Quote of the Day: “As love without esteem is capricious and volatile; esteem without love is languid and cold.” – Jonathan Swift
Photo by: Free Walking Tour Salzburg
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It’s two days after New Year’s, and that means a lot of people will be fighting the urge to go and replace the pack of ciggies that has been absent from their purse or pocket for a commendable 24 hours.
In the UK, a newly-approved drug made from the seeds of a common European tree genus called Laburnum, was recently found in a study to give smokers double the chance of keeping that spot in their purse or pocket empty for good.
Known as cytisine, the drug recently gained regulatory approval and is currently available in Britain. Used in other parts of Eastern Europe for years, cytisine was found to be twice as good as a placebo, and also better than nicotine replacement therapy like patches and gum, or another drug for breaking nicotine dependence called Champix.
“Our study adds to the evidence that cytisine is an effective and inexpensive stop-smoking aid,” said Omar de Santi, a toxicologist at the Posadas National Hospital in Argentina, who led the review. “Worldwide, smoking is considered the main cause of preventable death. Cytisine has the potential to be one of the big answers to that problem.”
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A major study conducted recently by Oxford University found that just 6 out of 100 smokers can break the addiction without any form of aid.
Cytisine is due to be available in late January at £115 for a 25-day supply. The price may exclude it from some local health insurance agencies. It’s not available in the US, but information on its effects from a similar population like the UK may mean it could be granted approval soon.
MORE SMOKING NEWS: Never Too Late: New Study Finds Lungs ‘Magically’ Repair Themselves After Quitting Smoking, No Matter the Age
A professor and a local health services organizer both told the Guardian that it’s a good thing cytisine is going to be available across the UK, and that the cost of the drug shouldn’t be prohibitive based on the costs of treating people for nicotine addiction multiple times with different products.
SHARE This Important News With Anyone You Know Needing Help Quitting…
Ali Paepke had very little hope that a dog named Neo would be able to fit in at her rehabilitation center.
The poor pooch had been in a shelter for over a year—more than 450 days, and was part of an ongoing animal abuse trial, which Paepke said typically creates an animal that’s difficult—and in many cases impossible—to rehabilitate into gentle domestic life.
But as soon as she saw the white pooch with black spots, the Manager for the Life-Saving Program at Best Friends Pet Resource Center said she was “blown away.”
“To meet a dog who had been through all of that who just immediately trusted you and immediately wanted attention from you was just mind-blowing… Neo was that one that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re making a difference,’” said Paepke.
Neo was a victim of severe animal abuse, but it wasn’t long after arriving at Best Friends’ location in Central Arkansas that a forever home was finally in sight.
Taken in by foster mom Linda Songbird, Neo needed less than a day to convince Linda that he was fit for a lifetime of companionship.
“It makes your life worthwhile,” said Songbird. “And he’s wonderful. He’s there as soon as you come in. He’s right at the door. Happy to see you!”
It’s a story which reminds us that everyone deserves a fair shake and a second chance besides.
WATCH the story below from CBS 5…
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One Maui jeweler is offering hundreds of dollars worth of free jewelry repair services to people whose sentimental gold and jewels were tarnished or damaged in the wildfires last year.
The generosity and resilience of the Maui islanders has been inspiring in the aftermath of the wildfires, and jeweler Omi Chamdi, owner of No Ka ‘Oi Jewelers in Kahului, is a perfect example of this.
Chamdi told NPR he got the idea after being moved by stories of jewelers repairing pieces in the aftermath of the Californian wildfires in 2018.
“These are not just ordinary items, these are the most precious possessions that people go back to the ruins and dig through the rubble to find,” he said. “That’s why I feel this is something I want to do and must do, because this is within my expertise.”
No Ka ‘Oi has repaired over 150 pieces of jewelry and has another 300 objects sent in by residents who had jewelry boxes and safes burnt up in the fires. Diamonds and other precious stones are mostly immune to the effects of fire, but gold can be severely tarnished or disfigured, with settings falling apart and stones tumbling down into the darkness.
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In such cases, soldering, polishing, laser cleaning, or rhodium plating might be required to restore the shine, and it might cost a person $150 or more. But Chamdi is doing it all out of pocket.
