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Save Our Shores Hosts Sanctuary Steward Training

Local News

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January 3, 2017

Save Our Shores Hosts Sanctuary Steward Training

As the new year dawns, there’s an easy in for people who want to lend a helping hand to their local environment, get their feet wet and learn about volunteering.

Save Our Shores (SOS), a marine conservation nonprofit, is hosting a sanctuary steward training on the night of Thursday, Jan. 12, for people interested in joining the ocean advocacy community that makes up the backbone of many marine conservation programs.

The nonprofit’s Sanctuary Steward volunteer program, developed in 1995, has three initiatives: pollution prevention, clean boating initiatives, and ocean health awareness.

Offered every other month, the training offers a crash course on the history of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, preventing coastal pollution and how to lead ocean advocacy events. Communications manager Ryan Kallabis urges community members to bring their own cup and plate for complimentary snacks and beverages.

Meanwhile, SOS is also asking donors to help bring more kids to the beach and let them get their hands dirty in an expansive outdoor classroom experience. The nonprofit offers field trips, and $50 can fund one child while $700 can pay for an entire classroom experience to teach kids about marine debris and ecosystems.

For more information, visit saveourshores.org. The Sanctuary Steward training is 5:30-9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12 at the SOS offices at 345 Lake Ave., Suite A, Santa Cruz. To RSVP, email program manager Matt Miller at Ma**@***********es.org.

Be Our Guest: Tribal Seeds

A&E
Music

Cat Johnson

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January 3, 2017

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Tribal Seeds, a reggae rock outfit out of San Diego, is on a mission to elevate consciousness through its roots reggae-inspired, electric guitar and drum-driven, dub-infused music. A favorite on the festival circuit, the band, which was formed by brothers Steven Rene Jacobo on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Tony-Ray Jacobo on keyboard and production duties, has grown into a lively six-piece known for its deep grooves, crowd-pleasing performances and one love vibe. Also on the bill Jamaican reggae group Raging Fyah and reggae singer/songwriter Nattali Rize.

INFO: 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 24 and 25. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $25/adv, $28/door. 423-1338. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the Tuesday show.

Love Your Local Band: Dan Juan

A&E
Music

Katie Small

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January 3, 2017

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Dan Juan’s playful name embodies the band’s lighthearted approach—they set out to have fun, and it shows onstage. That’s why you won’t find any trace of them online; foregoing self-promotion was an intentional move.

“We’re not trying to market ourselves,” says guitarist and vocalist Dan Talamantes. “The object is not to make money, but to have as much fun as possible. We want our enjoyment of it to translate to the audience’s enjoyment of it.”

The lineup features Talamantes on guitar and lead vocals, Tyler Larson on lead guitar, Jeff Wilson on bass, and Alex Bice on drums—four friends in their mid-20s who are taking time out from more ambitious projects to “make the band we’ve always wanted.” The resulting sound is a mix of alt-country with indie-rock. Influences include Wilco, Neil Young, Dr. Dog, and Gram Parsons. They’re not attempting country revival, per se; according to Talamantes, the country aspect is “more of a texture than a template.”

The members of Dan Juan are active contributors to Santa Cruz’s creative community. When they’re not organizing Boulder Creek’s annual Do-It-Ourselves Festival, the four multi-instrumentalists are involved in various local pursuits, including Steep Ravine, Dos Osos, and the North Pacific String Band, to name a few. Dan Juan is a more of a hobby project, an intentionally stress-free creative outlet.

The band name is a cheeky reference to the literary Don Juan, inspired by a nickname for Talamantes, who moonlights as a journalist and a private investigator. “Dan’s kinda like this aging hipster type of dude,” Wilson explained. “We’re all getting older, but we’re still in the prime of our youth, so it was just a funny play on that mystique.”

9:00 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $8/door. 429-6994.

