What is FABULOSITY? According to the Urban Dictionary: noun form of fabulous. a mix of awesomness, randomness, and individuality, in the very best way.

However, awesomeness is misspelled. A careless attitude toward language negates an otherwise fierce expression of fabulosity!

•Abdi Assadi, friend, acupuncturist and wise man on a motorcycle expresses his fabulosity, by writing a healing and enlightening little book meant to help each of us to find our way in these confusing, anxiety-ridden times. I kid you not: reading his book, Shadows on the Path, is a healing experience and a gift that keeps on giving: www.shadowsonthepath.com

•I experience fabulosity when hooping in public.

•Ronnie Smith and her gaggle of efficient and effervescent elves express their fabulosity by helping writers get their work published at Writer's Relief. Check out their website and help them to help you! www.wrelief.com

•My friend, Hope Forstenzer, delves into the realm of fabulosity when glass-blowing, at her local studio in Seattle (see story in The New York Times by clicking here

To check out some of Hope's mind-blowing blown glass, contact her at: hforstenzer@earthlink.net

•Joe Moran, my web site designer, expresses his fabulosity via JoeSaidSo.com, a blog that empowers people to choose well and live well in the digital age.

•My pal Matt Howe expresses his fabulosity through awesome concert photos on www.shotmonster.com

•How do you express your fabulosity?

Jill Dearman worships the hula hoop; this love affair has been going on since the late '80s. On occasion she will exhibit her passion in public, in dance performances, gay pride events, hooping extravaganzas and the like. These pix are from ' A Hip Joint,' a performance with Blum Dance Theatre at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, spring 2005. Those are martini glasses on Jill's cords. Remarkably, she found the pants at J.Crew.

Bang the Keys: Four Steps to a Lifelong Writing Practice by Jill Dearman forthcoming from Penguin, summer, 2009.

I) A Surprisingly Un-Kooky Take on Astrology; II) Planetary Shifts and How They Can Affect You … Yes, You, Darling, You!

By Jill Dearman

Act I
TERMS OF EN-DEARMAN

Ever the teacher, I would like to share some basic precepts about Jungian Astrology, the model that most modern Western astrologists use. My view is that this brand of esoteric astrology (esoteric as opposed to general sun sign horoscopes found in magazines) is not a quantifiable business. Jungian astrology is comparable to modern psychology; in fact I see them as complementary arts, as both are meant to be used in similar ways. The benefits that come through therapeutic counseling cannot be measured (nor can the damage done by quacks!) Still, we seek out counselors to help us when we need guidance, or help in exploring our inner lives, and we feel no need to prove the value of the experience in precise calculations.

If you are the kind of person who finds meaning in introspection and deep self-knowledge you are apt to get a lot out of investigating your own chart. If this just ain't your cup o' vino, then no offense taken and I shan't even ask your sign! But if you do scoff at astrology please ask yourself, would you also deem psychology a pseudo-science? Or can you see that psychology too is merely an art with a lot of 20th century talk-therapy methodology and 21st century pill therapy science attached to it for an added air of gravitas and cultural acceptability? I see psychology as just one of many approaches to exploring and understanding the human psyche; astrology is merely another one.

Like psychology, chart analysis and discussion can shed light on your unconscious patterns, shadows and motivations, your strengths and your challenges. In addition, the study of the planets in relation to a chart can illuminate how you are influenced by impersonal changes in the world (a shift in government, a natural disaster) and more personal ones (the restructuring of your business, a new relationship).

In terms of the predictive elements of astrology, let's just say this. Personally, I follow a character-as-destiny model, meaning, the more you can learn about your own character (the hidden as well as the apparent), the more you will understand about your potential and future. Rather than focus on plot, the emphasis is on character. Your chart stays the same: wherever you go, there you are! But the planets are always moving over your chart, influencing you in a myriad of specific ways. The same way the weather is always changing and its influences can be somewhat predicted, I believe astrology offers just another tool to help you to guide your own destiny. Consider this analogy: if you are planning a trip to the beach and there is a likelihood of rain, you may want to briefly postpone your excursion or at least bring an umbrella. But you could also just go to the beach and prove the prognosticators wrong, when it doesn't rain … or go so far as to dance naked in the storm (not that there's anything wrong with that)!