Chamdi said that people have routinely brought in pieces that took them days to find amid the ashes of their homes and possessions. For example, NPR shared the story of one Lahaina resident, Michelle Quirk, who used a shovel to dig through the ashes of her house in order to find 6 rings belonging to her great-grandmother—No Ka ‘Oi restored all of them.
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“Just finding the rings honestly has helped me emotionally,” Quirk said. “Before, I couldn’t even really talk about it or understand what happened. Then once those rings were found, it gave me hope.”
SHARE This Sweet Man, His Colleagues, And Their Mission Of Hope…
In Utah, a mother and two children were run over in a high school parking lot when a horde of students came running to help.
The CEO of the private school praised the speed and determination of the high schoolers, who arrived en masse to help lift the car to one side and allow the trapped family to escape.
It was in early December that the mother and her kids, ages 2 and 3, were walking back across the Layton Christian Academy parking lot to their car when a woman driving very slowly, yet partially blinded by the low winter sun coming in through the windscreen, ran the three down.
CEO of the Academy, Chris Crowder, said that the vehicle was small and had very little ground clearance.
“I ran back in the building to grab as many students as possible,” Crowder told Good Morning America. “The car was just on top of them and squishing them.”
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With an active-duty military airman in the parking lot as well, and Crowder to organize them, the man-and-woman-power of the teenagers allowed them to free the trapped family in just about three minutes.
“Three minutes doesn’t sound like a long time, but certainly in a critical incident like that, when stress is high, that seems like a really long time,” said Lt. Travis Lyman of the Layton Police Department, who said the whole Department was proud of the students for how fast they acted.
MORE HEROIC TEENS: Seven Swimmers Owe Their Lives to Australian Teens on Boogie Boards–2 Rescues in One Week
GMA reports that the mom, who was an employee of the school, was taken to the hospital where she underwent surgery for non-life-threatening injuries, while the children had only minor abrasions and bruising.
WATCH the rescue footage below…
SHARE And Celebrate The Quick Actions Of These Responsible Teens…
Quote of the Day: “Love is unto itself a higher law.” – Boethius
Photo by: Ashley Webb (CC license)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Everyone knows that our ancestors believed the seas and oceans were the domains of monsters, but the extent of this fear, as depicted in early Renaissance maps, is striking to behold.
As early as the 9th century, Arab historians such as Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī, who compiled first-hand accounts of sailors from China and India, knew to discount or ignore their stories of sea serpents.
This evidently didn’t take hold until later in scholastic traditions of Europe, because as late as the 15th century, maps were still covered in images of “sea swine,” “sea orms,” and “pristers.”
The map above is one of the most famous examples of the fear that Europeans clung to during the Renaissance. Initially published in 1538 by Swedish ecclesiastic Olaus Magnus, the Carta Marina was one of the earliest maps to depict Scandinavia with such a richness of place names.
According to author Edward Lynam writing in 1949, Magnus drew from a variety of ancient sources including Ptolemy’s map in Geographia, and contemporary sources such as the work of Astronomer Jacob Ziegler. In addition to cartographic sources, Magnus also relied on the descriptions of sailors and his own observations.
Near the coast of Norway, descriptions from sailors led to Magnus illustrating an image of a sea serpent attacking a ship, which in this case would be a mythical beast called a “sea orm”, the inspiration for which scholars believe be whales, squids, sea lions, or more.
Magnus wrote in a later history that a sea orm could rear its head up out of the sea and pluck an unwitting sailor directly from his deck. He described it as being 200-feet long (double the size of a blue whale) and 20 feet in girth.
Whales are actually pictured on the map, identified by their Latin name balena, but Magnus’ depictions hint at the original hypothesized appearances of these gentle giants. Seeming more like boar than balena, the whales sport long tusks and have two blowholes instead of one, appearing in place of a hog’s ears rather than along the spinal column as is the case with whales. Two can be seen attacking ships off the coast of Iceland.
Accounts of mythical “sea swine” can be traced as far back as ancient Greece, but Magnus depicts them in the illustration marked ‘E’ with webbed “dragon’s feet” and a single eye down toward the beast’s belly.
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Another variation on the balena/boar beast is the prister, which was also 200-feet long according to Magnus, and could be scared away with the blast of a trumpet, of all things. Near Iceland in his Carta Marina, a sailor is depicted doing just this, while westward, a beast marked on the map as a “prister” rears up much like a sea orm, and apart from the blowholes/ears, seems quite serpant-like; and is covered in spines for good measure.
