Happy Monday! 1-9-2023

Monday January 9, 2023

 Full Moon Phase – illumination, realization, fulfillment, shadow, relationships, experience

– Moon in LEO– Void of Course 8:52 PM – 10:15 AM Moving to Virgo

– Retrograde Planets – Uranus, Mars, Mercury

– Best Days (from the Farmer’s Almanac) – Jan 9th – Ask for Loan, Cut Hair to Slow Growth, Dig Post Holes, Entertain Friends, Dry Fruits and Vegetables, Host a Party, Mow to Slow Growth, Paint, Perform Demolition, Pick Apples and Pears, Quit Smoking, Start Diet to Lose Weight, Wash Wooden Floors, Kill Plant Pests

– Planting Calendar (from the Farmer’s Almanac) – Jan 7th – 11th  – A barren time. Best for killing weeds, briars, poison ivy, and other plant pests. Clear wood lots and fencerows.

– Aspect of the Aeon Sophia: (Wisdom): – Kali – Goddess of Beginnings and Endings

– Aspect of the Aeon Thelete: (Will/Desire): Seth – God of the North, God of Enlightenment

– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Month – New Moon in Capricorn SUN: –   SUN/MOON – 02 CAPRICORN: three stained glass windows in a Gothic church, one damaged by war   (& EARTH: –  02 CANCER: a man on a magic carpet observes vast vistas below him )

– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Year: a flock of wild geese

SUN – 19 CAPRICORN: a child of about five carrying a huge shopping bag filled with groceries

EARTH – 19 CANCER: a priest performing a marriage ceremony

Happy Monday! Stay positive. Work hard. Make it Happen!


A Funny Thing Happened During Mercury Retrograde

The funny thing is that, as expected, I have been waylaid. More from the holidays and my own mindset, but this has happened to me so often during Mercury Retrograde. It is almost funny.

But I have a lot to say and I just need the motivation to put it to paper. So this is somewhat of an update on me and some of the things I have been working on in the past few weeks.

Cleansing

Every so often I do a dietary cleanse. It ends up being about once a year or every 18 months or so. It is called the Real Food Reset. Or alternatively, 30 Days of Real Food. Per thier own promotional copy:

30 days to loose weight, kick cravings and feel great! Get in touch with your primal instincts, detox your body, and cleanse ourself of your cravings, all with real food.

Now I didn’t find this thing from no where. I looked where everybody goes for good sound health information: Facebook. hahahaha.

But actually I did find this on Facebook. It is from a book written by a friend of mine from high school. At the time I found it, I was looking to do a cleanse of some sort. And after reading about it, I tried it. And since then, I have done it about 5 times. What is a month of your life anyways.

The idea is simple. Cut out ALL unnatural sugar. Eat only unprocessed foods. Nothing with additives, preservatives or artificial sweetners.

In practice it is a pain in the ass. No sugar means no bread or most dairy. No alcohol. No sweets of any kind except fruit.

All fats and protiens. And it is not like Atkins or any of the other weight loss systems. Most of thier foods are packed with preservatives and sucralose.

It is expensive. Meat. Fresh Fruit and Vegetables. And all in largers volumes that one might be used to since you cannot eat all those fillers (pasta, bread, potatos, etc.).

And thanks to the Big Guy (aka Brandon), everything is twice the price it was a year ago.

In the end, its all part of the challenge.

I began on January 1st, and will continue through the 30th. After 9 days, I have lost 5 lbs and my joints hurt less.

If you are interested in the book, you can find it by clicking on the picture on the right. or visit their website at www.eatmovelive52.com.

Filtering

For Christmas, a couple of my older kids got together and bought us a Berkey Water Filter. Now I have wanted one of these for years. But could never justify the $300 + price tag.

The water we get here in Eastern PA we call Schuylkill Punch. God knows what’s in it and it tastes god awful. Whatever the flavor of the day, it is usually smelling of so much chlorine that I am sure the local pool does not have to worry about flash cleaning very often.

We have always relied on bottled water or a Brita pitcher for drinking water. But that usually has meant that my coffee and iced tea still got the juice. Because the frige pitchers just do not filter fast enough.

It took me a couple days to set it up. It’s a little complicated, and from experience, I did not want to chance messing up the filters as they are expensive. But since priming, we have been going through 3-6 gallons of filtered water a day.

