Jonathan Dee, Astrologer & Author 1957 - 2010

It's very sad that we learn of the passing of Jonathan Dee last week as a result of a brain haemorrhage. A regular contributor to radio and television programmes, he was also the writer of over eighty books on historical or mind, body, spirit subjects with translations into ten languages. These included subjects such as Tarot, Runes, Feng Shui, Ancient Egypt and of course Astrology. Jon was also an expert Egyptologist, as well as being an established artist and illustrator.

Jonathan was the resident astrologer on BBC Radio Wales for over 20 years and a long-term member of the British Astrological and Psychic Society. I met Jonathan less than two weeks ago at the UK Tarot Conference 2010 where he gave an entertaining talk on the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

My first Tarot deck, complete with book, was the Jonathan Dee Tarot Pack, reviewed here on Aeclectic Tarot http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/jonathan-dee/

Time Travel through Music

Music. What is music...pleasing harmonious sounds by one or more voices or instruments? Yes, of course it is but it's so much more than that. A certain piece of music can instantly transport us to a different time and/or place. It's almost like a form of time travel and along with that comes all the emotional stuff.

I find that some songs have such an emotional hold over me that I can't listen to them without becoming taken over by the memories they hold. Daft maybe but they are so deeply entrenched in my psyche and hold such vivid memories of particular times of my life.

How is it that we can remember so many words of so many songs from so long ago - without even trying. An interesting project for the future would be a timeline of my life....in songs.

To diet or not to diet?

For almost as long as I can remember I have been on some sort of diet. After my first child was born I found I needed to lose weight which was hardly surprising considering my daily afternoon visit to the cake shop whilst I was pregnant. I worked hard on a diet I found in a magazine and lost the weight I needed to and more - magic! I now had absolute power! Until the next pregnancy and then I was back to square one but I lost it again.......and again, after the third baby was born.

From then on my size varied between size 10 and size 14 but it was always a struggle to maintain a sensible weight...and it still is. And then, of course, there is the wardrobe full of three different sizes.

I have never succumbed to particular types of diets eg Cambridge, Atkins, food combining etc., just concentrated on low fat and low calorie and, of course, the dreaded exercise. There have been periods when I have been to the gym five times a week or swam a mile a day at the local pool, been running, walking, cycling...all of these things work well if you can keep them up. And that's really the crux of the matter. It's easier when one has a goal to focus on, a certain date to lose the weight by or a holiday to look good on but when it's a weight maintenance goal...not good as this is for ever and nothing at the end of it to look forward to.

Anyway, these last couple of years I have accepted that I am unlikely to ever be a size 10 again, I could be a size 12 if I tried really hard but I can't muster up the enthusiasm or put myself through that torture any more. Not eating enough food to maintain my weight makes me grumpy and bad tempered so why should I make myself (and my family) suffer needlessly. I still don't eat everything I would like to, so I suppose I am still "on a diet" albeit a weight gain minimising diet. I do eat healthily - lots of salads, vegetables, fruit, no crisps, no cakes, no chocolate (rarely) but I do have a tendency to eat too many sweets (I've always had a very sweet tooth) and that is my downfall.

So what if I do have a spare tyre (not just in the car) and my chin is starting to sag (hereditary?) - that's life, and my age. I just wish I could bring myself to get rid of all the clothes that will never fit me again....perhaps I'll keep some of them....just in case. :-)

Leaflets and Letterboxes

The past couple of days I have been delivering leaflets door to door on a large housing estate in the next town. Well, not actually leaflets, they are money off vouchers for beauty treatments at my step-daughters beauty salon.

It may sound like a completely dead-end type of job (well, I didn't actually get paid) but approached with the right frame of mind it's actually OK.

Apart from the much needed exercise I find it quite interesting looking at the designs of people's front gardens and the variety of plants in them. I was also wondering how close the relationship between front gardens and the house interiors are.

Does a neat front garden relate to a neat interior? An untidy front garden full of weeds and litter might mean the living accomodation needs a little to be desired - lacking in housework? What about lots of flowers? Does this mean a fussy, romantic type of interior decor with lacy net curtains and flowery wallpaper? If there was just a patch of grass, perfectly manicured grass with two box topiaries in square silver pots - would this be a male household? It did give that feeling.