Simple Answers to Simple Questions

Before going any further I wanted to present a little Q&A based on queries that frequently come my way.

Q: How can a horoscope for one sign apply to the hordes of people who fall under that sign?

A: It can't! Knowing someone is say, a Taurus, is akin to knowing that that person grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. Or that that person is of Jewish and Italian descent (AKA a "Jew-talian", props to my pal Maya). It can provide some cultural touchstones or general commonalities among a particular group. But just as one might say "New Yorkers are gruff but sentimental" (like me, darling, like me!), such statements do not apply to every member of the group. A true chart interpretation ––again, different from the more general sun sign horoscopes––reflects all the planets and their placements at the time of an individual's birth. I would liken this to knowing not just that someone was born and raised in Boston, but knowing his order in the family, his economic background, family health history, etc. All those factors go into comprising a personality, a life. Similarly, many factors go into the casting and interpretation of a horoscope, not just the birthday.

Q: What if I don't know my time of birth?

A: Your chart can still be cast, but a percentage of what is known about you may be missing. It most often doesn't change the planetary placements, but there will certainly be some blank spots. Still, I think you can still get a good 80-85% of your chart without the time of birth. It would be like looking at a photograph of you from the shins up. We could still see most of you in focus, but we may never know what your lower legs and feet look like. (Good; that saves you the trouble of getting a pedicure).

Jung and Astrology

Astrology is not as unconventional as you may think. In India, Vedic astrology (which is slanted towards a belief in fate over free will) is an integrated part of the culture. Families have their horoscopes cast as a matter of course.

As for Western astrology, which is generally more slanted towards free will than fate, we turn to Jung. In the early and middle part of the 20th Century, Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung (Freud's peer and still considered the second most influential psychologist, after The Man with the Cigar) studied astrology and alchemy and published his findings in seminal psychological books such as Synchronicity. For the full monty, read Chapter Two: An Astrological Experiment written by C.G. Jung, originally published in 1952 as part of the larger Collected Works book The Interpretation of Nature and Psyche. Freud actively discouraged Jung from pursuing this field of study, as he sensed that it would reflect poorly on Jung's reputation as a serious psychologist and scholar (for more on their epistolary conversations see the abridged 1979 edition of The Freud/Jung Letters)

In 1911 he wrote this to Freud: "I dare say that we shall one day discover in astrology a good deal of knowledge that has been intuitively projected into the heavens. For instance, it appears that the signs of the zodiac are character pictures, in other words libido symbols which depict the typical qualities of the libido at a given moment."

Jung of course wrote extensively about archetypes, from the trickster to the earth mother, images and ideas which have helped us to understand our drives and personas for decades. His above declaration certainly shows an appreciation of the basic types that form the basis for astrology, even simple sun sign astrology. But Jung penetrated much more deeply into this ancient art. In September, 1947, he wrote in a letter to Hindu astrologer, B.V. Raman:

"Since you want to know my opinion about astrology I can tell you that I've been interested in this particular activity of the human mind since more than 30 years. As I am a psychologist, I am chiefly interested in the particular light the horoscope sheds on certain complications in the character. In cases of difficult psychological diagnosis I usually get a horoscope in order to have a further point of view from an entirely different angle. I must say that I very often found that the astrological data elucidated certain points which I otherwise would have been unable to understand. From such experiences I formed the opinion that astrology is of particular interest to the psychologist, since it contains a sort of psychological experience which we call 'projected' –– this means that we find the psychological facts as it were in the constellations."

(Thanks to Anthony L. Pena for his research. For more on his insights see: http://thezodiac.com/astrojung2.htm. And additional thanks to my astrologer, Maria Napoli, who, upon our first meeting when I was a mere ingénue of 18, asked me "Have you ever read any Carl Jung?" For more on Ms. Napoli: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E0DC1231F935A25751C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print)

 

Act II
NARRATIVE ASTROLOGY

Pluto: Symbol of Revolutionary Change

Lately, does it seem as if your life, and the lives of many of those close to you are in the midst of tremendous transition? Although it's true that the only constant in life is change, these days do the changes seem as if they are being super-sized? So what gives?

