Another Holiday in the USA, 28 November 2019

I am exceptionally thankful to still be around on planet Earth in 2019, and able to post this greeting to any passing readers in the USA!

ALREADY?

Wishing all in the USA...

“True thankfulness is being thankful not only for what you have, but for what you don’t have to have!"
~ Debbie Croley

And, as I've said myself, in more than one past Thanksgiving blog post - albeit with questionable grammar, preposition-wise :
In a world in which there often seems little (or nothing) to be confident about, there's still a lot to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving

I continue to look on Thanksgiving as a simple harvest festival, rather than pretending to celebrate something connected with a group of people whose attitudes I consider odious. I'll feel thankful for all that Mother Nature offers us, every day, in spite of our careless mistreatment of her.

The Puritans who travelled, under great difficulty, to these shores from my own old homeland, England, were not a set of people I'd feel comfortable with. I pity the Native tribes who first encountered them. The English Puritans were religious fundamentalists of the worst sort. They disagreed with the rituals of the Church of England , and were victims of bigotry themselves, in their own homeland. But as abuse begets abuse, so bigotry begets bigotry, and they became, if possible even worse bigots than their abusers.

Thank You Very Much!

The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), Roger McGough and John Gorman.

If any passing reader has listened to the above song and wonders, "what's the Aintree Iron?" Nobody knows for sure. Numerous possibilities have been provided by commenters HERE, there's even a comment from Mike McGear/McCartney bimself; but by the end of the thread one is no nearer to knowing the truth. As Aintree is the part of Liverpool where the famous horse race course is located, I suspect Aintree Iron relates, in some way or other, to that.

Anyway, my own "thank you very much" goes today to all who read and/or comment here - y'all are much appreciated!

THANKS

TO: mike, ex-Chomp, RJ Adams, LB, JD, DC, Sonny, James Higham, Rossa, Vanilla Rose, David Macadam, Juno, Mr or Ms Anonymous, any accidentally left out, and all those who shall be nameless who have wandered past during the year - whether celebrating Thanksgiving or not.......

THANK YOU!

Thank you for your visits, your time and your comments - always valued and very much appreciated.

THANKSGIVING

I've always struggled a bit, deciding what to post at this time. It's a holiday that still feels fairly alien to me. I get the general idea of being thankful, for all kinds of things - and it's no bad thing to be reminded that, in spite of all that appears to be hurtling off-track in the world, and in the nation, elements remain for which feelings of thankfulness are appropriate.

I'm wary, though, of writing one of those "what-I-am-thankful-for-this-year" type of posts which can easily end up like some bloated acceptance speech at the Oscars or Grammys. So, wearing my Blogger hat, and with minimalist precision, if a day early, simply say a heartfelt "Thank you" to all passing readers and any and all commenters at Learning Curve OTE. Y'all are highly valued.

The rest I'll leave to guys who knew what they were taking about:

"Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings."
― J. Robert Moskin.

Retro Thanksgiving

A Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who will be celebrating on Thursday.

As we enter a Mercury Retrograde period, it seems appropriate to dip into the past for some echoes from a bygone era.

I found these postcards in an antique store in Purcell, Oklahoma. They are postmarked, 1919, 1914 and 1920, from Kansas (Bison, Wichita and Hutchinson) and carry short personal Thanksgiving greetings addressed to surnames Bieber, Wulfmeyer and Boruff, in either Horsington Hospital, or "City". My husband enlightened me on "City". In days-gone-by the post office accepted this on any piece of mail addressed to the same city in which it was posted.

"....Still I'd like to express my thanks"

With Irving Berlin's song from Annie Get Your Gun, a sincere thank you to readers and commenters for their interest in my blog. And Thanksgiving Greetings to all - celebrating or not. Greetings and thanks never go amiss! I like this particular song for me and my astrology blog: Sun in the morning and the Moon at night are truly astrology's stock in trade - not that I do any trade, but you know what I mean. Personally, too, I have more to be thankful for than just the two great lights:






Lovely husband....check
Part share in his lovely family....check
Talented, interesting blog buddies...check
Enough of everything to keep body & soul together....check.

This version of the song is by Jacobson JCC in Roslyn, which (I think) is in the Long Island region of New York. Sound and vocal is good - gestures, dancing and arm waving gets giggle-worthy in places, but that just adds to its charm!

Taking stock of what I have and what I haven't
What do I find?
The things I got will keep me satisfied
Checking up on what I have and what I haven't
What do I find?
A healthy balance on the credit side

Got no diamond
Got no pearl
Still I think I'm a lucky girl
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night

Got no mansion
Got no yacht
Still I'm happy with what I got
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night

Sunshine
Gives me a lovely day
Moonlight
Gives me the Milky Way

Got no checkbooks
Got no banks
Still I'd like to express my thanks
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night

And with the sun in the morning
And the moon in the evening
I'm all right.