And while I love it (water tastes amazing), the surprise was about my kids. All 4 who still live here hit it all day long. Is it the novelty? Maybe. But I will take it.

Now if you questions just what this thing does, then see the ridiculous technical sales copy from thier website below. On the one hand its a little much. On the other, it is impressive. And to think of all the chemicals and other oddities that end up in our water system.

For one instance, consider pharmeceutical medications. I have a two sons who suffer from epilepsy and are on liquid medications to prevent seizures. At one point, I had extra bottles of meds that I could no longer use. What to do with them?

  • Trash – absolutely not. I want no chance that anyone might get their hands on it and use it.
  • Sink or toilet – Hell no. That puts the meds in the sewer system. For us, that means a trip down the pipe to Fritz’s island to get processed and settled. Then flushed back down the Schuylkill River for the good folks of Pottstown and Pholadelphia to drink next week.
  • Bury it – and spoil the groundwater.
  • The Pharmacy and the Doctors advised me to call the police. Our department has semi regular medication dropoffs. What they do with it? I have no idea.

This all goes to the heart of why I have wanted a reliable water filtering system.

Now I have it. It’s pretty cool.

From the source: https://www.usaberkeyfilters.com/what-does-the-berkey-remove/

The heart of Berkey® water purification systems is Black Berkey® Purification Element (sold in pairs of two), which remove a range of contaminants from drinking water. See the list below, or download the lab testing here.

Berkey Virus Removal to >99.999% (Log 5)
Exceeds Purification Standard (Log 4):
MS2 Coliphage ; Fr Coliphage.

Berkey Pathogenic Bacteria (and Surrogates) Removal to >99.9999%
Exceeds Purification Standard (Log 6): Bacillus atrophaeus (Anthrax surrogate); Raoultella terrigena (Pathogenic Bacteria Surrogate); Salmonella Enterica.

Berkey Trihalomethanes Removal to >99.8%
(Below Lab Detectable Limits):
Bromodichloromethane ; Bromoform ; Chloroform ; Dibromochloromethane.

Berkey Inorganic Minerals Removal up to 99.9%
Removed to Below Lab Detectable Limits: Chloramine; Chloride; Chlorine Residual (Total Residual Chlorine); Free Chlorine

Berkey Heavy Metals Removal (High & Low pH Levels) up to 99.9%
Aluminum (>99%); Antimony (>99.9%); Barium (>80%); Beryllium (>99.9%); Bismuth (>99.9%); Cadmium (>99.7%); Cobalt (>95%); Chromium (>99.9%); Chromium 6 (>99.85%); Copper (>99.9%); Iron (>99.9%); Lead (>99.9%); Mercury (>99.9%); Molybdenum (>90%); Nickel (>99.9%); Vanadium (>87.5%); Zinc (>99.9%).

Berkey Pharmaceutical Drug Contaminants Removal to >99.9%
Acetaminophen; Caffeine; Carbamazepine; Ciprofloxacin HCl; Erythromycin USP; Sulfamethoxazole; Trimethoprim; Bisphenol A; Diclofenac Sodium; 4-para-Nonylphenol; 4-tert-Octylphenol; Primidone; Progestrone; Gemfibrozil; Ibuprofen; Naproxen Sodium; Triclosan.

Berkey Also Removes or Reduces:
Arsenic (>99.9%); Escherichia coli (E. Coli) (>99.999%); Fluorene (>99.9%); Manganese (>99.9%); MBAS (>96.67%); Nitrites (>95%); PCB’s (>99.9%); Petroleum Products (Gasoline, Diesel, Crude Oil, Kerosene, Mineral Spirits, Refined Oil- All >99.9%); Selenium (>99.9%); Thallium (>99.5%); Rust; Silt; Sediment; Turbidity; Foul Tastes and Odors.
* For Heavy Metals, Inorganic Minerals, Pesticides, Petroleum, Pharmaceuticals, Semi-VOC’s, THM’s, VOC’s; reduction exceeded lab detection limits.

