2017: Radical Virgo Vision in Action

Article © 2016 by Joyce Mason

  

We are all interconnected. Thanks to the Internet, which even has “inter” in its name, most of us have experienced that people the world over are much more alike than different. We all want the same basics: love, safety, shelter, food on the table, the opportunity to make enough money to meet our needs and meaningful work. The freedom to see the world in our own way (religion, philosophy) and to be the masters of our own destiny.

For three decades, astrology has helped me understand myself, others and the amazing interconnection we share. A good dose of Neptune has helped me see that Oneness, even while a Uranus-tinged Sun has helped me appreciate our differences. Pluto has refined me in the fires of the Underworld. Chiron has saved me with the promise that healing comes from carrying on the mission to help others—that this mission, indeed, is salvation and wholeness itself. In the healer-healee dynamic, both are lifted up. A bit of Heaven comes down to Earth every time someone breaks through pain, being stuck or feeling disowned by himself, herself or others. After all, if we are each other, healing can only be a two-way street.

Karmic Connections

Life has been very dramatic in illustrating karmic connections to me. Synchronicity is as ordinary as dawn in my days. How that applies between us: I can assume that readers attracted to this blog have some level of need for its message because they’re drawn to it. It also means that the things I go through and feel compelled to share are, at some level, things you are likely to benefit from. Here’s hoping that many of you will resonate to where I’m headed with The Radical Virgo in the future.

New Directions

As I share in my article, Your Relationship with Astrology, my own star trek changes over time. At present, I’m in a place where I’m a backseat, eternal astrology student, not on the front lines of teaching and consulting. This feels wonderful—the right place for me now. It reflects how astrology will always be part of my understanding of the universe and how it ticks. One thing I doubt I’ll ever be able to resist? Writing about astrology.

Astrology’s changing role for me has to do with shifts in my life that occupy most of my time. (See Pluto: The Cosmic Reset Button.) But there’s another, even bigger reason. Astrology has taken me to levels of deep understanding about life, but it begs a next step—how to take action to make my own life (and all of ours) better. Astrology is very Mercurial and its oft-said higher octave, Uranian. Right now I’m ready for Mars! I’m ready to put what I’ve learned into action and to focus not just on astrology but how the multidimensional understanding we are lucky to get from it can be applied to a world that needs a lot of help.

Back to Basics

For most of its 7+ years of existence, you’ve seen on the sidebar of this blog The Radical Virgo Vision … a place where all signs—not just Virgos—learn how to express the best of their star map. Borrowing from the original article, “The Radical Virgo,” the namesake of this blog first published in The Mountain Astrologer in April/May 1992, I’m adding a line. It now reads:

… a place where all signs—not just Virgos—learn how to express the best of their star map and are encouraged to do their best for the evolution of the planet.

This addition goes back to the original Radical Virgo article that outlines Virgo’s three realms of influence: sexuality, work and enlightenment. This line in particular speaks to translating inner evolution to outer group action:

Enlightenment. The Radical Virgo is beyond which toilet bowl cleaner deodorizes best and onto saving the world from going down the drain.

What to Expect in 2017

There will always be astrological information here, and I will continue to make my posts as practical and experiential as possible. Good examples of taking knowledge to its daily application can be found in the Planetary Fishing series. (Just put Planetary Fishing and the planet you want into the search box.) There will of necessity be fewer articles, as in 2016, but my aim is quality over quantity.

There will be a new emphasis on ways we can take our astrological knowledge and apply it to healing our world on all levels. This will especially be relevant to Outerplanetary People, who have profound experiences in the heaven-to-earth dynamic and clear inklings of what’s coming next.

Let me conclude with where I want to start in the New Year. The US Presidential election has been just one example of the dissention and broken nature of human relationships. Terrorist activities and crime are rampant.  You might say that half the world is in opposition to each other with few trines in sight. I want to share tools about how we PUNCs (Plutonian, Uranian, Neptunian Chironics) can put our healing energy into morphing this angry chaos into respect, understanding and co-creation of common ground in a safer, fairer and more loving world. As a preview, I’m sharing a quote that will be my guiding light in the year to come and beyond:

Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. It is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. It is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free.

