Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2025

Village Fall Festival, Pasadena (11/22)

WHAT HAPPENED?
Why gather? To build community.
A thousand or so people from the community and far afield gathered on the grounds of Muir High. The main stage moved to the lawn area to accommodate dancing and grooving to live music and DJ Common. The food trucks were barbequing and one maestro of the kitchen had special raw vegan offerings -- three kinds of savory pizza and plantain cinnamon rolls. The most attractive offerings among all the nonprofit stalls and kiosks was the Healing Village with yoga, breathwork, sound baths, reiki, massage, and energy healing under tents. Even visitors from Pacific Palisades enjoyed it. It was six hours of socializing and visiting a booth to go on camera to tell the tale of Altadena and the area before and after the Eaton Fire.

(Rhythms of The Village)
VILLAGE FALL FESTIVAL: The Fall Festival is back at Pasadena's Muir High School, where we’ll host the foothill community for day of healing, joy, and unity! Free. RSVP on EVENTBRITE.
Celebrating the vibrant, multicultural spirit of Altadena, let's DANCE together, EAT together, and SHOP together.

Join us for an afternoon of live music and drumming, food, art, and healing vibes as we celebrate commUnity at our traditional Village Fall Festival presented by Rhythms of the Village and LA Commons and Oh Happy Days Vegan Cafe.
Let's dance, eat, laugh, and sing together so our stories get heard! Explore a vibrant marketplace of art, handmade crafts, jewelry, clothing, and more with 50+ vendors, including Altadena artisans displaced by the Eaton Fire.

Live multicultural entertainment goes throughout the day on the big stage, including the Rhythms Family Band, led by the legendary Baba Onochie Chukwurah. There are also activities for children.

Healing individuals and community
Village Fall Market and Festival
Free healing workshops and sessions go on in the "Altadena Healing Village":
  • yoga,
  • Reiki,
  • acupuncture,
  • sound healing,
  • massage therapy.
NEW Storytelling Booth: Altadena residents can share and record their stories. Delicious food from various cultures.

Vendors: Makers sell handcrafted or vintage items only: Apply here. Sponsorships are still available.

This magical festival and marketplace unites us. Many cultures coming together as ONE Tribe. There are children’s workshops and a magical line up of entertainment throughout the day. Tasty foods... 50+ makers of items handcrafted with love.

Some of these artisans were displaced from Altadena, crafters who create jewelry, art, wearables and more... Vendors apply here. It runs for six hours starting at noon, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025.
How to get there? Covered parking. Family friendly event. Why did the location change? Previous site behind the Rhythms of the Village store and Oh Happy Day Vegan Cafe came down during the Eaton Fire. Organized by Emeka Chukwurah. #arts #music #festival #multicultural #musicfestival #Altadena #familyfriendly #Pasadena

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Moon Valley Nurseries: Harvest (10/18)

Join Moon Valley Nurseries on Oct. 18th and 19th, 2025, at nearest Moon Valley Nurseries (MVN) to celebrate its 30th anniversary. As a special anniversary gift, MVN wants to give customers the chance to win $5,000 in trees. Enter raffle at all stores this weekend only. As a bonus, MVN will be celebrating the fall season, giving away FREE pumpkins and partying all weekend long! More


For over three decades, MVN has set the standard for excellence in delivering superior trees, plants, and landscaping services... At MVN, the mission is to enhance lives and environments through premium trees, plants, and expert landscaping services. With over 30 years of experience, MVN is dedicated to providing exceptional... More

Monday, September 22, 2025

Summer ends, The Fall begins (9/22)


Row, row, row your board gently on the plane/Merrily, merrily, merrily, life moves to the drain
.
Can non-Indians enjoy it, too?
Seasons change, Anicca reigns; it is the way of Samsara. That will be our new saying. What does it mean? "Weather alters, impermanence in all things; that's how it goes in this incessant Cycle." But at least on the Island of California, it's not so bad. We get a reprieve before fall starts in earnest. And it's called "Indian summer." Berkeley, one of the greatest places on the planet, got hit by an earthquake to wake everyone up and keep them agitating for positive change. We know things are changing because Christmas Tree Lane lights are going up in post-Eaton Fire Altadena, a Los Angeles custom.

