2012: this is THE year. as in THE one. as in what we’ve been waiting for. as in don’t F*$! it up. use the extraordinary energy of the next 365 days to craft your new life… the soul mate of your dreams. the career of your dreams. the family of your dreams. for there is a spicy kick to this year that will light all that you capable of imagining on fire. (and that’s fire in a good way, for those who know me ; ) just stay away from dark thoughts and work towards the light of the dragon.

you might think that dragons are mythical creatures living only in games such as dungeon & dragons, books such as harry potter or permanently on the biceps of bikers. but you would be mistaken. i only recently learned this myself: and that is that the dragon realm is as real as any other… take for example the angels. just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. think of it this way… when you look at a hummingbird, you can’t see its wings, for they are moving so quickly. but, they are there! some things vibrate too rapidly for the human eye to pick up. just like a dog can hear sounds that are inaudible to the human ear… same thing!

i know that when i am very tired and have to stay up late, i will often call on the energy of the dragon realm to help pump me full of their special brand of metaphysical cocaine. and it works! i’m always amazed that i didn’t get tired. so, this 2012, call on the energy of the dragon and fire up your life. how bout a spicy tipple to help get you started?

DRAGON MARGARITA:
3 oz charred pineapple jalapeno infused tequila
1.5 oz triple sec
1.0 oz simple syrup
1.0 oz lime juice

Shake over ice. strain into chili salt rimmed glass. Garnish with a slice of jalapenjo pepper.

PINEAPPLE JALAPENO INFUSION: Slice a ripe pineapple and a jalapeno pepper in half, and grill. Submerge into tequila-filled vessel. Allow to infuse for at least one week.

CHILI SALT: mix chili piquin with kosher salt.

dissident artist ai weiwei was conspicuously absent from his zodiac exhibit opening today in new york’s central park.

detained at beijing airport last month, no word has been heard from Ai Weiwei since. he might be dead for all anyone knows… for simply daring to speak his mind and create art. in hong kong, there is graffiti featuring ai weiwei’s face with a question mark, plastered all over town. this incident is attracting international attention as his shocking absence from his nyc show opening has been reported around the world.

if this is not a wake up call to think twice before purchasing products made in china, i don’t know what is. the chinese government is playing for the other team, not for the one of its people. buy made in usa! stop supporting communism. simple, right?

ai weiwei’s exhibit depicts the 12 chinese zodiac signs cast in huge bronze statues. a documentary is also in the works on this renowned artist, which has taken on a new urgency. let’s all say a prayer for Ai Weiwei, and the Chinese government, so this situation can be resolved quickly and peacefully.

The three of us had been hiking since just before noon in the Hellhole Canyon portion of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and were in the final quarter-of-a-mile of the return trip when the encounter occurred. Musing over potential resolutions for the Solar New Year and enjoying the cooler temperatures in the long shadows of afternoon had gotten us through the previous few hundred yards but we were hoping for a wildlife sighting, something more substantial than the explosion of quail tracks that kept pace with us off to the side of our footpath.

No telling how many there had been, but they’d been in a hurry by the looks of it, and they had been gone long before we had arrived to even begin our hike. Other than that, the hummingbirds had been our only companions, and they weren’t particularly pleased to see humans traipsing through the territory. They let us know with annoyed little “chirrup” sounds as they whizzed about our heads. It was hard not to be amused at how ineffective they were in their irritation, and we reflected on the Medicine of Joy they are known to possess whilst we made our way out of their personal territories.

We could see the truck in the distance, waiting patiently for us to return to the parking area at the trailhead, and I turned back to let the two behind me know we were close. When I turned to face forward once more I stopped so suddenly that the pair behind me did likewise, peering around me to see what had caused the traffic jam.

There was a jackrabbit sitting sedately not ten yards ahead of us, right in the middle of the path. The light shone through its enormous ears as it swiveled them in our direction. It stared at us. We stared back. One of the two hikers behind me moved off the path to the right and quietly readied her camera, taking up a spot on the other side of a mesquite bush. And still, the jackrabbit sat right in front of us, observing.

Then the dancing began.

First it scratched at the ground quickly, washed a bit, then sat upright and looked at me, first over its nose, then giving me its profile. After a moment it leapt up and bounded around the outside of the mesquite bush to take up a position in front of our companion’s camera. It repeated the sequence. It capered and bounced, around the bush one way and then the other to take a seat in front of both of us in turn. At one point it took off straight across the path into the chollas and we waited half a minute or more before conceding it had probably moved on when suddenly it was back to take up its dancing spot in front of the camera. Back and forth it danced for us, and at one point it was so close to me that I had to stifle a laugh. The ridiculous proportions of the ears and whiskers to its head were absolutely comical. It stayed its ground, pausing for a moment before resuming its dance.

This went on for almost ten minutes. With a few departures and careening returns when we had almost given up hope of seeing any more of it, the jackrabbit was being very deliberate in its time with us, and once it was truly gone from our midst we just as deliberately gave it some of our time in return.

