When Saturn was first going into Sagittarius, I commented to friends and subscribers that we would see great obstacles in everything ruled by Sagittarius. Physiologically, this would affect our ability to utilize silica so many people would be experiencing a deficiency that affects the teeth, bones, nails, and hair. The longer Saturn remained in Sagittarius, the deeper the need for supplementation. Herbs such as horsetail and bamboo manna are excellent sources of this vital mineral.
Last night, I was discussing the Ecuadorian project with Kitzia. We both recognize the diversity of Ecuador. There are coastal areas that are tropical, steaming hot jungles, arid places that are nearly like deserts, and alpine regions that have snow. She is a specialist in biodiversity and through my very long contact with both Gabriel and Kitzia, my own appreciation for the need to understand and support biodiversity as well as permaculture have expanded enormously. I have been making lists for Kitzia of what to grow. This includes, among other things, bamboo manna. This is a substance found in the hollow part of a very specific bamboo plant that is somewhat rare and endangered, Bambousa arundinacae. It is bluish-white and processed for use in medicine. This bamboo grows exceedingly tall and is somewhat difficult to propagate, but once it is firmly established, it can grow 30 cm a day and growth in the range of 75 cm is has sometimes been observed...
These days, bamboo is being used for a lot more than making chopsticks. For instance, the floors in my office are made of bamboo, and I love the way the morning sun reflects a lovely yellow glow. It is like the floors are rejoicing and singing loudly. I feel not just happy, but glad that forests are not being cut down since bamboo is a grass and will renew itself once rooted. In my powder room, guests will also find bamboo towels made in China by a proprietary process. They are extremely mold resistant and thus do not tend to develop a nasty odor when exposed to wet hands. Many items of apparel, bedding, and even my computer mouse are made of bamboo. However, bamboo manna is a slightly different story since it is becoming harder and harder to source in the quantities needed for use in herbal medicine. As one would expect, bamboo manna is nourishing and soothing, but it is also a wonderful supplement for those suffering from mineral deficiencies.
Another source of minerals is shilajit. As many of you may recall, I had an excellent supplier of Nepali shilajit until the earthquake in Nepal. He says that since the quake, there have been no new harvests of shilajit. None is currently available from Vadik Herbs, but Banyan still has some, and I have a tiny bit. Shilajit is not exactly an herb. The story behind it is that hundreds of thousands of years ago, an island near what is now Australia, drifted north and collided with the Asia mainland. This resulted in immense land masses being forced upwards, forming what we today call the Himalayas. As the continents collided a certain amount of organic matter was trapped in the pores of rocks. As it aged, it became a sort of semi-fossilized sticky mass that exudes from rocks when hit by the warming rays of the sun. In the very high altitudes in which shilajit is found, the harvesting season is short. Moreover, harvesting requires very special mountaineering skills. The work can be dangerous. Once the exudate is collected, it is sold to laboratories for processing. First, tiny pebbles are removed, then the shilajit is purified with herbs such as bhringaraj or the combination of fruits called triphala. At this point, it is a sticky paste, somewhat bitter, but almost tasteless once dissolved in water. The Ayurvedic theory is that adding shilajit to an existing protocol improves the outcome of the treatment.
Every tiny sample of shilajit varies due to the organic matter, which is sort of tar-like, and whatever natural minerals are found in the rocks. This means that every batch varies in its chemical composition. Online, shilajit is marketed mainly as something to increase virility and a lot of emphasis is put on fulvic acid, but I personally believe this is an oversimplification of a very complex substance. What is interesting to me is that shilajit has definitely been found in Chile and seems to exist in Ecuador as well. There are places in Ecuador with pristine run-off from the mountains and the water is famous for its mineral content. So, very high on my agenda is the exploration of what can be found in the upper elevations of the Andes. The Andes are not as tall as the Himalayas, but they are majestic, awe inspiring, and sometimes black at the summit, and this would be where one would look for shilajit.
We need minerals for a lot more than beautiful hair. We need them for their effect on ions. This is especially true in the modern era of exposure to various forms of radiation and dangerous electromagnetic fields, such as used in telecommunications. Obviously, Kitzia cannot plant shilajit the way she can plant bamboo, but we recognize the need for steady supplies of natural substances with medicinal properties.
