Waves of Change, Wired-in.

An old article at Live Science, "Some Brains Are Wired For Change", by Amelia Thomas is an interesting read. Astrologers have long realised that an inbuilt easy acceptance of change, some individuals are born with, has specific astrological indications. A preponderance of well aspected personal planets in the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) or positive emphasis on the zodiac sign Aquarius or planet Uranus.

According to the linked article, scientists are finding that:

"People who welcome new experiences have stronger connections between their memory and reward brain centers than people who tend to avoid anything new, research now shows.

Specifically, people who actively seek lifestyle changes may have a more developed connection between two specific brain areas: the hippocampus, a site for storing and retrieving new and old memories, and the ventral striatum, a reward system which is responsible for those carpe diem moments, said researcher Dr. Bernd Weber of the Life & Brain Center at the University of Bonn in Germany. Turns out, if the hippocampus identifies an experience as new, it then relays signals to the striatum to release neurotransmitters which lead to positive feelings.

"The strength of the connection is positively correlated to novelty seek[ers] ... but this does not imply that having weaker connections is a 'bad' thing," Weber told LiveScience.

Weber and his University of Bonn colleague Michael X. Cohen used non-invasive MRI imaging technology on 20 subjects to follow the flow of diffused water through their brain tissues. The information was then used to reconstruct a nerve pathway to the striatum. If the pull of water diffusion is stronger, that in turn implies a stronger nerve fiber tract, Weber said.

The test candidates also took personality surveys, choosing the best descriptions of their attitudes about trying new things. The data revealed the relationships between a person’s personality and their physical brain structure.

"Brain 'wiring' and personality are not really one causing the other," Weber said. It's more likely to be an interaction between the two."

All of which led me to wonder whether if, at certain times in the cycles of the year, vibrations, electri-magnetic waves, ...or something... provide a helpful mix to strengthen, in a newly born child, connections between specific centers in the brain described in the article. If so, do these times coincide with times when astrological doctrine expects similar characteristics to be identifiable in a personality?

Other characteristics might be similarly led by conditions at certain points in the yearly cycle. I don't find this an outlandish idea at all. We are all part of the same universal physical network. "We are star stuff", a scientist called Carl Sagan said so!

We must not discount family inheritance of physical or mental strengths and weaknesses, of course, but anyway, astrological links within families are known to exist.

It's unlikely that data obtained from surveys such as the one described would ever be made available to astrologers, more's the pity.

Rantette - with a nose for Galbanum

I was about to prepare a rantette bemoaning the fact that when things change it's rarely for the better. Things in question at the time: perfumes.

Never having been a big fan of most perfumes, I'm really, really picky. Greenish, citrus-ish, light flowery and/or fruity blends are the only "families" of fragrances I can bear to wear. Back in the days of vacations by air, from Britain, I'd scour airport duty-free shops to try tester bottles, hoping to find something acceptable. That's how I found three that became my favourites: Vent Vert by Balmain, Calyx by Prescriptives and Spring Fever by Origins.

My rantette was to be about the way two of those have been reformulated in recent years, and the other one has been dropped completely, in spite of petitioning by other rantetters like me. The reformulations of Vent Vert (it had two during the 1990s) and Calyx which was "taken over" by a different cosmetics firm, Clinique, a few years ago are but shadows of the originals. Why, I wonder should this be?

I've come to the conclusion in the case of Clinique's version of Calyx, it's likely a matter of making the fragrance generally weaker, possibly omitting some more expensive ingredients, and so cheaper to make, but the price is either the same as, or higher than before. Origins' Spring Fever disappearance is a puzzle, but that too could be due to increasing cost of ingredients, I guess.

The most interesting, the one with most information available on its reformulation, is Vent Vert.

It appears the main difference in the original Vent Vert and the reformulations is less of, or complete lack of Galbanum, which is said to have made the original so outstandingly striking. The reviewer at the above link wrote, of the original format of Vent Vert:

The interplay of contrasts and harmonies in the composition is simply breathtaking. Vent Vert is a ruffian dressed in transparent chiffon. One cannot help being mesmerized by her.