From A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
by Shane Claiborne

I guess my Libra planets are really kicking in.

Peace, Positive Change and a New Year Full of Blessings,

Joyce

~~~

Photo Credit: © KatyaKatya – Fotolia.com

Don’t forget the PDF Book Sale on The Radical Virgo! To offer more tools to peacemakers and positive change bringers, I’m extending the 50%-off sale one last time through January 31^st.

Need a between the holidays quick and funny read? Remember The Crystal Ball, a metaphysical mystery and page-turner with 5 stars on Amazon. The story takes place in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve—seasonal. See some outlandish change-makers in action as an astrologer and her friends use their passion for longevity to make the world more healthy, fair and loving. However, a bad guy threatens their joy at their 25^th anniversary party, the biggest costume ball of the millennium. It’s a “come as you’ll be in the future” party. You’re invited! Kindle version only $2.99.

One Last Radical Departure: The Book Is in the Mail!

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

During October and November, I’ve been doing short posts to take you along for the ride of rewriting and getting my humorous mystery book ready for submission to the St. Martin’s Press Annual First Crime Novel Contest. To read the entire series, start with No Small Change on The Radical Virgo or enter Radical Departure in the Search Box in the sidebar of this blog to pull up the full list of posts. This is the final installment of the series.

Twenty-two is a Master Number in Numerology. It also happens to be the day I was born in September. I have a powerful, personal resonance to the vibration of 22.

The 22 is the most powerful of all numbers--often called the Master Builder. The 22 can turn the most ambitious of dreams into reality. It is potentially the most successful of all numbers. It combines vision with action.  ~ Decoz.com

I’ve been working to live up to this number all my life. (The name Joyce is also a 22 vibration). I’m thrilled that my book entered the mail stream on this 22-day. Today is also a Best Day, according to Joanne Hampar’s Electional Astrology Planning Guide 2011. Since electional astrology isn’t my specialty, I count on Joanne’s Guide and don’t make any major timing decision without it. (For more on her work, read her past post here: The Art of Timing. All-round, I’m delighted that I met my goal to mail The Crystal Ball into the contest on this auspicious day.

Where Do I Go from Here?

I won’t be resting on my laurels waiting to find out if I won the contest, which will be announced by late March. Jupiter enters my 1^st House on March 31, and I plan to take advantage of the blessings coming my way. T-Pluto is also conjunct my Moon in the 9^th House. According to my own intuition, supported by my personal astrologer, 2012 will be a fortunate year for me when it comes to Jupiter-related and 9^th House pursuits, including publishing. But God/dess helps those who help themselves. (More and more, I think of Creativity with a Capital C as Higher Power.)

While I’m waiting to find out if St. Martin’s may become my publisher through the contest, I’ll be putting out query letters to a limited number of carefully selected literary agents. If I’m lucky enough to find someone willing to work with a first-time novelist (this is becoming quite rare), then the next milestone would be selling it to a traditional publisher with the help of an agent. Getting an agent doesn’t guarantee getting a contract with a publisher. I’ve had friends who have been signed by an agent, just to have the disappointment of their book not selling to a publisher. The jackpot would winning the contest or A+B—getting an agent and selling the book to one of the larger publishers. If the latter happened before the former, I’d withdraw my manuscript from the contest, as required by the rules.

The traditional route isn’t the only way to get published. I’m sure you’re all aware that the publishing industry is morphing as we speak into a much more diversified and level playing field. There are excellent smaller presses that publish mysteries, and there’s the increasingly practical option of self-publishing. Since I’ve already self-published three e-books, I have no qualms about this alternative. It has many advantages—a faster turnaround time to print and distribution and more profits to the author, who isn’t sharing them with an agent and outside publisher. On the other hand, the traditional route does cover some expenses that the author otherwise incurs, usually involves a cash advance against sales, and carries more promotional opportunities.

No matter which way The Crystal Ball goes, the major marketing will be in the hands of yours truly. Fate has conspired to give me a many occasions over the past decade to learn how to promote my work. I’m grateful that I no longer feel completely self-conscious and lame about marketing myself. Today’s author has to be both an introvert to get the writing done and an extrovert to put herself and her books out there to sell them. In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I am just 1 point into Introvert on the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory. That’s about as perfect a profile as a writer can get, walking the fence in both worlds, although 1 point into extrovert would probably be just as good. (In case you’re wondering, if you’re Myers Briggs savvy, I’m an INFJ.)

I’ll be keeping you up-to-date on publication milestones. Since these routes vary widely as far as when the book might be available for purchase, I’ll make a bold prediction--earliest, the second half of 2012, latest sometime in 2013.

The good news is that the path to how the book sees print has no relevance to the reader. A book is a book is a book—unless it’s also an e-book, and nowadays most novels are published in both formats. I love reading and writing e-books, and my Kindle is my life’s companion (the original name of The Crystal Ball).

As always, I promise to keep you informed about what’s happening at The Ball! When we’re closer to book in hand, I’ll be publishing excerpts and hope you’ll all be humming Carly Simon’s catchy classic, Anticipation.

Meanwhile, I’m giving myself some much needed time off till mid-January to spend the holidays with friends and family. And, by the way, I’ve already started writing and gathering ideas for my second novel in the Micki Michaels mystery series. It’s called Vanished on the Vortex. It’s about a young teen who disappears in Sedona, Arizona. Her UFO-watcher mom thinks she’s been abducted by aliens. Micki has other ideas, especially when she discovers on the down-low that there have been a string of young girls who have disappeared around the Red Rock Mecca, threatening the tourist trade if word gets out.

I’m so grateful for your support and encouragement,

Joyce

