I just received notice that author Keith Buzzell will be holding a seminar in Salt Lake City, Utah, in November or December 2009 to explore the question: What is the relationship between spirituality and science. Buzzell explains the seminar as such:

“The Gurdjieff teaching heralds a new approach to the potential blending of these impulses. We propose to host a seminar, Science, Gurdjieff and Man’s Conception of God to further our understanding.”

Keith has been a student of the Gurdjieff teaching for over fifty years, and is a physician by profession. He has authored three books, Perspectives on Beelzebub’s Tales, Explorations in Active Mentation and Man–A Three-brained Being with his insights to date.

For those interested in attending the seminar, familiarity with one or more of Keith’s books is recommended, to facilitate a lively exchange. For specific information, please visit Fifth Press’ contact page and send a query email to Dr. Buzzell.

People forget that the otherworldly filmmaker David Lynch made the Disney-produced movie The Straight Story back in 1999. The tale of an old fellow that rides his lawnmower from Iowa to Wisconsin to reconcile with his dying brother. Except for the lawnmower oddity, the film was straightforward and tenderhearted with a narrative you could actually track. Now Lynch is filming another journey, this one traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States. A 70-day, 20,000-mile road trip led by Lynch’s son, Austin. It’s a film project called The Interview Project. And that’s what the crew is doing, each stop along the way: Interviewing everyday folk. Guys like Jim Carter, pictured above, who, we’re told in the text intro, grew up on a farm with his ten brothers and sisters, and left, reluctantly, to bear witness for God. Read more

George Orwell once said that a man has the face that he deserves at age 50.

And while I’d agree with that sentiment as it relates to just about every single post 50-year-old walking the planet today — think Dick Cheney — I’d have to take exception with how that curse applied to Michael Jackson.

Dead at 50 and possessing a face with which no one should ever have to contend. Mike’s adult face was actually a mask. A direct creation of self-hatred, plain and simple. That and the way our own ghoulish fascination with his self-loathing spurred him on. An obsession that was prodded, secretly I think, by that part within each of us that dislikes parts of ourselves: wrinkles, sags, spots, dots; imperfection. Given unlimited wealth and time, Michael could nip, tuck, tweak and freak to his heart’s content. Only he could never get away from the self-loathing.

But enough bummer talk. Michael was a genuine puer aeternus. And no self-respecting puer, worth their essence in gold records, should ever live into his fifties. Michael was just taking leave on cue, true to his mythology. It makes perfect sense to me.

Mike’s key astrological signature reads like this — and is cosmic code for us to understand just about every aspect of his career: Uranus conjunct Venus in Leo. And Pluto conjunct his Virgo Sun. The Uranian aura — the dazzle, electricity and ingenuity to his performance style — mixed with a distinct charm and innocence. And the strange shadow catcher condition represented by his Pluto Sun conjunction. As I mentioned earlier, Michael’s Frankensteinian relationship with his own body and face fostered the perfect condition for the public to project their own obsessions with youth, beauty and perfection — and how those always remain elusive. Read more

The chart for this morning’s new moon in Aries shows nearly the entire solar system in a conspicuous pile-up against Saturn in Virgo.

Translated into human lingo, this symbolizes that gnawing feeling that everything and everyone in life is moving forward except for you. (Of course it’s all a big hallucination because, well, everyone else is registering the same sort of weariness and stuckness too, but added to the mix is a kind of Virgonian isolation bubble that prevents us from making that connection: Realizing we’re all on the Titanic together.)

Of course Saturn being Chronos, well, he remains unphased. Especially while he’s retrograde. (Is there anything more disheartening than the sense of time moving backwards?) Slowly, methodically digging his heels in deeper in reaction to the parade of planets residing opposite his Virgo soujourn. This is amplified by the ongoing Uranus opposition and now, add to the mix, a capricious Mars in Pisces putting the pressure on too.

Saturn’s respose: “Meh.”

We normally associate spring with new beginnings. Fresh starts. Sending our inner scout forward to see what new opportunities he or she can suss out for us. Well, best initiate Plan B From Outer Space. The Sun Moon conjunction coupled with the Venus Mercury transits in Aries signifies plenty of promise. But the guarantee of that visceral, get-up-and-go momentum that we associate with spring is held in abeyance. Think about it: That Aries grouping derives its fuel from a floaty and fluctuating Mars in Pisces. Too, Mars is in a Sargasso Sea-like opposition to Saturn. Glub. Glub … Sink. This is akin to trying to light a fuse with a wet match. Lots of striking and cursing, but just soggy bits of sulfur coloring our fingertips. Instead we feel like imploding. Read more