Just Blame Mercury

“Oh my God! Look who it is! Nora!” she shrieked as she saw me through her giant sliding glass door. She enveloped me in a huge hug as I entered her space, Dawn Silver, the owner of the now-closed Healing Earth Resources metaphysical store and healing center formerly in Chicago.

“Michael! Look who’s here!” she yelled at her husband sitting at the computer to the left of the door. In front of us, the tables sparkled with jewelry designer Lenny’s wares. Dawn was hosting a show for her at her home.

“Who are you?” Michael joked as he bent down and gave me a big hug.

“This is the best surprise ever!” Dawn said as she hugged me again. It was Dawn who took a chance on me twenty-six years ago and gave me a spot as a reader in their magical space. It was Dawn who introduced me to the metaphysical community in Chicago. It was Dawn who turned to the women in her home and started crowing about me and my work that day. Immediately someone asked me for my card.

This is the magic of Dawn, she shines her love upon you and others take note.

I had no cards, so the woman wrote down my website address on the back of a piece of paper in her purse. I went home with some jewels, a tentative plan to do an event in Dawn’s space, and created a digital business card the next day. Check it out

I’ve got a secret. I have not wanted to work at all this summer. I forgot how much fun summertime is in Chicago. For fifteen years summer had been my least favorite season due to the high heat we experienced in Ojai. Not a fan. In Chicago this summer we’ve had mostly beautiful days interspersed with a few balmy, steamy ones and a derecho that spawned 31 tornadoes across the state just a couple of weeks ago, but mostly it’s been gloriously beautiful, the kind of weather that makes me want to be outside and play.

The same thing happened twenty-one years ago when we first moved into this building, also in May. I worked just enough that summer to keep the lights on and find I am doing it again. It’s not that I am closing down my calendar, it’s fully available, it’s just that appointment spots are sitting open and unbooked. The energy I am putting out there is that I am partially open for business and this is what I am experiencing.

I’ve been here before and while enjoying the time off I have also worried about money, and then regretted the time spent worrying once busy again. Note to self: “Don’t worry and just have fun, Nora!”

After mentioning it in my July 19th piece, people I have not seen for a long time have started showing up again. Helena’s wedding shower was last weekend (Helena who vacated the apartment I am typing from just after we were asked to leave our home in California). I celebrated with just about every one of her relatives including her brother Paul who was seven when we first met him. He was in town from Minnesota where he is finishing his PhD in chemistry. I could not hug him enough and love to experience this version of him as the caring, sensitive, intelligent, and funny man he has grown to be.

This is all my long way of reminding you that Mercury goes Retrograde tomorrow, August 4th in Virgo, will move into Leo while still retrograde on the 14th, and will go direct on August 28th.

While it’s retrograde in Virgo, you may find that everyone and every little thing outside of you bugs the crap out of you, and you also may worry about things in that realm, the realm of things that are beyond your control. While in Leo, you may find that you bug the crap out of yourself. It’s just Mercury doing its thing. Try to be gracious with yourself and others when you can. They are all going through it as well.

The moon will be new in Leo on the 4th and full and SUPER in Aquarius on the 19th (also the first day of the Democratic National Convention). This full moon in Aquarius will flower the seeds that were planted during the new moon in Aquarius back on February 9th, igniting once again the Imbolc/Lughnasadh bookends mentioned in my last piece.

And finally for today, the Perseids Meteor Shower peaks on the night of August 11th. It’s the biggest meteor shower of the year with the potential for 50-100 meteors an hour visible during its peak. The moon will set at 11:00 pm Central Time on the 11th, creating the perfect stage for an amazing light show in the dark and clear skies.

We’ll be getting out of the city to enjoy the show as we did decades ago. We nabbed the last room available at the Starved Rock Lodge that night. At 2:00 am we drove away from the lodge and parked near a field. Sitting on the hood of the car we could hear the faraway sounds of oohs and ahhs from people around us watching the show with us, heard and yet not seen to us in the inky darkness of that night.

Make some wishes as they whizz above you. They are already putting on their annual show, and they are pure magic.

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