More Astrology Book Recommendations

Just wanted to pop by to recommend a couple books that are worthwhile reading. These are excellent resources for learning about the people you are in relationships with. Learn how to communicate better and enhance your life with astrology.

Astrologically Incorrect: Unlock the Secrets of the Signs to Get What You Want, When You Want by Terry Marlowe

The Astrology of You and Me by Gary Goldschneider

Essential Oils and the Signs

Recently, I was introduced to Essential Oils at a library community event. There, I was given the opportunity to learn about the history, production, and usage of essential oils and their benefits in supporting health. I'm rather obsessed, in all honesty. In order to merge my two passions: astrology and essential oils, I am going to create a guide for those who wish to find oils to support attributes of the various zodiac signs!

Each sign is associated with a part of the body, as well as specific emotional attributes, so I've put together a presentation of oils that promote health for each of these variants.  I've included a link at the bottom of this post if you're interested in acquiring these oils for yourself. These oils are sourced through Young Living. I only obtain my essential oils through YL because of their Seed to Seal promise, guaranteeing the purity of their oils. YL is the ONLY brand I trust to use for myself and my home; it's the only source I recommend.

Aries - The Head

Peppermint

Applying to the head and neck or diffusing Peppermint oil uplifts the spirit while reigniting the mind and senses. It's a great pick-me-up to any dragging day. Goes excellent with any Aries who is on the go! Great for post-exercise massage, mixed with a carrier oil. I like to add the Vitality version to my water bottle each morning to refresh my spirit and my breath throughout the day.

Additional oils to try: Brain Power, Clarity, Peppermint Vitality, Eucalyptus Globulus, Eucalyptus Blue

Taurus - The Neck & Throat

EndoFlex Vitality

When applied directly over the throat in the morning, you can expect your day to start with energy and clarity. I personally apply this daily to support my energy levels. It's an excellent way for a slow moving Taurus to start the day off right! This dietary oil blend can be mixed with a morning beverage, promoting overall wellness and balance!

Additional oils to try: Thieves, Eucalyptus Radiata, Tea Tree, Oregano, ImmuPower

Gemini - The Arms, Hands, & Shoulders

Cool Azul

For a light aromatic experience and cooling sensation that is excellent post-physical exertion, Cool Azul takes the cake. Excellent when massaged onto desired areas with a carrier oil! This will get your day back on track with its grounding, peaceful aroma.

Additional oils to try: Wintergreen, PanAway, Aroma Siez, Relieve It, Vetiver, Helichrysum, Myrrh

Cancer - The Chest & Breasts

Clary Sage

Clary Sage provides an aroma that calms and relaxes. Excellent to diffuse while meditating or to apply on tense spots on the body with a carrier oil.

Additional oils to try: SclarEssence Vitality, Lady Sclareol, Dragon Time, EndoFlex Vitality, Frankincense

Leo - The Back & Heart

Peace and Calming

Leos are often on the go, but when they're home it's time to relax! When inviting people over, they want to be the best hosts and completely welcoming. Peace and Calming oil promotes these feelings and is lovely for the whole family, another value that Leos can't live without! My Leo mom enjoys this in the diffuser at night.

Additional oils to try: Rosemary Vitality, Ylang Ylang, Thyme Vitality, Mandarin, Aroma Life, Valor, Stress Away

Virgo - The Nervous System & Stomach

DiGize Vitality

DiGize is the number one meal companion oil! It can be added to a dish, diluted in water, or taken in a vegetable capsule. This will enhance the impact of any meal. The fennel seed oil found in this blend was used as an after meal delicacy in Ancient Egypt! I use this every evening in my water at dinnertime.

Additional oils to try: Peppermint Vitality, Trauma Life, Lavender Vitality, Valerian, Patchouli, Valor, Fennel Vitality, Ginger Vitality, Carrot Seed Vitality, Tea Tree, Thieves Vitality

Libra - The Lower Back & Bottom

Oola Balance

As the name implies, this oil helps to balance emotions, thoughts, and health, allowing further focus and peace of mind. Be sure to check-out Oola's tea blends and books on finding balance.

