Special interest groups spout vehemence and angry politicians rally the disgruntled.

Jesse James, Tiger Woods, the Vatican, “Christian” militia, Russian [female!] terrorists, angry Tea-baggers, and shouts of Hell-no-you-can’t! are just a few examples of the collective angst. We have burst the dreamy, idealistic Pisces bubble and shot in to the rough-and-ready spring of Aries and “attention me”. It’s basically every man – and woman – for himself/herself. The elements reduce the agenda to instinct and intuition, survival and me-first action.

Our friend Ted Hoff  shares weekly videos with dog training tips, training sessions, or just views of a dog's life at Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel. This week Ted's young yellow Lab puppy, Drake, is getting training in retrieving. Looks like fun, and that's...

March 25 to April 1, 2010

Visible Planets: Morning: Saturn  Evening: Venus and Mars

  Tattoos, Guns and Ammo or Peace, Love and Justice?

MICHELLE-BOMBSHELL-MCGEE-PHOTO-PICTURE The last full Moon of March and the first full Moon of Spring deliver tailwinds of adjustment to our perspectives and environment, both personally and socially. The illuminating quality of full Moon lunations shine light on what we need to see and what we need to deal with before we can move forward. And sometimes we get stuck there; as the information exposed and situations experienced simply stop progress, require time and attention, deeper understanding and new awareness. We are often awakened to conditions that had been hidden from view – intentionally or unintentionally - swept under the rug or simply in the process of becoming.

The March 15th New Moon in late Pisces was all about “being One with” – soul and spirit, body and mind, individual and collective. It was about planting seeds of intention in the fertile amniotic waters of the cosmos. We were encouraged to go deeply within and find the divine spark that not only inspires but creates, connects us to the Great Mystery and reminds us that we are all made of the same cosmic stuff - one and the same, alpha and omega, eternal and forever.

For the past several weeks we have watched Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel work with his dogs, showing us the training techniques he uses to keep the dogs sharp and interested. Ted emphasizes that working breeds need a job to do....

March 18 to 25, 2010
Visible Planets: Morning: Saturn  Evening: Venus and Mars

Vernal Equinox and the Creative Spark of Spring

Michelangelo-creation-adam- On March 20th, at 11:32 a.m. MDT, the Sun enters the cardinal fire-sign of Aries and the emerging season of spring begins. We experience a day of equal light and dark, a brief 24 hours of celestial balance and cosmic equilibrium. We are entering the season of increasing light, planting and growth. It’s a time when we instinctively feel renewal and rebirth, intuit the awakening of our Mother Earth and are ready to explore, discover and go forth.

I always think of Michaelangelo’s painting The Creation of Adam this time of year. Mutable Pisces – the numinous, invisible and divine – gives way to primal Aries – the creative spark of selfhood. The gestation period is over. The amniotic waters of winter have broken. Man is born anew.

Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel's Ted Hoff always sends us some great stuff about training dogs, dogs playing, a dog's life at Cottonwood. This week's video falls into the latter two categories. But the training piece is always there in the background. Socialization (and...