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There are some wonderful stories about the way everyday leadership is being changed and challenged and the value of disruption on the latest Ted Radio program. The first story is about Stanley McChrystal which is not so much what I’m pointing to… the other stories I found to be uplifting, particularly the story about the Barefoot University that gives Grandmothers the tools so they can change the world. VERY simple and inspiring!
here is the link: http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2014-07-25
I have to admit that I have a limited understanding of what life is really like in Occupied Palestine. I found this documentary and it helped me understand the enormous and unbelievable pressures the people who live there have to put up with due to the occupation. I learned a lot from this presentation. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrOdCG7RrvE
Published on Nov 24, 2012
Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American with the IWPS, documents the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Israelis.
A wonderfully moving introduction to the plight of the Palestinians, in simple, everyday terms, with a captivating narration by eyewitness Anna Baltzer. Anna Baltzer, a Jewish-American Columbia graduate and Fulbright scholar, presents her discoveries as a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank, documenting human rights abuses and supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Baltzer’s presentation provides those interested in the Israel/ Palestine conflict with critical information and documentation that can be difficult to obtain through mainstream Western media sources, and to encourage dialog towards taking action on the issue. Topics discussed include checkpoints, settlements, Israeli activism, Zionism, 1948 War & refugees, censorship, the Wall, the ongoing annexation of Palestinian land, and the almost unbearable living conditions under the occupation. The grand-daughter of Holocaust refugees, Baltzer works to address the injustices of today in light of those of the past. She is the author of the book Witness in Palestine.
Eric the difficulty is that Mystes and Bodymindalchemy and Miaferoleto have all contributed clarifying and light-switching-on-in-your-mind commentary from time to time. Greenstargazer and others too.
The planetwaves team also provide these moments. I have read little of Planetwaves this week and nothing ‘bad’ from bma.
Palestine. Might a solution be that the international community remind Israel that they were given Palestine because they had been so badly treated in the 1939-45 war. It may be difficult to live in harmony with the existing population when they were not balloted before their land was given away and given the historic difficulties between the israelites/arabs (Isaac and Hagar, Jacob and Esau). That is the raw material. Most Palestinians are poor and or farmers, and beings. They also have rights. Presumably when israel was given to the jews it was with the understanding that the Palestinians were already there? To mete out the same style of treatment – ghetto/mass killing is horrific given the Israelis own background. Other solutions must be possible.
Balfour promised the land to both sides at different times to the Uk is implicated. It is certain that the jewish refugees arriving in Israel had faced terrible things, that the arab rhetoric (in the 60’s and 70’s) to push the Israelis into the sea didn’t help, that there may be a latent mutual antipathy. Perhaps it is also guilt that makes the Israelis so aggressive. Or that the orthodox jews now do army service and are perhaps motivated by religious desires to be extreme?
Is there a hidden financial (or other) interest that the Israelis or even the USA have in the middle east that would clarify? Will things change when the current jewish youngsters in the USA (who aren’t Zionist occupy) positions of power.
Is it not enough to umpire international conflicts on the basis of human rights? (The difficulty being that justice is apparently not sure or even sought after with all the lobbying that goes on?).
Is that the way to go.
I have been vegan for the last 5 years in reaction to violence. Except) I still eat eggs from our hens from time to time. No dairy, no other eggs. Honey sometimes. But I have neutered (taken to be neutered) 4 female cats two years ago: hands never ‘clean’?
Between a rock and a hard place. Choose and take the consequences. Is that big enough. Or like Mia you seek to alimenter differently.
How.
greenstar says: ‘I really appreciate all the collective and individual effort, sensitivity, and creativity that has gone into this latest issue. It is a glowing example of the kind of work we can all be adding to the collective now to help us wake up and co-create a better world. Thank you Everyone…. well done!’
Agreed. It is an excellent edition.
Eric, the Sun-Jupiter conjunction yesterday at 1 Leo 52 is where the midpoint between Uranus and Saturn falls, making that transiting conjunction even more powerful than usual. When the chart for the New Moon tomorrow is set in Israel, Aquarius is on the MC and with the two rulers of Aquarius – still in their transiting quincunx – being charged up by their connection to the New Moon in Leo, it will likely be expressed through both Uranian and Saturnian forces; adjustment indeed.
