A Couple Ways of Looking at Solar and Lunar Eclipse Charts

by Milky Way Maid

[Charts to follow if not uploaded by the time this posts]

Hello, astrology students! Today’s lesson is about how to look at Eclipse charts. Actually I will talk about a way of looking at a Solar Eclipse, and a way of looking at a Lunar Eclipse.

The history of astrology tells us that the first recorded observation of a Solar Eclipse was in China, in 2154 BC. In fact, there was an eclipse that year on Oct. 12, but unfortunately the official astrologers were asleep at the wheel, so to speak. We quote:

“At that time Hi and Ho corrupted their principles and abandoned themselves to wine. They neglected their offices, forsook their posts, began to confuse the celestial laws, and ignored their faculty. Consequently, when in the third month of autumn . . . the people ran afoot in general consternation. Hi and Ho were dead to their duties of office, not having known or heard of it, and were stupidly perplexed as to the celestial signs, so that they committed a crime which former rulers proscribed against. The regulations in regard to eclipses say: being before the time, the astronomers are to be killed without respite, and being behind time, they are to be slain without reprieve (Sepharial, p. 32-33).”

First, the Solar Eclipse. This method is SOLELY for Solar Eclipses. The proponent of this method is Dave Roell of AstroAmerica aka Astrology Center of America. You can look for a more detailed explanation of his method in the June 11 issue of his newsletter at his website, AstroAmerica dot com.

The first step is to cast a chart for the Solar Eclipse set for your locality – or where you will be at the time of the Solar Eclipse. Take care to convert the time, which is probably given as Eastern Time or Pacific Time, to your own time zone. Note carefully where both the Sun-Moon and the Nodes fall.

Dave notes that Judith Hill notes that solar eclipses are polarized along the lines of the node. I might add that total eclipses occur when the node is 5 degrees or less away from the sun, and partial eclipses occur when the node is more than 5 degrees from the sun. As a general rule, anyway. So, in other words, says Dave, eclipses are really more like hyper nodes – maybe I should capitalize that like this: Hyper Nodes.

Dave simplifies his key to solar eclipses like this: FIRST, note the HOUSE that the eclipse falls in; this will clue you in to the SETTING of whatever event is triggered by the eclipse. SECOND, “convert the SIGN of the eclipse to the house on the “natural” or Aries rising wheel.” The sign will clue you in to the kind of EVENT is triggered by the eclipse. If the sun and the node fall in different houses, the node is preferred – BUT you will have to look at both and make a judgment on which is more active.

Also bear in mind which node the eclipse occurs near, because this will clue you in to whether to expect gains or losses. A North Node eclipse will tend to bring you things or bring a new beginning, and while a South Node eclipse will tend to take something away, or end a situation.

A good example is the eclipse before the Wall Street meltdown of 2008. There was a solar eclipse on Aug. 8, 2008 at 6:14 am; set the chart for New York City. The South Node is in the first house, affecting the whole world. It is in Leo, and Leo (in a natural, Aries-rising chart) is ruler of the fifth house of speculation, in other words things like the stock market – which duly crashed that fall.

I do have a little trouble applying it to the Aurora, CO Batman shooting, tho. The shooting occurred in a movie theatre on July 20, 2012 at 12:38 am to 12:45 am MDT. The Solar Eclipse prior to the shooting was on May 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm MDT. I have cast a chart for the eclipse, so have a look.

The lights are in the eighth house, as one might expect. The eighth house indicates death only sometimes, but here it is literal. Other possibilities would have included beginnings and endings, intense situations, absolute decisions (meaning ones that cannot be taken back), money given to others to manage, a spouse’s money, pooled funds of all kinds.

It occurred in the sign of Gemini, which falls in the third house in an Aries-rising chart. The third house rules daily life, errands, siblings, etc. Well that does not seem to fit. However, it would rule malls, I think, since basic shopping for necessities is part of one’s daily life. Also, look at what is actually IN the third house in this eclipse chart: bad boy Pluto. And it so happens that Pluto trined Mars on May 16, an ominous transiting aspect if ever there was one. Mars is in the eleventh house of groups of people, so I would probably have avoided hanging around crowds.