Berkeley gets a wakeup call

Indian summer
Native Americans enter a Quaker Friends meeting and find them quite nice and peaceful.
.
Beware of anicca (constant flux)
An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm and dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more specifically the first "killing frost" [1][2][3].
Etymology (origin)
One last time to the beach before it's too late?
The late 19th-century lexicographer Albert Matthews made an exhaustive search of early American literature in an attempt to discover who coined the expression [4]. The earliest reference he found dated to 1851. He also found the phrase in a letter written in England in 1778 but discounted that as a coincidental use of the phrase.

Later research showed that the earliest known reference to "Indian summer" in its current sense occurs in an essay written in the United States around 1778 by J. Hector St. John de Crevecœur, describing the character of autumn and implying the common usage of the expression:
  • Great rains at last replenish the springs, the brooks, the swamp and impregnate the earth. Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer. This is in general the invariable rule: winter is not said properly to begin until those few moderate days & the raising of the water has announced it to Man.
The essay was first published in French around 1788 and remained unavailable in the United States until the 1920s [5].

Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain [6], it was perhaps so-called
  • because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans,
  • or because the natives first described it to Europeans [7],
  • or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted [6].
Buddhist Wheel of Life: Impermanence
John James Audubon wrote about "The Indian Summer that extraordinary phenomenon of North America" in his journal on Nov. 20, 1820. He mentions the "constant Smoky atmosphere" and how the smoke irritates his eyes.

Audubon suspects that the condition of the air was caused by "Indians, firing the Prairies of the West." Audubon also mentions in many other places in his writings the reliance Native Americans had on fire. At no point does Audubon relate an Indian summer to warm temperatures during the cold seasons. More
What is The Fall?

Filmed in 24 countries
Fall, of course, is a season; every fall is heralded by the autumnal equinox. But The Fall is something else. We can look at fascists in the White House, the Department of War, the Senate, Congress, and police departments across the nation for that sort of toppling or the coming down of the things we all loved and cherished as our birthright under a Constitution.

So long, Cruel Cruel Summer!
But the present administration, like administrations before it on both sides of the aisle, doesn't seem to care about the writing of the Forefathers at the birth of the nation. One is reminded of Hamilton, now out in a three-hour extravaganza of rap, choreographed dancing, and dueling. What is a good example of a Fall that falls upon us like an Indian summer, maybe driving along happily and without a care along PCH. Then BAM! Crash. Eyes covered with a sheet. Coroner's office...more Samsara.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

What about 'When Things Fall Apart'?

It's time to die, and you're next. (Ready? You can't be surprised. You knew Death was coming).


What? This doesn't apply to me. I'm fine. I'm famous, I'm young, I'm pretty, and I'm rich!!!
Beauty queen Ariana Viera dead at 26 after car crash in Orlando, Florida (Samsara Times)
.
How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart — when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain?

The answer, American Buddhist nun Ani Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what one expects.

Here, in her most famous and beloved work, Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined.

Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy. shambhala.com.

Things don't fall apart; it's all just an illusion, right?

What does Pema know?
American Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron
Ani Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City.

She attended Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California.

The venerable nun was once a hot young hippie
Pema has two children and three grandchildren. While in her mid-30s, Ani Pema traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London.

His Holiness the 16th Karmapa came to Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.

Why Welcome the Unwelcome? That's crazy
Pema first met her root guru, [sex scandal ridden cult leader] Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987.

At the request of the 16th Karmapa, she received the full bhikshuni (Buddhist nun) ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

Monday, February 24, 2025

Slayer returns: Louder Than Life Fest


  • louderthanlife2025.frontgatetickets.com
  • Sept. 18-21, 2025, in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the Slugger
  • Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Avenged Sevenfold, Cypress Hill, Lorna Shore, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Marilyn Manson, Trivium, Bring Me the Horizon, Lamb of God, Stone Temple Pilots, Down, Testament, Bruce (Iron Maiden) Dickinson, Bad Omens, A Perfect Circle, Evanescence, Spirit Box, I Prevail, Acid Bath, Exodus, Kitty, White Chapel, Suicide Boys, Three Days Grace. All Time Low, Motionless in White, Cavalier, Mudvayne, Knocked Loose, Hate Breed, Breaking Benjamin, Testament, and 150 more bands
  • Slayer performs hardcore punk rock covers, 1996
What year is it? Slayer is back together, Pantera is out on tour, Ozzy is an invalid but not dead and still making albums. It's almost as if a second wind for heavy music, a rebirth of hardcore extreme metal and plenty of bands making mainstream inroads.