Another plant we discussed is guaiacum, Lignum vitae. It is severely endangered, but it does grow throughout the Caribbean and apparently much further beyond what Wikipedia would have us believe since I am certain it can be found in Paraguay, meaning the natural habitat extends significantly further south than what is stated in most sources. It is a tree, not a grass, and it grows slowly. What is important is that it is used both in oral health and in treatment of spirochetic diseases such as syphilis and now Lyme disease. Now, you are going to see just how Ingrid connects dots.
Lyme disease is apparently man-made. Humans have both insatiable curiosity as well as a propensity for manipulating matter. The jury is out as to whether Lyme disease spread accidentally or on purpose, but safety measures were definitely lax at Lab 257 on Plum Island. At this time, Lyme is a global epidemic with saturation levels in some areas, such as the original sites where the first cases appeared in Lyme, Connecticut, and New England in general. However, the overall incidence seems to vary from about 17% in some not so heavily infected areas to an estimated 99-100% in some areas. It is frequently misdiagnosed, and there can be no question at all but that countless people, millions and millions and millions of people, are not getting the help they need. Now, you see why I named our project in Ecuador Institute for Invisible Epidemics. There are many invisible epidemics, ranging from Lyme disease to electromagnetic radiation and the havoc it has unleashed on an unprepared population — and I include in this plants and animals as well as people.
The list of plants we want to grow is very long. I have been adding to it constantly for many years. By creating additional habitats for plants, we are assuring future generations of sufficient supply for their needs.
Now, for a few more dots. I cannot recall exactly when Phil asked me to write a book on kaya kalpa. At the time, I said it would have many parallels to my book on Cancer Salves except that I felt the literature would be many times deeper. In my mind, this was the "other Indians" meaning Cancer Salves was largely about Native American treatments for cancer whereas kaya kalpa would be about ancient Indian means for regeneration and rejuvenation. I knew the project would be immense but possible.
So, what are some of the dots whose connections are not readily seen. For one, there is a vast amount of literature to analyze using very different mental tools than what goes into normal medical research. There are plants and alchemical substances to study, laboratory analyses to be performed, clinical trials to be run, and data to be analyzed. This is an enormous undertaking but I see it coming together now. We are discussing roles and structures and will make some announcements soon.
As I am writing this, Friday morning, my Internet is down again. Honestly, this has been a nightmare, but the fiber optic will be connected on Wednesday. The Internet was very bad when I moved to Poulsbo 17 years ago, just dial-up at that time. DSL came later and when it did come, it was vastly inferior to what was normal in places like Austria and Japan. This speaks to the American failure to invest in infrastructure. In terms of modern communications, Ecuador is actually way ahead of Poulsbo. Yes, the roads might be in better condition in the U.S., but telecommunications are, for better or worse, more modern in Ecuador. The downside, of course, is that avoiding wifi is truly difficult.
I have, however, solved the problem of how to do kalpa without wifi intrusion. I will discuss this in a few months. You know I like to work out details before saying too much since retractions should be avoided if at all possible. This means looking ahead, and interestingly, this is more and more difficult with Saturn in Sagittarius. So, let's finish this little astrology lesson. Sagittarius rules not just silica but higher education, publishing, long distance communications, and all things foreign such as travel and immigration. Sagittarius also rules philosophy and religion. For the record, Donald Trump has his Moon in Sagittarius, and Saturn will retrograde all the way back to his Moon before it turns direct around August 25-26th. Then, equally significantly, Saturn goes into Capricorn at the time of the winter solstice. Then, we will not see Saturn in Sagittarius until it has circled all the signs. If I am still alive then, I will be more than 100 years old!