~~~

Photo Credit: © Anatoly Maslennikov - Fotolia.com

Radical Departure: Mazes and Evening at the Improv

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

In case you’re wondering what on Earth is going on here, see No Small Change on The Radical Virgo. During October and November, I’ll be doing short posts to take you along for the wild ride of rewriting and getting my humorous, metaphysical mystery book ready for submission to the St. Martin’s Press annual First Mystery Novel Contest

The only other time I have written a full, book-length manuscript was in 1990 when I wrote The Crystal Ball’s predecessor, Life’s Companions. That was too long ago for me to remember much about my process, so everything I’m discovering about writing a mystery now feels brand new. I’ve actually had considerable mystery writing education since my first foray. My first book suffered from genre confusion. It wasn’t sure if it was a mystery, a romance, a self-help book, or some a New Age version of the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower publication—actually a bit of all of those. It was way too autobiographical. My life is stranger than fiction, and when I write it too literally on paper, it comes out just plain strange.

Writing a mystery—even a cozy humorous one like The Crystal Ball— is akin to doing a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle in motion. The puzzle is a maze, and sometimes I hit dead ends and don’t know how to get myself out of the messes I’ve gotten myself into. This reminds me of one of my favorite sayings:

Things are always easier to get into than to get out of. 

~ Corollary to Murphy’s Law

When I get stuck, in order to move out of the latest corner I have written myself into: I pace, I do other things, I distract myself until my subconscious can resolve it. I learned from the book Higher Creativity: Liberating the Unconscious for Breakthrough Insightsthat this is how problems are best solved—not by direct brain power but by tapping the unlimited creativity of our psycho-spiritual selves.

My psyche sure surprises me at times. I knew certain plot points in the book going into it, but I find it mandatory to develop others “on the fly.” Writing a long story is all about visualization. I see characters get into situations, and I have to envision in real time how they’ll resolve each crisis or tension point. I can’t freeze-frame the action; it’s like a movie that has to keep going on paper. I can pause in the writing to figure it out, but it has to flow in the reading. My characters have to think on their feet. No rehearsal.