Film Review: ‘Fences’

A&E
Film

Lisa Jensen

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January 3, 2017

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Last year, Hollywood’s Motion Picture Academy took a lot of heat for failing to recognize one single person of color among its 20 acting Oscar nominations. It’s unlikely that will happen again this year, now that Fences has entered the race. This screen adaptation of August Wilson’s highly lauded, prize-winning stage drama, scripted by Wilson himself, and directed by its star, Denzel Washington (who also co-produced), has Oscar bait written all over it.

First produced onstage in 1983, Fences explores race, family dynamics, dreams, and disappointment through the experiences of the Maxson family, living in a neighborhood of brick row houses in the shadow of an industrial city in the northeast. It could be any city (although this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is now included in what’s known as Wilson’s Pittsburgh cycle of plays), as the characters strive for something better—at work, in life, in love—in post-World War II America.

The story is set in the mid-’50s. Its protagonist, Troy Maxson (Washington) is a dynamic, larger-than-life character, despite his “lowly” job; he and his best friend, Bono (Stephen McKinley Anderson) are garbage collectors. Troy is lobbying to break the color barrier at work and graduate from the job of “lifting” (the garbage cans) to driving the truck, a position only open to white employees. But Troy isn’t expecting much; once a slugger in the Negro Baseball League, he never made it into the majors because of his color.

But he’s king on his own turf, jollied along, but kept in line, by his loyal wife, Rose (the always-stunning Viola Davis). He demands respect from their son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), a promising high school football player, and from his adult son from a previous marriage, Lyons (Russell Hornsby), a jazz musician. Troy is always railing at his sons to get real jobs and not depend on their dreams, partly out of concern for their futures, but also out of resentment that they might succeed where he could not.

Wilson presents a panorama of urban African-American experience in this era of ingrained racism and post-war social fallout. Troy’s genial brother, Gabriel (Mykelti Williams), has been mentally disabled by a war wound. Common experiences include households of children from various fathers (or mothers), and the occasional stint in jail—almost inevitable for the young men. The play’s central metaphor is the fence Troy keeps promising to build for Rose—either to keep what he values safe inside, or to keep out Death, and the Devil, both of whom Troy says he’s wrestled with all his life.

As befits its stage origin, this is a drama rich in talk. The script is stuffed with juicy monologues and soliloquies, along with explosive confrontations, which the actors tear into with gusto. The freewheeling manifesto by which Troy announces himself to the audience begins on the back of a garbage truck, and continues as he and Bono walk home through the alleyways to Troy’s backyard, where a bottle of hooch is broken out and various family members introduced. It’s a meaty tour-de-force of comic camaraderie, defiance, disillusion, and chutzpah, that Washington delivers con brio—and it’s only the first 10 minutes of the movie.

The action in this opening scene also exemplifies how director Washington manages to open up Wilson’s one-set play. While most of the action still takes place in the backyard, where that fence is permanently under construction, Washington seizes any chance he can to get characters out to the front of the house, where giant city smokestacks can be seen out in the distance coating the sky (and the characters’ dreams) with a miasma of ashy disappointment.

This adaptation springs from a 2010 Broadway revival of the play, that also starred Washington and Davis. Both of them earned Tonys for their performances in these same roles—which puts Fences on track to break the color barrier in next year’s Oscar nominees.

FENCES

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With Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williams. Directed by Denzel Washington. A Paramount release. Rated PG-13. 138 minutes.

Preview: Talking Dreads to Play Moe’s Alley

A&E
Music

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January 3, 2017

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Preview: Talking Dreads to Play Moe’s Alley

Talking Heads’ final album Naked leapt headfirst into world-beat territory. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone who had picked up on David Byrne and company’s obvious fondness for African, Latin and Caribbean music.

As if to complete the circle, a reggae band performing Talking Heads songs has sprung up, something that should have happened years ago. Caribbean versions of Talking Heads classics, it turns out, are awesome. The group, Talking Dreads, is led by Jamaican-born Mystic Bowie, an established reggae artist and member of the Tom Tom Club for the past two decades. The remaining members read like a who’s who list of legendary Jamaican players. In other words, it’s an authentic reggae dance party, not a corny tribute band gimmick. Bowie formed the group just over a year ago. The band’s upcoming show at Moe’s Alley kicks off their first show on their third U.S. tour, and Bowie talked to us about the project.