Pesticides & (Semi) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Removed to Below Laboratory Detectable Limits

• 1,1,1,2-Tetrachloroethane • 1,1,1-Trichloroethane (TCA) • 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane • 1,1,2-Trichlorotrifluoroethane • 1,1-Dichloroethane (1,1-DCA) • 1,1-Dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE) • 1,1-Dichloropropene • 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene • 1,2,3-Trichloropropane • 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene • 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene • 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP) • 1,2-Dibromoethane • 1,2-Dichloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethane (CFC 123a) • 1,2-Dichlorobenzene • 1,2-Dichlorobenzene-d4 • 1,2-Dichloroethane • 1,2-Dichloropropane • 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene • 1,3-Dichlorobenzene • 1,3-Dichloropropene • 1,4-Dichlorobenzene • 2,2-Dichloropropane • 2,4,5-T • 2,4,5-TP (Silvex) • 2,4-D • 2,4-DB • 2-Butanone (MEK) • 2-Chlorotoluene • 2-Hexanone • 2-Methyl-2-propanol • 3,5-Dichlorobenzoic Acid • 3-Hydroxycarbofuran • 4-Bromofluorobenzene • 4-Chlorotoluene • 4-Isopropyltoluene • 4-Methyl-2-pentanone • 4-Nitrophenol4,4′-DDD4,4′-DDE • 4,4″-DDT • 5-Hydroxydicamba • Acetone • Acenaphthylene • Acifluorfen • Alachlor • Aldicarb • Aldicarb Sulfone • Aldicarb Sulfoxide • Aldrin • alpha-Chlorodane • Ametryn • Anthracene • Aroclor (1016, 1221, 1232, 1242, 1248, 1254, 1260) • Atraton • Atrazine • Baygon • Bentazon • Benzene • Bromacil • Bromoacetic Acid • Bromobenzene • Bromochloromethane • Bromodichloromethane • Bromomethane • Bromoform • Butachlor • Butylate • Butylbenzylphthalate • Carbaryl • Carbofuran • Carbon Tetrachloride • Carboxin • Chloramben • Chlordane • Chloroacetic Acid • Chlorobenzene • Chlorobenzilate • Chloroethane • Chloroform • Chloromethane • Chlorpropham • Chlorprophane • cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene • cis-1,3-Dichloropropene • cis-Nonachlor • Cycloate • Dacthal Acid • Dalapon • Diazinona • Dibromoacetic Acid • Dibromochloropropane (DBCP) • Dibromomethane • Dicamba • Dichloroacetic Acid • Dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC 12) • Dichloromethane • Dichlorvos • Diclorprop • DieldrinDiethylphthalate • Dinoseb • Diphenamid • Disulfoton • Disulfoton Sulfone • Disulfoton Sulfoxidea • Endrin • EPTC • Ethoprop • Ethylbenzene • Ethylene Dibromide (EDB) • Fenamiphos • Fenarimol • Fluorobenzene • Fluridone • gamma-Chlorodane • Glyphosate • Halo acidic Acids (HAA5) • Heptachlor • Heptachlor Epoxide • Hexachlorobenzene • Hexachlorobutadiene (CCC) • Hexachlorocyclopentadiene • HexazinoneIsophorone • Isopropylbenzene (Cumene) • Lindane (Gamma-BHC) • Merphos • Methiocarb • Methomyl • Methoxychlor • Methylcyclohexane-methane • Methyl Paraoxon • Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) • Metolachlor • Metribuzin • Mevinphos • MGK 264 • Molinate • Monochlorobenzene • m-Xylenes • Naphthalene • Napropamide • n-Butylbenzene • Norflurazon • n-Propylbenzene • Oxamyl • o-Xylene • Pebulate • Pentachlorophenol • Picloram • Prometon • Prometryn • Pronamidea • Propazine • p-Xylenes • sec-Butylbenzene • Simazine • Simetryn • Stirofos • Styrene • Tebuthiuron • Terbacil • Terbufos • Terbutryn • tert-Butylbenzene • Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) • Tetrahydrofuran (THF) • Thiobencarb • Toluene • Toxaphene • trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene • trans-1,3-Dichloropropene • trans-Nonachlor • Triademefon • Tribromoacetic Acid • Trichloroacetic Acid • Trichloroethene (TCE) • Trichloroethylene • Trichlorofluoromethane (CFC 11) • Tricyclazole • Trifuralin • Vernolate • Vinyl Chloride • and many more*