In the birth chart for Israel (May 14, 1948, 4:37 PM, Tel Aviv) the natal Moon at 4 Leo 43 is conjunct the natal MC at 3 Leo 56, right where the New Moon falls. Israel’s natal 10th house Saturn at 16 Leo 25 (conjunct natal Pluto) is/will be trine the New Moon’s Uranus (16+ Aries retro) which falls in Israel’s 6th house and square the New Moon Saturn at 16+ Scorpio (which falls in Israel’s 1st house). I’m thinking Israel will surprise us with something unexpected; possibly a cessation of their attack on Gaza citizens. What do you think?
With the New Moon conjunct Israel’s natal Moon-MC, the emotional toll of this war on Israel’s people (Moon) must be devastating even though their death toll is minimal compared to the Palestine losses. Could it be possible they might protest, the way U.S. citizens protested the Vietnam war? I would like to hear your thoughts.
be
This is not about any writer’s point of view. It’s about their treatment of me and my editors, and the tone quality of their participation. I am happy to include dissonant voices; I consider it essential. However, I tolerate only so much personal vitriol or lack of basic courtesy, as I have said, consistent with the social conduct of a university classroom (in truth I am far more tolerant than a professor would be). There are plenty of Ridgemont Highs available on the vast and glorious Internet.
I have the role, with my editors, of holding this space open; of facilitating a discussion; of financing it; of being the last checkstop of its integrity. This is not a small task, and it is never my way to make capricious decisions.
Everyone who is reading this as some kind of discussion of whether I am tolerant of other viewpoints, please note this fact.
Please note an addition to the terms of service comment post, below, regarding phone and email contact. Also please note an added Term of Use, which is the “personal agenda” clause, added to the same comment post below, and which will be amended into the Terms of Use at my earliest convenience.
And Mia please forgive my misspelling of your name!
Eric, PW Writers, Staff, Readers and Commenters,
Thank you for reading my comments and discussing your various points of view.
I am grateful for my Jesuit university education for teaching me and showing me that healthy discussion and debate is how we learn, grow, and transform at the deepest levels.
Eric, you most certainly have the right to maintain your ‘private site’ as you see fit. I was (wrongly) under the impression that PW was a place for us to read about current events in an unbiased and unique way. After a quick review of the site’s description:
“an internet publishing company that created the Planet Waves internet sites. Planet Waves Daily Astrology & Adventure publishes four times daily with a focus on astrology, politics, sexuality, relationships and photography. The relationship focus of Planet Waves is on polyamory,”
I understand much better now how the site was created as a venue for publishing certain subjects with a subjective focus.
I am both heartened and saddened by Mia Forleto’s response. Mia, I implore you NOT to leave the pages of Planet Waves. Your posts are to the point and contain thoughtful material. While I appreciate your response to my concerns (and agree with you wholly about Len), what is most important is the recognition of the intelligence of head and heart which include fact-based posts.
When another source is sited, I check it out so I can learn more, expand my consciousness and further my connection to the truth (with discernment). I am challenged (aren’t we all) these days to see and hear the truth. I am grateful to all of you who read, research, and take the time to post more information, more facts for us to consider in these particularly challenging times.
We all have our writing styles and personalities (do we need to resort to accusations about ‘trolling’?), but what is most important is the information and the intelligent and provocative presentation of facts. I still hope that PW will reconsider and include dissident voices as powerful vehicles of support for us all.
Welcoming and navigating diversity is, indeed, a formidable task in these times. I believe that astrologers and non-astrologers alike are up to the challenge.
Thank you,
Denise Elizabeth Byron
I think you are missing the point entirely, Mia.
However, as you wish.
PS, I would not personally call anyone on that level of the world stage a good guy. From where I sit, one degree of separation from the man, I would not want to make that determination or value judgment. Among those in his class there will be greater or lesser degrees of compromise, of involvement, more or fewer people tortured, killed and imprisoned, some vision for the future or none at all, some sense of the existence and needs of anyone outside himself, or not.
Dear Sensuous Wisdom,
Thank you for letting us know that David (BodyMindAlchemy) is no longer invited to post as an active member of the Planet Waves community. I, too, feel he should be reinstated. He has contributed a depth of information that encourages people to research for themselves. By doing so, one can only grow. Here is a link I viewed today that caused me to think a great deal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0CulhsQkTA
In my opinion, Professor Finkelstein had earned the right to speak. In my opinion, David should have the right to speak as well.
