Incognito: Costumes and Other Cheap Thrills

Gilda from Planet Glitz

© 2008 – 20013 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

During October, The Radical Virgo is hosting some of my favorite posts from my other blog, Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. See announcement. 

I have always loved costumes and reported in a previous post my penchant for getting up like Auntie Mame, the Purple People Eater, and a Christmas Tree, among other alter egos.

As most of you know, my first mystery novel, coming out next month, is set at a costume affair called The Crystal Ball. It’s the silver anniversary of a longevity organization in San Francisco. The revelers are invited to come as you will be in the next 25 years. You have no idea how much fun I’m having with that! I can invent costumes without regard to the problem I have in real life—mechanical execution. For example, Micki Michaels, the protagonist and head of IOPEA, the  Immortalists on Planet Earth Association, attends the bash as a DNA molecule. That one was a lot easier to pull off in print than in person. As to the rest of the party-goers, think the bar scene in Star Wars and a lot of other highly original characters.

What is it about costume parties, costume balls, and dressing up that gives us a cheap thrill like no other? In fact, the longstanding costume shop from the hippy dippy heyday of Sacramento is called Cheap Thrills. It remains a local cultural icon.

Psychology of Costumes
 
No question in my mind will remain unanswered a click away from Google. It doesn’t take a psychiatrist to know that our choice of costume says something about us. However, I found a fascinating exercise proposed for teachers of clinical psychology. In a way, that’s all of us. Life is the clinic! The exercise: (1) Write down costumes you have worn in the past, (2) Write the costumes you’d like to wear in the future—then, (3) Let others in a class setting (or a gathering of family or friends) tell you what costumes they’d choose for you. Do I want to know?

I even found suggested costumes for introverts! Again, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that introverts don’t like being the center of attention, but certain costumes are easier to hide behind than others. Or bestow a bit of of the brazen. And for those of you who want some costume interpretations without thinking too hard, click here for some expert opinions from a psychologist.

My Stab at the Costume Exercise
 
1. Costumes Past: You already know I’ve been Auntie Mame, the Purple People Eater, a cosmic cowgirl, and a Christmas tree--and (pictured) Glitta from the Planet Glitz in a Golden Galaxy, dripping gold, not 14-carat.

2. Costumes Future: I decided I had to write down my pure desires, regardless of how ridiculous I might look in these get-ups at my current age, weight, etc. Try not to laugh too hard: trapeze artist, ballerina, CSI (complete with disposable gloves and that nifty specimen collection kit), and a private eye (beige trench coat and sunglasses). I suppose these all make sense, as I try to keep my balance while navigating the mysteries of life.

3. How My Friends Would Dress Me Up. Several of them were game! I just sent them an e-mail. Here’s are some of the surprising results with my parenthetical reactions:

• I could see you in a Dorothy costume with cute little Toto in tow. (I hope it’s only my wide-eyed wonder of a child and my tendency toward glitzy accessories. I’d kill for those sparkly red shoes!) Yes, plus your persistence to get to your goal and help get others there, too, and to overcome obstacles and pick up friends along the way that are definitely not mainstream thinkers… which is a good thing! All of the Joseph Campbell mythic journey is wrapped up in the one little story... you’re living it!
• I am not sure what costume I can see you wearing, but one of my favorite all- time costumes is a clear trash bag filled with colored balloons and the person inside wearing a leotard and tights in a bright color – and they are a bag of Jelly Bellies! (You were channeling! I love Jelly Bellies!)
• Don’t laugh…I can see you in an Elvira costume. Also, Lily Tomlin as the little girl with the big lollypop. (I’m nothing if not versatile.)

 Now, don’t you just have to try this for yourself?

All-Time Favorite Costume Ideas and Incidents

I tend to be most impressed with costumes that are objects of some sort. I think it’s much easier to portray a person—I already am one—than a thing. Morphing into an animated object takes real talent. One costume that caught my eye was someone in a paper box crafted as a traffic light, complete with ovals of changing colors—Go, Caution, STOP!

Here’s my most hilarious costume incident. Our neighbor down the street, a fun guy, but never known to be on the bold side, showed up early on Halloween night as an adult trick-or-treater. He was wearing one of my coveted costumes—a trench coat—only he had a different job in mind for it. As I opened the door, he ripped opened his coat like the proverbial dirty old man played by Arte Johnson on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. His exposé revealed a large salami and two rounds of cheese hanging from his belt. (He was otherwise fully clothed.)

