“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
~ Isaac Asimov, b. 2 Jan 1920
Isaac Asimov (b. January 2nd): “Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
2 JanMarianne Faithfull (b. December 29): “Sometimes you just have to get a shock to grow up and wake up…”
29 Dec
“Sometimes you just have to get a shock to grow up and wake up, and I’ve had lots of shocks because it’s as though I don’t learn the lessons, so something new comes and hits me.”
~ Marianne Faithfull, b. 29 December 1946
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Eddie Vedder (b. December 23): “The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.”
23 Dec
“The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.”
~ Eddie Vedder, b. 23 December 1964
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Ralph Fiennes (b. December 22): “As an actor, there’s a bit of you that wants to be looked at…”
22 Dec
“As an actor, there’s a bit of you that’s decided you want to be looked at and watched, but there’s a paradoxical bit that wants to run away.”
~ Ralph Fiennes, b. 22 December 1962
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Come and keep your comrade warm…
18 Dec
~~~
Any resemblance to persons living or lying is purely apolitical.
Harold Pinter (b. October 10): “Language is a trampoline” & other quotes on writing
10 Dec
Harold Pinter (10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party, The Homecoming, and Betrayal, each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others’ works include The French Lieutenant’s Woman and The Trial.
Six quotes on writing:
- Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.
- One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.
- I don’t give a damn what other people think. It’s entirely their own business. I’m not writing for other people.
- Language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you … at any time.
- I’m not committed as a writer, in the usual sense of the term, either religiously or politically. And I’m not conscious of any particular social function. I write because I want to write. I don’t see any placards on myself, and I don’t carry any banners.
- I think we communicate only too well, in our silence, in what is unsaid, and that what takes place is a continual evasion, desperate rearguard attempts to keep ourselves to ourselves. Communication is too alarming. To enter into someone else’s life is too frightening. To disclose to others the poverty within us is too fearsome a possibility.
Who wants to be astrologically gifted?
5 DecIn reality, who doesn’t want to be astrologically gifted?
Are you still trying to find an appropriate gift to please that astrologer in your life this season? Here are a few options, from fiction to non-fiction, in both western and Vedic traditions.
Even non-astrologers who enjoy crime fiction will love the New Age Noir mystery series. Some reviewers have said the books are as educational as they are entertaining. Make it a unique gift for that special friend.
NEW AGE NOIR: the Trilogy
Axel Crowe is a criminal analyst who applies esoteric principles taught by his enigmatic guru. A finder of wayward people and stolen possessions, Crowe profiles subjects in a distinctly unique manner, using astrology, palmistry and other unconventional techniques. Facts are gross, but the truth is subtle, his guru repeats like a mantra, and although motives for murder lie buried deep, a righteous and relentless man will inevitably unearth them.
This trilogy “box set” is available only in digital format, from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.
For those who prefer trade paperback, the three titles in this set (Scorpio Rising, Felonious Monk, Soma County) can be purchased individually at Amazon. See descriptions below.
SCORPIO RISING
Axel Crowe probes the killing of a New York City heiress, and discovers her death is linked to two other murders on the same day: a dot-com millionaire in San Francisco, and the team leader of a government counter-terrorist project in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
“Scorpio Rising is a gripping murder mystery with a Hitchcockian twist.” ~ The Mountain Astrologer
“Scorpio Rising does for astrology what The Da Vinci Code did for art history.” ~ Suite101 Book Reviews
“Annand weaves a working knowledge of a metaphysician’s world view into each page.” ~ Steven Forrest
“Axel Crowe is Agent 007 for the New Age.” ~ Midheaven
“An intelligent hero, multi-faceted in his approach to crime solving.” ~ North American Jyotish Newsletter
“Scorpio Rising is an engaging mystery with a momentum that sends you rushing to the end” ~ Horoscope Guide
“For those with a mystical blend and more than a touch of Scorpio darkness, you’re in for a treat.” ~ Dell Horoscope
FELONIOUS MONK
Axel Crowe investigates the murder of a reporter at a Vermont ashram. His esoteric sleuthing reveals a series of Manhattan rape-murders dating back 12 years, with connections to sex trafficking, drug smuggling and the theft of an ancient golden Buddha.