Chet Van Duzer, author of Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, spoke to Nat Geo about the map and said that nearly everything depicted on it was just variations on the same theme of terror and confusion inspired by whales, whether breaching, tail-slapping, or on occasions of striking wooden ships with their huge bodies.
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Mortality of sailors on long-distance voyages was around 50% for much of the Age of Exploration, and while this was due mainly to scurvy and other diseases, the fact that so few mariners returned home stoked traditional fears of being gobbled up by a monster, and must have deeply informed Magnus’ map.
The gorgeous colors and illustrations have made the Carta Marina a constant source of intrigue and delight for later scholars. Other depictions such as the sea cow, which could be thought to be a manatee but is shown on the map as a literal cow, as well as narwhals and walruses, all entice the history fan by providing a perfect glimpse into the behavior or beliefs of past generations.
SHARE This Amazing History Lesson And Map With Your Friends…
A man in Arkansas visited a famous state park with his girlfriend and ended up walking out with a 4.87-carat diamond—the largest colorless diamond found in the park this decade.
At Crater of Diamonds State Park, anyone, foreigner or citizen, can come and comb through the hills and ditches for diamonds, which is exactly what Jerry Evans from Lepanto was doing in spring of 2023.
Within ten minutes of entry, Evans saw what he thought was a piece of glass on top of a plowed ridge, picked it up, and stuffed it in his pocket.
“I thought it might be a piece of glass, it was so clear. I really didn’t know,” Evans said. “We were picking up everything thinking it was a diamond.”
He later sent the stone to the Gemological Institute of America for identification on the hunch that it was something more than just broken glass.
A few weeks later, he heard back that it was a near-colorless diamond.
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“When they called and told me it was real, I was tickled to death!”
“While I get many emails from people wanting me to identify something they’ve found here, to my recollection, this is the first time someone has contacted me after they’ve had a diamond identified by the GIA,” said Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox. “I’m glad that Mr. Evans was able to bring his historic diamond back to the park to have it officially registered.”
Over 75,000 diamonds have been found at Crater of Diamonds State Park, and this is the largest colorless stone found in some time, and the largest overall since Labor Day of 2020 when a brown diamond twice its size was uncovered.
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125 carats worth of diamonds were registered at the park this year, which was the site of a volcanic event long ago that created the necessary conditions of heat, pressure, and elements to make the diamonds which people find today.
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County archaeologists have recently dated the remains of a Viking ship burial on a small island called Leka and found it to be the oldest one in all of Scandinavia.
In fact, it dates back so far, there’s a technical question about whether or not one can even call it a Viking ship burial, because funerary activities pre-date the Viking Age, when the term Viking began to be used for a Scandinavian mariner who spent some time trading and some time raiding.
The Herlaugshaugen burial mound in Leka is located in an archaeologically rich area called Namdalen. Here, there is a very unusually high concentration of burial mounds, but while most are unsurveyed and unexcavated, Herlaugshaugen had been excavated at three different times.
Records from the 18th and 19th centuries show that the mound contained construction materials like nails, a bronze cauldron, animal bones, and a seated skeleton with a sword. These have long since disappeared and interest in Herlaugshaugen for Norway’s recent ancestors concluded.
Now, a team of archaeologists and a professional metal detective went to survey the mound as part of a collaboration with the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Trøndelag County Authority.
They found iron nails and other evidence to suggest that the mound was the site of a ship burial, in which a man was interred around 700 CE, decades before the generally accepted start points of the Viking Age.
Furthermore, the ship was very large. Historians often credit the boat-building methods developed by the Scandinavians as one of several trends and forces that launched the Viking Age, but here, the appearance of a large sea-worthy vessel means that the technology and the will, capabilities, and commercial interests all existed to use it even before the 700 CE date.
“This dating is really exciting because it pushes the whole tradition of ship burials quite far back in time,” Geir Grønnesby, an archaeologist at the NTNU University Museum, told Phys.org.
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Viking raids may have been ongoing within Scandinavia at earlier periods, but the first outward acts of aggression by medieval Scandinavians are recorded as happening within the final quarter of the 8th century.
The other side of the Viking identity—that of the trader—may have already been fully developed at much earlier dates, such as the Merovingian Period, during which this burial was constructed.