We looked up all we could find on rabbit and hare lore, legend and spiritual significance, poring over it together and taking turns reading aloud items that we found to be of interest or significance. The most consistent thread connecting all that we found was a description of the progression of tasks, projects or life changes occurring in great leaps and bounds, which was interesting and even apt in some cases, though we definitely felt our rabbit had danced for us rather than leapt or bounded about the hiking trail.

In the end what we ended up focusing on was the rabbit’s connection to the moon and as a guide to new worlds and adventures. Think Alice in Wonderland here and you’ll have a perfect idea of the wonder of our experience. It was actually the following day when we realized that the Chinese New Year was not far off and on a hunch looked up what sign would rule 2011. And were we surprised? Nope. There it was: The Year of The Rabbit.

Since all of us on the hike that day are artists and performers, we took it as a particularly fortunate sign that a rabbit had chosen to join us after the challenging day hike was nearly complete. We had overcome our obstacles, and now we were given an unexpected reward, a theme recurrent in many Asian legends, proverbs and folk tales. So in addition to a brilliant and multi-faceted feast (two of us were carnivores and one vegan) it was necessary to brew up a celebratory potion so that we could raise glasses in thank to our friendly rabbit for reminding us that acting on some of our long-held dreams and ideas in 2011 is not only good policy, but the very best thing we could do for ourselves and our lives. We all three have promised to keep up with one another throughout the year to see what sort of excitement unfolds.

What followed was a vodka drink that materialized as an organic group effort. Interestingly, I had much less on hand in the way of ingredients than I usually like, but these things have a way of working out. I took the first three ingredients and muddled them thoroughly in the shaker before adding the ice and the vodka. The shaking was quite energetic let me tell you, but the Agave nectar really needed the extra bump and grind to get it to mix, especially with the ice added to the equation. It’s totally worth the athletic portion of the program to get there. Trust me.

And I blame the name on the fact that we tested two or three drinks each before realizing we needed to give it a title. Happy Year of the Rabbit!

RABBIT PUNCH
Fresh grated ginger
Teaspoon of fresh lime juice
Teaspoon of Agave nectar
3 to 4 parts vodka (to taste … we kept adding more to cut the sweetness down a bit)

Cheers~Charon, The Most Dangerous Beauty Alive
theswordswallowers.com
oddangel.com

Charon Henning is one of a handful of female sword swallowers in the world today. She’s performed on carnival midways and at wine tastings, on theater stages and grassy lots.

Charon also reads tea leaves professionally, a skill she inherited from her grandmother on her mother’s side of the family. Tea-leaf reading is a wonderful and elegant form of entertainment, suitable for many time periods and venues.

Charon loves being on the road seeing new places and meeting new people. Want to catch Charon on the road for her live show? View her tour schedule here. Or, book Charon’s talent for your next event!

you could easily ask, what came first the zodiac or the animal? animals have always been an integral part of human life.

the chinese zodiac consists of a circle of animals. this was created in ancient china so that the peasants could better understand the astrology that their emperor (and themselves by extension) practiced so religiously. which incidentally was not based on constellations, but on calendar years. because most peasants did not know how to read or write, an animal was created to symbolize each year. hence we have year of the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.

Up until last year I thought I was a boar. Then I found SUZANNE WHITE’S website and voila, I’m a dog! Turns out… suzanne did a little research (ok, a lot) and found that it was not enough to simply go by the year in which you were born. as in western astrology, you might have been on the cusp, like me. I was born in the first week of the year, so i thought i was the chinese animal for that year. not so. i am actually the chinese animal for the year before. i suggest you make it a life priority to confirm you are the correct chinese zodiac animal!

in western astrology, more than half of our zodiacal constellations take the form of animals. leo the lion, sagittarius the horse/man, pisces the fishes, aries the ram, capricorn the goat, taurus the bull, scorpio the scorpion and cancer the crab. these soular animals are somewhat revered, especially by people like me!

so revered and so abused. the point of my post today is to celebrate WORLD WEEK FOR ANIMALS IN LABORATORIES.

A Landmark Agreement
In February, 2008, three U.S. government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), signed a five-year agreement to create innovative and animal-free methods to evaluate the safety of drugs and chemicals with the goal of phasing out animal tests entirely.

The NRC’s Groundbreaking Report
In July, 2007, the prestigious National Research Council (NRC) issued a report, “Toxicology for the 21st Century,” which outlines a new approach that would rely less on animal studies and focus instead upon in vitro methods. According to the report, “Over time, the need for traditional animal testing could be greatly reduced, and possibly even eliminated someday.”

Broad and sweeping changes are slowly being realized for animals, and now is the time to speak out. they ARE listening! all it takes is one letter, one phone call, one action… to make a big difference.

click here to see how you can help lab animals.

see how easy it is to shop cruelty free here.

read about the recent government scam over animal testing in the WASHINGTON POST

(photo credit)