Additional oils to try: Myrrh, Helichrysum, Cypress, PanAway, Stress Away

Scorpio - The Bladder & Genitals

Light the Fire

I think this speaks for itself.

Additional oils to try: Fennel Vitality, Rose, Myrrh, Valerian, Lavender, Melrose, Thieves, Tea Tree, Cypress

Sagittarius - The Thighs, Hips, & Liver

Carrot Seed Vitality

Carrot Seed oil, like the plant from which it derives, promotes general health and well-being. Excellent pairing with nutrient rich foods to take your wellness to new level! This is also an excellent oil to support healthy skin.

Additional oils to try: German Chamomile, Celery Seed Vitality, JuvaCleanse Vitality, GLF Vitality

Capricorn - The Knees, Joints, & Bones

Wintergreen

Not only is the name appropriate for these Winter babies, but also the oil is excellent to support Capricorn health and overall well-being. The aroma is invigorating, which can propel one forward while working. This oil makes a phenomenal additive to lotions, especially those intended to be applied after physical activity.

Additional oils to try: PanAway, Aroma Siez, Cool Azul, SclarEssence Vitality, Idaho Blue Spruce

Aquarius - The Circulatory System & Lower Legs

Helichrysum

This oil promotes focus and concentration with its sweet aroma. It's excellent for times of thought. It also is great for applying to wrinkles, to reduce the signs of aging. Aquarians are notorious for early signs of aging. This oil is only farmed in its native land of Croatia!

Additional oils to try: Cypress, PanAway, Aroma Life, EndoFlex Vitality

Pisces - The Feet

Idaho Blue Spruce

The feet are home to many pathways to the body's vitality. Applying oils directly to certain areas of the feet is often the best way to reap the benefits of the various oils. This oil is highly exclusive and creates a lovely aroma. Accessing this scent can facilitate an elevated state of relaxation.

Additional oils to try: Egyptian Gold, PanAway, Frankincense, Myrrh, Patchouli, Vetiver, Wintergreen, Sacred Sandalwood

For additional information about oils and their uses, I highly suggest reading Essential Oils Pocket Reference.

If you're interested in ordering trustworthy, natural Essential Oils, please click here. Shop as a member by selecting a Starter Kit in order to receive a 24% discount on every order, access to a treasure trove of member benefits, and join a community of fellow oil-lovers, who will support you on your individual wellness journey!

Book Recommendations

Because I haven't had much time to post anything lately, I thought I would provide a list of useful astrology books!  These are the ones I consult most frequently.

The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need by Joanna Martine Woolfolk

Momstrology by Ophira Edut and Tali Edut

Bad Birthdays: The Truth Behind Your Crappy Sun Sign by Sarah Christensen Fu

The Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers

The Secret Language of Relationships by Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers

Power of Birthdays, Stars, and Numbers: The Complete Personology Reference Guide by Saffi Crawford and Geraldine Sullivan

Astrology for Writers by Corrine Kenner

Ancient Astrology by Tamsyn Barton

Spring 2014 Hairstyles

Here are a few pictures of hairdos my roommate made for me during this past Spring semester!  Many of them are from the elaborate May Day hairstyle she created (Hairstyle 3).  We got up at 5am to do it and it took an hour and a half to finish plus a practice round the day before.

Hairstyle 1

Hairstyle 2

Hairstyle 3

Hairstyle 3

Hairstyle 3

Hairstyle 3

How to Make a Flower Crown

May Day Crown 2013

Last May Day, I was fortunate enough to receive one of four May Day gifts given by someone other than a Senior.  This came in the form of a May Day Crown, giving me the special privilege of "Page Duties".  Pages are four Freshman who follow around the President of the college dressed in a special costume during the morning festivities.  Other special privileges come with it as well, like attending the Senior Breakfast, going up the Rockefeller Towers to the roof, and walking in the May Day Parade.

As a sophomore, it was my duty to pass down the Crown to one of my Hell Babies.  That left me without a Crown for this May Day.  So, I got to make my own!  May Day Crowns (also known as tiaras or floral head toppers, as I like to say) are simply crowns of flowers.  A few days before May Day, the college has a special event for students to make May Day Crowns from real flowers, but that causes allergies and they are very impermanent.  My roommate and I decided to make our own permanent ones.