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Meaning of Autumnal Equinox (9/22)


Autumn Equinox's ancient spiritual meaning | Fall traditions, rituals, celebrations, sites
(Sakro Sawel1) Sept. 19, 2024: Let's take a stunningly deep dive into the traditions, ancient sites, and myths of the fall season, which begins with the autumnal equinox. It is recognized and celebrated around the world. Let's uncover the deeper spiritual meaning of this shift and its relevance today.
The autumn equinox is when day and night are equal (equi + nox = "night"), after which nights become longer than the daylight hours, and darkness becomes greater than light each day.

It was celebrated by ancient peoples for millennia and is still one of the most celebrated religious times of year. Why is the autumn equinox such an important religious event? What is its spiritual meaning?

The amazing temples of Mexico are aligned

To answer these questions, we delve into its celebration throughout history. We explore the autumn equinox tradition of Durga Puja (devotional ritual dedicated to Ma Durga) in India, which is celebrated by over a billion people, and the Persian festival of Mehregan.

We also look at the meaning of the legend of the Minotaur, the Eleusinian Mysteries (entheogenic drug rituals), the descent to Earth of the feathered serpent (reptilian Nagarajas) at Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl) in Mexico, the hanging of the Norse god Odin on the World Tree (axis mundi), the journey of the Egyptian sun god Ra, and the crucifixion of Jesus [an element of astrotheology], which are all connected to the fall equinox.

CONTENTS
  • Introduction 00:00
  • What is the fall/autumn equinox? 01:55
  • Symbols of the equinox 02:59
  • Journey of the sun god 03:47
  • Autumn equinox traditions 06:19
  • Sites with fall equinox alignments 10:49
  • Great Pyramid symbolism 12:18
  • Sphinx Temple meaning 18:18
  • Ahu Akivi alignments 21:53
  • El Castillo solar serpent 23:45
  • Palace of Knossos Significance 27:50
  • Death, descent, Jesus, and Odin 34:59
  • Meaning and purpose of darkness 39:26
  • Conclusion 42:52
We explore the alignments of some of the world's most enigmatic sacred sites to the autumn equinox to interpret their symbolic spiritual meaning, including the Great Pyramid and Sphinx Temple in Egypt, Ahu Akivi on Easter Island, the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent in Mexico (El Castillo at Chichen Itza), and the ancient Greek Palace of Knossos in Crete.

We also explore one of the main themes of the autumn equinox, which is the worship of a great spiritual Mother Goddess (like Ma Durga, Guanyin, Mother Mary, Inanna, and many other names).

We uncover how the beliefs and traditions of the autumn equinox are connected across cultures and how celebrating the equinox was an important component of an ancient religion of the sun that spread to different parts of the world in prehistoric times.

As part of this video, we discuss some original theories I put forward as does my husband Mark Sawel, including:
  • How the autumn equinox reveals the important role that darkness plays in life and creation
  • How the annual journey of the sun was used in ancient religions to symbolize the path to enlightenment (our Sacred Sun Path Theory)
  • The symbolism of autumn equinox alignments at the Great Pyramids and Sphinx Temple in Egypt, Ahu Akivi on Easter Island, Chichen Itza in Mexico, and Knossos in Greece, which encode a spiritual meaning connected to the theme of descent on the path of enlightenment to confront one’s own inner darkness before being spiritually reborn [like Siddhartha did under the Bodhi tree before becoming the Buddha]
  • That these ancient sites and traditions were connected as part of a now lost [worldwide] religion we call the Religion of the Sun
  • The origin of dragon and serpent (reptilian, naga) slaying myths and how their symbolism was seen by the ancients in the stars
  • The deeper meaning in the pattern of descending into the earth, underworld, matter, body, tomb, subconscious, and womb, which can be found in the life of sun gods such as Ra, Rama, Odin, Jesus, and Osiris
  • An interpretation of the story of Theseus, Ariadne, the Minotaur, and the labyrinth and how it likely derives from Minoan initiatory rites conducted on the autumn equinox.
We first published these ideas between 2011 and 2016, where more details can be found in our book Ancient Solstice, which discusses the spiritual meaning of the fall/autumn equinox and ancient sites aligned to it, as well as how to celebrate it: sakrosawel.com/ancient-solstice.