And of the first reformlation:

While Vent Vert is still lovely, it lacks its most remarkable quality — its renegade spirit.

Writers about perfume are wont to use similar heady descriptives as those beloved of wine buffs!

So then, what is Galbanum? It has a more interesting background than I expected.

From Wikipedia

Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin, the product of certain umbelliferous Persian plant species in the genus Ferula, chiefly Ferula gummosa (synonym F. galbaniflua) and Ferula rubricaulis. Galbanum-yielding plants grow plentifully on the slopes of the mountain ranges of northern Iran.

Aha...Iran! Is this a clue ? Are supplies of this ingredient not easily come by any more?

There's more...

In the Book of Exodus 30:34, it is mentioned as being used in the making of a Ketoret which is used when referring to the consecrated incense described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. It is also referred to as the HaKetoret (the incense). It was offered on the specialized incense altar in the time when the Tabernacle was located in the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. The ketoret was an important component of the Temple service in Jerusalem. Rashi of the 12th century comments on this passage that galbanum is bitter and was included in the incense as a reminder of deliberate and unrepentant sinners.

It is occasionally used in the making of modern perfume, and is the ingredient which gives the distinctive smell to the fragrances "Must" by Cartier, "Vent Vert" by Balmain, "Chanel No. 19" and "Vol De Nuit" by Guerlain. The debut of Galbanum in fine modern perfumery is generally thought to be the origin of the "Green" family of scents, exemplified by the scent "Vent Vert" first launched by Balmain in 1945.

Some of the mythology may have transferred to the related galbanum which was referred to as the sacred “mother resin.” Galbanum was highly treasured as a sacred substance by the ancient Egyptians. The “green” incense of Egyptian antiquity is believed to have been galbanum. Galbanum resin has a very intense green scent accompanied by a turpentine odor. The initial notes are a very bitter, acrid, and peculiar scent followed by a complex green, spicy, woody, balsamlike fragrance. When diluted the scent of galbanum has variously been described as reminiscent of pine (due to the pinene and limonene content), evergreen, green bamboo, parsley, green apples, musk, or simply intense green. The oil has a pine like topnote which is less pronounced in the odor of the resinoid. The latter, in turn, has a more woody balsamic, conifer resinous character.[unreliable source?] Galbanum is frequently adulterated with pine oil.

Galbanum oil is steam-distilled to yield a green, fruity-floral odor reminiscent of fine malt

“Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, [or sniff back] everything is different?” ~ Anon.

Cycles Will Be Cycles

Keeping in mind the previous post's main theme: fictional attempt to change history, in particular to prevent a corporate oligarchy from permanently establishing itself in the world, for generations to come. If a reliable time travel device were available today, to what point in American or UK/European history would seem to be the most useful stop-off point in the past? Which individual(s) would be the key to prevention of a headlong gallop into global corporate governance?

I don't know enough US political history to be able to answer that in respect of the USA. A simple, obvious but not complete, answer would be to travel back to 2009/2010 when the Citizens United case was being decided in the Supreme Court. Could time travellers influence a change that would reverse SCOTUS eventual decision?

In the UK I'd head for 1975 to try to stop Margaret Thatcher's rise in Conservative politics. With regard to Europe - I have no clue. Europe has always been a complex bag of tricks.

Alright...(fantasising): say SCOTUS decision on Citizens United had been reversed, due to time-travel related intervention. That would have moved us onto a new timeline. But, cycles must cycle on, nature decrees so, astrology records it. Life, whether individual, communal or global, moves in cycles - or spirals. Something else would take the place of the Citizens United decision, a few steps further ahead. Events themselves might be vulnerable to change by time travellers, but nature is highly unlikely to be vulnerable in the same way.