Supplies:
-Wire cutter
-Hot glue gun
-Hot glue sticks
-Scissors
-Ribbon
-Fake/plastic Flowers
-Any other small (fake) accessories, like butterflies or birds, leaves, etc.
-Some sort of wire to shape into a crown (pictured on right)

Step-by-step Guide:
1.  Plug-in hot glue gun and get it ready
2.  Cut your wire with enough room to make a full crown for your head, plus some extra to "close" the circle the crown must make
3.  You have a few options for closing your crown:  you can intertwine the wire around the whole crown to close it off as a circle (what my roommate did), you can just make a slight twist on either end to hold the wire in circle place and then solidify it with ribbon (what I did originally), or you can choose not to make a full circle and use ribbon to close the ends and soften the ends with hot glue or ribbon or both (as with others I've made in 2015 and the original one from 2013)
4.  If you choose the second option you will likely need a full spool of ribbon to cover your crown; start at one of the twisted ends and tie the ribbon on tightly; begin very tightly wrapping the ribbon and do not forget to flatten out the extra ribbon from the knot to cover it over with the wrappings or do not tie a not and rely on tightly wrapping; when you get to the end of the ribbon I suggest hot gluing it into place (you can still wrap a crown that is not a full circle)
5.  You can then add extra ribbon details around the crown as you like
6.  Arrange your flowers to your preference and then begin hot gluing them one at a time; I suggest using the small stubby (usually green attachment) on the flower as the part to glue to the crown so that the flowers face out, not up
7.  When done with the flowers, add extra accessories that fit your tastes
8.  Make sure that you use a generous amount of glue for each flower/accessory
9.  Pull away any loose hot glue pieces that get spiderwebby

My Final Product:

           

Some Cool Hairdos

My roommate at college is really good at styling hair, considering she's never been trained.  She taught herself pretty much everything she knows about styling hair.  Last semester, before going to a series of parties and events, I was lucky enough to have her do my hair.  Below are some pictures of what she came up with for my rather long hair.

Hairstyle 1

Hairstyle 2

Hairstyle 3

Hairstyle 3

Hairstyle 4

The third hairstyle also consisted of a long braid laying over my left shoulder.  There was one other hairstyle that was awesome this past semester, but for some reason we forgot to get a picture of it specifically.  It was two braids wrapped into two buns stuck to my head.  I wore my hair like that for Halloween because I was a bumblebee!

When I was in high school, I can remember it being a rare occasion to see someone in braids.  Upon observing high school students now, or at least over Winter break, it would seem that braids have become a regular hairstyle.  I would assume this is because of the Hunger Games, as that was where I got my inspiration of course.

Just An Update About Things to Come

I apologize for not making very many posts anymore.  College has been keeping me very busy, so time to create innovative topics for my blog is limited.  I did however finish reading the fourth book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" series (aka "Game of Thrones") over Winter break.  Currently, I am about half-way through the fifth book; but this will take me a while now that classes have once again begun.  After I've finished the fifth book, I will write a review on the fourth and fifth book combined.  I've also been busy (at least mentally) in preparing new fictional character analysis to add to my work-in-progress post about the astrological signs of fictional characters.  Also, I intend to talk about first semester this academic year as well as the start of my second semester and the declaration of my major sometime soon.  If there are any astrological topics that you would like to be discussed on my blog, please leave a comment!

Catching Fire: SPOILER ALERT

The film began with scenery reminiscent of the Twilight movies, so you can imagine that it brought me to laughter at its start.  However, the outdoor setting relating back to the ridiculous Twilight movies quickly turned legitimately intense as Katniss attempted to shoot a turkey.  Her reaction to shooting the turkey and having a vision of killing a tribute shows her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, not exactly her emotional state.  I've heard it argued that Katniss was more emotional in this movie and that the actress better portrayed Katniss' emotions.  I disagree.  In the books, Katniss is not a very emotional person, she's very thoughtful (as in, she thinks a lot).  Throughout Catching Fire, the book, Katniss has many more outbursts, as a result of her being traumatized, leading her to have many more in this movie, contrasted to the previous one.  Katniss in The Hunger Games serves as a participant; now, in Catching Fire, Katniss must deal with her past and start dealing with the trauma it has caused.  The adrenaline has worn off (now that she doesn't need to literally survive), now she's stuck processing everything she went through and everything she did while also struggling with the more physical consequences of her actions.  Overall, I believe she, and the other actors, did a great job portraying their characters; or, I was just too distracted by the awesomeness of the movie to notice bad acting.