In recent times I have primarily visited the PW website to read the work of Len Wallick, a truly gifted writer and astrologer who always leaves his reader on a positive note, inspired and poised for action if the urge is there to go beyond the role of armchair activist. I have enjoyed reading the other contributors at PW as well, but Len’s articles are the reason for my return. I was inspired to read David’s comments this past weekend and at the time felt his pushing had to do with the sadness and frustration he was feeling as he watched the continued unfolding of events in Gaza, the Ukraine and around the world. The pain can seem endless at times and photographs, like the one of the father holding the lifeless body of his little girl, are etched in my soul.
Each day a good five hours is spent reading the news, staying in touch with what is happening on the global front. For accurate news, I turn to Veterans Today. I happen to believe that Putin is currently one of the good guys, at least one of the better guys. Perhaps one day America will step down and allow other countries to develop their natural resources for the advancement of their own citizens. America was colonized for more goods and services, more material wealth and the saga continues to play out as if scripted for some B movie. Except it is real. These things are really happening, destroying others and eating away at ourselves, whether we are conscious of it or not.
In support of David and his powerful words, and for caring to the extent that he clearly does, I am thanking you, Eric, and the entire PW community for sharing with me these past 10? years, but I am saying goodbye and taking my leave. I have written with equal passion and determination on these pages, always under my own name, and if David’s words are not welcome, then mine are not needed.
Mia Feroleto
I went to Germany in 1998 and researched the creation of the first concentration camp. It seemed to come down to two possibilities contemporary with Dachau, the first official camp. With my partner (and translator) we were taken to makeshift operation in the Ilvers Gehoffen neighborhood of Erfurt, where both the Holocaust and the Protestant Reformation started. The earliest documented artifact at Ilvers Gehoffen is April 1933, though it may go back some time earlier. Later that same day we discovered another location, The Citadel of St. Peter and St. Paul, that had been used as a Nazi detention facility since Feb. 8, 1933.
Here us an image of the facility from the outside.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Paul_Fortress#mediaviewer/File:Peter_and_Paul_Fortress.JPG
This is a two-part article which covers that territory. Erfurt has long been the seat of revolt in Germany, which is why the fascists started rounding up people there first.
http://www.planetwaves.net/contents/walkmoon.html
“The UN-spoken reminders, the ones transmitted thru the images included in this edition speak even more urgently to that core terror that may be keeping many of us trapped in inaction: the deep, subterranean fear that we could not possibly be doing this to ourselves AGAIN.”
Thank you, Green-Star. I’m going to be taking the emotion you’ve provoked with me through the day, trying to digest and put to words. Joanna Macy often says – “We have to act our age – and we are as old as the stars.” Or something like that.
I wanted to share something for a while now but always had a fear to do so. I’m not afraid anymore.
I once shared a poem here I wrote a few years ago and wrote my full name at the end. I realized much later that my name came up in Google searches that connected my full name to my pseudonym here on PW. I later became involved with someone who was stalking me and manipulating me under two separate identities, one on PW and one in real life. All this came to light when I made an innocent comment about a coworker and got news of it at my workplace. In an effort to keep myself private, I created a second comment account here. But my efforts didn’t work.
I was very appreciative to receive moral support and guidance behind the scenes here (as my two accounts were called into question), with my HR dept at work, and with the police. I also apologized to my coworker for my part in causing any discomfort, and she was very understanding.
I have learned a lot about being accountable for my comments and to be authentic while still being honest with courage and openness. I have nothing to hide and no one to hide from anymore. I send out a deep thank you to Eric and Amanda for giving me the benefit of the doubt and for holding a space for me as I learned from my mistakes.
Sincerely,
Daniel
Shelley, it’s important to one’s growth to be able to commit to a point of view, then to be strong enough to change your position if you need to. It is not moving a mountain. You can always say “I thought of something else,” or “this fact came into my awareness,” or “I now see this differently.”
Hypocrisy is when you say one thing and do another. Changing your mind is another story.
Eric, I so wish to read this article and can’t find it in the member login – please help me!
== Sent via email
If anyone else would like to read this article please email me at dreams@planetwaves.net — with an obvious subject header.
Fear of owning my comments for eternity paralyzed me from speaking out for most of my life. I was so afraid if I wrote or said something in public then I could never change my mind. It’s been freeing to be okay with being unsure or change my mind because it’s owning who I am now. I only started posting on Facebook about six months ago because the permanency freaked me out so much. That and people discovering who I really was. I’m thankful Planet Waves is a safe place.
