Close Encounters with Dolphins: A Call for Peace Between Species by Toni Frohoff, Ph.D. The ancient bond between dolphins and humans bridges two worlds — the worlds of sea and land. The strength of this interspecies relationship is so powerful that dolphins and humans have even risked their lives to help each other in real life as well as myth. However, humans have exploited this bond by killing, hurting, harassing, and capturing dolphins. Now we have the opportunity to make choices that will strengthen our relationship with this other species, rather than further fragmenting it. To do so, we must go beyond respect for that which is human by becoming appreciative of that which is wild, not because it serves us, but simply because it is. Perhaps, through the indisputable biological interconnectedness of all life on this planet and the need for mutual interspecies respect, the earth is the ultimate elemental example of the spiritual adage "we are one". Stand Up for Your Life: An Interview with Cheryl Richardson by Susan Chiat Master coach and best-selling author Cheryl Richardson has a message for the masses. "You have within you the power to fulfill your highest vision of your life," she says in her latest book, Stand Up for Your Life. Demonstrated by the popular response to her first two books, Take Time for Your Life and Life Makeovers, as well as her many appearances on Oprah and the Oxygen network, it is clear that the masses are listening. Meditation: A View from the Heart: An Interview with Sally Kempton by Ceci Miller I began to ask the question, "What is the Self? How can I recognize it?" Over the years, I have found that this willingness to question our experience and to explore the nature of our own Self, looking for its footprints behind the thickets of thoughts and feelings, is the single most important effort we can make in meditation. — Sally Kempton Not Just a Choice of Needles: How Safe is Vaccination? by Jordan Van Voast, M.Ac. The stakes are high — your child’s health and the health of all the world’s children. From many groups, we increasingly hear some unsettling, even frightening assertions: Vaccines contain toxic compounds like mercury (recently removed in most, though trace amounts still remain), phenol, acetone, alum, and formaldehyde. They damage the delicate immune system of the newborn, leading to a host of problems like autism and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The rationale behind their use is based on inconclusive science and questionable epidemiology. The push for more vaccinations is excessively driven by commercial interests in the medical field and concern with minimizing sick leave for parents rather than holding children’s long term health in the highest regard.   StarWatch by James Jarvis The universal year 2003 resonates with the frequency of the number 5 (2+0+0+3=5). The main themes of this year are coalescence, synthesis and dissemination. We can achieve a great deal this year by coalescing and synthesizing all the experiences, knowledge, and wisdom gleaned over the last four years. In a 5 year, we learn to codify and create a system of knowledge that we can then disseminate to others through formal or informal teaching, writing, or speaking. Use this year to reflect on the new life experiences and directions you have been integrating since 1999. Ask yourself : what is the larger whole that all my experiences over the last four years have been creating? If you step back far enough, you will start to see how all of your experiences fall into three or four distinct areas. As this information begins to coalesce, you will notice new clarity as your mind naturally begins to see the big picture you have been working on for the last four years. Capricorn: Self-Reliance and Integrity by Pam Younghans This is the tenth article in a series exploring the 12 astrological signs. In Western Astrology, the sky is divided into 12 equal sections, beginning with Aries at the Vernal Equinox and continuing through the rest of the zodiac. Exact dates for the beginning and ending of each sign vary from year to year. Please consult a qualified astrologer to verify your sun sign, and to get a more complete picture of your entire astrological chart. Although the following description applies especially to those who were born when the sun was in Capricorn, it also applies in varying degrees for everyone, as we all have Capricorn represented in our charts. Intuitively Speaking by Deborah Ilg January is a time for setting goals as well as a time of reflection. When you think back on 2002, in a way, it is easy to feel rather glad the year is over. Note how different your life has become since this time last year. All of those negatives from last year positively helped us to make higher choices, as individuals, as a country, and as a planet. Essentially, we have all been in a classroom learning how to be more conscious. The rougher the course, the greater the learning. We have gained sensitivity, and become more aware of the world around us. World issues hit us hard in our first, second, and third chakras, for a good reason. All year we have been working on cleaning up old patterns, which live in those areas of our physical bodies. (Survival, home, finances/job, relationship to ourselves and others) The emotion that surfaced from all of this was fear. Fear was in our face day after day; we could not help but to look at it. We then had to choose to buy into it or to grow from it. Imagine the whole planet looking at its stuff and growing from it - that is amazing. It definitely happened last year, slowly yes, but it did happen. With all of us becoming more conscious than ever before, we continue on our own individual paths this month and this year with heightened awareness and choice, knowing to our core that our actions do affect the whole. That is powerful!