Snake Oil The old man is down the road, or is he?
(This column was written and first published in 2010)
I recently read a passage from the book of Runes to a client and it took a minute for my eyes to adjust so that I could clearly see the words. This is an issue that is fairly new to me. I don’t wear glasses because I have never needed them. My eye sight has always been somewhere between average and exceptional. Now that I am in my mid forties I have suddenly become a little far sighted. We talked about the meaning of the Rune stone that was meant for her that day. It clearly related to what was presently happening in her life. This prompted me to tell her about a similar experience I had been through years ago when I was in my early thirties. My client was genuinely stunned to find out I was 45. She thought I was currently in my mid thirties. It was a beneficial session for her and for me.
While I gracefully received this compliment, I think, realistically that I can maybe pull off mid to late thirties at best. Still, I do hear this fairly often, people tell me that I look much younger than my present age. In fact I have always heard this. Even when I was twenty people often thought I was a few years younger. Of course I hated it then... At this point in my life, I have experienced very little of the negative effects of aging. I am in excellent shape because I work out three or four times a week and I eat a fairly healthy diet. Things are not sagging and falling apart like I was told would happen “inevitably after forty.” Internally and externally, things are working nicely. I have very few if any wrinkles on my face. This is probably because I rarely tanned when I was younger. My skin is more on the fair side, so the few times I tried to tan when I was in my teens and early twenties, it resulted in me just getting really red. After a few sunburns, I got wise enough to accept the reality of my skin and gave up tanning. This combined with good genetics (everyone in my family looks younger than we are) and taking care of my body inside and out has contributed to my aging well.
While I never have been fanatical about it, I actually love the experience of taking care of my body and skin. I use moisturizers daily and even use at home facial masks twice a month. I brush my teeth and floss often, trim hairs that spring up in all of the “wrong places,” and put a fair amount of energy into looking good. The care and maintenance of my physical body is something I do not see as a chore. I see it as a kind of fun privilege and a gift. Taking care of my body, and doing my best to look good makes sense to me. The need and value of keeping the vehicle that I drive around in - my body - in optimal condition is to me, unquestionable.
Years ago I dated someone who was chatting with his friends about staying fit and healthy and looking younger. I shared their enthusiasm for part of the conversation. I began to lose interest, however, when it shifted to Botox, chemical facial peels, face lifts, and liposuction. I understand why people do these things and I definitely don’t judge their choices. Hell, I had my teeth professionally bleached a few years ago, and even briefly had a hair piece in my late twenties. I question the over-use of surgery and the wisdom of injecting poison into your face to eliminate wrinkles. There are a number of safer, natural ways to practice healthy vanity without needing to resort to these types of extremes. Often people use surgical and questionable injections in a compulsive way, and after a while many begin to look a little ridiculous. Endless stretched skin and rounds of liposuction, breast augmentation, lip injections and other forms of plastic surgery can turn an attractive person into a little bit of a freak.
While there are definitely practical reasons for my experience with aging well, there are metaphysical influences operating here also. I started losing my hair and going bald at a young age. This was already happening by the time I was nineteen. It was bittersweet, because I hated my red hair. I never thought my hair looked attractive, but balding at such a young age was not something I was happy with either. It wasn’t just my hair though as I never thought I was really attractive. At around the same time my hair began to thin, I also began to study metaphysics and learned that our beliefs form our reality. I decided to do something about my belief that I wasn’t handsome or attractive enough. If it were true, and I changed my beliefs, than I could change this reality. I decided to begin to believe that I would get better looking with age. The new belief I focused on was that I would stay young looking for many years and I would not even reach my most attractive point in life until my late forties to mid fifties. I was clear about manifesting this. Since it was a long range goal, I knew I would have time to remove the current negative beliefs that blocked me and make this an inevitable reality. I remember thinking that I would be like Dick Clark and stay abnormally young looking for a long time. I would defy what people perceived as “normal aging.”