The Other Side of Thanksgiving. (No astrology)

As a secular harvest festival, I enjoy the idea of Thanksgiving. When I delve into the background history of the holiday's origins, I'm less enthusiastic.

The Puritans who travelled, under great difficulty, to these shores from my own old homeland, England, were not a set of people I'd feel comfortable with. I pity the Indian tribes who first encountered them. The English Puritans were religious fundamentalists of the worst sort. They disagreed with the rituals of the Church of England , and were victims of bigotry themselves, in their own homeland. But as abuse begets abuse, so bigotry begets bigotry, and they became, if possible even worse bigots than their abusers.

Following many false starts and difficulties, a group of Puritans set sail for America in 1620, after first travelling to the Netherlands and living for some time in the more broad-minded atmosphere there. As it turned out it was far too broad-minded for the strait-laced Puritans.

They believed in the imminent occurrence of Armegeddon in Europe and hoped to establish in the new world the "Kingdom of God" foretold in the book of Revelation. They diverged from their Puritan brethren who remained in England only in that they held little real hope of ever being able to successfully overthrow the King and Parliament and, thereby, impose their "Rule of Saints" (strict Puritan orthodoxy) on the rest of the British people. So they came to America.

The Puritans/ Pilgrims saw themselves as the "Chosen Elect" mentioned in the book of Revelation. They strove to "purify" first themselves and then everyone else of everything they did not accept in their own interpretation of scripture. Later New England Puritans used any means, including deceptions, treachery, torture, war, and genocide to achieve that end. They saw themselves as fighting a holy war against Satan, and everyone who disagreed with them was the enemy. This rigid fundamentalism was transmitted to America by the Plymouth colonists, and it sheds a very different light on the "Pilgrim" image we have of them.

This, by Mather the Elder, is an example of their views. He gave special thanks to God for the devastating plague of smallpox which wiped out the majority of the Wampanoag Indians who had been the Puritans' benefactors. He praised God for destroying "chiefly young men and children, the very seeds of increase, thus clearing the forests to make way for a better growth".

So, I'll continue to look on Thanksgiving as a simple harvest festival, rather than pretending to celebrate something connected with a group of people whose attitudes I consider odious. I'll feel thankful for all that Mother Nature offers us, every day, in spite of our careless mistreatment of her.

See Thanksgiving Information for sources.

Thanksgiving Saturn-Uranus Style

Searching for an illustration without the ubiquitous turkey led me to discover this New Yorker cover for Thanksgiving 2006, by illustrator, comic book artist and cartoonist, Chris Ware. I like his spare, crisp style and subtle colours. I like the spirit of this illustration and I found in it an echo of the current Saturn-Uranus opposition - tradition versus modernity. I was amused to find, when I looked at his date of birth and set up a 12 noon natal chart for him, that he has a Saturn-Uranus opposition natally, with Saturn at 5 Aries and Uranus at 29 Virgo - not in opposite signs, but well within orb - or limit of what is mathematically accepted as an opposition.






His sparse style reflects Sun/Mercury in restrictive, structured Capricorn - and his mode of operation also includes the old and the new. Wikipedia tells us:

"Although his precise, geometrical layouts may appear to some to be computer-generated, in fact Ware works almost exclusively with "old-fashioned" drawing tools such as paper and pencil, rulers and T-squares. He does, however, sometimes use photocopies and transparencies, and employs a computer to color his strips."

We're invited to spend Thanksgiving with my husband's eldest daughter, family and friends, and I'm pretty sure we'll resemble the first illustration rather than the second one - reflecting traditional Saturn rather than ultra-modern change-driven Uranus. Saturn does have a good side, after all!



..... to all in the USA tomorrow, whichever style of Thanksgiving you prefer, and happy ordinary tomorrow to everybody else!

Thanksgiving

No astrology today, but a chance to say Thank You to visitors to Learning Curve on the Ecliptic for landing here, and an even bigger Thank You to any brave enough to actually read my scribblings. Thank You, also, to all those other bloggers and astrologers whose talents and knowledge enrich and brighten my days.

This will be my fourth Thanksgiving. The holiday still feels a little "foreign", but very pleasant. I'm thankful for having a brand new family here in the USA, who have unstintingly welcomed this ageing orphan and spouse of their Paternal Elder, "HeWhoKnows", into their midst.

And I'm thankful that, on Monday this week, the USCIS at last cashed the cheque I sent to them in July with my application for US citizenship. This doesn't take me much further along my journey to citizenship, but at least I'm on the train now!

In a world in which there often seems little to be confident about, there's still plenty to be thankful for.



Cover illustration (1924) by J.C. Leyendecker

Happy Thanksgiving to y'all in the USA !