He got the last surprise when he stepped across the threshold and saw that he had just “exposed himself” to my sixty-something mother-in-law. A proper lady, Mom fortunately had a great sense of humor, but she still couldn’t put Paul at ease, who skulked home, embarrassed about his flashdance.

Probably the most clever costume party I ever heard of was called a Cocktail Party, and it was literal to its name. It happened in Wisconsin in the ‘70s. People came dressed as cocktails. I can only imagine the Harvey Wallbanger. I would have gone as a mint green Grasshopper. There was a Pink Lady, a Tequila Sunrise, and my favorite—six people who walked in together with a big brown box around them, bottle caps on their heads—a six-pack! Contest: Tell me how we’d adapt this to modern day. How would Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, or Charlotte from Sex & the City dress up like a Cosmo? I can’t begin to imagine where this would take one of my favorite bloggers, the Martini Diva, but I know she’ll Comment and tell your herself! (Sex on the Beach-a-tini would, no doubt, be the life of the Cocktail Party!)

Sacred/Secular

Like Day of the Dead that follows it on November 1, Halloween is a mixture of the sacred and secular--of life and death. Overall, the holiday has become highly commercialized and more people, adults included, are into decorating and dressing up. Seasonal costume shops are cropping up on more corners. For those sensitive to it, there is no denying that All Hallow’s Eve is a night where the veil between worlds is thin.

Halloween is a celebration of the hidden mysteries of life and the mystery of our own multifaceted natures—the parts still hidden inside us. As you get ready for this annual night of tricks, sugar rush, and brushing elbows with ghosts and goblins, see what you discover about yourself in the fun, in the disguise—in the touch of the forbidden—in the magic.


~~~

Photo: Joyce as Gilda from the Planet Glitz, some Halloween in the late 1980s.


Are you on The Radical Virgo mailing list? If not, join in the upper right of the sidebar to be part of a drawing on Halloween for a signed copy of Golden Prose & Poetry, which contains Joyce's short-story, "Cruel Embroidery." It reminds some people of a modern-day Salem witch trial, just in time for All Hallow's Eve. 

Thanksgiving Poem: "I Thank My Lucky Stars"

© 2012 by Joyce Mason
  All Rights Reserved

A galaxy of gratitude
to every guiding light
that helps me navigate my life.

For the Sun that beams my essence
and warms my every exchange,
you color me with mythical history
archetypal mysteries
to discover, integrate and radiate
this life’s rendition of me.

 Dear Moon for every mood and cosmic hug,
thanks for being my barometer and beam
when things are right, wrong or in-between
for showing me the cycles of life
each day in the night sky.
For the gift of feelings and the longing for fulfillment,
for such quality of life, I look up to you, blessed.

Mercury, Messenger of the Gods,
for my voice to talk, hands to write
quickness of wit and multiple interests
in all life has to offer,
I know why quicksilver
is my favorite color.

Venus, who makes life on Earth worthwhile,
I cherish every opportunity to grow in spirit
you grant with each relationship, old and new.
You lavish me with beauty, quality of life,
and your constant pulse toward peace
and balance.

Mars, my inner action figure,
for all you do to give me the thrill of the ride,
for standing up for me when I am angry or violated
in ways from subtle to clear,
for being my yang when I’m too yin,
I bow to the athlete of my body
from the bottom of my soul.

Jupiter, for smiles, laughter
and the comic relief of exaggeration,
you are my saving grace
in life’s most trying moments
  my stand-up comic
whether I’m up or down.
Thanks for being BIG in my life,
my Evening at the Improv
day or night.

Saturn, for being the good father
who gives me roots for my wings
for grounding me and offering me
the best of tradition and the sacredness of ritual.
You are my rock and foundation,
my old oak, deeply rooted, who blesses me
with the sense of safety.

Chiron, teacher, healer, mentor, sage:
For showing me how to balance
the opposites within me
for the pains that urge me to seek healing
and wholeness,
for mediating the Old and New,
I bask in my good fortune
to be a student in your hero’s school.

Uranus, dazzling force of insight,
unique perceptions, and openness
to cosmic input,
no day is complete
without your electric appearance
your shocks to reality
and throttles of creativity.
You rock my world.

Neptune, misty lover of cosmic connection,
I can’t imagine a world without your soup
of universal love
the compassion you stir in me
and the song you bring to my heart
that overflows gratitude.

Pluto, for the dark night of the soul
and resurrection
I thank you for my depth
and desires that move me
to deeper explorations of my humanity.
No matter how difficult the letting go,
rebirth is the greatest gift of all.

To you and all the other stars,
I thank you for being candles
to wish on and the portrait of vastness
that puts my own petty concerns
into perspective.

The true Thanksgiving is every sunset
that turns to sunrise with absolute certainty:
another day of love.

