this spring’s gulf spill was so big it overshadowed the other disastrous oil spills happening around the world simultaneously. like say, the other gulf spill. or the spill in the red sea. in fact, it is estimated that oil spillage off the coast of nigeria surpasses that of the gulf of mexico spill, EVERY YEAR! (but because it affects shack-dwelling africans, rather than wealthy, ahem, americans we don’t hear about it. if you’re an oil spill junkie, you can keep up with the latest crude catastrophes here on wiki. whatever you do, please don’t tell me we need to drill, baby drill. oil spills are not isolated incidents, and now matter what drilling precautions are taken in the future, or how many safety laws are adopted, the spills will remain inevitable. it’s time to get our alternative energy on!

of course in the apocalyptic (unveiling) times we find our selves living, this whole scenario comes as no surprise. earth has an incredibly challenging–and blessed–chart forecast for this summer. a perfectly synchronized cocktail party of cardinal crosses, grand squares, sensitive trines, new planets, stressful angles and unrelenting celestial energies that are stripping our world and everything in it to its core, exposing the flaws in both our own personal lives, and in the bigger sociopolitical arena. hello BP cover up? hollywood couldn’t write a movie like this! but get ready for more still because august is predicted to be the most intense month yet, according to most astro blogs. “We are in the midst of formidable astrological energies. we finally undergo a Grand Cardinal Cross on August 7th 2010.”

but hey, think positive peeps, because the fun lies in rebuilding it all, better than it ever was. after all, my fave ascended master saint germain, has decreed this to be the golden age–and 2010 the year of creation. if you still think the gulf spill was merely an unfortunate accident, you’ll think again after reading these words of oil wisdom from gerald o’donnell.

i concocted this libation to symbolize our addiction to oil. the glass is rimmed with sand, the contents are saturated in crude, and the garnish is floating, belly-up. because i don’t know about you… but i could use a drink.

GULF SPILL
1.5 blueberry juice oz
.5 oz kahlua
.5 oz chocolate liqueur (i prefer godiva)
3 blueberries
sand colored sugar, like raw or demerara
optional:
bar spoon chocolate sauce to make extra chocolatey! if you’re an addict, and chocolate is your poison, might i suggest CHOCAGAVE. this stuff is amazing and sort of healthy (considering that it is chocolate sauce!)

shake ingredients over ice and strain into sugar-rimmed glass. float berries on top.

the NYC based site has some super cute (and pretty accurate) date scopes… check em out at GEMINIANDSCORPIO.COM

and hey, you might just meet mr/ms right while you’re there…

One rushes on stage with new concepts and shocking evolution while the other clings to the status quo and suppresses rash behavior. The last time they played together Americans elected the first African American president while a “mavericky” woman and her old-school running mate kept things strange. It’s not surprising our president is a liberal thinker (Uranus) who is forced to work within old structures (Saturn).

Now they’re back. What do they have in store for us? It was 45 years ago, in and around 1965, when these two last danced. We know what happened then: civil unrest, riots, burning bras, drug use, war resistance, assassinations, free sex, and liberation of people in ways we hadn’t seen before. What will these two bring this time, especially when Pluto, who is hanging around behind the curtain, comes on stage this summer to add his part?

When the idea for change comes from within ourselves, we usually like it. It is inspiring. But when change comes in as an independent with a mind of its own (Uranus) it can seem like a rebellious teenager. Just when we think things are calm it sulks around, keeps us awake at night, and makes us want to gain greater control.

Wise souls among us know that change is all we can truly depend on. We can’t escape it, though we try, and in many cases we must let it be. Mostly we try to avoid change because we have no idea what is in the future and we really don’t want to alter our world view. We decide it is best to keep things as they are, or how they used to be (Saturn). Plus, we don’t want to experience the feelings of loss (Pluto) that often accompany change. What if we terribly miss what we had?

(image) The idea of change, and change itself, brings up unnecessary fear which then causes unwarranted stress on the body and mind. One of our tasks as human beings is to overcome fear, especially the useless fears that pervade our modern lives. I see fear restricting the body, mind, and spirit, shrinking one’s life experience into an uncomfortable little box. It takes our minds to dark narrow places where we lose a broader, more balanced perspective.

We have the unknown future in front of us, unpredictable circumstances will occur, our country and its people will do or say things we don’t like. We can either grow our fear or live every moment as if it were sacred, remembering that even the most unusual of circumstances can be profoundly healing and enriching, bringing in higher wisdom and understanding.

One way to overcome fear is to develop a sense of trust and faith in something greater than yourself, such as a belief that there is something beyond the ordinary mundane life. World religions and philosophies have sought to provide this for people, but many of them have fallen short of actually teaching a person how to be free from useless fears. The responsibility is on each individual.

