Jump for Joy Over Jupiter: Acorn Squash and Polenta Soufflé

In my latest podcast of The Astrological Cook on Web Talk Radio http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/astrological-cook/, I spoke of Jupiter and the joy and expansion it looks to bring to our lives. Because my interview with Lean toward Happy creator Roz Warren www.leantowardhappy.com/ went a bit long (how Jupiterian is that), I didn’t have time to give listeners my recipe for Acorn Squash and Polenta Soufflé so here it is! I made this out of leftovers a few weeks ago and it is so easy and delicious. Makes 6 -8 servings 2 medium acorn squash 1 ½ cups corn meal 2 teaspoons salt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter ¼-cup milk 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon, freshly ground nutmeg ½-teaspoon cardamom Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. NOTE if you are one of those people who hates to wield dangerous knives there is an easy way to handle acorn squash. Just bake them in a 400-degree oven for about 40 minutes until they are soft, let them cool then slice them in half, remove the seeds and the skin. It is easier that doing all that when they are hard as a rock. While the acorn squash is cooling, make the polenta. Bring 3 quarts of water to a mild boil then slowly whisk in the corn meal. You do not want lumps so keep whisking until smooth, stir in the salt and butter, and blend well. Remove from the heat. Combine the cooled acorn squash and polenta in a food processor, add the milk and spices, and blend until very smooth. Pour into a greased 1-quart soufflé pan and bake 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Guest Blogger today - author of "Feminine Transitions: A Photographic Celebration of Natural Beauty"

Please welcome my guest blogger today Alyscia Cunningham, a photographer and author of "Feminine Transitions: A Photographic Celebration of Natural Beauty" a wonderful new book reminding us about real values. Check out Alyscia's work at her sites below! Thanks www.Alyscia.com www.facebook.com/FeminineTransitions www.twitter.com/AlysciaCPhoto www.facebook.com/AlysciaCPhoto My Creative Discovery As I child I vividly remember cutting out Garfield comic strips from the New York Times in attempt to draw it. I used to trace but gave it a go free hand. To my surprise, it looked exactly like the drawing of Garfield, emotions and all. From there I began recreating all sorts of animations in my notebooks (I was a doodler in school and my notebooks proved it). In the 7th grade, I drew a picture of Tupac I had hanging on my bedroom wall. I was stunned! It was my first attempt drawing a non-cartoon character and it looked exactly like Tupac. I could now draw people. Or maybe it was always there but I never explored it. After that, I started drawing portraits of classmates for a small fee ($2-$3). I remember having someone different scheduled each week during a particular class (I can’t seem to remember what class it was and how I got away with sitting in the back, not getting any work done, yet drawing away). I first discovered my love for Photography when I took it as an art elective - Photographic Expression, while studying at Montgomery College. At the end of the course, my Professor was so impressed with my portfolio that he encouraged me to take the next course, Photography I. Discovering my passion for photography I did not stop at Photography I but continued with Photography II. By then, my Professor and classmates were suggesting that I consider a career in photography. Changing my major from Physical Therapy to Photography was the easiest decision of my adult life. My main focus is human images and how it can be incorporated with light and shadow. I use dramatic lighting in many of my images because it fosters greater interaction between you and the photographs, as you tend to analyze it a little more. Likewise, the use of close ups creates a sense of intimacy and usually draws a greater emotional reaction from you. Above all I love to convey a feeling of ease or comfort through my subjects. I believe my innate tranquility is of great help in doing so. My visions are the biggest inspiration for my creativity. I typically don’t plan a drawing or photo in advance. A visual almost always comes to me in pictures, including the idea for my book, Feminine Transitions. First I foresee it then use my camera or pen to capture what I visualized. In order to me to remember, I began to sleep with a journal by my bedside. I would wake up in the wee hours of the morning and sketch or write down the imagery that came to me. To this day it still amazes me how I see my images beforehand. How does one describe the logic in that? Science always seems to have an answer for the unknown. To be quite honest, it really can’t be explained. It is one of the beautiful mysteries of inherent creativity and the Universe.

Happy Full Aries Moon - And an Eclipse

Tonight at 7;38 PM Eastern - we will experience a lunar eclipse and a full Moon in Aries. This is a Hunter's Moon, a signal to the ancients that is time to store food for the winter. It is also called a Blood Moon. How appropriate that this year it is in Aries. Aries is the sign of action, movement and initiation so this a wonderful time to commit to follow your goals. No excuses.

With the Sun in Libra, this is also a time to balance your needs (Aries) with others (Libra.)Compromise, balance and effort - geez I wish this Moon had come about two weeks ago over Washington! On second thought - we need more than a full Moon to fix that bunch.

