Advice

Alacazem 2009.08.20

August 20 to 27, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus and Mars  Evening: Jupiter and Saturn

The 27º 31’ Leo New Moon @ 4:02 pm on Aug. 20th is the first lunation in quite a while that is not an eclipse. Can you feel the less stressful energy, the lessening intensity of this New Moon? Can you finally take a deep breath and know in your heart that something is “over” and you’re on the flip side of trauma and drama, headed toward health and healing?

That said, this lunation is still one of great strength and force as it is the fourth of five “supermoons” this year – which is when the Moon is at perigee (its closest approach to the Earth) and syzygy (a New or Full phase) – and gravitational pulls on tides, tectonic plates and physical bodies reach record highs.

Dog’s Best Friend: double retrieve

Telluride Inside... and Out's dog whisperer, Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, Crawford, Colorado, continues with his lessons about training retrievers, Labs and Goldens.

Working our way through the glossary of retriever training terms, we begin with concepts such as  "Amish training, " the art of training a dog without the use of an electric collar on to "cast," giving a dog a specific direction through the use of body movements and finally on to the lesson of the day, "D" is for "double retrieve."

Alacazem 2009.08.13

August 13 to 20, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus and Mars    Evening: Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn

We passed the cross-quarter mark of 15º Leo on August 8th and reaching the point of mid-summer. The sizzling season of hot and heat is on the wane. The first yellow leaves of coming autumn are starting to appear and the rush of school is in the wind. Peaches, tomatoes and apricots fill Farmers' Market baskets and we notice a crisper coolness in the nighttime air.

The last week of Leo brings memories of love and romance – it’s all about the heart – candles flicker and cakes are cut in a sentimental dénouement to the Lion’s annual birthday month.

The Moon also wanes this week as we prepare for the upcoming late degree Leo New Moon on Aug. 22nd. The night skies are filled with sparkling diamonds, the Perseid meteors fall and we breathe deep.
Happy Birthday to the Roadhawg. May your next decade be filled with the peace, love, joy and happiness you deserve. Mighty fine…

Dog’s Best Friend: Hound of the Baskervilles? Story updated

[click "Play" to hear Ted Hoff's story] Telluride Inside...

Dog’s Best Friend: The story of Skadi

Telluride Inside... and Out's dog expert, Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, has been sharing the insights he has gained from working for about 20 years with our four-legged friends. This week, however, he decided to take a time out from training, simply review last week's lesson (training retriever pups) and share a story about one of his favorite dogs: Skadi.

Skadi is the name of a 12-year-old yellow lab, the Grand Dame of Ted's father's household. Skadi is a blue blood in the dog world: her daddy was a famous dog named "Lean Mac" who was Canadian and American national field trial champion.

Alacazem 2009.07.30

July 30 to August 6, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus, Mars and Jupiter  Evening: Mercury and Saturn

When I was a little girl, my Mother used to load my brothers and sisters and me up in our red and white 1958 Chevy station wagon – I think it was on Fridays – and we’d make the exciting journey to the big, modern Safeway supermarket on South Colorado Boulevard in Denver. It was always a big event because the refrigerator would go from empty to full, and in summer we’d come home with bags of fresh peaches, watermelon, strawberries and bing cherries – yum!

But, perhaps even more exciting than the groceries, we were also allowed to pick out a new Golden Book from the children’s section of the store, and that meant opening new doors in the fascinating worlds of information and imagination. Those glistening golden bindings just shimmered with anticipation.

One of my favorites was entitled Grandpa Bunny Bunny. It was a sweet tale of a Grandpa rabbit who taught the little bunnies about the magic of nature and prepared them for life in Earth’s changing seasons. He was a supreme storyteller and magnificent artist. He showed them compassion and love, patience and grace. They came to depend on his direction and guidance, and when the day came that Grandpa Bunny Bunny was no longer in his hole, when he had passed on, the little bunnies were lost in their sadness and grief.