“I think that the location along the shipping route plays a key role in understanding why Herlaugshaugen burial mound is located at Leka,” said archaeologist Lars Forseth from Trøndelag County Authority. “We know that whetstones have been traded from Trøndelag to the continent from the mid-700s onwards, and goods transport along the route is key to understanding the Viking Age and developments in ship design before the Viking Age.”
Ships would have been great signs of status, as they provided an economic link from the continent to these disparate Norwegian fjords and inlets. Anyone who owned one would have stood to make a lot of money, and the presence of the ship burial and the other mounds in Namdalen suggests to archaeologists like Forseth that the area of Namdalen may have played host to an elite merchant society.
KEEP READING ABOUT HISTORY: 4 Years After Discovery, the First Viking Ship Burial Found in Over 100 Years Reveals its Lost Secrets
Namdalen’s various valleys contain 10% of all the recorded burial mounds in Norway, but most haven’t been surveyed, so the idea has no legs as of yet.
SHARE This Amazing Discovery And Update To The Viking Story On Social Media…
5th Precinct officers of the NYPD had no intention of waiting for firefighters to come to the 6-story apartment building in flames right across from their station door.
Officers Willian Finan and William Dottavio along with two other colleagues charged in after residents fleeing the fire said there were elderly people trapped inside.
“I remember very specifically a guy walked up to me and said, ‘Mommy Mommy—6th floor’ and at that point I knew we had to get up there,” said NYPD officer Jeremy Banfield, talking to Fox 5 from their precinct in New York City’s Chinatown.
Released body cam footage worn by Dottavio shows Officer Finan exiting the building with a 99-year-old woman over his shoulder, before Dottavio charges up 5 flights of stairs to find the fourth member of the rescue team, Detective Rodney Rosado, coming out with another elderly woman.
Between the four men, they were able to rescue the 99-year-old, two elderly men aged 96 and 91, as well as a fourth woman whose age was not disclosed—all just 5 days before Christmas.
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“After you’re done and after you get everybody out of there, and you do see that the holidays are here, then you start thinking wow. This could’ve been totally different,” said Officer Rosado.
WATCH the story below from Fox News…
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Quote of the Day: “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard (Happy New Year!)
Photo by: Jason Leung
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
The tally of road crash deaths is heading in the right direction—downwards.
The new 2023 World Health Organization report on road safety shows that, since 2010, road traffic deaths have fallen by 5%—and that would translate into a 16% drop if the rise in global population was accounted for.
108 countries reported a drop in road traffic-related deaths between 2010 and 2021.
Ten countries succeeded in reducing road traffic deaths by over 50%: Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
35 more countries made notable progress, reducing deaths by 30% to 50%.
Low income countries are at much higher risk: Asia and Africa reported the bulk of the deaths, followed by 12% in the Americas, 11% in the Eastern Mediterranean, and 5% in the Europe.
Over half of all road traffic fatalities include pedestrians (23%), motorcycles (21%); cyclists (6%); and scooters (3%).
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The report covering a decade of progress was produced with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies which has committed $500 million to support road safety interventions in low- and middle-income countries and cities across the world.
“Our mission at Bloomberg Philanthropies is to save and improve as many lives as possible, and one of the best ways to do that is to make more of the world’s roads safe for all,” said Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg, the WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, who also wrote a foreword for the report.
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“For more than a decade now, we’ve made encouraging progress together with the World Health Organization and our partners. Still, as this new report makes clear, road safety demands stronger commitments from governments worldwide—and we’ll continue to urge more leaders to take lifesaving action.”
SHARE the Positive Global Trend on Social Media, Wishing All a Safe New Year…
An elderly woman cried tears of joy when her daughter fulfilled her lifelong dream of petting a real penguin.
Christine Cross is a super fan of all things penguin, and for a Christmas gift, her daughter Lindsay Cross made her dream come true.
A video shows the 76-year-old overcome with emotion after petting the bird at SeaWorld in San Diego, California.
“When I actually told her about the present she didn’t say any words. It was more like an excited noise,” recalls Lindsay.
Christine, a retired special needs teacher, has always loved penguins and feels very connected to them.
“She associated herself with them because they’re clumsy on land but graceful in the water. My mum was the same. She’s an absolute clutz but as soon as she gets in the water she’s so graceful.”