I Will Say It Again - Uranus Square Pluto

OK I haven't a clue. That is my answer when someone asks me what is going to happen this week with the Washington mess. Astrologers are NOT fortune-tellers and if someone tells you they are, run away - run far away. All I will say is keep your eyes on that hard square between Retrograded Uranus and Pluto. Uranus is in Aries - the sign of unbridled male energy and warrior drive and it is retrograded meaning it is churning inward and misdirected - and OH LOOK where it is over Washington right now ---- it is on the cusp of the second house - the house of money and resources. Uranus is the planet depicted rebellious energy - quick change, hard to grasp energy. (So yes, it would be the sign of people trying to disrupt the social order.) But wait there is more... It squares - or makes a disharmonious aspect to Pluto, the slow and grinding change planet. And - I could NOT make this up - Pluto is in the 10th house, the house of government and authority structures- and is in Capricorn the sign that vibrates to the 10th house. Who will win this tug of war and what is winning? Is winning destroying American resources - to some it might be?

I take some hope looking at the biwheel of American and the current transits. That Uranus is in our 4th house - so yes they disrupting our "family" but Vesta/Ceres - in Virgo is sitting on the cusp of the 10th house. Vesta, the burning heart’s desire, and Ceres, the planet of the mother, nurturer - can come together to provide a balm. However, Vesta does not make it easy. So we will have some "paying of the piper" for appeasing the lunatic fringe - the people who want to destroy our country. I hate to depress you further but Saturn is about to move into the 12th house for America - that is a time that forces us to face what we have been avoiding. It essence it makes us comes to terms with our secrets, our inner fears and the lies we tell ourselves. IF we use that time to be honest about what these Tea Party haters are then perhaps, - perhaps - all of this pain will be worth it. However, even if we win we will lose – something.

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Rafeal Edward Cruz I Love You

I love Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. No, really I do! If you are someone who has been reading my blog you might be scratching your head at this point saying, "Has she gone mad?" Nope. Think about it. Ted Cruz is doing two things for which I have been begging the universe. He is ripping the Republican Party apart exposing the Tea Party for the loonies that they are and showing their total hypocrisy for embracing a man NOT born in America. Yes, apparently the same people who can castigate the President for being born in the far off country of Hawaii are embracing as their 2016 candidate a Canadian! I love it - he is made to order for any liberal or really any thinking person in America today! Thanks to him releases his birth certificate we have his date and place of birth (did I say it was CANADA?) but unfortunately not his birth time. Drat those evil foreigners. However, we can learn a lot about a person even without the time thanks to that wonderful device, the South Node.

Ted’s South Node is in Leo, telling us that his past lives featured him demanding center stage. Leo, ruled the Sun is the sign of the King, the ruler, who demands to be the center of his subject’s attention. Leo needs people to surround him and reflect off of him. He has to have others revolve around him. Well let’s see – can we say the Ted is still living in his South Node? We are supposed to be moving from the South to the North in our lives. Therefore, he should be embracing the ideals of Aquarius – the sign opposite of Leo. Aquarius is all about brotherhood, humanity - thinking things through. Now he might think he is doing that – however, we can see how much he loves to have those people cheering for him no matter the consequences. This puts me in a quandary. I love to see people embrace their North Nodes and work to help my clients reach that goal. However, the longer Ted plays the megalomaniac the better for America… what to do – what to do? Ah, now that I think about it – he wouldn’t listen to me anyway. After all I am one the evil, educated elites. So Ted – keep it up. The more you stay in Leo shadow the happier I will be!

Is There An Astrology To The Government Shutdown?

***Download my new podcast Astrological Cooking http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/astrological-cook/******* Is There An Astrology To The Government Shutdown? Probably not -I guess the beginnings start with the Tea Party. How can we tell when that started? I don’t know, was it the the Civil War or when a black man became President? I would rather not think about them any more than forced to, frankly. If you want to destroy your government, you are an anarchist. If you want your fellow Americans to go broke you are not a patriot. Keep in mind that we have until December 13 before Uranus comes out of retrograde and November 13 before Neptune gets its act together so we have a few more weeks, months of the energy of those big guys messing around. I put the astrological blame on the square retrograded Uranus makes to Pluto. Retrograded Uranus is quick, rebellious energy turned inward - with no real direction. It is in the sign of Aries, the sign of male energy and drive. Aries of course wears the shadow of the baby of the zodiac; do it my way or we will pout. DO it my way or I will throw the biggest temper tantrum ever. It is safe to say that that the Tea Party faction, who fancy themselves rebels are now exhibiting the worst of the Aries shadow and the Uranus retrograde. I want it now and I want it now and… You get my picture. Uranus being retrograded exacerbates the fact that they talk only to themselves in their Fox-bubble. They actually think they are winning the public relations battle.

Pluto, which has just come out of retrograde is in Capricorn, the sign of government. I have spoken often of the 2008 – 2027 reign of a Capricornian Pluto and the change it brings upon government and authority structures. That energy of that Uranus retrograde (which over Washington is in the 6th house, the house of day to day work) is just irritating slower Pluto – in the 3rd – the house of ideas and communication. Those “rebel” Tea Partiers are just enjoying the heck out of irritating the big lumbering government – with their wacky ideas and don’t care whose paycheck they effect by closing down the daily functioning of the government. I am relying on that direct Neptunian energy after November 13 to force a collective sign of “ENOUGH” from the public. Neptune in Pisces is a time of peace, brotherhood, and coming together. Hopefully that energy will be enough to keep the Uranus gang in the corner. Let’s hope.