Dog’s Best Friend: Training retrievers

Telluride Inside and Out's expert dog trainer Ted Hoff is finally emerging from the nursery. To date in his series, Dog's Best Friend,Ted has talked exclusively about bringing up baby: How to train a pup. With this post, he begins to talk about specific breeds starting with the very popular Retrievers, Labs and Goldens.

Author James Michener wrote about the introduction of Labs to Maryland in his novel "Chesapeake":

"A moment later the stevedore appeared on deck leading by a leash one of the most handsome dogs ever seen in Maryland. He was jet-black, sturdy in his front quarters, sleek and powerful in his hind, with a face so intelligent that it seemed he might speak at any moment. His movements were quick, his dark eyes following every development nearby, yet his disposition appeared so equable he seemed always about to smile.

"'He's called a Labrador,' Lightfoot said. 'Finest huntin' dog ever developed.'"

Alacazem 2009.07.23

July 23 to 30, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus, Mars and Jupiter  Evening: Mercury and Saturn

Honoring a Brother-In-Arms, Walking on the Moon and Feeling Our Cancer-ruled Emotions

We humans are emotional creatures – the Buddhists use the term “sentient beings” – and we are subject to waves, and sometimes even oceans of emotion.

The Cancer zodiac month, and the three consecutive lunations that took place in Cancer recently - two of which were eclipses - illuminate and constellate the strong connection and partnership that emotions have with the human body, mind and spirit. Cancer is ruled by the Moon, and those born under the sign of Cancer are referred to as Moonchildren. Is it any wonder that man walking on the Moon and Michael Jackson’s moonwalk have been subjects of collective awareness lately?

 Synchronistically, both space age and pop icon moonwalkers bring up plenty of Cancer-fueled emotions. The first contrasts the security, familiarity and comfort of our home planet Earth with the austere, life-forbidding landscape of the Moon. The second reminds us of our primal urge for attention, recognition and praise. Both generate feelings of wonder and awe, shining light upon the personal desire for security and stability, comfort and belonging. We are awakened to our inherent fragility and dependency upon a safe, nurturing, life-sustaining environment in which we can develop, blossom and grow. And emotions play the primary role in determining our quotients of well-being.

Recently a very good friend – a member of our extended family - passed from this world on to the world of spirit. His 3D, physical-body earthwalk has ended. He is now walking in another realm, flying in a different dimension.

Mother Teresa and Princess Diana both passed on during the Virgo eclipse cycle of 1996. My own beautiful, sweet niece Lise passed on during the Scorpio eclipse cycle of 1994. Captain Jack Carey, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Arturo Giatti and Walter Cronkite passed on during the recent eclipse cycle in Cancer.

Dog’s Best Friend: To neuter or not to neuter

[click "Play" to hear Ted Hoff's thoughts on neutering your dog] Men tend to identify with Lawrence of Arabia and cup their tender bits protectively when the subject comes up. As part of an ongoing series, this week, Telluride Inside...

Alacazem 2009.07.16

July 16 to 23, 2009
Visible Planets: Morning: Venus, Mars, Jupiter  Evening: Saturn

Cosmic Cancer Eclipse Energy: Let Mother Nature Nurture

This week, on July 21st, we experience the celestial event of a New Moon total solar eclipse [it will not be visible in North America] at 29º 26’ Cancer. The recent June 22nd New Moon also took place in Cancer - at 01º 30’ - and the Full Moon lunar eclipse of July 7th came to fruition at 15º 24’ Cancer/Capricorn. That’s a lot of Cancer/Capricorn action and reaction, motion and emotion!

Two consecutive New Moons in the same sign is highly significant, and because these two lunations bracket a lunar eclipse and one of them is a New Moon total solar eclipse, it represents a mega-message for the collective regarding the themes and issues of the sign involved. It's as if the cosmos blasts energy and information via experiences, events and circumstance to the people here on Planet Earth.