One way to reduce fear rather than expand it is simply to become aware of it, knowing that the wiser path welcomes change, accepts the inevitable, and chooses not to fear it. By becoming aware of our habitual reactions to the unknown future, by acknowledging our resistance to the feelings loss brings, by being aware of the times when someone says something that refutes our world view and ignites our own fears, we can approach life in a more balanced way.

When we try to keep our lives, surroundings, and viewpoints the same, Uranus and Pluto will surely come along to roll them around a bit, and thankfully so. Do we really want to live a life so thin and safe that there is no new experience, expansion, or advancement of the mind and spirit? In these rapidly changing times, which are just gaining momentum, the more we can flow with change and allow our minds to be free, the better off we will be. Perhaps in the process, we can grow calmer, wiser, more mature, and more peaceful. Cheers, Christina

a note from gwen: i’m proud to bear the middle name of sutherland, which is the family crest of SANS PEUR (without fear.) this motto relates so well to christina’s article that i just had to include it! that the mascot is a wild cat, makes me like this logo all the more… just remember everyone, FEAR is an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” this valuable snippet of information was channeled from ascended master, HILARION.

if you’re brave enough to try some classic cocktails, these two would be an honorable place to start:

ROB ROY (courageous scottish hero who gwen’s related to way back)
1.5 oz Scotch
0.5 oz sweet Vermouth
Fill a mixing glass with cracked ice. Add Scotch and sweet vermouth. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

TRINITY (sexy, fearless heroine of the gwen’s favorite movie, the matrix.)
3/4 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
3/4 oz gin
Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Dr. Christina Grant is a holistic healer and spiritual counselor who uses astrology in her work to help people better understand their purpose and life circumstances. She works in person and by phone. She has helped hundreds of people attain physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being through personal transformation. Her writing is published nationwide. To learn more, see WWW.CHRISTINAGRANT.COM

Just when I think there isn’t anything new going on, I get to awaken to a fresh perspective. I recently spent a weekend with a group of 80-somethings. Well, not the entire weekend, but a good portion of it. My mother-in-law, Sue, a gentle-but-mysterious Scorpio (who has never had to color her long dark hair) is now 80. We surprised her one moon-lit Friday night with a party attended by a group of about 50 people. “Amazing an 80-year-old has so many friends!” I heard someone quip. Most of the attendees were indeed her friends, the others were family and her sons’ friends who she knew since they were in grade school.
photo credit
I got to meet many of Sue’s friends, a couple of whom had difficulty navigating the few stairs leading up to the party venue, but all of whom were as mentally spry and fun-loving as teenagers. Dollie, a direct and sassy Aries, is one of Sue’s Stanford friends that lives, not surprisingly, on her own in San Francisco. Just like a ram, she still hikes Bay Area trails. Hip, fashionable, and smart, she wasted no time starting up conversation. “You know what I did last April when I turned 80 to avoid a surprise event like this?” she asked me. “I ran off to Egypt.” Egypt? At 80? Later, I told a friend, “I wasn’t aware of the prejudice I’ve had. I bought into the assumption that we all get decrepit and senile, presumably around age 75.”

But Sue, Dollie, and the others taught me otherwise. Wise and loving, sparkling eyes standing out in wrinkled, knowing skin, I learned some things from my elders this weekend. I learned that life can be fun and interesting and engaging well beyond middle age. Maybe more fun than it is right now. That friendships can last forever. I learned that it isn’t unusual for an 80-year-old woman to be beautiful, stylish, engaging, smart, interesting, funny, and in-the-know. And I had been concerned about entering my mid-40s.

The following night we hosted a smaller dinner party at our house in Sue’s honor. Guests included her 84-year-old sister Claire, here from Geneva nimbly traveling the States visiting friends and family, and 80-year-old Trudy, another one of Sue’s best friends. Nothing about these women was any different than the rest of us except they are calm, patient, and wise. Nothing got past them, either. There is something reassuring about being with these capable, aged women. If they haven’t seen it all, they’ve at least heard about it. As the evening wound down, I was sad to see them go, Claire promising we’d meet again soon.

Many times I’ve considered writing about honoring our elders, because it is something our society doesn’t do. Instead, we ignore them, toss them aside; they are the invisible ones in our worship-the-youth culture. Is this practice we have of valuing youth over wisdom enlightened? We need our elders to teach us, to fill the great void of depth and meaning our culture faces, to be our stability just as they are in indigenous cultures. When will we let them?

I had the great good fortune that weekend of spending time with folks who grew up during the Great Depression, lived through World War II, educated themselves, then experienced decades of interesting events and change while keeping hopeful and engaged in life. If only I could see them on a regular basis, perhaps I’d never think that there isn’t anything different going on in life. No, Dollie would have Egyptian adventures to tell while knowing the best plays and museum exhibits in the city, Sue would know why Stanford beat Cal and why Obama had to send a few more troops to Afghanistan, Claire would demonstrate how at 84 one can keep her mind as spry as a college student, and Trudy would exemplify how to remain calm through anything while preparing crab (“do you have a hammer?”) for a friend’s birthday dinner.

in honor of the gin in this cocktail… how sick is this necklace? buy it! in celebration of women’s golden years, let’s toast with the MERRY WIDOW…cheers to ageless living!