Let’s move on to looking at some lunar eclipses. I feel that lunar eclipses are more personal than solar eclipses. We can get some idea of what the eclipse will mean to us personally by looking at the chart. At the same time, one has to bear in mind that many times the effects of an eclipse can be so subtle, and be so gradual, that we may never link the eclipse to a growing interest in photography or music, for example, or to meeting someone who later proves significant in the course one’s life takes.

I would like to look at the eclipses before the assassination of President Kennedy. Rose Lineman kindly provides both solar and lunar eclipse charts, set for both Washington, DC and for Dallas. The node is in the eighth house in all four. It hardly seems like Pres. Kennedy would have been any safer at home! For the record, Jupiter’s placement usually indicates where one is safe. In the case of JFK, Jove is in the fifth house in the eclipse charts, which would suggest that he might have been safe in an amusement park, on Wall Street, in a casino, somewhere with children or artwork.

Yet one must note that the eclipses set for Washington have Sagittarius on the ascendants, while the ones set for Dallas have Scorpio on the ascendants. This alone indicates a more intense cast to the events of the Dallas trip. Also some aspects tie in more sharply to the angles, and volatile planets are much closer to the Midheaven – which is itself a critical degree – in the Dallas charts.

For example, chart rulers Mars and Pluto occupy the tenth house. Rose Lineman notes that Uranus at 2 degrees Virgo is not only nearly atop the Midheaven but is also conjunct the fixed star Regulus, representing “worldly position and power”; that Uranus is almost atop both MC and Regulus does seem to signify the sudden change in who holds the reins of power in Washington.

One cannot isolate an eclipse chart from the natal or progressed charts of the principals involved. For example, Lineman notes that Kennedy suffered from the fact that progressed Moon, progressed Mars, and progressed Jupiter were all in the natal eighth house at the time of his death, AND since they were in Gemini, they squared the lunar eclipse Uranus, Pluto and Mars (in that order) in Virgo.

So you see there are layers upon layers of connections between the events, the eclipses, and all the natal and progressed charts of the principal players involved. I encourage you to play with the chart data given below to make whatever combination charts occur to you. Try making triple- and quadruple-ringed charts.

SOURCES:

Lineman, Rose, Eclipses: Astrological Guideposts, 1984, AFA.

March, Marion and McEvers, Joan, The Only Way to Learn About Tomorrow, 1988, ACS Publications, Lesson 9. .

Roell, Dave, Dave’s Method of Reading Eclipses, June 11, 2013, AstroAmerica newsletter, astroamerica.com.

Sepharial, Eclipses in Theory and Practice, 1991, Sun Books.

(Mention is also made of a Jan Spiller book on eclipses, which Dave says is excellent, but I do not have the title of that book.)

RUN YOUR OWN CHARTS:

John F Kennedy, May 29, 1917, 3:15 pm Boston MA.

Lee Harvey Oswald, Oct. 18, 1939, (unknown time) New Orleans LA.

Assassination of JFK, Nov. 22, 1963, about 12:30 pm, Dallas TX.

Pre-Assassination Lunar Eclipse, set for Dallas, July 6, 1963, 3:55 pm.

Pre-Assassination Solar Eclipse, set for Dallas, July 20, 1963, 2:43 pm.

Batman movie shooting — July 20, 2012 in Aurora, CO at 12:38 am to 12:45 am MDT

SOLAR ECLIPSE prior to shooting was on May 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm MDT.

Good news: couple marries one year later: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/18/us/colorado-shooting-anniversary/index.html