Why reggae renditions of Talking Heads songs?

MYSTIC BOWIE: I always had great appreciation for the lyrical content of Talking Heads music, the poetry in those songs. Along with over the years touring with Tom Tom Club, which is the rhythm section of the Talking Heads. I would ask for a Talking Heads reunion, which seems like it’s never going to happen. So I figured the same audience that listens to reggae and ska is the same audience that listens to Talking Heads. Why not fuse the two? You listen to Talking Heads’ music, you can tell that a lot of their influences are Caribbean. What I did, I stripped away the instrumental and listened to the rhythmic way David Byrne sings the songs. It was very Caribbean.

Has anyone in the Talking Heads seen you perform?

Chris [Frantz] and Tina [Weymouth], when I explained to them about nine years ago that I intended to do this project, they both encouraged me. They both said it was an amazing idea. They’ve watched the videos online. They loved it. They feel I am representing them in a very good way. David Byrne hasn’t said anything. I’m waiting. I hope he likes it. But here’s the thing, knowing David, if he was unhappy with it, he would have said something. David likes Caribbean music. So I don’t know why he wouldn’t like it.

You’ve played with all sorts of non-reggae musicians, like the B-52s, Widespread Panic and Trey Anastasio of Phish.

I’m friends with a lot of these guys. They call me—“if you’re free, we have a show here.” I just spoke to Rich Butler from the Psychedelic Furs, and I’m going to do the same thing with them. On the Talking Dreads album that I just recorded, Cindy Wilson from the B-52s sang with me. I’ve been around the rock world since my teenage years. I met Talking Heads back in the day. But we didn’t know each other. I was a kid that performed for Jamaican tourists where the Talking Heads would hang out and record at Compass Point Studio, owned by Chris Blackwell in the Bahamas, along with every single rock band. All the great rock bands would hang out there. I met the Ramones there. I met Blondie, Grace Jones, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I hung out with them all as a child. I forgot about them ’til I grew up and joined the Tom Tom Club, and they’re like “Oh my God, that’s you. I remember you.” Keith Emerson has this story that he told me once. He had his motorcycle. He’d give me a ride on the back of his bike. One day this other guy was on it, and he was drunk. He told me to get the eff away, leave him alone. When he took off, I grabbed the back of his shirt, and yanked him off the motorcycle, and run back to my room. Keith said, “You realize the guy you pulled off the motorcycle, that was Ringo Starr.”

Who do you get more of at your shows, reggae fans or Talking Heads fans?

A lot of our fans are Talking Heads fans that are curious. They want to know what I did with those songs. Some of them are Talking Heads fanatics—very opinionated. So far, they love it. I’ve seen one guy that went online that wrote something negative. Then literally, right below his post, Chris Frantz went on and said, “Love it.” Then the guy went back and deleted his post. I didn’t want to be a Talking Heads cover band. What I want to do is my rendition of Talking Heads music. That’s what I was going for. I think that’s what I accomplished.

INFO: Wednesday, Jan. 4, 8:30 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way. Santa Cruz. $9/adv, $12/door. 479-1854.

The Resilience of Sibling Relationships

Maria Grusauskas

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January 3, 2017

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When I was 7, I told my 4-year-old brother that his real sister was taken to “Land Kazoozoo,” and I was her replacement, a witch who could look like anyone she wanted. I can still remember the beat of fear in his big brown eyes, and to this day I’m not sure he’s fully dismissed the possibility that I’m an evil imposter.

At 8, I called my older sister a “seed head”—an improvised jab at her shiny dark hair and the shape of her head. At the time, I thought the lame insult had died on contact, and I would have forgotten it entirely had my sister not exhumed it; on her wedding day, no less. She said she still thinks about it every time she puts her hair up.

We are clay when we first meet our siblings, says Jeffrey Kluger in a Ted Radio Hour podcast “How We Love,” and “practically set and kiln fired by the time we meet most of our friends and our spouses. But our siblings shape us, we learn from our siblings.”