“Alan Annand tells a good, gritty tale of murder, pursuit, and finally justice. The coolest thing for me is that the detective is an astrologer and a mystic. The normal sort of clue-following fun is aided and abetted by the most practical use of various divinatory arts. There’s just enough technical astrology in the pages to make it plausible and real without ever lapsing into a tutorial. That’s a hard balancing act to get right and Annand nails it.” ~ Steven Forrest
“Incredible power as a poet in prose. A page turner and a seriously magnificent piece of work.” ~ Michael Lutin
SOMA COUNTY
Axel Crowe searches for a missing person in Napa Valley and discovers a black market in body parts. When his client’s friend is also murdered, Crowe’s investigation leads from California to India and a little man with large appetites, big dogs and grand ambitions.
“Unlike anything else you can find in crime fiction, this novel portrays an investigator using an esoteric toolkit – astrology, palmistry, numerology – in a serious way that shines new light on the so-called occult arts. All of this is written in language that’s economic and evocative, terse and tension-filled, with memorable descriptions of people and places. And when the action kicks in, as it inevitably does in all of Annand’s novels, the genre shifts from mystery to thriller to full-on action where, frankly, the pages can’t quite be turned fast enough.” ~ an Amazon reviewer
PARIVARTANA YOGA
(non-fiction)
Parivartana Yogas are said to be among the most powerful of planetary combinations, having the capacity to link the effects of two astrological houses in a chart. However, aside from what we find explicitly in Mantreswara’s Phala Deepika, there’s little in the literature – neither in the many classics of Jyotisha, nor in modern books – to help us understand these yogas.
Illustrated throughout with case studies, this comprehensive reference text describes the effects for each of the 66 combinations of house lord exchange, also known as mutual receptions.
Available in digital format at all online retailers, trade paperback at Amazon.
STELLAR ASTROLOGY
(non-fiction)
Applications in Vedic astrology: a varied collection of essays on time-tested techniques, in-depth celebrity profiles, and analysis of mundane events.
This is an educational and entertaining book for both seasoned practitioners and serious students of Jyotisha.
Available in digital format at all online retailers, trade paperback coming in 2017.
MUTUAL RECEPTION
(for western astrologers)
As a concept, mutual reception is almost 2,000 years old, yet very little has been written about it. Meanwhile, 43% of us have a mutual reception by sign in our birth chart, ie, when two planets simultaneously occupy each other’s sign.
It’s a powerful combination linking the effects of two houses in a chart, yet one of the least understood patterns in astrology. This book, an invaluable reference for any astrologer’s library, describes the effects for each of the 66 combinations of house lord exchange.
A number of techniques make it clear how to analyse the strength of each mutual reception, identify the control planet and the affected areas of life, and determine the outcome.
Available in digital format at all online retailers, trade paperback at Amazon.
~~~
Alan Annand, astrologer and palmist, is a graduate of the American College of Vedic Astrology and the British Faculty of Astrological Studies. He is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction.
His NEW AGE NOIR crime novels feature astrologer and palmist Axel Crowe, whom one reviewer has dubbed “Sherlock Holmes with a horoscope.”
Websites: http://www.navamsa.com, http://www.sextile.com
You can find his books on Amazon, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.
Andrew Carnegie (b. November 25): “I resolved to stop accumulating…”
25 Nov
“I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.”
~ Andrew Carnegie, b. 25 November 1835
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Roland Barthes (b. November 12): “Language is a skin” & other obsessions
12 Nov
Roland Barthes (born 12 November 1915, died 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist and critic who influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and post-structuralism.
Quotes on language:
- Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.
- I am interested in language because it wounds or seduces me.
- Take the gesture, the action of writing. I have an almost obsessive relation to writing instruments. I often switch from one pen to another just for the pleasure of it. I try out new ones. I have far too many pens – I don’t know what to do with all of them! And yet, as soon as I see a new one, I start craving it. I cannot keep myself from buying them.
Follow Alan on :
Sextile 