A Look at the new Pope Francis’s astro charts

by Milky Way Maid
Last March 13, at 7:06 pm Rome time, white smoke appeared, signaling that the Cardinals had elected a new Pope to head the Catholic Church. We soon found out that the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elevated to head the church that he had dedicated himself to since 1969 in such a humble and just manner.
What kind of man is he, and what can we find in his transiting or progressed charts to signal such an elevation of rank?
Pope Francis’s entry in Wikipedia is very heart-warming, and gives the casual Church-watcher reason to believe that a just man has been elected. What do I mean by a just man? I mean someone who stands up for the right, instead of acting as a collaborator with the high and mighty as they crush the poor and working peoples under their feet.
The natal chart for Pope Francis (see inset) is set for his birth at Dec. 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have printed it with the speculative time of 12:30 am, a time chosen by astrologer Dave Roell, of AstroAmerica dot com fame. While we cannot confirm or dismiss this time yet, there is some reason to believe that this is a workable chart that fits what we know of the former Jorge Bergoglio.
I also calculated a transit chart for the election of the new Pope – set for 7:06 PM Rome time on March 13, 2013, and used a guesstimated chart for his progressions to age 76.5. They revealed some interesting contacts.
First the birth chart. The early birth time puts Neptune rising in the first house, suitable for such a humble person who has eschewed the trappings of higher church office, and also suitable for someone who immersed himself in religious matters. Even more interesting, though, is that this Neptune (at almost 19 degrees Virgo) is opposite Saturn (at 16 degrees Pisces), which represents The Powers That Be, the Establishment, Big Business, etc. This is a guy who has spoken up against the government in favor of the poor and working classes. From Wiki: “Oliveira described the future Pope as “anguished” and “very critical of the dictatorship” during the “Dirty War”.”
Also notable is the Moon-Venus conjunction in selfless Aquarius. Bergoglio is the son of a railway worker, and his sympathies with the working people (Aquarius, representing the proletariat) have carried over into adulthood. Venus in an air sign is more objective and idea-oriented, not given so much to sensual pleasures or earthy pursuits.

2012 Venus Transit times, etc.

by Milky Way Maid

Dear Readers:
I wanted to post a bit more info on the spectacular and meaningful Venus transit of the Sun which occurs this week, along with a repost of my article from 6-15-2011.
OK, you came here looking for the exact times that Venus crosses the Sun. Here goes:
FIRST CONTACT: The leading edge of Venus first strikes the Sun in late afternoon of June 5 at 6”04 pm EDT. Venus begins her contact at the upper left (northeast) edge of the Sun’s disk, and proceeds to the lower right.
SECOND CONTACT: The point when the shadow of the planet Venus is entirely withing the Sun’s disk is projected to be at 6:22 pm EDT.
Note that times may vary by a minute or two depending on where you are in your time zone (in other words, your latitude). But I am assured that these times are exact for the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.
LENGTH OF TRANSIT: Six hours. Natch, we will not be able to watch the entire transit because the Sun will SET at 8:21 pm on the East Coast. If you wanted to watch more of the transit, you should have booked a flight to Hawaii, Alaska, or perhaps Asia.
Venus will then become visible, like normal, after dawn on Wednesday.
PRECAUTIONS: Protect your eyesight if viewing this transit. Just like viewing an eclipse or any appearance of the sun, please wear protective goggles or use a pinhole viewer. One type of goggle or filter specifically recommended is the #14 welder’s filter. Even better are “Eclipse Shades” which are cheap and safe; they resemble 3D glasses for watching old sci-fi movies. Another option is a hand-held Eclipse Viewer available from Rainbow Symphony at rainbowsymphony.com/soleclipse.html
BINOCULARS: You may wish to view the eclipse closeup thru binoculars or a telescope. However, you still need a protective device, and it should cover the FRONT of the binocs, NOT over the eyepiece. Optical solar filters can be had from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars at telescope.com.
PINHOLE VIEWER: Take a piece of cardboard about 8 x 8 inches or so, punch a small hole in the center, and angle it so the sunlight peeps thru the hole onto a sheet of paper held below it. It really does work; I have used it years ago in viewing an eclipse. Experiment with moving the paper closer or further from the cardboard. You could also make a couple of cardboard viewers with different sizes of holes, from a pinprick to a nail hole to a hole punch.
THOUGHTS: Since the beginning of the current Mayan cycle was in about 3100 BC, and since the advent of writing also dates from that era, it is possible that this Venus transit may mark a radical advance in communications. See below for the mention of Susan Custer and her correlation of Venus transits with advances in communications. I have not tried to find if there was a Venus transit around 3100 BC, but the fact that a Venus transit occurs in the year of the end of the cycle is sure intriguing.