I understand that the writers of the film must have chosen to also have Gale in this opening scene in order to speed up the process of showing his and Katniss' potential love interest, but I honestly think the book's opening scene would have been more powerful.  A sixteen-year-old girl drinking away her traumatized past would have hit the audience more dramatically and driven home the point of her suffering more thoroughly, I think.  By the way, I hate how the world is creating a "Team Gale, Team Peeta" around this story.  It was okay to do that with Twilight; because, other than an obsession with being young and beautiful, Twilight made few statements about society worth looking more deeply into.  The fact that we're taking this story and turning it into a fetish about who is the "better guy" for the heroine means that we are doing exactly what is so disgusting about the Capitol inhabitants.  We are failing to recognize the grotesquery (I may have just made up a word) given to us in the story.  THE STORY IS ABOUT CHILDREN KILLING OTHER CHILDREN BECAUSE THEIR GOVERNMENT FORCES THEM TO AND THEIR PARENTS HAVEN'T STOPPED IT.  Yet, we, as a society, allow ourselves to get caught up in the very, very slight, insignificant romance in the story.  The romance was only important to the extent that it provided some relief to the dreary aspects, even though the romances often also exacerbated the problems.

Another thing that makes me sick is the advertisements by Covergirl.  I get that the brand may have done the make-up for the movie, but they shouldn't be advertising the styles as something we should mirror or repeat.  The whole point of the Capitol people looking that way was to cover-up the nastiness beneath and to juxtapose them and those from the Districts.

Suzanne Collins may be brilliant.  She has let us mirror what she has shown us is so wrong in her books.  However, if she were really feeling this way, I would hope she'd voice this opinion.  But, perhaps she's either not that brilliant after all or she's also fallen prey to hypocrisy.

Other than the scenery given in the opening scene, the only other scenery I had a major problem with was the Victor's Village.  I pictured it to indeed be "sanitary" but more colorful, or at least grand, from the outside.  The movie made the village look like a cemetery.  The arched entrance looked like one that would be at a cemetery entrance and each home looked like a tombstone.  This was not what I pictured at all.

I really appreciate the looks we get at the gamemaker's studio and the president's house through the film interpretations.  However, I was surprised they didn't put in the part about Plutarch Heavensbee showing Katniss his watch at the president's party though.  That would have been wonderful foreshadowing!  I was very impressed with the arena and the attack of Cinna before Katniss entered the arena.  The only problem I had with the arena was that I was very confused with where Katniss and other tributes were when she dove in the water and ran on the platform.  I also couldn't figure out why Finnick, being such a natural swimmer, wasn't able to reach Peeta and help him when he was fighting the other tribute in the water.

I would have also liked more character development of the other tributes.  And, Finnick was NOT cast right.  Sam Claflin is not very attractive in the way Finnick should have been and really doesn't seem to fit the mold for smooth, charming, cold, passionate, and deceptive all at the same time.  But, I'm not very surprised he was given that role.  After his appearance in Pillars of the Earth, then in some PBS movies, and finally in Pirates of the Caribbean, I knew he'd get a role in one of the big "blockbusters" loved by teen girls.

I really, really, really liked Katniss' hairstyles!  Although, she is supposed to have drastically longer hair.  Her hair for the president's party was SO intense!  I loved it.  I also liked the general braid they chose for her this time.  I don't really understand why they changed her costumes from what she was supposed to wear in the book though.  I definitely pictured different suits for the arena as well.

Well, for now at least, I've run out of things to say and I'm very tired.