So, what are we seeing now? Have we not seen dire developments that resulted in one of the most serious refugee crises in modern history? Have we not also seen religious fundamentalism and xenophobia on a colossal scale? Have we noticed what is happening to the press and free speech? These are just a few of the critical areas affected by this Saturn transit. Sagittarius is normally happy, outgoing, expansive, and eager to explore a wide range of ideas; however, Saturn is a conformist and is as conventional as Sagittarius is progressive. Sagittarius is not really a good sign for Saturn, but every so often, we need to examine situations to see whether or not they support our goals. If one is by nature skeptical, well, at least circumspect, then Saturn in Sagittarius can support one's apprehensions about the unfamiliar, but from an astrologer's point of view, Saturn in Sagittarius would, at minimum, block the flow of information and ideas. On perhaps a lighter note, we could say that Ingrid, who also has Moon in Sagittarius, has suffered the worst communications challenges in decades. I have had countless technological challenges to launching some of my work. Last night, thanks to input from a variety of sources, we found that my servers are unable to support the necessary upgrades. I have about 60 web sites and perhaps 3500 pages online. If you remove all the graphics and navigation and just captured the text without any pictures, a printout would require 40-50 reams of paper, about 20,000-25,000 pages!
Keeping everything organized has been a massive undertaking, but I have been tenacious. This said, in more ways than one, I have to move. It's comical if one can disconnect — oh, oh, what language — and see the cyclical effects without asking just how stressful this has been. I am not actually overextended so much as "outdated" which is a profound assessment of the technological challenges. Last night, it became clear that there is no solution because the hosting platform is out-of-date. So, just how odd is it that within an hour of reaching this conclusion, I lost my Internet connection again! I don't know when this post will go out because I don't know when the connection will be restored. Nothing the phone company ever says is reliable, kind of like CNN and bureaucracies and academicians and so on and so forth. I can get upset or laugh. I am choosing the latter.
Saturn also rules time and manifestation in time. Beyond Saturn, one has imagination, intuition, and spiritual insights and creativity. I am going to make just two more statements at this juncture. I am obsessed, finally I admitted to one obsession, with the decalcification of the pineal gland. I want to tell this story. I first heard about its calcification in the early 1970s when I was highly clairvoyant. It was the cycle in my life in which I developed my system of astrology. It started more or less from the top down and this is also how my mind functioned as a child. I saw things and then searched for the language and infrastructure to express my knowing. So, there are four pillars to my system of astrology, and the first was astroendocrinology. It is also the most important and original part of the system.
Each endocrine gland is associated with both a chakra and physiological functioning. With a calcified pineal gland, people cannot consciously express their spirituality or purpose. If one is religious without actually being spiritual, there is a loss of identity, meaning we do not know ourselves as souls but merely as parts of a system that may actually be blocking our inherent divinity. It almost goes without saying that if one is sensitive enough to have gifts, one is also sensitive to the ramifications of the insights. In my case, I was deeply troubled that both the thymus and pineal are almost unable to function in countless people, billions of people.
In a curious sort of way, I am on a mission to correct this so when I said that the most important lesson from Morrnah Simeona was that before healing can occur, the obstacle to cure must be removed, I set out to remove the biggest obstacle to cure: the non-functioning pineal gland. It is the main target of the Oral Health series, which, believe it or not, is really almost ready to launch. However, as fate would have it, my main assistant in this project, Gina, also has a Sagittarius Moon. I have to say, she has the patience of an angel. We thought the problem was a theme (aka template) that was out-of-date. It is called Nirvana and was not handling certain tasks well. We changed themes yesterday and crashed. Months have gone into this project. The data is safe. We are both thoroughly backed up, but we have reached limits on the server's ability to work with necessary upgrades. Obviously, what was once state of the art is not even state of the art a week or two after installation, but we are three years out-of-date. We have a fix and will overcome the issue this weekend.
To be honest, I wish everyone understood astrology because we really are subject to cycles, and there is such a thing as obsolescence. In the intermittent moments of connectivity this week, I watched Melania and Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican. It was fascinating actually because I was looking at his horoscope at the same time as the costume changes and teleprompter scripts. I truly believe there are agendas. You know, I have my "stuff" and he has his goals. We are however trying to create the future while still trapped in the guy-wires that hold the present in place. This is the challenge of Saturn in Sagittarius. Sagittarius is also the sign that has the most effect on vision as well as extended vision. Saturn is myopic. I am not being facetious, but Saturn is about boundaries and limitations, not freedom or innovation. These two are not good partners, but December will be the end of this transit. In the meantime, there is a constructive side to Saturn that we should observe. Saturn, as mentioned, rules manifestation. We have seen huge changes in education. With the Internet, knowledge is available to anyone who is connected. This has the general effect of leveling the playing field. Of course, the powers that be are panicked since they want to control what we know and what we think. If the pineal gland is restored to normal functionality, the control mechanism will be individual, not outsourced to tyrants who indoctrinate without actually educating.