The article from June of 2011 follows here:
The year 2012 is not only the culmination of the Mayan calendar’s Long Count, it is not only marked by the Neptune-Pluto square (discussed in a previous entry on this column), it is also the year that Venus makes another trip across the Sun. AND we will also see a solar eclipse within weeks of that Venus transit, one that aligns with the Pleiades star cluster in the sign Taurus.
The ancient Mayans (not to mention astrologer Barbara Hand Clow) believe that the Pleiades was a gateway for the ancients to come to earth or conversely, for shamans of several cultures to expand their minds.
Venus does not cross the Sun but rarely. She makes her visits in pairs, spaced eight years apart. But these paired visits may occur 105-130 years apart. So we are rather privileged to be able to view her transits in this decade with all the high-power telescopes trained on her progress across the Sun.

Venus made a transit of the Sun in June 8, 2004, at 17 degrees Gemini. Venus will make her return trip on June 6, 2012 at 15 degrees Gemini. Astrologer Susan Custer interprets the Gemini transits as presaging advances in communications and shrinking the ‘global village.’ For example, the 1631 and 1639 transit was the year that mail service was first instituted, in Denmark and Sweden. In 1874, the Atlantic telegraph cable was completed. Magellan sailed around the globe during the Venus transits in the 1600s. You may read her article on the topic on her website, The Astrology Page dot com, at http://www.theastrologypage.com/Archives/transit_of_venus.htm

The Mayans revered Venus, some might say they feared her even more. But they built temples and other observatories aligned to key phases in her cycle. Kukulkan was deemed a manifestation of Venus. Kukulkan, according to some, symbolized the return of the Christ energy, a time to rebalance the spiritual and material values we hold.

Some transits of Venus have been accompanied by the most dreadful events. The 2004 transit marked the year of the gigantic tsunami that killed 275,000 people. Yet this event triggered a spontaneous outpouring of concern and donations for the relief of the survivors rendered homeless and jobless. (A previous transit marked the year that the Spanish conquistadores subjugated Mexico.)

The fact that this second leg of the series occurs in Gemini may hold out some hope that we may see an advance in communications or internet capability, similar to the Sagittarius transits in the 1600s.

Let’s look at what else happened in 2004 for more clues. On Jan. 4, 2004, Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands on that planet. (It ceased communicating all too soon but was fixed remotely and resumed its chatter on Feb. 6.) The Queen Mary 2 is christened on Jan. 8. (She embarks on her first Trans-Atlantic crossing on April 16.)
On Feb. 12, the city of San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples who wished to wed. Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage on May 17.
On March 15, the discovery of the farthest natural object in the solar system (so far) was announced with the naming of Sedna. On March 29, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO.
On April 1, Google introduced gmail.
On May 24, North Korea bans mobile phones. On May 26, the New York Times publishes a list of its journalistic failings, including flawed reporting about the buildup to the 2003 launch of the war in Iraq.
On June 11, the probe Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.
On June 21 and Sept. 29, the first privately funded space plane achieves space flight, SpaceShipOne. On June 24, New York state declares capital punishment to be unconstitutional.
On Dec. 8, the Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
On Dec. 25, Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
(Events listed above are from the HistoryOrb.com webpages.)

So we can see that 2004 was not just about gloom and doom and disaster, although some terrible hurricanes, earthquakes, and of course the Dec. 26 tsunami occurred. The year was also marked by private space travel, solar system discoveries and exploration, gmail, gay marriage rights, and the expansion of international working groups (NATO, the South American Community of Nations).

In 2012, we may see more ordinary people embark on space flights, the scientific conclusions of some of the 2004 landings may be released, gay marriage may once again go forward, and greater international cooperation.

Let us hope so, anyway.
——————————————————————————————
RE the solar eclipse of 2012, let me look in the ephemeris… NASA shows an Annular Solar Eclipse on May 20 – actually May 21 in Asia. Its path skirts the edges of the East China Sea, Japan, the Aleutian Islands, then to California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Texas. It is at zero degrees Gemini, reinforcing the Venus transit later in the same sign. BTW there is a conjunction of Saturn with the star Spica on May 11, the second of a series of contacts between them.