I’d been thinking about all of this a lot while visiting my siblings over the holidays and simultaneously reading Kluger’s book The Sibling Effect, which shines a light on some of the interesting science around the sibling bond, much of which has only come out in the last 15 years.

Kluger says it’s not necessarily shared genetic material that makes sibling relationships so powerful, but rather shared experiences. My own brood of three, which I’m wedged in the middle of with a couple of years on both sides, is like a poster-case for birth order stereotypes—the achievement-driven oldest (a trait shared by only children), the straying middle, and the outgoing, funny youngest. The studies are so compelling and numerous that I plan a follow-up column on the subject.

What’s amazing to me, though, is that after so many years of tumult—bickering, name calling, fighting that sometimes turned violent—my siblings and I seem to like each other now. It’s both a testament to the resilient nature of sibling relationships, and a small consolation for parents grief-stricken by their children’s inability to get along.

And it may be more common than you’d expect. Studies have found that pairs of siblings aged 3-7 engage in more than 2.5 conflicts on average during a 45-minute play session, which works out to one every 17 minutes. For children 2-4 years of age, hostilities can break out 6.3 times per hour, or every 9.5 minutes. Interestingly enough, the most common catalyst for conflict is property, and studies as far back as 1980 have consistently found fights between siblings to be the most common type of family violence, writes Kluger.

Interested in the lingering effects of childhood battles, psychologist Victoria Bedford studied adult siblings over a 22-year period and found that of the 75 percent who fought “somewhat frequently” to “extremely frequently” as children, 87 percent said that once they grew up, arguments with the same siblings occurred “hardly ever or not at all.” Obviously, not living in the same house anymore seems like an important factor here.

“Having siblings and not making the most of those bonds is, I believe, folly of the first order,” says Kluger. “If relationships are broken and are fixable, fix them. If they work, make them even better. Failing to do so is a little like having a thousand acres of fertile farmland and never planting it. Yes, you can always get your food at the supermarket. But think what you’re allowing to lie fallow. Life is short and it’s finite, and it plays for keeps. Siblings may be among the richest harvests of the time we have here.”

As resilient and powerful as the sibling bond may be, it’s not indestructible, writes Kluger. Barring unforgivable abuses, though, for adult siblings who have drifted away from each other, whether in apathy or estrangement—and I know of many—reconciliation is always a possibility.

Oswald Cocktails, Best Pumpkin Pie, and Cleaning Out the Fridge

Christina Waters

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January 3, 2017

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Oswald Cocktails, Best Pumpkin Pie, and Cleaning Out the Fridge

Easily one of the most sophisticated corners of downtown Santa Cruz, the lounge at Oswald offers casually chic vibes and expert cocktails.

Treating ourselves to some liquid season’s greetings, Katya and I settled into the crowded bar last week and made a few choice choices. A variation on the Cosmojito ($9) was my call, substituting Bombay gin for vodka. I enjoyed the oral choreography of mint, lime and cranberry with the queen of crystal clear spirits. My companion selected the Valentino ($11). Echoing the classic Negroni, this beautiful drink was built of layers of Griffo gin, Amaro, Cynar—one of the most wickedly eccentric liqueurs on the planet (artichoke!), and Carpano Antica vermouth all swirled and poured over a single over-sized ice cube. Stays chilled, but doesn’t melt into dilution. A fresh spiral zest of lemon completed this 100-percent adult cocktail. With drinks we split an appetizer crostini frosted with garlicky mashed avocado and topped with a gemlike slice of seared ahi. Stupendous. All under the watchful eye of chef Damani Thomas, whose kitchen was busy turning out an abundance of entrees like fried chicken worthy of the Deep South.

Best Pumpkin Pie

The all-butter crust version from Beckmann’s Old World Bakery.