Glad you asked, introspective and outer-curious seekers, for a major celestial shift is in process. 2008 will begin a whole new beguine, my dears. This lead-up period to the new cycle is something of a "cleaning house" time for all of us. If there are areas in your life that are rotting like dead wood, for goodness sake, gather those gnarled twigs and branches, throw them in a pile and light a fire! I can pretty much guarantee you that new life will spawn from those dead ashes.

You see, shortly after we ring out 2007 and ring in 2008, Pluto, the farthest planet from the Sun (and dammit, Janet, yes we still consider it a planet!) will finish a near-twelve year run (rivaling Cats) through wild and manic Sagittarius and begin a long and somber journey through the wry and melancholy sign of Capricorn.

The archetype of Sagittarius is associated with a garrulous, high-spirited energy, a sense of endless possibility and a strong proclivity toward Foot-in-Mouth Disease. Think about what life has been like since 1996, when Pluto first entered Sag: blogs, talk-radio, reality TV, YouTube, Facebook, etc. Hasn't it seemed as though any moronic thought a person has simply must be broadcast live, for the world to see (and add more insipid comments to) immediately? (Note to self: work on my blog).

But let's go back a little more, to the previous era. From late 1983 through 1995, Pluto traveled through the sign it rules: Scorpio. Scorpio, archetypally speaking, (and speaking as a Scorpio myself) is associated with sex and death. What was one of the most significant elements of that era? AIDS: sex and death inextricably linked. And as the Pluto in Scorpio cycle finished and Sagittarian times fully began, we found ourselves in 1996: the year that the three major news magazines ––Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report –– all speculated that the advent of protease inhibitors and "AIDS cocktails" meant that the deadly plague would soon be considered a "manageable disease", like diabetes. Suddenly, we were (delusionally) tossing AIDS in the same category as herpes … which by '96 seemed like a quaint ailment. We Americans love to jump from Preaching to Partying in one quick move, and so does the sign of Sagittarius. It was time to move on to lighter matters!

That same year, I signed on to the world wide web with my very first email account and of course, I was not alone. Soon everyone was "on" email and "surfin' the 'net". The whole world, it seemed, was online and the Internet Revolution had begun.

So what else has defined these last eleven years? Many Sagittarianesque themes, my friends. Humor has certainly been in vogue. Sagittarius Emeritus, Jon Stewart has served as host not just of a pioneering "Fake News" broadcast that has often been the primary source for many to find the real news. Although knee-jerk irony has grown tired, satirists like Stewart, and his heir apparent, Stephen Colbert, continue to perform at the top of their game, and to infiltrate and influence the mainstream in a way that humorists rarely do (save for another Sagittarius, Mark Twain).

Sagittarius is also known to be obsessed with religion, to the point of fanaticsm (check)! It is also known for being completely uninhibited and completely incapable at self-censoring speech (again, reality TV, blogs, etc.) On the good side, Sagittarius is also know for its unflagging optimism. No matter how silly our culture may seem, or how cruel the world is, and how hypocritical all of us are in one way or another, the natural Sagittarian propensity is to see the glass as half full … and then ask for a double shot of whatever the house liquor is, with something foamy on tap as a chaser.

But the festive Sag era is winding down in 2007. The good news: religious fanatics and talk radio pit bulls will be taken down accordingly, and given less ink and air time to begin with. The bad news? The party's over.

In January 2008 when we move into Capricorn, the sign ruled by Saturn, we will also move into a more saturnine era. Capricorn has a mildly depressive nature, leaning heavily towards gloom and pessimism. But just as it is capable of seeing the dark side of human nature, Capricorn is also capable of improving the world, by doing hard work that will actually elevate our planet and its inhabitants. And on a more down-and-dirty note, Capricorn also represents an earthy-sexy sensibility and passionate physicality along with a wry piercing gallows humor that can't be beat. Even while the world is burning (literally), Capricorns can crack a piercing or bawdy joke. Still, reality can sometimes bite.

Think of how you feel on January 2nd, after New Year's (props to Lil C, born on that day). You know it will be a long, serious haul till the next holiday. It's time to get to work. The Capricornian personality is not prone to illusions and throwing Tennessee Williams-esque paper lanterns over the truth. There's work to be done, and sure, we may not always want to do it, but do it we must. (And did I add that Capricorns like to do it as often as possible? Release must be experienced before, after (and sometimes) during all that hard work!