Lucid Dreaming

When I was in my sophomore or junior year of high school, I discovered lucid dreaming.  I'm not sure whether or not I was able to control my dreams before this experience, but I do remember the realization that I can completely control my dreams; at least I can when I become aware that I'm dreaming, which has occurred anytime that I've woken up remembering that I have dreamed.  Somehow, in a discussion, dreams were brought up and I told my good friend about my discovery.  She warned me that controlling dreams can leave you in an unrested state as well as cause you to be stuck in the paralysis caused by the dream world and other issues (her knowledge came from her AP Psych class, which provided more knowledge than what I had previously gained about dreams).  Whether or not these side effects are true, I do not know; but at the time, I took her word for it and stopped controlling my dreams.  I still would dream lucidly, I don't believe that you can remove your lucidity once it's there in a dream, but I took a step back and let my dreams play out.

In my dreams since then, as I've said, any that I remember, I have been lucid in them to some extent.  I've never practiced lucidity intentionally.  After my first realization of dreaming lucidly, I constantly controlled my dreams quite naturally and it was quite fun.  I believe the reason I first gained control was because I was so embarrassed and in absolute shock at myself in my dream that I had to take control.  Following that dream up until my friend warned me of potential dangers, I controlled and was lucid during anywhere from 1-3 dreams per night.

I'm not so afraid of controlling my dreams anymore.  I try not to control them too much though, because I find it more therapeutic to allow my dreams to progress on their natural courses.  Sometimes, however, I find myself gaining lucidity because I am controlling my dreams.  It's very strange.  Upon gaining this lucidity, I often lose control (or rather my dream comes to a stand still as I evaluate what I'm doing in my dream and what I should be doing) and begin to pull myself out of the dream.

I've found that both controlling my dreams and gaining lucidity usually lead to displeasure in my dreams and I do not suggest seeking it.  However, lucid dreaming does provide interesting concepts about life.  Controlling our dreams usually allows us to do whatever we want.  But I do say to use caution, you probably wouldn't want to find yourself making immoral decisions you wouldn't make in the waking world in your lucid dreams because you will likely still feel the same shame, but it's deeper because you will likely not admit your dreams.

Some interesting articles that got me thinking about this:
Dreaming Article
Lucid Dreams
More on Dreams

Bryn Mawr College Early Fall Photos 2013

Goodhart Theater

Thomas Hall from Cloisters perspective

Taylor Hall

The Labyrinth

Leaves on Merion Green

Covered over Fountain in Taft Garden

This Week's Horoscope (10/6/13 - 10/12/13)

Link:  Weekly Horoscope

This Week's Horoscope (9/29/13 - 10/5/13)

Link:  Weekly Horoscopes

This Week's Horoscope (9/22/13 - 9/28/13)

I have begun to write horoscopes for one of my college's newspapers.  Below you can find a link to the horoscopes on the newspaper's website:
Weekly Horoscopes (9/22/13 - 9/28/13)

Virgo Physical Features

Like the other signs, Virgos are also given away by their physical features.  Typically, Virgos have very ovular, sometimes nearly rectangular, shaped faces that are thick and filled-out with their jaw and cheek bones wide-set.  From their foreheads down to the ends of their jaws where their necks begin there tends to be a straightness or continuation in their faces, essentially a straight line that neither curves nor turns obliquely.  Virgos also put on weight very easily and have trouble losing weight, so they tend to be on the thicker side more often, though they are rarely to the extent of being obese.  I say this lightly, they tend to have "watery" eyes; I mean this as in their eyes tend to be very colorful or change colors and look like what you'd expect someone with a Pisces, or other water sign, personality to have.  Below are some examples of famous Virgo faces:

Alexis Bledel

Blake Lively

Cameron Diaz

George R.R. Martin

Michael Jackson

Prince Harry

Regis Philbin

Salma Hayek

Colbert Astrology Clip

Just thought this was relevantly amusing to this blog:

The Astrology topic arises at about minute 2:30/2:40ish.

Colbert Astrology Clip

Some Tips on Surviving Freshman Year of College

*Keep in mind that this post is being made from someone who literally just finished her freshman year attending a women's college.

*Potentially a work in progress post.