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She collects anything penguin-themed and has sponsored the animals in zoos for years by sending money for their care.
“She’s a big fan and has been collecting penguins her whole life—toys, figurines, pencils, clothes with penguins on them, paintings, Christmas decorations, anything.”
“When we got back I lost count of how many times she said thank you!”
WATCH: Penguin Leaps Into a Tour Boat to Avoid Being Eaten By Killer Whales
Watch the special moment below…
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While the original CRISPR gene editing technology could only target 12.5% of the human genome, a new method developed by engineers at Duke University expands access to nearly every gene to potentially target and treat a broader range of diseases.
The study published in the journal Nature Communications, involved collaborators at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Zurich, and McMaster University.
“With this new tool, we can target nearly 100% of the genome with far more precision,” said Pranam Chatterjee, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke.
CRISPR-Cas is a bacterial immune system that allows bacteria to use RNA molecules and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins to target and destroy the DNA of invading viruses. Since its discovery, researchers have raced to develop an arsenal of new CRISPR systems for applications in gene therapy and genome engineering.
The team investigated the new tool’s potential therapeutic uses for genetic diseases that were untreatable with the standard CRISPR system. Their first test was Rett syndrome, a progressive neurological disorder that predominantly affects young females and is caused by one of eight mutations to a specific gene.
The second was Huntington’s disease, a rare, inherited neurological disorder that causes the degeneration of neurons in the brain. Using the new technology, the team was able to alter previously inaccessible mutations, providing potential therapeutic opportunities for both diseases.
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To make edits to the genome, Cas proteins utilize both an RNA molecule, which guides the enzyme to a targeted stretch of DNA, and a protospacer adjacent motif, or PAM, which is a short DNA sequence that immediately follows the targeted DNA sequence and is required for the Cas protein to bind.
Once a guide RNA finds its complementary DNA sequence and the Cas enzyme binds the adjacent PAM, the enzyme acts like scissors to make a cut in the DNA, triggering the desired changes to the genome. The most common CRISPR-Cas system is the Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria (SpCas9), which requires a PAM sequence of two guanine bases (GG) in a row.
In previous work, Chatterjee and his team used bioinformatics tools to discover and engineer new Cas9 proteins, including Sc++, which only requires a single guanine base PAM to make a cut. This change made it possible for researchers to edit nearly 50% of all DNA sequences.
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At the same time, Chatterjee’s collaborators at Harvard, led by Benjamin Kleinstiver, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, engineered a separate variant called SpRY. While SpRY could bind to any one of the four DNA bases that could form the PAM, it had a much stronger affinity for adenine and guanine.
Because both systems had drawbacks, the group decided to put the best of both together into a new variant called SpRyc.
While SpRYc was slower than its counterparts at cutting target DNA sequences, it was more effective than both the traditional enzymes at editing specific sections of DNA. Despite SpRYc’s broadness, it was also more accurate than SpRY.
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“There is a lot of potential with SpRYc, whether it’s exploring how to translate it into the clinic or finding ways to make it even more efficient,” said Chatterjee. “We look forward to exploring the full capabilities of our tool.”
(Source: Duke University)
EXCITING STUFF to Share For the New Year on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Let no one who loves be unhappy—even love unreturned has its rainbow.” – James M. Barrie
Photo by: Typhaine Braz
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A mother and her two children had a miraculous escape after they were accidentally pushed onto railway tracks—while a moving train came rushing into the station.
In reaction, the mother protected her little children by shielding them with her body as the train moved on, just inches above them.
This incident was caught on camera on December 23 at the Barh railway station in Bihar, which is in northern India.
The woman and her kids, from Begusarai, fell onto the tracks as a crowd surged on the platform while they were hoping to board the incoming train to Delhi on the Vikramshila Express.
Although shocked, the family all emerged from the tracks unscathed.
HEARTWARMING MOMENT:Photo of Firefighter Reading Book to Little Girl After Car Crash Warms Hearts on the Internet
Watch the lucky moment captured via cell phone…
SHARE THE LUCKY Moment With Friends on Social Media…
Caring for a pet helps stave off cognitive decline for people over 50 who live on their own, according to a new study of almost 8,000 participants.
Researchers found that pet ownership was associated with slower rates of decline in verbal memory and verbal fluency among the older adults who were living alone.