For decades I made my own holiday pumpkin pies. Usually from scratch, starting with the pumpkin itself. Roasting it. Pureeing the pulp. Then applying the classic Libbey’s recipe. But that elaborate baking process might just be a thing of the past. I have discovered Beckmann’s pumpkin pie. This year, it was just the two of us, and I went in search of a few slices of well-made pumpkin pie at my favorite bakeries. Ha! They had long since sold out of pumpkin pie. Was I too late? No! There at the bakery area in New Leaf was a small, 6-inch pumpkin pie with an all-butter crust from Beckmann’s. It was sensational. Rich, dense, perfectly spiced, everything a pumpkin pie should be.

Refrigerator Confessions

At year’s end, I try to tackle the refrigerator. Cleaning out the old, and beginning the new year with a sense of renewed optimism: surely this will be the year that I keep up with things. Do I really need three half-loaves of bread in my freezer covered with ice crystals? Probably not. How about that three-year-old bratwurst? Nope. I change the box of baking soda so that a fresh batch of white powder will absorb whatever evil spirits it’s designed to capture. And then I turn my attention to the flight deck of the refrigerator. Three jars of capers, each of them opened. Better check the dates on those. An antique bottle of blackstrap molasses gets dumped, as does a questionable jar of tamarind chutney. Thousand-year-old Jack cheese, out. A misshapen lump of St. Agur blue goes bye-bye, too. A bag of limp arugula will never see the new year, nor will those last three radishes left over from mid-autumn. The entire exercise borders on the archaeological, and hence brings with it many odd and fabulous discoveries. Who knew I still had that tube of anchovy paste brought from Italy in 2014? Or an unopened bottle of Cholula hot sauce behind the opened bottle of Cholula. I toss, I clean, I replace, I feel invigorated. The Gerolsteiner bottles line the door, right next to the emergency bottle of Veuve Clicquot and organic grapefruit juice. Fresh chutneys, new wedges of Petit Basque, and a few jars of mayo, mustard and relish. My refrigerator almost purrs—it’s ready for the New Year. Here’s a toast to auld lang syne, and a happy 2017, one way or the other!

A Proper Claret From Bonny Doon Vineyards

Josie Cowden

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January 3, 2017

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A Proper Claret From Bonny Doon Vineyards

Bonny Doon Vineyard’s wines were flowing at the opening of the new Marriott Fairfield Inn last month on the Westside of Santa Cruz. Sipping on A Proper Claret 2014, I carried my wine around as I toured the beautiful rooms. This cleverly named wine is only $14.99 a bottle at Shopper’s Corner! What could be more perfect, when you’ve spent a load of money over the holidays, than a delicious well-made wine for under 20 bucks?

And then there’s expert winemaker Randall Grahm to factor into the mix. Not only does he turn out some fabulous wines, but he also conjures up catchy names for them—hence A Proper Claret. This luscious red is a blend of 36 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 22 percent Petit Verdot, 22 percent Tannat, 9 percent Syrah, 7 percent Merlot, 3 percent Cabernet Franc, and 1 percent Petite Sirah. It’s a frisky red wine that won’t break the bank, and it won a gold in the 2016 Critics Challenge. Doesn’t that pique your interest?

Other Bonny Doon wines were available to try at the Marriott, but I plumped for a second glass of the Claret as I checked out a king suite on the first floor.

Bonny Doon Vineyard has a lively tasting room in Davenport where you can try the rest of Grahm’s “doon-home” wines.

Bonny Doon Vineyard, 450 Hwy. 1, Davenport, 471-8031. bonnydoonvineyard.com

First Annual Culinary Mushroom Week

Mark your calendars for this year’s annual Fungus Fair. The three-day event features hundreds of species of local fungi, as well as mushroom experts available throughout to help identify the mushrooms you’ve found. The event is Jan. 13-15 at the Louden Nelson Community Center, and you are sure to have a fun(gus) time. New this year is the participation of local restaurants featuring mushrooms on their menu from Jan. 6-15 (the week leading up to the Fungus Fair). Signed up so far are Ulterior Kitchen & Cocktail Lounge; Café Mare; 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall; and Tanglewood. Each restaurant is putting its own twist on its mushroom creations. Check the website for more info at ffsc.us/fair.