MERRY WIDOW NO.1
0.5 tsp Benedictine
1.0 dash Orange Bitters
1.25 oz. Gin
1.0 each Peel Twist Lemon
0.5 tsp Sambuca
1.25 oz. Dry Vermouth

Stir all ingredients (except lemon peel) with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add the twist of lemon peel and serve.

Dr. Christina Grant is a holistic healer and spiritual counselor who uses astrology in her work to help people better understand their purpose and life circumstances. She works in person and by phone. She has helped hundreds of people attain physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being through personal transformation. Her writing is published nationwide. To learn more, see WWW.CHRISTINAGRANT.COM

• for the red drinker, get the white glass. for the white drinker, get the black…
• the exquisite faceted stem adds a touch of class…
• all twelve signs of the Zodiac are illustrated drinking wine…
• carl jung’s famous quote is printed in an elegant script:

“We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born.Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.”

purchase the astrology wine glass here ($8):

La Palapa just released its very own cookbook! owners Barbara Sibley & Margaritte Malfy co-authored ANTOJITOSBY, FESTIVE AND FLAVORFUL MEXICAN
SMALL PLATES, which includes several of la palapa’s best recipes. such as their ridiculously delicious MANGO MEZCAL PALOMA.

i once reviewed the astrology of La Palapa in my post here. because it opened in august, the west village LA PALAPA a is a Leo!

Barbara & Margaritte are celebrating their publication by serving complimentary antojitos and margaritas tuesday, november 10th, 5 to 7 pm:
LA PALAPA EAST VILLAGE
77 Saint Marks’s Place • RSVP 212.777.2537
(SIGNED COPIES OF THE COOKBOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE $22.99)

¿Cómo se dice “appetizers”? Antojitos, of course! The north-of-the-border love affair with Mexican food heats up with this luscious collection of 75 authentic Mexican small plates, invigorating salsas, and refreshing drinks from two of Greenwich Village’s favorite restaurateurs. Barbara Sibley and Margaritte Malfy are chef/owners of the fabulously popular La Palapa restaurants in New York City, where they deliver addictively authentic Mexican fare-food for people who love fresh, soulful cooking.

Traditional and artisanal, the recipes in Antojitos were collected from Barbara and Margaritte’s many years of traveling and living in Mexico.
No one does antojitos like Barbara and Margaritte. A stylish design filled with colorful Mexican folk art and food photographs round out this spicy treat of a book.

Just in time for christmas—perfect for the latin Lovers on your list….!

which brings us to the cantaloupe… this yummy fruit is ruled by the moon and is hence a cancer. if any fruit is a hot mess, it must be the innards of a over ripe melon… juicy, goopy, sweet, fragrant, wet, dripping, tantalizing, delicious… does this sound like any of the cancer’s you’ve known?

this cancerian libation was created at my last bachelorette party. it was the end of the night and we were winding down from my astro-bar cheffing lesson… i suddenly remembered that we had not used pisco in any of our concoctions thus far. heaven forbid, pisco is one of my faves! i immediately set to rectifying that by creating a drink on the spot. i threw in some lemon cooking oil, muddled a few leaves of basil, a few chunks of melon, and shook that baby up. i thought it might very well taste like crap. i poured all the girls a sample and waited for their reaction… luckily, it was positive. their faces lit up with surprise, a lot of mmnnns all around, and then someone called that drink a hot mess! everyone chimed in that this was indeed the perfect name for such an unwieldy yet successful bevvie. and the HOT MESS was born…

HOT MESS:
1 1/2 oz pisco
handful of melon chunks
3-5 leaves basil
dash lemon cooking oil
1/2 oz raw simple syrup
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice

muddle basil, melon. add other ingredients. shake over ice. double strain as per below into glass. enjoy!

MARTHA STEWART’S DINNER AT HOME is brand spanking new, and today was martha’s very first signing to promote the book. she dedicates the book “to all the homemakers in america, pressed for time yet caring for their families.” my favorite feature of the book is the way it’s divided according to the four seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter, which makes eating seasonally just that little bit easier. martha then creates 13 four course menus for each season, making sure to include carnivore, vegetarian and vegan meals among them. along the way, she highlights certain foods such as rhubarb — pointing out that this vegetable is not a fruit! vanilla stewed rhubarb, mint pesto, rosemary yorkshire puddings, minty green tea milkshakes, coffee with cognac and cardamom and tequila-soaked lemon sorbet are just a few mouth-watering recipes to be found in this handy collection. ($35)