A chart cast for Washington D.C. on May 20, at 7 pm shows Mars high and conjunct the MC at 10 degrees Virgo. The Ascendant is 27 degrees Scorpio. Venus is setting and the Sun and Moon are just above the horizon in the West. Jupiter and Mercury are just below the horizon. Pluto is in the second house, Neptune in the third near the IC, Uranus in the fourth, Saturn in the eleventh. The MC and Mars trine Pluto. Venus is trine Saturn. Mercury is semisquare Uranus. Jupiter is sesquiquadrate Pluto.

NASA reference page on 2004 and 2012 Transits of Venus: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus0412.html

NASA world map showing where we may view some or all of Venus’ 2012 transit across the Sun: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus/Map2012-1.GIF

NASA map of May 2012 track of Annular Solar Eclipse http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012May20Agoogle.html

My prior article on the Neptune-Pluto square in 2011 and 2012 is at: https://milkywayastrology.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/return-to-the-summer-of-love-the-uranus-pluto-square/
SEE ALSO TransitofVenus.org

The Goddess Archetypes: The Ceres Myth

by Milky Way Maid

Recently I posted some brief entries on the asteroid goddesses; one was on a historical note regarding responsibilities held by the Vestal Virgins. Today I want to go back to the original myths and try to tease out some themes pertaining to each of these goddesses. (For this series of articles I am using the excellent “Goddesses in Every Woman,” by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.)
Next up: Ceres, also known as Demeter. Let’s go up close and personal with the goddess of the grain.

PEDIGREE: Second child of Rhea and Cronos, and therefore second in being swallowed by father Cronos. Zeus and Demeter’s only child was the girl, Persephone aka Proserpine. Want to hear the sticky part? Her daughter was abducted by her brother, Hades. Yuck. No wonder she went into a funk when Hades took her daughter away.

HABITAT: Cultivated fields. Chiefly found at home or the day-care center taking care of the kids. Also her need to provide food and drink to her guests means that natives with a strongly placed Ceres may have a talent for the restaurant or bakery business.

FASHION STATEMENT: Usually pictured in a blue robe. Carries sheaf of wheat around. Everything has wheat-ear motif. Is that monotonous, or what? Really needs to break out and try on different outfits for different occasions.

SYMBOLOGY: Wheat and cereal grains in general. (The word cereal comes from the word Ceres.) Pictured as a woman holding a sheaf of wheat in one hand. Animals: Dolphin, pigs. Birds: Dove and crane. Insect: The industrious ant. Emblems: scythe, torch, or sacrificial knife. Special fruits of the earth: wheat or bread, of course, but also honey. Pictured as British nanny, nurse, farmer. Chakra: Thyroid. Colors: Green and gold fields. Direction: West. Element: Earth. Number: 49. Ray: Third ray of intelligent activity. Icon is a circle enclosed by an equilateral triangle.

RULERSHIPS: Ceres or Demeter were long worshiped in ancient Greece and Rome as the goddess of fertility and agriculture. The Eleusinian mysteries, established by the Goddess herself, “ensured not only fertile wheat fields, but also the ennoblement of human life on earth and the cultural gifts which enrich earthly experience.” Ceres is most at home in the earthy signs Taurus (which rules farming) and Virgo (which rules the domestic arts like bread-baking and is symbolized by a woman holding a sheaf of wheat). Not only are Ceres people devoted parents, they are natural conservationists who a concerned with environmental issues and saving our mother earth.

MARRIAGE: Demeter was the fourth royal consort of her brother Zeus, the one who had rescued all his siblings. (She preceded Hera, who was seventh and last in the series of royal wives.) Zeus and Demeter’s only child was the girl, Persephone aka Proserpine. The fact that Demeter had only one child, upon which she invested her whole being (since she separated from her erstwhile husband), led to a very unbalanced psyche. Geez, you’d think that she could’ve adopted a dog or cat from the local shelter or something.

WOMEN FRIENDS: If a Demeter-type woman is childless for whatever reason, she will feel pangs of envy towards women friends who get pregnant easily or who have several children, who have close relationships with their children, and who gather a skein of grandchildren. So this tends to poison her friendships with those other women.

CAREER: On the other hand, if she is psychologically healthy, can be very supportive of women’s issues, may be a doula or provide prenatal massage services, run a shelter, manage or serve as chef in a restaurant, or provide food service in any number of settings, or run a motel/hotel.