Also I want to say thanks for the article. I think being willing to be oneself in the world is a major factor in finding a space to make a difference.
By request of one of our long-time participants, here are our blog commenting guidelines, to which I have added some amendments in this post:
http://planetwaves.net/news/daily-astrology/blog-commenting-ground-rules/
I would clarify two points. If you hear from Anatoly, Chelsea, Amanda or Fe, consider that as meaningful as hearing from me. If you are a commenter, they may engage you in a dialog at any time.
The second involves my definition of trolling. I do my best to maintain an open and balanced space here. I have a thick skin but only so thick. Discussions are easy to disrupt. We handle sensitive subjects that many people would prefer not to discuss.
If in my opinion a user is intentionally provocative or insulting, I will warn them with a clear ultimatum, and if the warning is ignored, I will begin to exercise my prerogatives.
Here is my published definition:
In addition, as of July 26, 2014, I am adding a third idea of trolling, which is pushing a personal agenda that is off-topic or that goes beyond making a reasonable contribution to the discussion. One aspect of that personal agenda includes using Planet Waves to reach an audience beyond making a reasonable contribution to the discussion. This is a subjective assessment that will be made by me or by my designee in consultation with other Planet Waves editors.
There is an additional term of use of this comment area, as stated previously:
One other thought. I tend to favor those who post under their real name — who take ownership of their words. I may be old-fashioned, but I believe that writers are better people for writing under their actual name and for taking full responsibility for their thoughts, ideas and point of view. I understand that people have their reasons to conceal their identity, though I suggest that everyone subject those reasons to an actual critique.
Very nearly everyone who participates in this area is polite and respectful. I am grateful that together, we maintain a space where a real conversation can happen.
Thank you Eric for posing the questions that need to be addressed. We as a culture are armchair warriors, and if we can step away from our constant entertainment and think for ourselves, well we might just turn the tide on the erosion of our collective soul.
I am grateful for PW and the intelligent, sensitive sharing of of life experiences, green-star-gazer, Alison, your words evoke hope, and that I feel is what we need as we process these dark times.
@sensuouswisdom:
As a long-long-time visitor here, I value the spectrum of different viewpoints at PW. In this instance, I found many of Dave’s posts to ‘clang’ more often than not, that the tone seemed most often combative, and the length of post far longer than those of the original article. It didn’t feel genuine to me; more like a site hi-jack. Trolling, potentially. But who knows?
It also seems to me when visitors find this site so unpalatable, and such a poor fit with their own views, that it may be best rather then spend endless hours telling the site how ‘they’ve got it wrong – again, sigh’, that they set up their own website, and those that are interested can peek in there from time to time. Problem solved.
‘His comments are acerbic. He invites us to explore the research for ourselves. We are given an opportunity to make up our own minds. It is clear he is committed to the discovery of the truth.’ Personally, I don’t need Dave to do any of this…
Hello Sensuous Wisdom.
Thanks for your comments. As the editor and publisher, my goal is to keep our forum as open and as respectful as possible. Often those two values conflict, and it’s my job to draw boundaries and to hold myself and others to them.
What you have on Planet Waves is not free speech. It is a private space, into which I invite my readers, cultivate writers, provide opportunity for leadership to emerge and where I preserve some basic standards of decorum — standards which generally do not exist on the Internet.
I expect my commenters to have the same level of respect they would be expected to demonstrate in a college classroom.
I am willing to publish viewpoints that differ from my own, though with the qualification that they be expressed respectfully, and in a way that does not interfere with the ability of others to express themselves. When I have an issue with someone who is commenting, or how they are commenting (including the number of comments), I will engage in a dialog behind the scenes, usually involving at least one other editor.
Suspending someone’s account is the second strongest action I can take, and I will not do so without an extended dialog, a reasoning process and if necessary, repeated warnings. When a commenter engages in conduct vaguely reminiscent of trolling*, threatens anyone, is disrespectful in public, is unresponsive to our simple guidelines on how to conduct him or herself, or is disrespectful in private correspondence, they receive warnings and if necessary, I will block them from commenting.
In doing so, I am protecting this space for people who might be intimidated by such conduct and not participate, and saving myself and my editors grief and needless expenditure of time.