The study included 7,945 mostly-white British participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with an average age of 66.
Followed over an eight year period, more than a third of the group (35.1 percent) owned pets; about 30% of the group lived alone.
Previous studies suggested that solitary living is a risk factor for developing dementia and cognitive decline, but among those folks, raising dogs or cats was related to reduced loneliness.
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Some research has found that pet ownership is associated with better verbal memory and executive function, but others failed to find any evidence.
The new research published in JAMA Network aimed to further explore the association between aging by oneself—a trend which has been on the rise over the past few decades—and pet ownership. And the results were clear.
“Pet ownership offset the associations between living alone and declining rates in verbal memory and verbal fluency,” said study corresponding author Professor Ciyong Lu, of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.
It was “a significant modifier” in all 3 associations—composite verbal cognition, verbal memory, and verbal fluency.
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“Pet ownership was associated with slower rates of decline among older adults living alone.”
But owning a cat or dog did not make any difference for older people who lived with other people.
“These findings suggest that pet ownership may be associated with slower cognitive decline among older adults living alone.”
Prof. Lu is now calling for clinical trials that could help inform public health measures to address dementia among the elderly.
SEND This HEALTH Advice to Friends Living Alone By Sharing on Social Media…
According to the World Resources Institute, the number of electric school buses operating or delivered in the United States more than doubled—from 598 in 2022 to 1,285 through June 2023—all driven to serve school children while providing cleaner air in 40 states.
Looking into the near future, the number of electric school buses that were already funded or on-order nearly tripled, and were spread across districts located in 49 states.
The emissions-free buses are found in 914 U.S. school districts and private fleet operators, according to the evidence-based nonprofit’s report published in September, 2023: State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US.
California leads all states, with over 2,000 committed electric buses across the sprawling territory. This is more than five times as many EV buses as the next leading state, Maryland, with 391 commitments.
New Jersey has the second largest increase with 107 new buses, while West Virginia has the third largest increase with 42 new commitments. The updated data shows electric school bus commitments are now more evenly distributed across all regions of the country.
The Top 5 School Districts by Number of Electric School Buses are:
“We estimate approximately 69,000 students across the country are currently served by electric school buses that are delivered or in operation,” said the report authors, Lydia Freehafer, Leah Lazer, and Brian Zepka.
Zero pollution from tailpipes while buses are idling or driving means the students, staff, and community will be exposed to significantly less harmful air particulates that contribute to asthma and lung disease. The environment also benefits from reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
The federal government’s Clean School Bus Program, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, is one of the biggest funders of these vehicles, having awarded 2,339 electric school buses—with more on the way.
EDUCATE OTHERS By Sharing This Green News on Social Media…
Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of December 30, 2023
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Capricorn-born Lebron James is one of the greatest players in basketball history. Even more interesting from my perspective is that he is an exuberant activist and philanthropist. His list of magnificent contributions is too long to detail here. Here are a few examples: his bountiful support for charities like After-School All-Stars, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Children’s Defense Fund, and his own Family Foundation. I suggest you make Lebron one of your role models in 2024. It will be a time when you can have more potent and far-reaching effects than ever before through the power of your compassion, generosity, and beneficence.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
I propose we make the shark your soul creature in 2024. Not because some shark species are apex predators at the top of the food chain. Rather, I propose you embrace the shark as an inspirational role model because it is a stalwart, steadfast champion with spectacular endurance. Its lineage goes back 400 million years. Sharks were on Earth before there were dinosaurs, mammals, and grass. Saturn’s rings didn’t exist yet when the first sharks swam in the oceans. Here are the adjectives I expect you to specialize in during the coming months: resolute, staunch, indomitable, sturdy, resilient.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In the 19th century, many scientists believed in the bogus theory of eugenics, which proposed that we could upgrade the genetic quality of the human race through selective breeding. Here’s a further example of experts’ ignorance: Until the 1800s, most scientists dismissed the notion that stones fell from the sky, even though meteorites had been seen by countless people since ancient times. Scientists also rejected the idea that large reptiles once roamed the Earth, at least until the 19th century, when it became clear that dinosaurs had existed and had become extinct. The moral of the story is that even the smartest among us can be addicted to delusional beliefs and theories. I hope this inspires you to engage in a purge of your own outmoded dogmas in 2024. A beginner’s mind can be your superpower! Discover a slew of new ways to think and see.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Among couples who share their finances, 39 percent lie to their partners about money. If you have been among that 39 percent, please don’t be in 2024. In fact, I hope you will be as candid as possible about most matters with every key ally in your life. It will be a time when the more honest and forthcoming you are, the more resources you will have at your disposal. Your commitment to telling the truth as kindly but completely as possible will earn you interesting rewards.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