Over the years I have run across a number of people who have similar beliefs in this area. Other “rebels” who refuse to commit to beliefs like: “Its all downhill after forty.” “I was at my best in my early twenties.” “Everybody gets fat when they are older, its impossible to stay fit after sixty.” “Forget about having a ripped abdomen after you turn thirty.” While I think these things are true for many people, I see evidence of the opposite of these limiting beliefs all of the time. I have friends and clients who are fit and healthy and look amazing in their fifties, sixties and seventies. I have observed a number of people who are active and healthy and in their eighties. True beauty is an internal quality that radiates outward to create outer beauty at any age.
So far, I still have not gotten glasses. I will do eye training exercises to improve my vision. I am sure I can resolve this. And if I do need glasses or lasik, then that won’t be the end of the world, by any means. My body making it difficult for me to see “the tiny details of life so clearly” is a message in its own right, and a valuable one for me to consider. Sometimes being “too detail oriented, and nitpicking” is my problem. I have no desire to live forever and avoid the process of aging. I expect that in my eighties and nineties, I will be a bit more tired, somewhat less active and sexually motivated. I will probably have a few more wrinkles. The process of aging, for me will still be minimal in comparison to what “is supposed to happen.” I think that in my mid nineties I will tire of this world and want to go back “home again.” My body will have served me well until I am ready to leave it behind for new adventures that don’t require a physical body. Until then, screw the typical aging story, I am going to play the “looking younger, attractive, and staying fit game” for a number of decades to come.
Jim Ventura 3-2010
Notes:
I wrote this piece a little over 6 years ago. I can’t say there has been any real major changes in my health in the last few years, although I have some gray now in my beard and chest hair. I have always had some blonde, red, and brown hairs, now I also have some gray. I looked at it as added colors to the many I already have. I still workout 4 days a week (I have for most part since about the age of 17) and I still continue to fine tune my body this way. I can no longer wear large shirts and have to go with XL because my arms won’t fit into the sleeves of a lot of shirts. Plus I am no longer interested in really tight fitting clothes! I also wear my dollar store reading glasses when I read and have gotten pretty comfortable with using them. I have about 13 pairs around the house now! Other than that I now get AARP and Hartford insurance. Cringed when I signed up for it, then I found out about all the perks and about $350 a year less for same car insurance. Still going with mostly plusses for the aging process!
I have decided to extend my new client promotion until the end of November. Please feel free to pass the information along to friends. You may also purchase a gift session at these rates for a new client!
I have posted some information about Donald Trump’s astrology chart. It really does fit him and if anyone is still in doubt about how astrology influences us this should put that to rest. More information about the Trump chart later in the newsletter. I will post Hillary Clinton’s chart next month so everyone can see the comparison. Very, very interesting, no matter what your political affiliations.
I am also running an astrology special all month for everyone who receives my monthly Snake Oil column, so you can discover the countless benefits of understanding your natal chart, or partners, children, etc...
Wishing everyone a happy September. Fall is thankfully around the corner! Cheers, Jim V
“Middle school is for being like everyone else; middle age is for being like yourself.” Victoria Moran
Channeled corner. I read many, many books from different trance channelers in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Unfortunately many of them are now out of print, but I still have a huge collection and will share some of the best material I have collected over the years.
“Again, the body always reflects the state of the psyche and the filter of a given age. Those in middle age may observe with concern and dismay their bodies of youth losing their fine, sharp edges, as the bathroom scale seems determined to torment you at every opportunity, the flexibility of youth giving way to awakening new and unwelcome aches and pains.
Remember the filters of life. Youth is the age of exploration, the span of inquisitive and searching experience in every facet of life. Flowing from this, early adulthood is a time of choice, when much exploration may still be required to choose effectively.
By middle age, most choices are made. What need had the middle-aged adult for the strength and agility of youth? There is no reason, given the filter of consolidation, why that body need be maintained.
The psyche supplies a constant flow of energy into your life. In youth, that energy is almost all directed into the body, its construction, growth and explorations. In middle age, with exploration behind, that energy is better spent intellectually, in meeting with the demands of one’s career, marriage and parenthood. It is not that the body is in decline but that the focus of one’s energy shifts from pure physical activity to physical activity driven by intellect. The psyche is thus reconfigured to devote more energy to the mind, to focused concentration on the choices made, rather than frenetic activity.