In this intricate puzzle, change one thing and there’s a multi-level domino effect. Many other things must change as revisions ping off the sides of my mental pinball machine. I laughed yesterday when I had one couple seated in two different places in the audience, listening to my protagonist give a speech. Talk about attention to details. No wonder Virgos make good writers.

I’m bringing more astrology into The Crystal Ball than I originally planned but less than in Life’s Companions. It’s quality over quantity, and my friend Chiron plays a special role. Is anyone surprised? (I thought you’d like the skeleton key in the maze, what Chiron’s symbol represents.)

After much angst about making my deadline, getting waylaid for a few days by the flu, and several other distractions, I now sit at approximately 75 percent done, confident I can make it.

But that last quarter is also the most challenging to write—the denouement, the resolution. I have a lot of loose ends to tie up, and I don’t know, quite yet, how that’s going to happen. I’m very excited to find out! One of the biggest problems resolved itself tonight, better than I thought I ever thought it would. These are the times I know I channel. Even the Radical Virgo can’t come up with solutions that tidy without divine intervention.

I wrote something today to the effect that the members of the longevity organization in my novel live their lives like Evening at the Improv. These folks are so full of vitality and being who they are without fear or hesitation, they are just “on.” They problem solve and create scenarios in the moment and are effective, funny and endlessly entertaining.

I realized that’s how I have to write. This is also how I want to be. Seeing the differences between the 1990 and the 2011 versions of this material, I’m gratified to see how far I’ve come in the pursuit of Improv.

Most importantly, today I realized how much fun I’m having. This is what I have always wanted to do, my entire life, but all those Chironic wounds, insecurities, and lack of maturity were in the way. The wisdom years, in many ways, are even more than they’re cracked up to be.