NOTE ABOUT ATTRIBUTING OUR WORK
The information in this video is the culmination of years of work and research. It contains our unique interpretations of ancient sites and traditions. If anyone likes it and wants to share it, do so without plagiarizing it, please. Please share the video while giving us due credit as the source (Sakro and Mark Sawel).

This video is part of a series about the spiritual meaning of the solstices and equinoxes. Watch the other videos in this series:
  • Winter solstice: • WINTER SOLSTICE Ancient Spiritual Mea...
  • Spring equinox: • SPRING EQUINOX Ancient Spiritual Mean...
  • Summer solstice: • SUMMER SOLSTICE Ancient Spiritual Mea...
WEBSITE: sakrosawel.com. To make sure to keep receiving content from Sakro Sawel, sign up for this free newsletter at sakrosawel.com/newsletter. X/Twitter: sakrosawel.
  • Sakro Sawel, (Sakro Sawel1 on YouTube, Sept. 20, 2024); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Lunar eclipse of full Harvest Moon (live)

Rahu in Buddhist Thailand
The cause of a lunar eclipses would not seem to be this planet of plane but another celestial body. Let's see, who else could be out there? (Scientists discover mysterious structures hidden in our solar system).
Miss Venus, Mr. Mars, Pluto Jr., another Ms. Luna (Earth's new 'mini-moon' will orbit our planet for the next 2 moonths), the Twelfth Planet Nibiru? (Twelfth? One or more was obliterated in a collision that led to the Khyber Belt debris field, according to Zecharia Sitchin). There's another body that gets even less respect than Pluto, and that rascal RAHU, downgraded from planet to a "node." A node? But it is this celestial body that is credited with earth's eclipses, lunar and solar, in Buddhist, Vedic/Hindu, and Jain cosmologies.
Tonight's lunar eclipse is only partial, so Rahu will only take a chunk out of Soma then release.

Tom Brady is a big fan of Jaggi Sadhguru
The ancient Vedas ("Knowledge Books" of India) have much to tell us, particularly the Ayurveda on the topic of health (important in yoga). Here modern Hindu showman Sadhguru ("true guru") claims that in two hours under the eclipse things like food, which is our body post-consumption, will age and rot. So it is better to fast today, not to eat, to bathe away negativity, and never to watch the eclipse directly as so many space-loving Americans are fond of doing. Everyone in India knows to go indoors and be away from the shadow of the eclipses. It is not just Sadhguru warning people. Of course, his method of "dowsing" with (mala beads or any pendulum like device the hand can unconsciously twitch to move in one direction or another, which is good for divining what the mind knows subconsciously better than what is present objectively) the food for the presence of deterioration, aging, fermenting, rotting, and putrefying is a little suspect. But the claim is that this is subtle and therefore it would be hard to substantiate the claim otherwise. Of course, one imagines the food should spoil, rot, grow fungus and black mats of bacteria in two to three hours if it were the case that the body/food are aging 28 days in just the two to three hours of the eclipse. But be that as it may, we are forewarned and can take the appropriate steps if we wish. It is ancient Vedic knowledge. The Buddha did not accept the Vedas nor regard them as ultimate authorities on spirituality, but that is not to say that they are not valuable sacred scriptures. Many truths must be found within their pages, many things the Brahmins memorizing and chanting in Sanskrit thought worthy of preserving from the heavens (akasha loka) from which they were handed down or composed by seers (rishis) capable of discerning subtle truths our world is usually blind to.

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Moonlight walks, day hikes: Los Angeles


Guided Moonlight Walks

Under the full moon, Fridays at 7:00 pm
Every Friday closest to the full moon (once a month): Meet at 7:00 pm in the Eaton Wash Nature Center for a guided walk in docent-led groups of up to 15 each with as many groups as are needed (five to seven groups is usual for this popular adventure ($2.00).