Imagine a stream or river flowing towards the sea. Something prevents it from following its established course; it doesn't suddenly begin flowing backwards, or simply stop in its tracks and become a stagnant lake, it carves out a different route for itself, to reach the same sea.

Fascinating, entertaining and distracting as time travel themes are in novels and films, tempting as it is to imagine there'd be a way to change things, in reality I doubt there would be. Most novelists and screenwriters hint at this. Detail might be changed, course would remain the same.

We, as a species and as a civilisation, warts an' all are probably at exactly the stage we're supposed to be right now, in our place on the developing spiral. The best we can hope for is a smooth and relatively painless transition from one stage of the spiral to the next, when it becomes time for that to happen. A reasonable aim for which to struggle now, I guess, would be to develop circumstances most likely to lead to smoother transition into natural changes.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose—"the more it changes, the more it's the same thing"

I regularly skim through a few of the current day's words from the wise, but find that the wise are writing much the same things they were writing this time last year, this time last month, this time four or five or fifteen years ago. Maybe even a hundred and fifteen years ago.

Similar issues, problems, complaints, horrors are presented, using different words, quoting different song lyrics, different quotes from long ago writers, but stating much the same things. Readers, for the most part, already uncomfortably aware of the issues described, read on, in the way listeners like to hear an old song, or a well-known melody over and over again. These erudite pieces have become a kind of background verbal music of life, as it is lived.

I don't know why I carry on skimming those pages myself - apart from the forlorn hope that one day there might be a suggestion, a whispering hint of some possible solution.

The epigram translated from the French as: "the more things change, the more they remain the same" was written in 1849 by Alphonse Karr in his monthly satirical journal Les Guêpes (The Wasps). It has stood the test of time!

The seemingly unchanging pattern of life in the USA was brought home to me again the other evening while watching an old (1994) video tape of Comic Relief VI. A gaggle of comedians took part, some still going strong in the US (for example Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, all looking alarmingly fresh and youthful), some others have been lost in the mists of later years. There were far too many repetitive jokes concerning that peculiar episode about an American couple, the Bobbitts, whose difficult relationship resulted in an incident in 1993 when Lorena severed John's penis with a knife. The penis was subsequently surgically re-attached. Many of the political jokes, though, could easily seem fresh if told today, with names changed. Bill Clinton had been President for a year or so, memories of Reagan's terms were still fresh and providing fodder for material, references to the urgent need for jobs, and to bring down the deficit etc. were there. Plus ça change! I was, actually, quite surprised and, to be honest I found it a little spooky. I wasn't here in the US during those times, nor even vaguely interested in political goings on in the states, in 1993/4, back in England.

After a recent news skimming session I reached to the shelf under my desk, pulled out Carl Sandburg's The People, Yes, a hard-backed copy, second printing dated 1936 - before I'd seen the light of day. I suspect Mr Sandburg was well- acquainted with the unchanging nature of life for we, The People. The book has become a favourite of mine. I often open it at random, always find something helpful and appropriate. This time it opened at section 102, from which (my own highlighting):

Is there a time to counsel,

"Be sober and patient while yet saying Yes
to freedom for cockeyed liars and bigots"?

Is there a time to say,

"The facts and guide measurements are yet
to be found and put to work: there are
dawns and false dawns read in a ball of
revolving crystals"?

Is there a time to repeat,

"The living passion of millions can rise
into a whirlwind: the storm once loose
who can ride it? you? or you? or you?
Only history, only tomorrow, knows
for every revolution breaks
as a child of its own convulsive hour
shooting patterns never told of beforehand"?

Thought: when "the storm" breaks loose will the familiar pattern change, or will we simply return to a different segment of the overall pattern, only to go around again - as do the planets?

PLANTED PLENTIES

Ray Bradbury left us earlier this summer, but his stories will never leave, they'll echo on, seeded for decades to come. Some tales will set succesive generations trembling, some will leave them curious and wondering. A select few, very special examples, could cause serious re-thinks of previous attitudes.