1.  If you don't think you'll wear it more than once, don't pack it - as a rule for packing clothing and shoes and coats

2.  Bring good rain boots (well if you're attending college in a normally rainy climate)!!!  They were the most useful and most worn pair of shoes I brought! - by "good" I mean quality rain boots that won't leak or fall apart (it's worth spending the extra money)

3.  Purchase healthy snacks to keep in your room - unhealthy foods, like chips weigh you down and don't provide the necessary study/homework fuel

4.  Get a refrigerator!  Even if your hall has a communal fridge and your school typically follows a social honor code, people tend forget their manners when it comes to food; they will steal your food and make it gross...get your own fridge.

5.  Buy layers to wear under your pants if you're attending college in a cold climate; nobody will notice them and it keeps you warm on your treks across campus to class

6.  Participate in school traditions (even if that's just attending football games)!

7.  Find time for leisurely reading and try not to find out about more television shows to watch online (you'll spend WAY too much time doing that)

8.  Keep medicines around that you would find in most homes, like Pepto, Tums, cough drops, Advil, etc.

9.  Bring a bathing suit, beach towel, and sunscreen - you never know when you may have the opportunity to use these things

10. If you have silly theme clothing, like a grass skirt, bring them!  There are lots of themed parties.

11. Bring your own computer.

12. Don't be afraid to try new things, but remember to put your foot down if you don't want to try something.
13. Never keep more than $20-30 on you at any time because you'll spend it too quickly.

A Problem of Being Straight at a Women's College

I don't know why but recently, in my spare time, I just haven't been in the mood to create my Astrological blog posts.  I apologize if you're anxiously awaiting my posts!  I don't know when I'll get to the Pisces, Aries, and Taurus health tips and Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus facial features; so don't hold your breath.

I truly have been busy with school, more so than last semester, but not enough that I can justify slacking on my posts.  I just haven't been in the mood to make them.  I've also been slacking on Astrological chart interpretations that were due for my friends last semester!  It's not that I'm waning in my Astrological interests, I just haven't been in the mood to fulfill my blogging obligations that they require.

I guess it would be valid to say that I'm bored (busy, but bored - not even bored with my school work, just bored in general).  You'd think that my boredom would cause me to want to be on top of my Astrological obligations?  I don't mean to say that nothing "exciting" has been happening, that nothing "new" has been happening, because that wouldn't be true.  I'm just bored.

Upon evaluating myself, which I haven't done very thoroughly, I have found that I'm bored because I have nothing to "dream" about.  There are specific things that I hope to happen, like getting a particular job this summer; but these immediate, specific things, I don't like to "dream" about too much because then I get my hopes up; if they don't happen, I get too crushed. But that's normal for me, as in, I've always thought that way; that shouldn't specifically be making me bored.  By having nothing to "dream" about, I mean I have nothing to daydream about.  I'm a straight woman at a women's college.  While there are lots of guys around and on campus on a daily basis, I don't see particular guys as often as I would have in high school.  I'm not a very bold person, so it's difficult to form relationships with people you see for a few hours a week in a classroom (meaning not social) setting or just in passing.

Perhaps this seems pathetic, or ridiculous, to be bored because I don't have guys to daydream about, but it's true.  Since I started school as a child, I've always managed to have a crush on some guy at almost all times; but, in school, you are constantly with these people and have grounded relationships with these people, so you have the opportunity to form real intrigues.  Yes, I can form a crush based off of appearances that I've only briefly seen; however, one that I would daydream about would have to be one that also comes from knowing a person.  Therefore, I am bored and don't know how to comfortably solve this problem.

In Response to the Hell Week Drama

If you haven't gone through Hell Week, you know nothing about Hell Week.  Bringing Hell Week drama up to the world is irrelevant and confusing, which is why I never posted about my Hell Week experience on my blog.  So why did someone leak their email from a dean when the rest of the world couldn't truly understand Hell Week? (You can find the article that includes the leaked email and the drama surrounding it here)

Yes, for the most part, this is laughable, but what the news fails to recognize is that Customs People are meant to be advocates for the freshmen and are supposed to be Hell Free for their own Customs Group; so if things were getting out of hand, which they may have been with the water dumping and forcing certain things (as cruel deception and force are violations of the Honor Code), the Customs People should have stepped in and advocated for their freshmen.