I also intend to send a message — specifically that there is an editor who is in charge of this page. There is leadership, it is consultative rather than unilateral, and in the end, there is accountability. My phone numbers and email address are published, and I am easy to reach if someone wants to speak with me.
If I suspend someone’s account and later receive a request to reinstate it, I would take that request to my editorial team for their opinion.
Thanks for expressing yours.
efc
*Note, trolling includes commenting under two accounts. If someone happens to have an old account and a new one, that is not trolling; using two different identities, pretending to be two different people, is trolling and both accounts will be suspended.
I have grave concerns about the content that we are reading on Planet Waves.
The most recent post from bodymindalchemy (David) about the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza removed from Planet Waves and his account was suspended.
The posts of bodymindalchemy bring a wealth of intelligent, fact-based commentary and critical perspective to Planet Waves readers.
His comments are acerbic. He invites us to explore the research for ourselves. We are given an opportunity to make up our own minds. It is clear he is committed to the discovery of the truth.
His links are sources of reliable factual information that have often disproved what we are being told in the mainstream media and here on Planet Waves. He was also posting valuable links on the Malaysian Air MH-17 crash when his account was suspended.
Is there no room for discussion that serves to deepen our awareness? Critical thinking demands that we look to more than one source, open our minds to other options, and explore the various streams of information in order to be the enlightened readers that I hope we strive to be. A person who has diligently researched the information and shared multiple resources here has been silenced.
A forum is “a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged”. Is Planet Waves no longer a forum where controversial ideas, research or opinions can be shared and discussed?
I, for one, would like to see his account reinstated.
I am so thankful for your work. Everyone at PW.
Everything happening NOW is so overwhelming, and how will we all deal with it? Process it? The Fear seems too much.
I was in an awful accident, 9 years to the day, and I have three things to share about my experience of healing ( still ongoing )
1) life calls on us to be present in spite of the horrors we witness and experience. And to quote one of my favorite human beings and author “if there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.” Viktor E. Frankl
2) I believe our little joys and victories spread beyond what we can see. So… Say hello to the person on the bus, the kid that holds the door for you, the woman that’s waiting for the bus.
3) Do what you love to shine your own joy into the world. Don’t worry if its local or global or urban or anything in between. If you love it, we need it. That vibe. It heals everyone around you!
I was faced with a really scary world after my accident. And every day I want to hide under the covers. Especially now. But I’m a lot better off, and I’d venture to say… Most of us are, when we take stock of what we’ve endured and reach out in spite of it.
This issue touches me deeply. I share in that queasy feeling that you spoke of in this piece as we bear witness to the senseless slaughter of innocents once more. The writing is clear, poignant and thoughtful and raises difficult yet essential questions we must ask of ourselves.
The UN-spoken reminders, the ones transmitted thru the images included in this edition speak even more urgently to that core terror that may be keeping many of us trapped in inaction: the deep, subterranean fear that we could not possibly be doing this to ourselves AGAIN.
But if Astrology teaches us anything, it is that patterns do indeed cycle around again, to either be refined, healed or, replayed if the key elements of change are still allowed to act out unconsciously. The images in this edition guided me into a bit of my own research and out of curiosity I cast a look back to March 9th, 1933 in Germany, the date one of the first concentration camps was opened, in Dachau. Sure enough, there it was…. Uranus square Pluto, to the degree with Uranus in Aries but Pluto was in Cancer instead of the current Capricorn. Curiously, several months later, on August 25th the Haavara Agreement was signed which allowed for the beginning of Jewish emigration into Palestine with that square still in action though not as tight.
Now the fear, the denial and the feeling of helplessness begin to make even more sense to me. So does the current boiling over of hostilities in Palestine. The distortion waves of our current cycles have a particular core of resonance in our collective past. We know what dark times emerged and played out on the world’s stage after that last Uranus-Pluto square cycle… no wonder we tremble now and feel queasy and wonder if we have what it takes to get to the other side of this without repeating the past. These are truly pivotal passages and we must not allow ourselves to be complacent, bound by fear or slip into denial. We must be vigilant. And as this edition reminds us, we each have a part to play in this time of radical transformation. It is time that we each do all that we can in bringing ourselves and all our relations thru this critical portal by whatever means we can.
I really appreciate all the collective and individual effort, sensitivity, and creativity that has gone into this latest issue. It is a glowing example of the kind of work we can all be adding to the collective now to help us wake up and co-create a better world. Thank you Everyone…. well done!