There is such a contrast though - some people just don't bother (or perhaps they don't have time, or don't care) and others have beautifully thought out designs requiring lots of care and attention. Different strokes for different folks - each to their own.

One thing's for certain - whoever thought of putting letterboxes at ground level had never worked as a postman.

Goodwood Revivial Meeting Sept 2010

A magical step back in time to the golden era of motor racing.

The cars and motorcycles making up each starting grid at the Goodwood Revival are carefully selected from the most authentic historic racers. Many will have raced at Goodwood in the past, and all capture the essence of bygone motor racing right down to the finest detail.

Each year, around 360 cars and motorcycles compete in 16 different races. Entry is by invitation only from the Earl of March. Not all of the races are staged each year and the eligibility for others may change in any given year, so the racing always promises something fresh. The race names have historical reference, matching those used when the circuit was previously used for competition.

The vast majority of Revival visitors dress in period style with many going to great lengths to achieve that authentic look. The resulting step-back-in-time spectacle plays a key role in making the Revival such a unique event.
While it's not compulsory to dress up, you’ll feel much more involved if you do.

Whether you go for the slick urban look, gentrified country style or chocks-away military look, it’s not difficult or costly to dress appropriately - just use your imagination.

The Twisted Tooth (don't look if you're squeamish)

My daughter has a top front tooth that has gradually become more and more twisted over the past few years. We thought it might sort itself out when her "baby" teeth fell out and the permanent teeth came through.
The baby teeth have shown no sign of budging and so the orthodontist has made the decision that they have to be removed (all six of them!) so that when the permanent teeth come through then some sort of "metalwork" can be used to straighten the tooth, if necessary.
To minimise distress and make eating a little easier this has been done in two sessions at the dentist. The first three were taken out in the summer holidays and yesterday she had the second batch of three removed, after school.
Today, instead of her usual sandwich etc for lunch, she has taken some rice pudding and a milkshake - poor thing.

Reality Check

Recently, I have been thinking that it's increasingly difficult to separate fiction from reality. I don't mean fiction and non-fiction as in books but in actual, real (?) life. I find that life seems to be more and more subjective. Well, it probably always has been but perhaps I'm just noticing it more.

Everybody sees things differently - the same things are seen differently by everyone who sees them and this is partly due to our personality characteristics that make us see the world how WE are - through our own personal viewing lens.

I have particularly noticed this when people are recounting past events - nobody remembers the same things, in fact different people often remember the same event quite differently which is because they experienced the event in different ways. So, how does this affect word of mouth stories that are passed on down the generations? The final story may be nothing like how it started off so does this mean that a vast amount of history is untrue or unreal or imagined?

My husband was recently telling a friend how he remembered an event (about 20 years ago) very clearly "like it was yesterday". I didn't comment at the time as I couldn’t remember it as HE told it but later checked out the dates and it couldn't possibly have happened - he was confusing two different events at different times. He's also very good at exaggerating but then I suppose most men are.

These days there often seems to be some sort of deliberate deception going on.
There used to be a saying "the camera never lies" - it does now! Even the simplest computer software can radically alter photographs. Most of the photographs on magazine covers and in articles have been “doctored” in some way or other.
When studying, learning and education was confined to books, it was believed that books had been seriously researched and checked for accuracy and rarely was there any doubt that they were correct. The internet has now taken over that role from books to a large extent but there have been inaccuracies found in factual, encyclopedic sites such as Wikipedia which can be edited by almost anyone and in some cases particular pages have been deliberately sabotaged.

I no longer believe what I read in newspapers - actually I don't read them any more. Reporters seem to be able to say or imply whatever they want the reader to read and believe - after all, good or happy news doesn’t sell newspapers as well as upsetting, scandalous or tragic news. One week we are told that some particular activity or foodstuff is good for us and the next week we are told that it's not so good after all. Surveys only tell us what the company doing the survey wants us to be told - the figures can be manipulated to suit.

Adverts (particularly those on TV) are persuasive and misleading at the best and at the worst - a pack of lies although I have to admit that some are very clever which makes it understandable that the gullible are sucked in. Even so-called reality television isn’t REAL at all – it’s just entertainment.

How many emails do we get a day that aren't what they seem? Trying to get our banking details or passwords by pretending to be something they aren't. If we aren't careful with our internet security we can get rogue programmes telling us that our PC is infected so "download this infection remover tool now!"