Two of Ray Bradbury's stories, later adapted to short TV dramas watched recently, reminded me of something that self-help guides, philosophers and the like have often dictated, but without the same impact: that attitude is everything. The two stories in question paint pictures, far more effective than mere paragraphs of instructions.

First story The Toynbee Convector:
The inventor and time traveller at centre of the tale comes from a time of imminent environmental collapse - and an economically and creatively stagnant late 20th century society. In his time machine, The Toynbee Convector, he travels forward one hundred years. On returning to the 20th century he shows evidence in films and other records of his trip. One hundred years hence man had managed to develop a beautiful world - better life style, and a restored natural environment.

Initially, the people, unable to disprove validity of the records brought from the future, are inspired by the prospect and begin projects likely to fulfill the vision and create the world the time traveller has seen.

A hundred years later, that more perfect world has come to pass. On a day the public has been told to expect to see the young time traveller arrive to meet his aged self, the time traveller recounts his story to a reporter, during the first interview he has ever granted. He reveals what really happened many years ago: "I lied."

Suspecting that the world's people had it in them to create a better world, he brought them the illusion of one, to give humanity a goal, and a hope. The imagined future became reality. After his admission, the time traveller dies, but leaves with the reporter proof of what he has told him, expecting the reporter would tell people the truth. They would understand that they had actually saved themselves. But the reporter decides to maintain the illusion, destroys the evidence the time traveller left for him to reveal.


Second story, The Day it Rained Forever, tells of three men who have been living in an old hotel in an Arizona desert ghost town for more than 20 years. Oppressive heat, dust and constant drought is the norm, rain comes at most once a year, and is eagerly awaited as the story opens. This particular year has been exceptionally hot. The men bemoan their fate constantly; one of them retires to his bed and intends to remain there, without sustenance until he dies. Towards evening, with no prospect of rain appearing on this day when it was historically expected, a car approaches. The woman driver, a lady no longer young stops her vehicle, and in the process damages the already aged and battered car, which is carrying a covered oddly-shaped object on the roof rack.

The woman introduces herself and chats to the two men. They invite her into the hotel for a meal. They seem to immediately start feeling better, spruce themselves up a bit, and over dinner she tells them she is a musician. She waxes lyrical about her love of music. The object atop her car is a harp. They bring it into the hotel and she plays - a beautiful melody. As she plays she seems to become younger, more beautiful. The attitude of the two men changes from depressed to uplifted. The woman goes to the third man, who hopes to die, and offers him soup. He refuses. Later it starts to rain heavily. It's as though the changed attitudes of the two men had caused the helpful and much wished-for change in the weather.

These two tales, were placed one after the other, on a DVD, part of a set we have: The Ray Bradbury Theater. It took a moment, but I realised that their message was one and the same: a change in attitude can change many things.

Mr Bradbury was something of a philosopher, just like another story-teller, Aesop long before him, was he not?

PS: for more about Ray Bradbury, and his natal chart, see my post from 2009.

PPS: Heading of current post was (kind of) suggested by yet another of Mr Bradbury's titles Colonel Stonesteel and the "Desperate Empties":

Are Some of Us Naturally Wired for Change?

Astrologers have long realised that the inbuilt easy acceptance of change some individuals are born with has specific astrological indications. A preponderance of well aspected personal planets in the mutable signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces; or positive emphasis on zodiac sign Aquarius or planet Uranus are examples.

An article at Live Science: Some Brains Are Wired For Change, by Amelia Thomas touches on the topic from a different, non-astrological angle. According to the article, scientists are finding that:

"People who welcome new experiences have stronger connections between their memory and reward brain centers than people who tend to avoid anything new, research now shows.

Specifically, people who actively seek lifestyle changes may have a more developed connection between two specific brain areas: the hippocampus, a site for storing and retrieving new and old memories, and the ventral striatum, a reward system which is responsible for those carpe diem moments, said researcher Dr. Bernd Weber of the Life & Brain Center at the University of Bonn in Germany. Turns out, if the hippocampus identifies an experience as new, it then relays signals to the striatum to release neurotransmitters which lead to positive feelings.

