Magpies, Groundhog Day, Year of the Rabbit

On Monday, I was on the bus, and thinking about phoning my darling son. We were passing a park, when I saw a whopping magpie strutting on the grass, with a few friends. Given that a) you don't often see more than a couple of magpies at a time, presumably because you can't get that much ego into a small space, and b) I like the rhyme, I counted them: 6 for gold. Good sign! The bus moved on, and then there were four more: four for a boy. Clear enough. Then two more flew past the window: 2 for joy. Most excellent omens for darling son, who is getting the dosh together to do a master's next year (pause for golden wave of maternal chuffedness emanating from your screen....). So I phoned him. He was out. Ha!

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret never to be told.

In the US, it was Groundhog Day on Wednesday. For Chinese people all over the World, it was New Year on Thursday.

From the newsletter of February Dollmaker's Journey

Dear Dollmaking Friends,
Here in the United States we celebrate a very unusual holiday on February 2nd – Groundhog Day. Perhaps you have seen the movie "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray. (I made my husband watch it again today as a special date!) It is believed that if the groundhog sees his shadow on this day we will have 6 more weeks of winter in the northern hemisphere. In the past 125 years that Punxsutawney Phil has been predicting the weather, there have been only 16 occasions when he didn't see a shadow. Today was one of them. (The sun came out 10 minutes after he was put back in the tree stump. Narrow escape!)

"Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2011, at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, PA: Here Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Groundhog Day, February 2, 2011
Punxsutawney Phil was raised from his burrow
By the call of President Bill Deeley.
He greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths....
He surveyed his surroundings carefully and found that there was no shadow around,
So, an early spring it will be."

Everyone cheered. The Pennsylvania town swears that Phil has never been wrong. This will be good news for my daughter in Marlborough, Massachusetts. They have had so much snow that they don't have any place to dump it. They live in a two story colonial, and they had to dig a tunnel to get out of the front door. She noticed a neighborhood kid peeking in their 2nd story bedroom window and realized that he was standing on top of the snow. This picture was taken January 27th, and they have had more snow since then. Two more feet are expected tonight! http://dollmakersjourney.com/newsletter/snow.jpg

And never mind March hares or the Easter Bunny, it's now the Year of the Rabbit.

According to Chinese tradition, the Rabbit brings a year in which you can catch your breath and calm your nerves. It is a time for negotiation. Don't try to force issues, because if you do you will ultimately fail. To gain the greatest benefits from this time, focus on home, family, security, diplomacy, and your relationships with women and children. Make it a goal to create a safe, peaceful lifestyle, so you will be able to calmly deal with any problem that may arise.

Not many people know that the Rabbit is the symbol of the Moon, while the Peacock is the symbol of the Sun, and that together, these two animal signs signify the start of day and night, represent the Yin and Yang of life. It is said that anyone making supplications for wishes to be fulfilled are certain to get what they want... and in the Year of the Rabbit, the wish-granting aspect of the Sun and the Moon combined is multiplied. The Moon is YIN and this is the Yin of Heaven, signifying magic. Thus on each of the Full Moon nights of this year, go out into your garden to gaze into the Full Moon and visualize plenty of Moon dust and Moon glow flowing into you, filling your whole body with bright white light and granting you fearlessness, love and courage. This will not only strengthen your inner "Chi" energy, it will also bring wisdom into your life.

Magritte and me

And Bjork, Tina Brown, Goldie Hawn and Voltaire! All born on November 21st.

All Scorpios,

and therefore

'a unique mix of playfulness and passion. Although [we] can light up a room with our sunny personalit[ies], [we] are also determined, deep, and ambitious. [We] will often deliberate on a problem for some time, and then ignore our analyses and jump into a decision impulsively. Our desires are deep, and [we] want to experience life on all levels. No one can rightfully label [us] superficial!'

(Ok, enough of the []s!)

Also, there's the little matter of 'Sun Conjunct Toliman.

This fixed star has a Venus-Jupiter influence, and suggests we have a great love of freedom, we make friends easily, we possess strength of character, we have refined tastes, and we are tenacious and determined. Enviousness is a potential downfall when expressed negatively. Our spiritual growth is important to us, and we revel in learning the lessons of experience and of life itself.'

And,

'Our progressed Sun enters Aquarius at age 60. The ages of 59 to 61 mark a critical turning point in the development of our personalities. We become more humanitarian, somewhat detached, and independent. Some may become self-righteous and fixed during this phase, while others learn to detach themselves from situations and loosen up. We kick up our heels and enjoy life with a certain level of detachment and confidence that we hadn't discovered before this time.'

Furthermore,

'Born on the 21st day of the month, which reduces to a 3, we radiate warmth, enthusiasm, and good cheer, and others are instinctively drawn to us. We enjoy people immensely, and we light up a room when we enter it. We are entertaining and charming conversationalists, always ready for a good time, and we thrive on conviviality. Factoring in the 11th month of November, we are number 5s, suggesting that we are multi-talented and we have an unmistakable independent streak.'

Hmmmm........... It doesn't sound bad, does it? My mother always said I was wonderful. I like the bit about turning 60!

Just one thing. There's a breakdown of levels and types of attraction. Here's Habibi and me:

'On-again, off-again attraction. This is a complex connection, and you make an odd yet interested (ing?) couple. April 17-21, June 17-21, October 20-24, December 20-24'

Double Hmmmm........... Sounds like married life to me!

And where did I find all this? Drop into Cafe Astrology, fellow traveller, and see for yourself!

Then again, there's this version, but it obviously only applies to men!

On the other hand, given that I'm job-hunting at the start of a new life (and Hilaroscope is a Spanish website - Is it a sign?!?!?!), perhaps I should consider their recommendations, you know? Get out of the rut? Forget conventional wisdom, and pursue something I have a real affinity for?

How to maximise my potential, that's the question.

Politician, banker, entrepreneur or assassin?

I'll have to think about it.

Doomed, I tell you, doooooooomed!

In the course of an insanely late night catching up on my favourite blogs, I have just got to Cosmos Daily News, which has one of those funny-as-long-as-it's-not me stories:

"Without pens, we had nothing with which to fill out the immigrations and customs forms required for international flights arriving at their first port of entry to the United States. We ended up -- all 172 of us -- sharing the chief flight attendant's pen, passing it from row to row."

The headline was UK airports declare war on ink, but I can't tell you which paper it's from cos the site's deemed inconsistent with.... well, you know.

Also blocked is the link to World will end on 9 September 2006, but I thought you might like to know anyway, just in case you're making sure you have cash in the bank for your loan repayment/mortgage/credit card payment due on September 10th. You might wish to reconsider this fiscally responsible attitude and blow the lot on deluxe ice cream and some cute shoes to eat it in. On the other hand, it appears that the world was also supposed to end on August 22nd. Did I miss something? Or, as Mme Tucats asks,

So, what are you going to do with your "last" 12 days, this time?

Sceptics everywhere.

Believers may go to the bizarre Signs of Witness site set up by horror/sc-fi writer John Shirley. I don't read either genre, but there's an Amazon link if you want to check his titles. Better order Super-Expedite........