16 Thoughts - July
Wow Wow Wow. So much has happened in 30 days. America turned 250, the countries played the futbol, the kings wars raged on, and the lettuce gives you the shits. In all honesty, June 16th was a whole lifetime ago. Rita Libretto had her world premiere on June 20th at Towson University’s Summer at the Center in Baltimore, MD and I had the best time. The audience was so playful and engaging. and there is so much more to come for this girl. A big thank you to all the team in Baltimore!
Now I’m back in NY (starting a rock band)... JK - Any rentheads out there?
Anyway, welcome to Reblogga’s Beck and here are 16 Thoughts I had this month:
This month has a big astrological signature that brings us into eclipse season. The big astrological signature happening right now is referred to as Barbault’s Basket named for the French astrologer André Barbault who brought this upcoming event to the public in the 1990s. Look here:
The planets line up in such a way that they all ding each other in trines and sextiles with Pluto and Jupiter creating the most tense opposition. As all these planets hit off each other it feels like a flurry of events that don’t usually connect but now do. All the while pulling the tension between Jupiter and Pluto…
2. I like to sit in meditation and let my mind swirl about some of these astrological angles and what they mean. This basket is wild when they all line up - but when it’s just two planets bumping into each other or seeing each other from across a room and then they react with the vibe of each planet. It makes astrology come alive and I can more easily trace my time. When did I do that thing? Oh right it happened last time Mercury was conjunct Mars. etc… So earlier on Tuesday, Venus in Virgo was making a square to Uranus in Gemini and I just took a few moments and tried to clear my mind about that interaction. My thought I couldn’t get out of my head was I want some hair clip ins. Some nice thick beautiful blonde ones so I can have nice thick beautiful hair. Shh brain cute, but we’re meditating on Venus in Virgo blah blah… What does the back of my head look like? Even bald I will never know. Woody is going bald in Toy Story. And then I zapped it into Venus/Uranus in my fourth house of Lineage and Home and my first house of Self and Identity. What are the stories I tell myself about hair? About going bald? How much of my confidence is tied to gender affirming fads? This feels very Venus…Does Uranus in Gemini care about any of this? Does Mars? Who is also nearby in Gemini and hearing this conversation? Does Mars care? These planets are big Gender archetypes, Venus the feminine, Mars the masculine, and Uranus the queerdo. Venus is not participating in Barbault’s Basket except for this little move right before it all settles in. Just enough time to catch Uranus’ eye as they go into fighting formation with Mars. And then I saw this morning Pete Hegseth wants soldiers to take T.
3. Who’s scared of shitting themselves these days? Meee. But TBH and TMI I always sort of am. I get nervous stomach and the week of Rita I was not always feeling the best. It’s amazing the ecosystem that lives inside of you and the reactions your body has to them. And you’ll never get to go inside of it. Miss. Frizzle lied to us! But anyway… I’m trying to see what it takes to get an early colonoscopy so maybe she didn’t totally lie.
4. So we are in Mercury Retrograde. Mercury is the ruler of two houses Gemini and Virgo. You see how fun astrology is when it works out so pretty? No wonder Venus, Uranus, and Mars are all in a tangle (yes, thats a hair pun) because the ruler of the house Mercury is retrograde in Cancer! Literally so far away. And the other sign between them, Leo is a blaze with the sun and Jupiter! Anyway… we’re missing a lot is what I’m trying to get to. And I had my wallet go missing, in my home, for over 72 hours. I was unpacking Rita, doing laundry, and cleaning and then I couldn’t find it. Not until days later when I pulled out all the drawers in my dresser and heard a kadunk. Just becareful with your stuff ya know. Mercury Retrograde ends on July 23rd and then give it a week for the shadow. Great time for reflecting. And reorganizing. And finding a secure predictable place for your wallet.
5. Okay so I have other thoughts on my list but this is as far as I could get without mentioning that the sky is once again covered in smoke from wild fires. I don’t know how to break from this system of destruction but can we not do this? It’s really dusty and my throat is covered and my clothes smell. It’s not even a good bonfire smell it’s nasty.
This was last night - now the sky is so smoky it has almost a nothing color.
6. How’s Nato doing these days? Doesn’t seem so good. I heard that they gave them revolvers as a gift which I thought, wow, way to really start the party here at this summit, and also revolvers? It giving Wild West. Trump was welcomed in Turkey, who were simultaneously not welcoming an LGBTQ Cruise vessel that was scheduled to dock. The cruise ship was also carrying Patti Lupone who I’m sure many people in Turkey would LOVE to hear. I wonder if the NATO people mentioned and of that in their meetings. Are any of them Patti gays?