Substance Over Spin

And there will indeed be an upside to this new era we are sliding into. After twelve years of spin, we at last will crave substance. Take Global Warming … please. Just take it away! Of course, we can't undo the damage done, but we can begin to do what we failed to do over these previous years: face it, deal with it. Planetary climate change is hardly news; but as we slowly shift toward a Capricornian way of thinking, we are already beginning to pay more attention than we did just a couple of years before. Again, the hysterical, and ungrounded Sagittarian period is ending, and the earthy, realist Capricorn phase is beginning. We are on the tarmac, people!

But we are not ready for take-off yet.

We may feel, in '08, as if we are circling the runway, almost cleared for lift-off only to be forced to deal with an unexpected wait. Raring to go as we may be, and frustrated as we may feel with the unexpected delays, we will still remain excited, and optimistic, because we know that soon we will be airborne, and en route to a new place. We know we will be jolted out of the banal and mundane of our routines soon enough. And so we can hold both emotions in us: impatience and enthusiasm.

Although Pluto officially enters Capricorn in late January 2008, it will not be a linear journey. Pluto will go retrograde throughout the year and shift back into Sagittarius and then back into Capricorn again, back and forth all year long. The experience? Much like the way you might feel when starting a new job. While you are being trained for your new tasks, and absorbing a different culture, you still have to train your replacement at your old place of work, and spend some goodbye time hanging out with your former colleagues. Essentially, 2008 may feel, for many of us, as if we have one foot in each camp –– our old world and our new world.

When 2009 arrives though, we will be fully dug in, and will move slowly, almost ploddingly (as is the Capricorn way) through the sign of the Goat, all the way through 2022! And who will help lead the way? How about Bill Maher, Capricorn cum laude, practical pessimist, voice of realism, earthy libidinist, and moral compass to many.

And how can you steer your own ship during these new times? My advice is to do your job with a fanatical emphasis on substance and execution. Imagine someone is paying you $1000 for a service. Delivery it with the quality expected of a $10,000 fee. That doesn't mean work obsessively (though Capricorn is ruled and fueled by a fierce work ethic); it means work effectively and well, realistically and slowly. The slapdash, high-spin, low-quality Sagittarian days are drawing to a close, but they have been fun, my dears (I'm Sag rising and have enjoyed every moment of it, even when the joke has been on me). So let's not lose the great lessons of Sagittarius: freedom, optimism exploration, celebration, investigation, lack of inhibition and of course, humor. This sign like no other represents the ability to laugh at others, but more importantly to laugh at oneself. And I almost forgot the greatest of all Sagittarian traits: Generosity. It's up to integrate a spirit of generosity into our lives as a new, more restrained era begins.

To prepare for the Capricorn years that lie ahead why not ready yourself to learn all the nuances of the key word for this sign: RESPECT (Cue song now, please). The reason Capricorn (when it is operating from its higher motivations, not its unscrupulous ones) can be so patient, and is so willing to engage with the real world not ignore it, is because it innately understands that by leading a life of integrity, and doing its life-work effectively and strategically that this behavioral path will ultimately lead to the utmost respect. Capricorn always looks ahead, at the whole of the game, not just the challenge before it today.

Finally, over this last decade the expression "at the end of the day" has become hackneyed. But let me make at attempt to freshen it up by applying it in the most somber and soulful way. When the archetype of somber and soulful Capricorn uses that phrase it is conjuring up the true end of the day: death. And Pluto represents death. Something profoundly outmoded has to die in order for something else, that's time has come, to be born. And birth is a messy, violent ordeal. No wonder women block out the pain of labor! Painful as the process of transformation, death and rebirth can be, it is worth it. For from the ashes, new life shall spring. (Hey, did I sound like a religious zealot there? I told you I had Sag rising)!

(Thanks to the Capricorns who have taught me the most: my mother Audrey, my lover Anne; Wendy Jo, my dearest of friends, as well as my dear Cousin Brad and dear buddies Angela and Johnny; and finally, my departed and famous heroes: writers Patricia Highsmith and JD Salinger and jazz musician Chet Baker. And to my astrological guinea pig, who goes by the simple American name,Deb, a Sag with Capricorn rising).