Shanty Shack Brewing Has a Soul of its Own

Food & Drink

Lily Stoicheff

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January 3, 2017

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Shanty Shack Brewing Has a Soul of its Own

Shanty Shack Brewing may be the thirteenth brewery to open in Santa Cruz County, but it has a soul of its own. I felt it right away as soon as I stepped into the light-filled warehouse on Fern Street near the Tannery Arts Center. The pub glows with fresh, bright green accent walls painted with trailing hops vines and colorful local art. A garage door rolls up to a huge outdoor patio with picnic tables, a variety of potted fruit trees and fire pits just waiting for the sun to set. Warm, appetizing smells from the sausage cart Sun’s Out Buns Out parked nearby fill the beer garden on most days, and local food trucks are scheduled to pop in on the weekends. Spending an afternoon at Shanty Shack feels like you just stepped into the quintessential Santa Cruz backyard party, where the beer is cold and friends are always welcome.

Owners and brewers Brandon Padilla and Nathan Van Zandt, both barely 30, have been brewing partners for more than five years, and their repertoire includes a range of fresh takes on American and European styles. Their “Quick Wit” witbier currently on draft is a refreshing creation, bright and lemony with a kick of coriander. IPA lovers will undoubtedly reach for the “Holidaze” pale ale, hopped up with fragrant Citra and Columbus hops. The low-ABV “Lunchpail” pale ale with rye would be a great choice for anyone stopping in from one of the nearby offices for a low key pint on their lunch break. Padilla and Van Zandt admit that they’re constantly experimenting and trying new brews, and plan on rotating their offerings regularly.

However, it’s hard to miss the mountain of neatly stacked oak barrels directly behind the bar. Padilla and Van Zandt are big fans of barrel-aged beers, and it’s clear that this may be where their passion truly lies. The vanilla and oak aromas from a kettle sour beer aged nine months in a red wine barrel were so delightful, I had a hard time taking my nose out of my glass. Each barrel contains a different beer—Padilla calls them “unique snowflakes”—and if one can judge by the current selection, beer enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to.

Open Wednesday-Sunday, noon to 10 p.m. 138 Fern St., Santa Cruz. 316.0800. shantyshackbrewing.com.

Epiphany and the Three Astrologer Kings

Risa D’Angeles

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January 3, 2017

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In our beginning weeks of January 2017, there is already much activity in the skies influencing each of us. Mercury enters Sag, (travel, journeys, justice), and Capricorn Sun/Pluto (transformation in government) and Mercury (Sunday) turning stationary direct. Every January a meteor shower, the Quadrantids, appears in the heavens near the North Star (Polaris). The showers, brief yet splendid, radiate between the Big Dipper and Bootes on the right and Polaris and Ursa Minor (Little Dipper) on the left. The showers, many hued, begin after midnight and peak before dawn on Jan. 4. They are the forerunners to the first full moon of the year (next Thursday).

Friday, Jan. 6, is Epiphany or Three Kings Day, ending the Advent season. Epiphany celebrates the three astrologer Magi Kings who, following a star, discovered the holy child in a manger in Bethlehem (house of Bread). Epiphany is the 12th day after Christmas, in Pisces, sign of the Savior and Saving the World. The word epiphany means “to show, to make known, to reveal.” The Messiah’s birth was “revealed” to the Three Magi Kings who then spread the news to the world that the “prophesied One (savior, messiah)” had arrived.

The Three Kings were Zoroastrian astrologers and scholars, learned wise men. Their names were the Babylonian Melchior, the Persian Caspar, and Balthazar from Arabia. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh—gifts from the mineral and plant kingdoms. We, too, are asked to bring our gifts to the holy child, who represents all of humanity—humble, suffering and in need. (Read more on my Facebook page or website, nightlightnews.org.)

ARIES: Your work in the world will be overshadowed by promptings and impressions from above, asking you to initiate new ideas: new possibilities creating new probabilities creating new outcomes not reflecting the past. You will have to meet important people, become one yourself. You will have to act with humility while attaining goals. Develop what is necessary to solidify this task. Only you can do this.