Regardless, I'm very surprised that these actions were reported to the deans.  Why were they reported?  Did someone feel as if they were being hazed?  And why did the Hell Week Committee not step in?  Are these things just being exaggerated?

Here are some more reports on the incidence just to show how blown out of proportion this whole thing is, especially since it happened practically a month ago:
- Jezebel
- Philadelphia Inquirer
- Fox News

"Lieutenant Nun" in Review

I'm in a class this Semester called, The Historical Imagination. It's a bit tedious, though I do understand why it's required for History majors (I have yet to declare a major).  Essentially the class is about the history of studying history.  It delves into the problem of sources and how history is perceived and how the perception of history has changed over time and to fit in different places.  I would consider the main book we read to be "Silencing The Past" by Michel-Rolph Trouillot.  Truly, the book is a textbook though it does not look like one to perceive.  If you have the Internet regularly available, you can get through the readings by Google searching every other word, but if not, you'd have to have a pretty large vocabulary or an amazing dictionary to get through the text.  Once you understand the big words, most of the points made throughout the book are well-founded and make sense.  However, most of the points made in the book are made everyday in my other history classes by the professors in a ways that are much more easy to understand; therefore, I do not really understand why the class is required if not to merely stress the point that history is not concrete.

Anyway, we were required to read a book called "Lieutenant Nun" for this week.  On the cover of the translation we were assigned, it titles the book "Memoir of a Basque Lieutenant Nun Transvestite in the New World".  My personal understanding of the word "transvestite" is someone who identifies profoundly with two sexes or was born with both sexes.  Now, I may be wrong, so I'm going to Google it right now and put the Internet's definition for it:  a cross-dresser.  That's what the first three website blurbs told me about what a transvestite is; so I was wrong.  According to one of the blurbs, it is often confused with someone who is transsexual or transgender; perhaps that is what I was confusing it with.  Okay, so going with the Internet's definition, the modified title is correct.  However, I think that adding that word to the title makes the book seem extra statementy (I know I made that word up).  However, reading the text, the author never really seems like she's trying to make a statement; but I don't know her motives.

The book is short (it's only 77 pages) and really easy to get through because it describes action scene upon action scene.  I really did enjoy reading it because it was quick, I also found it fascinating.  What really intrigued me is that the woman was so devoid of emotion in her writing.  This is almost a masculine thing, but yet I don't even know that most men are that devoid of emotion.  The woman, Catalina de Erauso, murdered so many people, and it was as if death meant nothing to her!  It was very strange.  At one point, after she sort of accidentally murders her brother, she does briefly point out that it did pain her a lot, especially while she was hiding out in a church for a good period of time.  But other than that the only time she makes slight reference to emotion is when she speaks of discomforts she has or opinions; like when a kind woman takes her in (thinking she was a man) and tries to marry her to her dark skinned daughter.  This particular event brings up another interesting point that it would bring her little pleasure to marry an ugly girl because she wasn't her type apparently.  In a way that could be taken as a hint towards bisexuality or lesbianism, but it's hard to tell for sure and may have only been a translating issue.  I find it hard to believe that she would have been well-accepted, especially by the King of Spain and the Pope, if she professed what would be considered sexually unusual at the time, being the earlier 1600s.

Well, all in all, I really do recommend the book as a quick read to anyone.  It's interesting.  It seems so fictional for a life to be as such and sort of accepted and celebrated at the time.  I was very surprised.

Now for a bit of Astrology:

The only possible astrological sign for Catalina is Sagittarius. She desired nothing more than to travel and not be tied down.  She did not resent learning in the slightest.  She maintained the mentality that more money can always be made.  She was selfish in an unconscious way.

I don't think it's very possible, based off of her story, for her to be any other sign.  I tried to place her as maybe Taurus or Virgo, but she was too able and not attached enough to her possessions to be a Taurus and she certainly was not a people-pleaser, so she couldn't be a Virgo.