Saturn's Quiet Trek

Now that we have a deeper sense of Capricorn, it would behoove us to talk a little bit about the planet that rules the sign of the Goat: Saturn. (It would also behoove me to use the word behoove more; I like it. It sounds at once authoritative, yet horsey). Saturn is the least mysterious of all the planets. It is simply all about discipline, hard work, and the ability to manage one's time. Over the years, when I have met with chart clients, and tried to explain Saturn, I've likened this planet's personality to the process we must engage in in order to learn a musical instrument, or a foreign language. Let's say you want to learn French, a language you've never, or perhaps barely, studied. How do you do it? Simple. You make the decision: I will master this language! You come up with a realistic plan, whether it's to take private lessons, a class, or listen to tapes. You might tell some friends or relatives, making the process more concrete, and ensuring that others will tease you with irritating but motivational queries: "So how's it going? Parlez Vous Francais ?" At first you may be excited by your new interest. But then you may grow weary of the reality that it takes practice, practice, practice to really reach your goal. If you practice once a week, that's how good you will be. If you practice daily, you know you'll be that much better. The key is always in the showing up, in the doing of the work. Then finally, one magical day you will wake up to discover that you are speaking French! But it wasn't magic, mon cherie, it was hard work.

Recently I began playing piano. For this I give special thanks to my Capricorn lover, Anne, a deeply musical person (as well as professional doctor, and professor of doctoring, I proudly profess!) who has been playing piano since she was five. In fact, as I write this, on October 27th, the day before my birthday, upstate in our dear Sag friend Steven's country house, she is playing Cole Porter and it sounds divoon!

It was one night, just over three months ago, at this very same house, that I asked her if she would show me a little bit on the piano. I had never played before, but from that first moment on the bench, and that first C chord, I felt a sense of life surge through me, and a completely different part of my soul open up. (For proof: see the photo on my services page, under "Bang the Keys", taken upon the evening of which I speak)! After this fateful night I was almost immediately compelled to buy a used piano (I call her Mitzi, for she sounds like a bawdy old Cockney saloon singer), and begin lessons.

I cherish the joy of meeting weekly with my instructor and pal, Ed Pastorini (www.101crustaceans.com), but I struggle with my schedule and commitment to put in the practice time necessary between lessons to really learn and master the instrument. Luckily, I am doing this for pure pleasure, and self-expression, so I have patience. But even so, as I take only the tiniest baby steps toward learning to read music, and playing the swingin' Gershwin tunes I hear in my head, and which Ed patiently teaches me, I am constantly reminded of the lessons of Saturn: Work. Work. Work. Practice. Practice. Practice. (And in my case, practice what you preach)!

It helps that I think of Saturn as a friend, and I encourage you to do so too, especially now, as this earth-ruled planet continues its journey (which began around Labor Day 2007) through the earth sign Virgo. It will remain in Virgo till around Halloween 2009. Virgo is similar to its earth sign cousin Capricorn in that it is also compelled to work hard, and to work carefully and slowly. But whereas Capricorn is much more goal-oriented, Virgo is all about the process.

So, let's say, for example, you decide that by Halloween 2009 you want to save X amount of money. (And whatever figure you are imagining, add a zero to the end, please). How will you do it? Not by planning a heist for fast cash or selling a kidney on the black market, or by using any other get-rich-quick scheme the juvenile part of your brain imagines. No, you can do it the adult Saturnian way. Put a little bit aside each week. Just as you would not go to the gym and immediately pick up a 400 pound weight with no prior (or at least recent) experience with such heavy lifting, you certainly couldn't expect to save a large amount of money in a very short time. Saturn rewards incremental steps. Whether you are learning an instrument or a language, working on your love life or your financial situation, your health or your happiness, Saturn says: move slowly, know that the early steps will be the most challenging, but watch as you see your own progress … for which you have yourself to thank. After all, you did the work.

And with Saturn in Virgo over these next two years, I say enjoy the process even more than the payoff. Doesn't it feel good to put that check in the mail to pay down a debt, even just a little bit? Isn't it a rush to learn something new and to exercise an atrophying muscle?

So, as we walk slowly, through this cycle of Capricorn and Virgo, over the next couple of years, let's stay grounded in the pleasure of each moment, but with full awareness of our sense of purpose.

Check back for as-needed updates.

For charts: jilldearman@gmail.com