I was born to do this, and wherever it goes, I’ll be there doing comedy sketches.

~~~

Photo Credit: © koya79 - Fotolia.com

Radical Departure: Book Research Trip to San Francisco

Vintage jukebox, Mel’s Diner - Lombard St., San Francisco

 

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

People say “write what you know.” That includes where you know. Unfortunately for me, the goings-on in my mystery novel could only take place in San Francisco. It hardly broke my heart to realize I’d need a research trip to the city!

I left my heart in San Francisco long ago with apologies to Tony Bennett. In fact, I heard an interview of him on NPR en route about his wildly popular Duets II album. Tony’s one of my models of cool aging, getting his first number-one album at 85—very encouraging to someone starting her career as a novelist as a supplement to her Social Security and pension. Tony is the oldest living artist to debut at number one on Billboard 200. One of his duets in the album was with Amy Winehouse, shortly before her death. I heard them sing “Body and Soul” together and Tony’s touching tribute to her.

My birth mom lived in San Francisco, and for the fifteen years between our reunion in 1986 and her passing in 2001, I spent considerable time with her there. She lived in the 700 block of California Street near the edge of Chinatown. Her neighborhood was remarkably colorful, right on the cable car line. Even though I have my share of SF impressions, they’re a decade old or older—and they’re not in the neighborhoods and places where my characters have decided to live and hang out.

I was going to SF anyway to a Rick Tarnas workshop on the Astrology of Rock ‘n’ Roll. One of my astrologer friends agreed to be my local color consultant and to join me for dinner and questions on living in SF. We ate at Mel’s on Lombard Street, which was quite a treat on Halloween weekend. Kids were in costume, the place was lively, and we found one of those true rarities in the City by the Bay—a parking space. The vintage jukeboxes and teens playing dress-up seemed like the perfect transition from a discussion of the heyday of rock ‘n’ roll to my futuristic costume party. Linea has over 30 years’ experience of living in the city, and she answered all my pressing questions. The rest, I’d have to see for myself the next day to be able to write from sensory recall.

I made a point of staying in the neighborhood where my protagonist Micki Michaels lives. It’s rare for me to get a night alone unwinding, something I’m finding that’s as essential to the creative process as the writing itself. TV is my solace for getting out of my head, and the more mindless the programs, the better. I was tuned into TV-Land and old episodes of Hot in Cleveland and Everybody Loves Raymond. I had only watched Hot once before, and I became a fan that night. How could I resist with an ensemble cast that includes four actresses I love? Betty White, Jane Leeves (Daphne on Frasier), Wendie Mallick and Valerie Bertinelli. I had never watched Raymond much, and I got a vicarious trip to Italy in one of the episodes, not to mention a reminder of how all families are dysfunctional—it’s just a matter of degree.

I spent Sunday driving around the various ‘hoods, paying attention to details that would to lend authenticity to my prose.  Getting the feel of the place my protagonist lived and worked was essential for me, and it also helped me refrain from making a number of mistakes based on assumptions about places I barely knew. Monday there were rewrites!

Visuals help. I took a lot of pictures and used specific houses and properties as models for my fictional versions.  I spent a tiny bit of time enjoying Union Street, starting with brunch at La Boulange which knocked me out for the high quality and presentation of their food. I found a holiday gift at the Enchanted Crystal. This was a treat in contrast to driving the streets of San Francisco like a taxi driver for the rest of the day.

But I did accomplish my mission! I had dinner with a friend in Berkeley on the way home and came back with a new perspective on the backdrop of my novel.

I’m in the stretch with 60 percent written and just under three weeks to go till my mail-in date for the contest. Fortunately, I’m at a place where I can borrow about half of the material from the previous version of the book while interlacing the changes to the plot and ending.

My biggest challenge of the moment is fighting the flu. Keep me in your positive thoughts and intentions! My confidence in getting the job done on time vacillates, though I know it’s doable. It’s more about my faith to keep myself together to do it.

The best part of it all is the writing itself. There’s nothing like being a channel of the Creative All. I have no idea where it comes from, I just enjoy being the first one to see it and the messenger to share it.

~~~

Photos by Joyce

Liz's photo © Andy Johnson

Winner of the October Comment Contest!  Congratulations to Liz Jasper, winner of last month’s comment contest on The Radical Virgo. Liz is a sister writer, an award-winning author of paranormal mysteries and young adult novels. Check out her linked website! And if you're having a hard time letting go of Halloween, don't miss her Underdead and Underdead In Denial. Liz won a copy of Capital Crimes: 15 Tales by Sacramento Area Authors. My short story, Digital, is included with its share of gallows humor and scenes in a funeral parlor. The Halloween theme just keeps on giving!

 

Radical Departure: Book Signings and Other Inspirations

Janet Evanovich at 2006 signing for Twelve Sharp in Roseville, CA

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

In case you’re wondering what on Earth is going on here, see No Small Change on The Radical Virgo. During October and November, I’ll be doing short posts to take you along for the wild ride of rewriting and getting my humorous, metaphysical mystery book ready for submission to the St. Martin’s Press annual First Mystery Novel Contest

Whenever I start to freak out about the tight timeframe to rewrite my book and submit it letter-perfect, I remind myself that I’m finally doing what I've always wanted to do. I try to let the joy of the creative process overshadow the fear of the clock.

Sometimes it works.

Although the deadline for the annual St. Martin’s First Mystery Contest is November 30, I didn’t look past November 22 as my personal deadline. It’s a great electional day. Theoretically, great things should come of anything I start, like my part in the contest process. I can’t say I like that it’s the annual anniversary of the assassination of JFK, but beggars can’t be choosers when I’ve only got 4 ½ more weeks to pull it off. If I’d have looked one day deeper into my calendar, I’d have realized the other reason I can’t go past November 22. In my time zone, Mercury goes retrograde late on the 23^rd. The fact that Mercury Retro wasn’t even on my radar screen speaks to the Sabian symbol for my Sun: A false call unheard in the attention to immediate service. This Sabian is all about priority and absorption. One interpretation calls the bearer of this symbol “deaf to all allurement.” (Sorry, Mercury, I didn’t even know you were alive. Don’t hold it against me!) Too close to it, akin to how you can’t see your own nose.