Saturday Morning Programs
Docent-Led Family Nature Walk at 9:00 am: Meet in front of the Eaton Wash Nature Center next to the parking lot. No dogs please.
  • Animal Ambassadors: 10:00am and Noon Outdoor Patio
  • Nature Tails Story Hour: 10:30 am Outdoor Patio Stories and activities for children.
  • Nature Discovery Tables: 10:30 am and 12:30 pm
Outdoor Patio Meetings
Stay on the trail, with others, and guided
CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
: San Gabriel Mountains Chapter Meetings are held the fourth Thursday of the month (except for November and December) at 7:30 pm in the Eaton Canyon Nature Center Auditorium. Website: cnps-sgm.org

PASADENA GROUP SIERRA CLUB
Monthly program meetings are held on most first Wednesdays of each month at 7:30 pm in the Eaton Canyon Nature Center auditorium. Website: sierraclub.org/angeles/pasadena

PASADENA AUDUBON SOCIETY
Monthly meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm in the Eaton Canyon Nature Center Auditorium. Website: pasadenaaudubon.org

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Unearthing alien (ET) artifacts in Mexico


Who in the world could believe in actual
giants o other than these historical ones?
Are space aliens real? Yes. Have they visited earth? yes. Have they interacted with humans? Yes. How can we know for sure? Never-before-seen footage shows artifacts discovered and excavated in Mexico.

These extraordinary objects show that such beings are real, have been here, and have a history of human interaction. The pyramids, for example, are their creations, not ours.

Mexico is full of wonders like cenotes.
Because this evidence is unbelievable, the team excavating it has filmed each shovel of dirt emptied, each root cut, and each artifact unearthed in real-time from the excavation site, with some digs reaching down 8-feet.

This is mindboggling footage of the height, depth, and width of filming, showing every detail and action. This is full transparency, no smoke or mirrors, no trick photography, just raw footage from both of GenSix’s expeditions in Mexico.

But giants aren't real, are they? Andre, Cali trees...

Exposing the truth
Aggregation news site (stevequayle.com)
Viewed on screen is the unpretentious exploration and discovery of ancient artifacts that display the Mesoamerican people’s interaction with extraterrestrials from empires that flourished hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago, and from pre-Adamic times.

Stephen Quayle organizes events
Depicted on camera are ancient artifacts showing hybrid and/or interdimensional beings, "fallen angels," who are masquerading as space aliens and ancient Egyptian gods.

It's a matter of seed
Steve Quayle is an extreme Christian, a man who imagines his God is directing him to expose biblical truths. These alien artifacts are not artifacts of ETs as we imagine.

To Quayle and his colleagues what this material suggests is that the world is being "reinfested with fallen angels" (beings from space). His biblical reference is Genesis 6, which speaks of an encounter when such beings return at the end of an age.

Finding double helixes (the characteristic design of DNA) on several artifacts indicates the genetic manipulation of ancient peoples by these fallen angels or Nephilim. This will be revisited on modern humans in this era.

Marker for the end of the age

This production reveals ancient evidence to help viewers prepare for the end of the age. Humankind is being set up for a "Great Deception" that will tell humanity that space aliens, fallen angels, were our creators.

These artifacts expose the interaction ancient Egyptians (in the American Southwest and Egypt) and Mexicans (Toltecs, Aztecs, and Mayans) that point to the genetic corruption of ancient humankind. What took place in the past suggests the resumption of that corruption on unsuspecting modern humans.

Yucatan, Mexico pyramid temple, Tulum (TA)
“Why are our findings in Mesoamerica relevant?” Quayle asks. “It's critical to understand the genetic manipulation that occurred in ancient times, which is also occurring now in our modern times.

“In our ‘shovel by shovel’ excavations, we expose the truth about Fallen Angel corruption on an unsuspecting humanity.” This is an explosive 4-hour exposé.

The entire DVD package contains 7 hours of footage and interviews: The Mexico Xpeditions - Alien Artifacts Unearthed (DVD $89.95).