~~~

Photo Credit: © LiveStock|fotalia.com

Jumpin’ Jupiter! Happy Thanksgiving

© 2009 by Joyce Mason
   All Rights Reserved

No holiday could be more “Jupiter” than the typical American Thanksgiving. We overdo everything—food, football, friends, family and acid indigestion. We hunt and gather at our local grocery store until we have acquired an overflowing basket of ingredients, the makings of a feast fit for a king or queen. Don’t forget their royal relatives.

This bounty hunting got me wondering about the history of Thanksgiving. Long story short: In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast. Today many consider that meal to be one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This feast also became a symbol of cooperation and communication between the English colonists and Native Americans.

While many people consider this dinner party to be the very first Thanksgiving, it was actually part of a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native Americans had lavish harvest festivals long before Europeans arrived in America. This is one of the many gifts we owe to the Original Americans.

Thanks to a declaration by Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving in the USA is perfectly placed when the Sun is in Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter—the pre-game warm-up to the most Jupiterian of all holidays, Christmas. While our Gregorian calendar, offbeat with natural cycles, places the birth of Jesus just after the Winter Solstice in the sign of Capricorn, all the lead-up is Sag to the max—tinsel and merry, journeys to the mall, buying too much, and more eating and drinking too much.

That Jupiterian spirit extends to the other winter holidays based on faith from pagan (Solstice) to Jewish (Chanukah) and the holiday spirit of more secular believers who simply enjoy cheering for peace on earth and goodwill to humankind. Although Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, it’s still during the harvest season while the Sun is in Libra, focusing on our relationship with others and how interconnectedness is what really feeds us.

The expression “jumpin’ Jupiter” originated as a mild expletive, but I think it describes how the ancient god Zeus (also known as Jupiter) would have celebrated Thanksgiving. I envision him in front of a 72-inch widescreen TV, watching all the games, leaping up in excitement during the hot plays, drinking beer, and snacking till he falls off his recliner. Don’t cheer for the other team. He has been known to throw thunderbolts!

“Everything in moderation, including moderation”


Many of us know this old saw that supports our excesses, as long as they don’t become—well, too excessive. It’s easy for me, as a person with natal Jupiter trine Mars, to overdo things with a flourish. What a perfect time of year to look at Jupiter in your own chart, both its gifts and challenges.

“Jumpin’ Jupiter” is also used to express surprise. I hope that will be the result of your journey to your personal Jupiter. Let’s take a trip, a Jupiter and Sag specialty, to discover your relationship to this planet’s bounty and drawbacks.

A Few Questions to Ask Yourself While Packing

This part of the trip is contemplative. While the metaphor involves packing, the real essentials you’ll be taking are a pen or pencil or your computer to muse on some of the following:


• What is the sign and house of your Jupiter?

• What planets does Jupiter aspect?

• Any aspect patterns? (T-square, Grand Trine, Kite)

• What happened on your last Jupiter Return?

• What were the icky parts of this supposedly great time? When you overdid things, whether you ate too much, drank too much, loved too much? What did you learn when nothing exceeded like excess?


While the first three questions seem elementary, the Jupiter Return holds the key to unlocking your personal Jupiter bounty. The Jupiter Return exposes your customized Jupiter themes.

My last Jupiter Return involved a new spiritual odyssey. I let my cosmic tractor beam lead me. Something felt “missing” in my spiritual life. It led me back to my spiritual roots and the church of my childhood, where I needed much healing in order to move forward into full realization of myself.

My Jupiter is in the seventh house, so there was something to discover about spiritual beliefs in relationship to others. Essentially, I got quite a lesson on the continuum of people who are both alike and different from me in their beliefs. From that introduction, I had to figure out where I fit in and where I belonged. I also learned how to stand in my own beliefs with loving kindness among people who do not see spirituality or the world in the same way as I do. These were definitely jumpin’ Jupiter/surprising revelations! Ultimately, they fulfilled Jupiter’s promise of expansion and getting to know “foreigners,” those whose ideas, culture, or beliefs are different from mine. I was delighted to learn that despite those differences, we were much more alike than different and many friendships could transcend them.