I always knew I had an overly active imagination, but until I wrote this novel, I had no idea what actually goes on with me “upstairs.” My mind is a little scary. I feel that way when I hear Robin Williams. He actually blurts out the kind of stuff that goes on in my brain. The first time I heard him, I blushed! Since I need to produce quickly right now, I have no time for creative inhibitions. I just have to let go and let flow. I wrote five new chapters this week, still borrowing bits from Life’s Companions, the original version of the story. Ninety percent was new. The process keeps surprising me. Words keep on appearing on paper. (Is this automatic writing?)

One thing’s clear. You can’t hurry love and you can’t push creativity. Down time is an essential part of this process. I felt lousy the other day—tummy trouble, my back was out, and I generally felt like the flu was gunning for me. I decided to take the day off and get some extra healing sleep. My reward was cranking out three more chapters in the next 24 hours.

Now that I know I need R&R to make my fountain of creativity bubble, I have to trust that the timing will fall into place. I took off a few hours Saturday to go to my friend Cindy Sample’s book signing. It was another good shot in the arm. Cindy and I had lunch recently and compared notes on the writing life. Her second humorous mystery, Dying for a Dance,is now available. Her heroine, Laurel McKay, is a single mom who keeps stumbling over dead bodies, this time at her ballroom dance class studio. Since my novel, The Crystal Ball, takes place at a futuristic costume party in a big ballroom, I feel a kinship to Cindy’s latest book and just loved reading it in Kindle!

Cindy is also the queen of making book signings fun. Since the murder weapon in Dance is a high-heeled shoe, she had a big basket of chocolate high heels. (Death by chocolate—yes!). Some of her other edible perks are dead body crime scene cookies, you know—the outline of a body. Pass the yellow Do Not Cross tape!

At Cindy's signing, I bumped into another author I know from Sisters in Crime, Elaine Macko. Elaine and I were in a critique group together some years ago. Her first novel, Armed, just came out. Who knew murder could be so much fun! Armed takes place in a mannequin factory in a fictional New England town with a very interesting cast of characters and a unique murder weapon. I've been enamored with her story since she was still writing the first draft. Her new web site rocks.

It’d be a crime not to promote such creative new authors, so I’m giving their books as holiday gifts to a number of people this year. Watching them finally manifest all this “fun between the covers,” after being familiar with their stories for a number of years, is a great model of manifestation. I'm enjoying the vicarious thrill.

Seeing Elaine also reminded me of a time when we went with another Sister in Crime to a local signing by Janet Evanovich a few years ago. Janet’s at the top of this post in that moment all authors dream of—stacks of books ready for signing and crowds lined up by the thousands. We got to Barnes & Noble early, waited a long time, and it was well worth it. Janet, too, has a huge flair for creating a party at her book signings, including goodies. She passes out the Jersey junk food that’s everyday fare for her snack-addicted Stephanie Plum, the protagonist in her number novels. For Janet and Stephanie fans, in case you haven’t heard, the movie of her first book in the series, One for the Money, will be out in January 2012 starring Katherine Heigl. Don't miss the trailer in this link! For fans of Stephanie's wacky Grandma Mazur, I almost fell over when I found out she'll be played by Debbie Reynolds.

It’s a relief—and a big carrot!—to remember that the other end of this process is a party. In my case, that’s doubly true since much of The Crystal Ball takes place at one—a big, crazy costume party. Carrots may be incentives, but I don't plan to serve them at my book launch.

Will someone help me see that party in my Crystal Ball next week when I’m up to my eyeballs in work?