TAURUS: It’s important to contact people far way concerning future plans, actions, agendas, and matters of a legal nature. The outer aspects of these interactions hide a deep spiritual purpose. With strength and calmness, speak the truth of your aims and purposes; listen carefully to the other(s). There’s a seed of enlightenment in their words. Be not afraid to ask for all that is needed. Read Matthew 7:7.

GEMINI: You hold within yourself secret talents. Knowing, recognizing and cultivating them is important. They need to be called forth by you with intention. You can ask that they appear and you recognize them. Do not be secretive about resources. However, you must protect them. Pay all debts on all levels—physical,vemotional, mental, spiritual. You and another may need to travel somewhere tovdiscover information. Why would that be?

CANCER: There’s a spiritual task you’re being asked to provide from Jupiter, the planet central to the Aquarian Age distributing Love/Wisdom, Ray 2. You are to provide more love to your groups and to the communities you interact with. You are to be wise and distribute truth with pure reason and wisdom to those around you. Not gossip, not opinion, not another’s point of view, but the truth within your heart. This safeguards you.

LEO: In daily work and responsibilities, are you the communicator to coworkers and colleagues? Leo is the sign with love in the heart. But sometimes that love is obscured by hurts, sadness and imperfect interactions in relationships (most relationships are). Sometimes we turn away from people, lavishing our love on pets, gardens, climbing rocks, fashions, artful creations. It might be good to think of all the people you’ve known. Lovingly they say to you, “Hello, my friend, hello.”

VIRGO: It’s a special time for you to think upon what avocations you want to pursue, what talents, gifts and skills you possess and to think back on how you’ve tended and supported loved ones. And now what is it you want to do for others in terms of serving? Virgo is the sign of service. I see you in a garden, vines of Mandeville, pale roses and hops climbing tall gates. Begin to create this for summer.

LIBRA: You’re thinking about family and friends, love and relationships and your needs. Friends are sometimes Libra’s family. You’re attempting to have a greater sense of family foundation. It may bring up childhood wounds. We cannot heal or understand until wounds surface. You have the strength to face this, wisdom to understand it and the love to heal all wounds. In emotional crisis, take the homeopathic remedy ignatia amara. It soothes, calms and settles grief.

SCORPIO: You need to have more interchanges with those equally intelligent, creative and passionate. You need exchanges of ideas and beliefs in order to grow and expand into new values. You need to experiment with new plans for the future. A new foundation of thought will help you meet the challenges of the new world unfolding. Remain focused with purposeful spiritual intent.

SAGITTARIUS: In observing how your sense of identity has deepened and expanded, look to your values. Compare your present values with those 14 then 21 years ago. You’ve realized greater responsibility while climbing to a level of success. You now ask, “What’s next?” Each day, have the intention to “stand in the light.” Your journey has been long and arduous. You have permission to step into the unknown. Remain there.

CAPRICORN: You communicate, sense and feel a great depth of feeling. Don’t worry if people step back. Your life-force is showing through, filled with the fire of intention, creativity and conviction. It’s as if God were speaking through you. Do you know Capricorn’s glyph is almost the signature of God? If asked to organize things, to show leadership and drive, know that you will impress others with new ideas that become ideals within them. You do this already. Yes, but now more so. Avoid those who resist.

AQUARIUS: You’re going to enter into an internal state for a while, interacting and investigating things deep within; things confidential, possibly religious, personal with a depth of feeling. Do not get caught up in limitations. They only mean you’re working toward overcoming. Place yourself first in the coming days so that you can protect yourself and maintain good to vibrant health. Someone far away calls to you. Respond.

PISCES: Many things from the past will be remembered, thought about, felt in the heart and encountered. Allow them to occur. A healing is happening. Careful with time each day. Plan early what your actions will be. Outline a time schedule. Use discipline—the first step toward working under the will of God. Jupiter is influencing all relationships. Speak softly, vibrantly and always with love (another discipline). It will stabilize all endeavors.

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