According to tradition in ancient Israel, a Jubilee year happened every half-century. It was a “trumpet blast of liberty,” in the words of the Old Testament book Leviticus. During this grace period, enslaved people were supposed to be freed. Debts were forgiven, taxes canceled, and prisoners released. People were encouraged to work less and engage in more revelry. I boldly proclaim that 2024 should be a Jubilee Year for you Bulls. To launch the fun, make a list of the alleviations and emancipations you will claim in the months ahead.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
This is essential wisdom about how to conduct vibrant relationships: “Make peace with their devils, and you will do the same with yours.” I invite you to make liberal use of it in 2024. Why? Because I suspect you will come to deeply appreciate how all your worthwhile bonds inevitably require you to engage with each other’s wounds, shadows, and unripeness. To say it another way, healthy alliances require you to deal respectfully and compassionately with each other’s darkness. The disagreements and misunderstandings the two of you face are not flaws that discolor perfect intimacy. They are often rich opportunities to enrich togetherness.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Cancerian author Franz Kafka wrote over 500 letters to his love interest Felice Bauer. Her outpouring of affection wasn’t as voluminous, but was still very warm. At one point, Kafka wryly communicated to her, “Please suggest a remedy to stop me trembling with joy like a lunatic when I receive and read your letters.” He added, “You have given me a gift such as I never even dreamt of finding in this life.” I will be outrageous here and predict that 2024 will bring you, too, a gift such as you never dreamt of finding in this life. It may or may not involve romantic love, but it will feel like an ultimate blessing.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Renowned inventor Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) felt an extraordinary closeness with sparrows, finches, pigeons, and other wild birds. He loved feeding them, conversing with them, and inviting them into his home through open windows. He even fell in love with a special pigeon he called White Dove. He said, “I loved her as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” I bring this to your attention because I suspect 2024 will be an excellent time to upgrade your relationship with birds, Leo. Your power to employ and enjoy the metaphorical power of flight will be at a maximum.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
“All the world’s a stage,” wrote Shakespeare. He was comparing life to a theatrical drama, suggesting we are all performers attached to playing roles. In response, a band called the Kingpins released the song “All the World’s a Cage.” The lyrics include these lines: “You promised that the world was mine / You chained me to the borderline / Now I’m just sitting here doing time / All the world’s a cage.” These thoughts are the prelude to my advice for you. I believe that in 2024, you are poised to live your life in a world that is neither like a stage nor a cage. You will have unusually ample freedom from expectations, artificial constraints, and the inertia of the past. It will be an excellent time to break free from outdated self-images and your habitual persona.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
At age 10, an American girl named Becky Schroeder launched her career as an inventor. Two years later, she got her first of many patents for a product that enables people to read and write in the dark. I propose we make her one of your role models for 2024. No matter how old you are, I suspect you will be doing precocious things. You will understand life like a person at least ten years older than you. You will master abilities that a casual observer might think you learned improbably fast. You may even have seemingly supernatural conversations with the Future You.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Here are excellent questions for you to meditate on throughout 2024. 1. Who and what do you love? Who and what makes you spill over with adoration, caring, and longing? 2. How often do you feel deep waves of love? Would you like to feel more of them? If so, how could you? 3. What are the most practical and beautiful ways you express love for whom and what you love? Would you like to enhance the ways you express love, and if so, how? 4. Is there anything you can or should do to intensify your love for yourself?
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Like the rest of the planet, Scotland used to be a wild land. It had vast swaths of virgin forests and undomesticated animals. Then humans came. They cut the trees, dug up charcoal, and brought agriculture. Many native species died, and most forests disappeared. In recent years, though, a rewilding movement has arisen. Now Scotland is on the way to restoring the ancient health of the land. Native flora and fauna are returning. In accordance with astrological omens, I propose that you launch your own personal rewilding project in 2024. What would that look like? How might you accomplish it?
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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