It can be so difficult to know what is REAL any more – sometimes my dreams seem more real than reality….how does that work?

And so we move into September.

To me, September means....back to school, the beginning of Autumn (meteorogically), apples and blackberries, thinking about Christmas (sorry) and waiting to see the Christmas paraphernalia appearing in the shops, taking the summer shading off the greenhouse....to mention just a few things.

Astrologically, most of September is in the sign of Virgo which also reminds me of school. I always started the school year with the best of intentions. I was going to work hard and study hard, do my homework and pay attention in lessons. This generally lasted no longer than a few weeks before I succumbed to laziness - well at least the intention was there.

I travelled down to Somerset a couple of days ago and the fields were noticeably empty having recently been harvested of their cereal crops and there was an abundance of lorries on the road piled high with straw bales. How they don't topple over going around corners I don't know.

In Latin, septem means "seven" and septimus means "seventh"; September was in fact the seventh month of the Roman calendar until 153 BC, when the first month changed from Kalendas Martius (1st March) to Kalendas Januarius (1st January)....so now you know, well you probably did already.

I also need to think about putting away my trusty Fit-Flops which I live in throughout the summer and getting out my boots, getting out my cardi's and coats and (dare I say it?) putting on the central heating.

The Aberfan Disaster

On our recent holiday to Scotland we came back through Wales and visited Aberfan. For those who are too young to remember, on Friday 21st October 1966 the collapse of a colliery spoil tip killed 116 school children and 28 adults.

There had been several days of heavy rain contributing to the landslide which destroyed a farm, twenty terraced houses and part of Pantglas Junior School. An eight year old pupil recalled

"It was a tremendous rumbling sound and all the school went dead. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone just froze in their seats. I just managed to get up and I reached the end of my desk when the sound got louder and nearer, until I could see the black out of the window. I can't remember any more but I woke up to find that a horrible nightmare had just begun in front of my eyes."

After the main landslide had stopped, frantic parents rushed to the scene and began digging through the rubble as best they could, some clawing at the debris with their bare hands, trying to uncover their children that had been buried alive. Police from Merthyr Tydfil soon arrived at the scene and took charge of the search-and-rescue operations. News spread locally and hundreds of people drove to Aberfan to try and help the resuce operation but their efforts were largely in vain. There was still a lot of water and mud still flowing down the slope, and the growing crowd of well meaning but untrained volunteers further hampered the work of the trained rescue teams who were arriving.
A few children were pulled out alive in the first hour, but no survivors were found after 11 a.m. that day.
By the following day around 2,000 emergency services workers and volunteers were on the scene, some of whom had worked continuously for more than 24 hours. Rescue work had to be temporarily halted during the day when water again began pouring down the slope, and because of the vast quantity and consistency of the landslide of slag it was nearly a week before all the children’s and adults bodies were able to be recovered.

The final death toll amounted to around half of the pupils at Pantglas Junior School and five of their teachers. The causes of death were typically found to be asphyxia, fractured skull or multiple crush injuries – they were literally buried alive.

Following the investigation and tribunal into the disaster The National Coal Board was ordered to pay compensation to the families at the rate of £500 per child. Nine senior NCB staff were named as having some degree of responsibility for the accident, but no NCB staff were ever demoted, sacked or prosecuted, and Lord Robens and the entire Board of the NCB retained their positions.

Today there is a cemetery devoted to graves of the victims, a memorial cross and a Garden of Remembrance which is laid out on the site of the school that was destroyed by the landslide. The Garden is beautiful and well kept as the photograph below shows but the emotional upwelling from being there can’t be described.

The beginning of the end?

So….August is here already. For some reason I’ve really noticed the shortening of the days recently. Since the Summer Solstice (six weeks ago) there is now more than an hours’ less daylight each day. Some parts of the garden are looking slightly tired, jaded, faded and very dry, there is also a light sprinkling of Silver Birch leaves that have fallen on the grass. Many birds species are moulting this month so it’s just as important to keep feeding them to help grow new feathers and regain their strength during and after breeding.
Sure signs that this is the beginning of the end of Summer – only a few weeks left if you take September as the start of Autumn, which I tend to.
We’ve had a pretty good summer weather-wise so far, I don’t think anyone could complain about it but it seems to have gone so fast – so much still to do, places still to go and people still to visit.