POLITICAL LEANINGS: Resents the “women’s libbers” for devaluing motherhood. On the other hand, she is very supportive of things like shelters for abused women or children, and protecting children from all types of abuse. May also be an ardent conservationist or animal rights activist. Can be the type who becomes the crazy old cat lady if she’s not careful.

The Goddess Archetypes: The Vesta Myth

by Milky Way Maid

Recently I posted some brief entries on the asteroid goddesses; one was on a historical note regarding responsibilities held by the Vestal Virgins. Today I want to go back to the original myths and try to tease out some themes pertaining to each of these goddesses. (For this series of articles I am using the excellent Goddesses in Every Woman, by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.)
Next up: Vesta, aka Hestia. Let’s go up close and personal with Vesta, as we trace her life from birth onwards.
Vesta was the oldest Olympian, just as Mercury was the youngest. She was the first to be swallowed up by her father, and the last to be disgorged when Zeus rescued them all (Bolen, p. 118). Therefore she spent the most time sequestered away from the world, and this became her preferred milieu you might say.
PEDIGREE: First child of Rhea and Cronos. Was oldest sister to first-generation Olympians, and maiden aunt to the second-generation (including Mercury). She had a claim to a home on Mount Olympus yet was never found there; her spot was eventually claimed by the upstart Dionysus, but she did not protest.
HABITAT: At home, always at home. Never shopping in the agora, I mean mall. Quite happy puttering around the house doing chores, or focusing on her own spiritual development. Lets the world go away, far away. As the spirit of the home, she represents home and family as a sanctuary from the cares and stresses of the world.
FASHION STATEMENT: Never depicted in in human form, at least, by painters or sculptors, so we have no portraits per se; she is more a spirit than a living goddess. Young girls’ heads were clipped when they first entered the temple, and all of them were dressed in the same simple robes. Sorry, no fashion plate here, no jewelry, no nothing. We could call it ashram chic, I suppose.
SYMBOLOGY: Her symbols are often found together with those for Mercury aka Hermes. Often her symbol, a circle, hearth or ring, became a symbol for the feminine principle itself, while the pillar (adorned with male genitalia, the pillar was called a herm) became the paired symbol for the masculine principle. (Hearths and her first temples were round.) A Hindu counterpart that expresses this yin-yang pairing is the yoni (ring) and lingam. Hestia is the soul, and Mercurius was the alchemical spirit envisioned as elemental fire; together the represent spirit setting the soul on fire. This mystical fire “was considered the source of mystical knowledge, symbolically located at the center of the earth” (Bolen, p. 115).
She might be thought of as a candle in the wind, lighting her little fire one at a time to bring warmth, order and light to every household. She is a spirit yet grounded in the reality of earth-bound life, grounded by her rituals that make what would be drudgery, into sacred duties.
Another symbol besides the circle is the mandala, an aid in meditation to take one further into one’s real, inner self.
RULERSHIPS: Hestia-Vesta is the goddess of the hearth, or more specifically the sacred fire itself in the hearth. A house or temple was not consecrated until the sacred fire (Vesta) entered. A bride’s mother lit a torch from her hearth, which was carried to the bride’s new home to consecrate it as it lit the home’s first fires. Another ritual was conducted when infants were five days old, followed by a huge banquet.
In my earlier brief post, I related how the Vestal Virgins also had the duty of guarding the wills of citizens. Final testaments were stored all over their temple, with different sections for Romans, Italians, and those further afield. Furthermore, the VV’s guarded the absolute privacy of the contents of these documents; no one could get a sneak peak at who was getting what from rich old Uncle Ned. So rather than security being under the domain of Vesta, I prefer to think that privacy itself was held inviolate by her maidens.
What other duties did she have? Geez, you can only do so much sweeping; but then again she finds a Zen-like harmony in putting a house in order. She also meditated; she focused on the “inner subjective experience” to use the words of Dr. Bolen. Like nuns, she performs all her work in the service of God. But we need to be able to get in touch with our real, inner selves to keep from being swept away in the onslaught of stimuli, phone calls, emails, advertising, and everything else that assaults our senses and judgment. Tranquility and solitude are preferable to the hustle-bustle of our cities. As the spirit of the home, she represents home and family as a sanctuary from the cares and stresses of the world.