Now, as you are seeing in your day, there is a rise in the number of men and women who can continue to perform athletically almost as well as they did in youth. Once again, your beliefs built upon the medical model of a body decaying from birth are being laughed off the planet. There is no reason whatsoever why the body cannot remain fit, vigorous, vital and active for the entire duration of life: indeed, this is the plan. It is only when you saddle the body’s innate resilience with beliefs about aging, about death, that you find the literal results in the breakdown of so many elderly bodies. As one more slap in the face of science and medicine, then, as the New Dawn approaches you find middle-aged and elderly persons demonstrating athletic prowess to put to shame many in the stage of youth.
We say this to emphasize that, while the psyche does refocus its energy into the intellect, rather than youth’s exclusive concentration on activity, there is no suggestion that the body must decline in resilience or strength. It may require more work to maintain that tone, however...”
Whatever happened to Diving Grace. by Ramon Stevens
“There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” Sophia Loren
New Client Special:
January 1st 2016 thru November 30th 2016 Special: New Client introductory offer
$10-15 off listed rates for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
$10-15 off listed rates for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
My current rates (new clients can subtract the above discounts from these rates): 45 minute sessions $80. 70 minute sessions $110. 90 minute sessions $130.
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Maya Angelou
Snake Oil Radio
Thursdays at 3:30 pm (there will be two live broadcasts this month)
My next live broadcast of Snake Oil Radio will be Thursday, September 8th. at 3:30 p.m. (AZ doesn’t use daylight savings time, so it’s the same as pacific time). Most Thursdays you can catch a new show. Each 45 minute show will expand on my current column’s subject matter. It will also offer an opportunity for you to call in live (or chat with other listeners in the chat room) with comments and your thoughts about the topic of discussion. If you miss the live show, you can catch any of my previously recorded shows on the web site’s archive. You can also catch Snake Oil Radio on I-tunes (download my pod-casts there).
To hear a live show, all you need to do is be at a computer and tuned into: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Jim-Ventura You may also access it by going to the site and type “Snake Oil” into the search option.You can also go to the shows that are currently “On air” at that time and find me. The call in number is 646-200-3966 for questions and comments.
“I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.” Robert Schuller
Donald Trump’s Natal Astrology Chart:
When an astrologer looks at a natal chart there are many, many aspects to consider to really get an understanding of what contributes to the natal chart that pinpoint our personalities, talents, strengths, weaknesses, motivations, passions, and what areas (houses) of life we are drawn to most. This is a very short report and analysis of Donald Trump’s natal chart, with a focus on highlighting some of the most notable aspects and characteristics.
Donald Trump 6-14-1946
Trumps Sun in Gemini in the 10th house shows us a focus on communication expression, and an interest in many different areas of life. Gemini is a mutable, masculine, air sign element. The positive pole of Gemini is “I think” its negative expression is “I scheme.” The 10th house is the house of career and public standing. 10th house natal Suns need to be recognized, feel they have a mission or message, and will strive for whatever they decide is “success.”
His ascendant (rising sign) is late in Leo while much of his first house of personality is in Virgo. Leo's need to shine, be creative and to be seen as the “giver.” They need applause and recognition to thrive and are often able to get it. The positive pole of Leo is “I will” its negative expression is “I pretend.” Like many Leo risers what they want or believe “should” be true is expressed as already true, even if reality doesn’t support this. The Virgo first house suggests someone willing to work, fix things, and a mutable earth tendency. This placement is strong for a focused personality to work to acquire security, often through acquisition. The planet Mars sits on his ascendant making him strong, aggressive, masculine, and forceful. Mars does not see yesterday or tomorrow and operates assertively in the moment. The negative side of this is often impatience, domineering, thin-skinned and often reactive.
His Moon in Sagittarius suggests someone who is philosophical, likes to talk, teach and an ability to be charming and funny. Sagittarius moons are good at rebounding and taking even difficult or negative experiences forward and seeing the value of “a lesson learned.” The positive pole of Sagittarius is “I understand” its negative expression is “I exaggerate.” The placement in the fourth house suggests a strong connection to family, and his roots, it may point to an interest in real estate or other matters connected to home and property. Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign. It can create optimism and drive but also restlessness.
