All About Thriving

Contemplating Mercury On a New Moon Eclipse

July 11, 2018 by Sara Diamond Leave a Comment

I am looking forward to Thursday evening’s New Moon partial solar eclipse, not so much as a discrete event but because eclipses are energetic power surges, heralding changes even months and years ahead.

I always enjoy it in late June or July when there’s a New Moon in Cancer, the sign of my Sun and Mercury. This New Moon will be extra intense as the Sun and Moon will be opposed by the transformative force of Pluto, now in the sign of Capricorn (hard work, structure, nurturing projects, getting things done.)

For any lunation (new or full Moon) or transit, we look to where it falls and activates our own natal chart. … Continue reading »

Homage to Saturn in Sagittarius

September 4, 2017 by Sara Diamond Leave a Comment

The astrological transit of a Saturn return happens for everyone in one’s late 20s and again in one’s late 50s, when Saturn returns to orbit the sign and degree it was in at one’s birth. A Saturn return often gets a bad rap, as Saturn is associated with structure, hard work and maturity. But something that is hard is not necessarily something bad.

Astrology does not teach us that any planet causes us to do things. Astrology is a language by which we can read and tell a meaningful story of the interplay between earthlings and the celestial bodies.… Continue reading »

Dogs. Plural.

July 20, 2016 by Sara Diamond Leave a Comment

I wasn’t consciously planning to increase my brood, but I’ve been dreaming about it for some time.

A few months ago at the dog park, I noticed a flyer for Muttville, an organization that cares for and relocates senior dogs. Often these are dogs whose people have died. I looked at the picture of their poster girl “Sheila” and thought about how I’d like to foster and adopt a senior dog who has lost its people.

I’d been thinking that if Maggie dies before me, I would, of course, adopt another dog. … Continue reading »

Writing and Healing and Art

May 11, 2016 by Sara Diamond 1 Comment

In my youth, I was on a mission, and my writing was in service to that. I wrote journalism, political analysis and social theory, for newspapers, magazines and books. The purpose of the writing was to educate and to inform, to arouse and mobilize people on the Left to understand and to organize against the Right. On the education and information front, the work was a partial success. On the mission of arousing and mobilizing people to stop the Right, it was largely a flop. … Continue reading »

Writing Away

January 27, 2016 by Sara Diamond 2 Comments

Writing happens.

Sometimes, snap, just like that.

But, really, there’s more to it.

The magic kicks in at a certain point. There’s much that precedes it.

In the mid to late 1990s, I was in a women’s memoir writing group for a few years. It was there that I met my dear friend Bonnie. She was writing a tribute to her father and, along the way, she wrote about her whole large family. About one of her tall brothers, she coined the phrase “Jimmy, the string bean,” and those four loving and amusing words stuck, and we’ve laughed about the image for years.… Continue reading »

A Circle of Love

December 30, 2015 by Sara Diamond 4 Comments

Happy New Year, everyone!

Time is like a circle.

We humans have marked time by watching the movements of the planets in the sky, by noting shifting periods of more and less light to work by, more and less heat and cold in the air, the periodic falling of rain or snow, the flight patterns of birds.

We humans have been observing and commenting about time since our species has had a consciousness capable of doing so. We did this simply at first, watching the sky and the tides. … Continue reading »

Holy Days for an Introvert

December 2, 2015 by Sara Diamond 5 Comments

Almost nothing ruffles my feathers like a social demand to conform.

Such a demand, and my thoughts on it, came up last week as we began the holiday season.

When the days get darker and shorter and the temperatures plummet and, God willing, when we finally get some rain in California, many animals, including a lot of human beings, want to hibernate, or at least withdraw a good bit of our energy from the external world.

In ancient times, there developed rituals for coping with the possibility of not surviving winter. … Continue reading »

On Being Seen

November 18, 2015 by Sara Diamond 2 Comments

Nature presents a study in contrasts between what is seen and unseen, what is heard and unheard.

The field I walk in daily is strewn with holes made by gophers. Their survival depends on staying underground, unseen. Flowers, by contrast, depend on being seen so that animals and humans will touch them, pick them, and spread their seeds. Babies of many species are cute, and by their cuteness, they ensure that they are cared for by adults. Their survival depends on being seen, and heard. … Continue reading »

Four Years On

November 4, 2015 by Sara Diamond 3 Comments

If you’re old enough, you remember where you were during the Kennedy assassination (I was in kindergarten and we were sent home early that day). And even if you’re youngish, you’ll remember where you were during the 9-11 attacks (I was in law school and we were sent home early that day).

Cancer patients and survivors have their own sets of terrible anniversaries. For many it’s diagnosis day. Each time it comes around on the calendar, there are sad remembrances and a look back in the rear view mirror at all that has happened since.… Continue reading »

Hair, Again

September 16, 2015 by Sara Diamond 4 Comments

Hair. It can be a big deal. It’s a big deal to me and, apparently, to lots of other people.

I was reminded of this in early September when the now-infamous elected Kentucky clerk went to jail over her refusal to follow the law and issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Amidst the brouhaha about Kim Davis, I saw people on-line mocking her appearance and, in particular, her hair.

Ugh. I cringed.

It was her unlawful behavior, not her hair, that was the problem. … Continue reading »