Grateful Dead

I've been seeing two planets in the sky for the past few nights, and tonight I looked them up online just to see which ones they were. Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction in Leo and you can see them until mid-July. All of the astrology sites say it's a good sign. While I was trying to find the article below to copy here, I googled more than one article which claimed that the Biblical Star of Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus Christ was also Venus and Jupiter in conjunction in Leo (I swear, you can google it yourself). They say that Jesus and Venus are "The Bright and Morning Star", and that Jupiter is King of the Gods and Ruler of the Romans, represented by Augustus Caesar, who was then having some kind of celebration. I think he was being "Pater Patria", or something like that, Father of His Country. Leo the Lion is ruled by the Sun, also signifying king somehow, and its' brightest star is Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the sky, whose name means "great king", the word "regal" has the same derivation, they say referring to the Roman Emperor and to Jesus. To throw in my own two cents, as a non-theologian, I read somewhere that Jupiter (Greek, "Zeus", like "deus", "God") is also called "Jove", which sounds like "Jehovah", the name of Jesus' Father, the Lord God of the Old Testament. The Greeks thought the planets moved in circles and were therefore eternal. Love, Luck and Leo: Jupiter Venus Conjunction 2015 6.22.2015 Leo Love More great planetary combinations are in the works with Jupiter and Venus gearing up to collide in the playful sign of Leo. The 2nd part of June will just keep on getting better. The two most beneficial planets of the Zodiac are gearing up for their annual play date and we’ll all be able to tap into their good fortune if we want to. A Jupiter Venus conjunction 2015 is in the works. At the tail end of June, Jupiter and Venus will touch each other and not only throw some extra optimism our way – but create some beneficial twists as they play. Now don’t forget that Jupiter and Uranus are also working together nicely. Their influence will still be in play when sweet little Venus joins in. If you’ve been waiting for “just the right time” to do something big or need a little “help factor” from the universe to succeed in your goals – then this lucky planetary combination could be just your ticket. The energy peaks on June 30, 2015 but will start to ramp up a few days prior. Jupiter and Venus are my favorite planets because they are just plain lucky. Given that they are operating in the sign of Leo—their good energy is about to shine BIGGER and BRIGHTER. Sounds fantastic right? I’m totally with you

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So many images, thoughts, and feelings from 25 years of Grateful Dead concerts. Tom sitting on the steps of the Oakland Arena in tears, his New Year’s Eve ticket counterfeit and confiscated at the gate. I sat down and put my arm around him. He hugged me back, turned, buried his face in my shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably. I kept telling them that it was okay, man, but we both knew better. He shooed me away and I got back in line. 15 minutes later a madman was jumping on my back, screaming in gratitude — someone had overheard Tom’s story to me, and after I left, wordlessly handed him a free ticket. Dancing at Winterland, watching the dark stars form and dissolve behind my eyelids, an arm slipped into mine and gave my hand a squeeze. I squeezed back, assuming it was one of our group saying hello — speaking was discouraged while the band was playing. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the person whose arm was still intertwined with mine was not of our group, but she was completely naked, and very relaxed about it. She was lovely, but I was preoccupied with the music and also kind of shy. We smiled at each other, let go hands, and she walked away into the crowd. 150 Deadheads camping out for a week in the park across the street from Henry J Kaiser. Smuggling in a reel to reel tape deck after removing the motor from a wheelchair and casting the taper in plaster and bandages. The moment in the parking lot in December of ’94 when I’d seen too much nastiness and not enough fun, and got off the bus. All of these stories are linked in some way by the concept of community. It was the community who took care of Tom, our larger community of trust which allowed that woman to be naked in a crowd of strangers and to touch me without fear; it was most certainly a functioning community in the tent city at HJK, or it never could have cohered and survived. It was the pain of ruptured community which drove me off the bus. I live in San Francisco, so people came to my place to visit and see the Dead, and maybe get a souvenir of the City. My house was the center of that little node. I always felt community was what drew people so powerfully to the Grateful Dead experience, an intimacy missing from our lives. Community is what I looked for after Jerry died. I was lucky enough to fall into the rave scene for a while, a pretty good substitute. I think community is what we hope to find at Fare Thee Well — each other in each other’s eyes, strangers stopping strangers… And we will find it, because it is our heart’s desire. Some of us have years of history and tales to tell about “a band beyond description”. Others of us never heard Jerry play live and wonder if these shows could be a taste of it. The Real Thing, the legendary Acid Test band. You bet they could! I think it was a place in time we cannot conjure again, yet here we go, on our way to Terrapin Station. All aboard!