Next step: Once you’ve gotten reacquainted with the themes of your last Jupiter Return, trace it back to your other Jupiter Return cycles. Jupiter returns to its natal position every 12 years.

A Jupiter Journal

Inner journeys beg for a travel diary, just as we create travel journals in the outer world. We take photos; we annotate what we saw. That’s why I suggest that you create a little Jupiter Return Journal. Don’t rack your brain wondering what is important to write down. Write what first comes to you. Just as we're told when taking a multiple-choice test, the right answer is usually what comes to mind first. This is just as true when you consider the date of any Jupiter Return. After all, what you remember pops out of dozens of things that happened around that time. It must be important!

Using myself as the guinea pig (no permissions to obtain), here’s what I found out about my Jupiter Returns in reverse chronological order:

2006 – As already stated, this Jupiter Return brought me a literal spiritual journey back to my childhood religion and a journey in holding my core beliefs while honoring those who believe differently.

1994 - Chironicles newsletter was at its peak. It was my first foray into writing and publishing in a very personal way, where I was navigator of creating and disseminating information created by myself and others. I served as a teacher and mentor to those who wanted to learn more about Chiron during its early discovery years. It was higher education at its most practical, drawn from the laboratory of life. I also went on my first trip abroad to an astrology seminar in Greece. It was so loaded with blessings; this journey changed my life forever.

1982 – I was studying astrology and heading the production of the annual holiday party entertainment at my government day job. I was the team leader of a group that wrote and orchestrated a live show, personal to the audience, with countless belly laughs.

1970 – During this Jupiter Return, I enjoyed the blessings of my first professional job. It was more fulfilling than most people find at the peak of their careers. My work had a large teaching component. I played Jupiter to families of children with developmentally disabilities. Often devastated with little hope, I brought them resources, information and training. They spoke of me as a godsend, and I truly felt like Santa Claus.

1959 – We moved across town just as I entered adolescence, which may as well have been across the ocean for me when we left behind my happy childhood home. However, this journey kicked off all the inner growth expansion in my life and other surprises, such as meeting my first boyfriend. Little did I know then that 39 years later, as adults, we would marry. (For more on that story, read My Three Minutes of Fame.)

Putting It All Together

When I scan the very Jupiterian topics of my five Jupiter Returns, they involve love, inner expansion, teaching, astrology, international connections, entertainment, writing and publishing, and spirituality. These are the gourds, veggies and fruits in my cornucopia. If Jupiter brings joy and happiness, the ultimate joy for me must involve these topics, at best blended together in a big Thanksgiving feast. You’ll find the content of yours in your life review, too.

Guess what I discovered? My work now blends them all! I write and teach about love, expansion, astrology, and spirituality. I publish it on the Internet, the biggest long distance travel venue on earth. I do it in a way that’s entertaining.

When I’m down or blue and don’t feel the love, by Jove? Then it’s time to look to the configuration of my Jupiter by sign, house, and aspect for hints at how to feel in the flow of divine blessings. Trine Mars: Do Jupiterian things—give to others, act funny, write or publish something. Conjunct South Node: Find the blessings in my past, such as my reconnection with my childhood church and reunions with birth mom and my two most significant boyfriends/lost loves, one who became my husband. Your Jupiter configuration and cycles will tell you what makes you happy, too.

But don’t forget what gave you indigestion. It’s a compass in another direction. My excess is “all or nothing.” I don’t do anything half-way, and this takes its toll on me at times. The upside is that I “cycle through things” quickly, reap their benefits, and move on. However, I still overeat—literally. A work in progress!

Following my own Jupiter compass for expansion has brought me enough bounty for a lifetime of Thanksgivings. This holiday gives homage to my favorite feeling—gratitude. I invite you to take some introspective time after your big feast to do this exercise.

You may discover, as I did:

Happiness isn’t getting what you want; it’s wanting what you have.

~~

Photo credit: CORNUCOPIA DETAIL © Achauer | Dreamstime.com

Thanksgiving Note from Joyce: At this grateful time of year, I want to thank the readers of The Radical Virgo for your part in making this blog such a success from its very inception this past Spring Equinox. A reader of my original article, “The Radical Virgo,” inspired me to return to writing about astrology. I actually didn’t think I had much left to say on the subject after a seven-year hiatus. Apparently, I was wrong! I never cease to be amazed that I’ve been able to recycle old articles to new audiences and continue to find inspirations for many new ones. Your support and reports of how this information helps you is what keeps me going. I welcome your feedback in our continued adventure together at becoming better versions of ourselves. Boundless blessings!