November 13, 2010
VENUS RETROGRADE UPDATE:
In over 20 years of traveling, this is the first time that I have begun a trip with Venus Retrograde. I find that, when Mercury-Venus-Mars turn Retrograde AFTER I have begun my trip, they do not have a negative influence— the negativity only manifests if the planets are retrograde WHEN I leave my house to commence the trip.
A few years ago I HAD to commence my trip when Mercury was retrograde. There was no choice if I was to travel in November but all of the Moon’s aspects for the beginning of the trip were excellent— so all would turn out well. All went well until I was leaving Prague— my ticket, my passport and $8 in Czech money were stolen at the train station— a most dangerous place!
Fortunately, before I realized that these items were stolen, my friends stayed too long on the train and they were stuck on a long trip to Usti! This was such a lucky turn of events because they could explain the situation to the train official. He, in turn, contacted the police in Usti. The police were waiting for me, they took my “luggage from hell” to the station and they filled out a report, using my friends to translate. If my friends had not been with me, I would have had to wait at the station for an interpreter— because I needed this report in order to obtain a new passport! My friend, Jindra, used to work at an embassy in Prague so she knew what I had to do to get a replacement. All went well except that I missed a big party in Berlin that my friends there were giving for me. A humorous sidebar— the police offered me a glass of vodka to help me to relax.
With Venus Retrograde, any glitch that could happen has happened. First, I have discovered that my provider is no longer Starpower, although I can receive e-mails addressed to koiner@starpower.net and I can even receive e-mails addressed to my oldest address, koiner@erols.com However, my new provider is RCN. I receive e-mails but my computer cannot find Starpower on the internet. All posts for Global Gatherings are jammed up somewhere in the ethers. I can post e-mails only on my Gmail account. I do not have internet connection here in Prague and, when I arrived in Vienna, I could not use the internet connection there because Ingrid has an internet connection stick, requiring the downloading of software and passwords. I felt lost and cut off from my friends at home.
The next glitch was at the train station coming from Berlin to Prague. Zdenek interpreted the time that I was LEAVING Berlin as the time that I was ARRIVING— so we missed each other. I waited in the train station for 90 minutes until a kind young man offered to call Jindra using his cell phone. She told me the problem. Since I had Metro tickets from last year, I was able to take the Metro and bus to her home until Zdenek could pick me up. All was well in the end.
The next glitch in the series occurred when I was to visit an old friend and famous astrologer in Prague, a lady who is about to turn 90 years old, Zosa Kinkorova. Zdenek asked her if the #3 Tram was the one that would travel by her house and she said yes— but Tram #3 no longer exists!!!! I knew that Tram 3 traveled around the river from Charles Bridge. I finally got to the Bridge and took Tram 27 to her house. It was horrible (I got very emotional at times, almost in tears) but all worked out in the end.
This morning— November 13 (2010) — I tried to start my Netbook. It would not start but Zdenek knew that this is a problem with the battery shifting and he was able to shake it, click the buttons on the Netbook and it started up. If I had not started the Netbook that morning, I would not have known what was wrong.
Then, on November 15, I tried to contact the expensive hotel in Kamnik Slovenia for reservations. The website said that they were not taking reservations. I panicked as the Slovenian astrologers expected me to be at this hotel— even the telephone number did not work! Ingrid felt that this was a website error and she e-mailed the hotel. Indeed, it was a website error and I made my reservations. Then, I received an e-mail from Bern Jurcic in Slovenia. He said that even Alexander from Belgrade wanted to visit with me. While Venus was only stationing, I clearly felt a shift in the energies of the Venus Retrograde.
The next glitch was that Bill Meridian is in America, not here in Vienna, but I can always Skype him when I return. Even his wife, Surya, was over-whelmed with renovations. With Venus retrograde, I felt that it was best to keep everything simple and just enjoy my visit with Ingrid— and I have had a fantastic time with her. We attended a lot of exhibitions and they always serve all the wine that you wish to drink— like at the Polish Embassy in Washington DC. We attended a horrible exhibition sponsored by Francesca Hapsburg. I wrote in her book that the money for this tasteless exhibition could have been better served in other ways to help humanity. However, she did serve a lot of food, wine, Gluhwien and Punsch. At the next (excellent) art show, they not only served wine but all the Gin & Tonic that you wanted to drink. They were promoting a new Gin called Vir Gin— it was given 5 stars in Vienna!!
The final glitch in Vienna was that the European keyboard is entirely different from my American keyboard. When someone would post a question on my website, I could only write— I am in Europe until December. I cannot use European keys on computer. I will write when I return. Of course, I could not make capital letters, some letters are not where they are on my keyboard and I have no idea what is on the keyboard. I could only send very brief e-mails to friends and it took forever to even write these short posts. I am sure that those who posted from my website think I am illiterate from the writing style.
Now that I am alone (and feeling very lonely) in Kamnik Slovenia, I can see another pattern with Venus Retrograde. In each city, there has been much sadness in the lives of my friends— a recent death in the family or for a close friend, serious and even debilitating illnesses for friends or for their family members, or the hospitalization of a family member. This sadness affects me because I feel their pain, I know these people who are ill or gone, and it breaks my heart. And, for some, this may be the last time that I see them.