The rule with Saturn is that as ruler of Time, nothing happens until the Time is right. So, if someone were to have a goal, any goal, the likelihood is that few will reach the goal ahead of schedule. It does not matter whether one is looking for a new job, a loan, approval of a bill in Congress, or recovery from a major illness, events happen in Time and there will be some relief valves between now and December. The first big release will be when Saturn makes its station and goes direct on August 25th my time. The clock time obviously varies according to the time zone, but the moment is the same for everyone regardless of the clock. The second removal of obstacles for current projects will come in December.
Many people have been writing about the various blockages of energy, fatigue, frustration, and fear that are related to this cycle. I would suggest some very good adrenal support. If you are usually dynamic, you can try my Yang Elixir whereas if you seek peace and harmony and cooperation, try the Yin Elixir. What adrenal tonics do is increase elasticity so that we do not feel that we are going to snap. If we feel we are close to our limits, things start to go wrong. For example, when my frustrations were mounting, I found I was dropping things. I broke one plate and some other objects fell onto the bamboo floors which are generally more forgiving than tile or other floor materials. I am glad I understand these things. So, when you can't find the keys to the car or remember where you left your sunglasses, take some adrenal herbs so you have more capacity for keeping your act together.
Minerals also help. They are recycled by the kidneys, but the interesting thing about the adrenals is that when they quiver, the kidneys are affected so people tend to pass more water and recycling of minerals becomes less efficient. It helps therefore to do both: nourish the adrenals and replace the minerals. Minerals are not very soluble. Even bamboo manna is hard to absorb so it helps to have a carafe of water into which you put a little something. Being highly experimental by nature, I keep trying different things. Shilajit is one. Just drop one tablet into water. The Mezo Trace minerals come from ancient sources that include some fossilized sea vegetables and ores. Salt is another source of minerals. I have personally stopped using sea salt because of Fukushima, but Himalayan salt and black salt are acceptable alternatives. Himalayan salt is pinkish and black salt is obviously very dark. The color is due to the minerals. Himalayan salt has about 84 minerals. Black salt is trickier to use because it has a strong odor and taste, but it works nicely in some curry dishes . . . or the carafe of water. The taste and odor are sulfuric. You have been warned!
In addition to these relatively simple measures, one should always consider supporting the weakest system of the body. It will usually be the system related to the sign in which Saturn is found in the natal horoscope, but people generally know if their problems are muscular or digestive or skeletal or whatever.
For the record, I am acutely aware that I am not on schedule, but even when I am unable to launch something on time, there is usually progress being made that is not yet visible. I would like to invite you to consider different ways we can all work together. I am not the only original thinker. We are trying to come up with models for how to do what we do ethically and for posterity. Kitzia and I have discussed certain particulars for almost two decades, well, something a little less, but we are very prepared. We both like the idea of cooperatives as well as franchises. They are, for all the reasons I have mentioned before, the best way to share expertise since members benefit from the experience of the more senior partners and they, in turn, share with their networks. We also believe in joint venturing, in my case, I have always wanted patient participation in managing clinics. Patients know what they need in terms of accommodations, pricing, protocols that do not demand dozens of changes in the first day, guidance, connectivity with family and practitioners, etc., etc., etc. I have felt that the perfect model would be something in which the protocols were developed and administered by professionals but the management and ownership were shared with patients. This does not mean that patients have to clean their own rooms, but it does mean that some people who have recovered are sitting on the board of directors.
We are ambitious in that we want to grow food and herbs, process them in laboratories, administer them in clinics, research them in the institute, and teach them in the university. I am inviting input and participation from others. Oh, this is long, but lack of Internet for 16 hours means no interruptions!
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