7. Dang the world cup has been CRAZY. Honestly, it’s been a spectacular time to be in NY after the Knicks the sports spirits have been high! I also went to my first Librety game of the season, heading to another one next week. My beloved Deb lived in Argentina after undergrad and has been a fan of the world cup for over 20 years which means Messi is her dude. They just won yesterday and will go on to play Spain on Sunday for the final. I’ve loved the vibes of all the countries, hearing the national anthems, and learning the flags.
8. I will say the sociology of the world cup is a little fascinating. The your team/my team tribalism, this history/that bad call from 10 years ago… etc. There’s a lot of politics that is behind each flag on a jersey but it’s also just a game. Then I watched the FIFA documentary and I feel the classism and corruption of it all. The takers and the ones they extract from. On my way to our new favorite Argentine restaurant to watch the game on Saturday night, I was sitting in the back of an uber driving through Queens as the children played in the streets and one waved to me. I felt like a Queen myself, in my chariot, on my way to eat beef and drink wine and see the countries play.
9. While I was in Baltimore for Rita I knew I had to stay healthy and rested because if I’m not this is not going to be fun or easy. I made a list of things I could control so that I felt prepared and would be working in my own best interest. One of those things was I can control which thoughts I do or don’t entertain. Because I be thinking a lot of thoughts, look you see me - and I bet you do too! But turns out not all need to be presented with the same weight, or with the same trust. Another one was to make sure I lied down for 10 hours a night, I can’t control how much I sleep but if I’m laying down 10 hours in a row, I’m probably gonna be better off. Captaining your own ship is annoying.
10. Have you thought about your vagus nerve lately? It is the longest nerve in your body going from the bottom of your brain, through your larynx, arond your heart into you stomach and down to your small intestines and colon. It’s activated when you are in fight-or-flight, the feeling of a pit in your stomach, your throat choking up when you’re sad or mad, the heart breaking feeling when someone you love hurts you. The opposite affect of fight-or-flight is rest-and-digest which you can learn to activate by humming, breathing, singing and dancing.
11. Uranus in Gemini sextiled Neptune in Aries on Wednesday as an opening move to Barbault’s basket. Neptune is the god of the sea and in Aries it is set afire with courage, valor, and a big dose of delusional naivety. Neptune is in the power position in this configuration, but only because Uranus has yet to take in whatever Neptune is giving away. Uranus has the ultimate power play of being unpredictable and in Gemini the sky is the limit. This to me sounds like new war tactics, or a big flood of information being used as weaponry. Knowledge is power.
12. André Barbault does say that this configuration is one of the most exciting new times for human beings and a chance for us all to make choices, individually and collectively, for the betterment of all life. This begins a new chapter that will take years to unfold, in my hope, one that finds less need for oil and more restorative practices rather than extractive. Sometimes I don’t even know where to begin so I just write it here.
13. I got really into the Revolutionary war in the first week of the month and I think it is hard in this day and age to grasp how truly revolutionary the ideals actually were, in the western world at least. Many indigenous worlds had governments and systems built on a mutual bond of respecting the other human’s individuality and sanctity and that was partly where Benjamin Franklin began his research for building a new government. The Revolutionary War was a horrific time of battle between patriots and loyalists and it started a civil and world war over the acquisition of the Continent of North America. But it also cracked the door open for all human rights and freedoms to people the world over. It’s a fight we have to remember the core of because as things with all humans, it’s very complicated.
14. Okay but AI is all over this page trying to tell my how to improve my writing but guess what AI these are thoughts and I’m not judging them and you don’t even have any thoughts let alone 16 every month.
15. Thinking thoughts, as I do, leads me only to more thoughts, and more questions. I heard someone say the most interesting person in the room is the most curious and I think that’s true. Often times when I enter a room, I have the urge to go around like a dog and just sniff everything because I’m just so damn curious. And then I can hear in that perfect Minnesota Nice way, “Oh, isn’t that interesting.”
16. That’s all she got this month! Next karaoke is 8pm on Monday July 27th at The Upside on the Upper West and stay tuned for more Rita, more Resounding Silents, and more thoughts! I’m heading to VT and Michigan within the next 30 days and I’m sure the thoughts will flow. Until then let the basket cradle you and just notice your thoughts - you dn’t have to entertain them all no matter how entertaining they may be.