"The strength of the connection is positively correlated to novelty seek[ers] ... but this does not imply that having weaker connections is a 'bad' thing," Weber told LiveScience.

Weber and his University of Bonn colleague Michael X. Cohen used non-invasive MRI imaging technology on 20 subjects to follow the flow of diffused water through their brain tissues. The information was then used to reconstruct a nerve pathway to the striatum. If the pull of water diffusion is stronger, that in turn implies a stronger nerve fiber tract, Weber said.

The test candidates also took personality surveys, choosing the best descriptions of their attitudes about trying new things. The data revealed the relationships between a person’s personality and their physical brain structure.

"Brain 'wiring' and personality are not really one causing the other," Weber said. It's more likely to be an interaction between the two."

All of which leads me to wonder whether if, at certain times in the cycles of the year, vibrations, electromagnetic waves ....or something.... provide a helpful mix to strengthen, in a newly born child, the connections between specific centers in the brain described in the article. If so, do these times coincide with times when astrological doctrine expects similar characteristics to be identifiable in a personality?

Other characteristics might be similarly led by conditions at certain points in the yearly cycle. I don't find this an outlandish idea at all. We are all part of the same universal physical network. "We are star stuff" - Carl Sagan said so!

Inherited characteriestics, physical and mental shouldn't be discounted, but then astrological links within families are known to exist.

It's unlikely that data obtained from surveys such as the one mentioned above would ever be made available to astrologers for further research, more's the pity.

WAITING FOR CHANGE

I wonder what astrologers do when in need of a lift out of the doldrums? We ordinary mortals often reach for chocolate, apple pie, ice cream, or a bottle of booze. I'm not insinuating that astrologers aren't ordinary mortals, of course, perish the thought! But they are in a position to know more about themselves, the future, and their future than the average woman and man on the street. So do they have an antidote for the blues? I ask because reading articles and comments on current events I still feel as despairing, as I did when I posted in similar vein in 2007, in spite of a change of president and "party in power" in the USA, and, for that matter, in the UK. Our communal ship of fools seems still headed straight for the metaphorical iceberg.

So what can astrology offer as a pick-me-up of the non-fattening , non-inebriating kind?

As a non-astrologer but a woman on the street (if you know what I mean) who has some knowledge of astrological lore, this comes to mind: nothing stays the same for long, everything changes. Just as the planets move in regular cycles, so does life. A bad patch is followed by a good patch, and vice-versa. Some patches take longer than others to give way to the next stage. "The bad times" and "the good times" alternate in nature and in our lives. Enjoy the latter while you can and during the former resign yourself to putting on weight and drinking more than you should.

Influential American author, editor and public speaker, Marilyn Ferguson, best known for her 1980 book The Aquarian Conspiracy (died in 2008) unknowingly described the uneasy situation we appear to be experiencing at this time:

It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear.... It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.

Apple pie, anyone?

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting. (Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Suess)

The voice of Francis Bacon comes down through the centuries with his theory that:

"Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly."

In which case, a current voice, Jon Bon Jovi's reminds us that We Weren't Born to Follow.....

OR TO WAIT.....HOLD THAT THOUGHT!




Lyrics, for passers-by who are unable to see the video:

This one goes out to the man who mines for miracles
This one goes out to the ones in need
This one goes out to the sinner and the cynical
This ain't about no apology

This road was paved by the hopeless and the hungry
This road was paved by the winds of change
Walking beside the guilty and the innocent
How will you raise your hand when they call your name?

Yeah, yeah, yeah

We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe

Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that your saints and sinners bleed
We weren't born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe
Let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah

This one's about anyone who does it differently
This one's about the one who cusses and spits
This ain't about our livin' in a fantasy
This ain't about givin' up or givin' in
Yeah, yeah, yeah.............