Uranus conjuncts his natal Sun in Gemini. This influence can suggest someone being iconoclastic, who shakes things up, doesn’t follow the status quo, possibly brilliant or very eccentric. Uranus can be ahead of their time in some respects, but can also be compulsively rebellious and blunt. A Uranus conjunction to his natal Sun suggests a personality that wants to break from from rules and limitations.
His second house of money and finances and how we earn a living and create security in life, contain both Jupiter and Neptune. Their placement in Libra suggests working with other people as part of his path to income. Negotiations and deals are noted and an ability to be seen as a “smooth” talker are likely. The negative side of Libra in Neptune and Jupiter can create an endless search for justice and may involve legal matters. Jupiter creates opportunity, confidence, expansion, and sometimes being over confident. Neptune can suggest the gaining and losing of fortunes at times because one does not always see this area of life clearly. It can also suggest someone who sees money and acquisition in a mystical way or possibly in an unclear or overly idealistic way.
Mercury, Saturn and Venus were all in Cancer in his 11th house of hopes and dreams and group associations. We see someone who strives to achieve new goals. The cancer focus suggests a strong connection to family. He may find himself with friends who are like second family, or have a strong focus on other family matters as part of his evolving goals. There are a number of indicators in his chart of potential connections to real estate.
Pluto and Mars in his 12h house suggest karma around male energy and possible abuse of power in past lifetimes. His karmic purpose is to transform this energy though service and to learn to channel his abilities in more positive and dynamic ways and to not slip into old negative patterns. Both Mars and Pluto suggest aggressive energy ‘bubbling” beneath the surface and the potential to overuse male energy. This can either create tremendous ability to influence others or to be manipulative and to abuse power.
Trump has strong energy connected to fire and air elements. Communication and drive will be natural dispositions. Strong fire and air elements combine to create a charismatic, noticeable personality with the potential for strong impact on others. His earth element is not as strong so he will likely be driven to acquire money, possessions and what he needs to feel security although this will not necessarily be an easy task.
A good amount of Trumps chart is 10th house, 11, 12th house placements. This can easily place him in the public eye. His Leo ascendant will also add to this picture of strength and confidence, and need to find his way into the “limelight.”
A simplified formula for any chart is to look at the three strongest influences in a natal chart: The sun, moon, and ascendant.
Positive use of this combination: “I think.” I understand.” “I will.”
Negative use: “I scheme.” “I exaggerate.” “I pretend.”
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I will post Hillary Clinton's chart next month!
ASTROLOGICAL READING Special
September 1, 2016-September 30th 2016. $20-$25 off all 45-90 minute sessions.
All astrological consultations are discounted $20 off my listed rates (no other discounts will apply at this time, but in office clients may take advantage of another $5 discount for cash or check payments) this month as well.
The Astrological natal chart reading is a great way to begin to understand your unique astrology. By looking beyond your Sun sign (the stuff the newspapers focus on) and exploring your Moon sign, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ascendant, etc... you can begin to gain clarity about the focus; and primary themes, of your life. House placements, aspects, and elements will help you see your patterns in greater detail. Transits will show what areas of your life are currently highlighted, and pinpoint upcoming astrological triggers for the future. Relationships, career, money, friendships, spiritual growth, family, health... all interpreted for you so you don't have to do the work. You will need to know your birth time for this reading (a solar chart can be done instead of a Natal if you don’t know your birth-time).
Sessions can be either at home office or by phone consultations. Sessions can be recorded on audio cassette if requested.
Understanding your own chart is a tremendously valuable way to understand your life purpose. It can also be a huge help in understanding your relationships with the people around you. There are many different types of astrological charts that can be tremendously useful:
Relationship composite charts (a look at the positive and negative themes that surface in any relationship you are currently in, or considering committing to...). Midpoint astrology will show the positive and challenging ways the relationship works for both of you. By looking at your partner’s chart you can gain quite a bit of understanding about what makes them tick. This can be very beneficial in relating more effectively to each other.
Astrology charts can be drawn up and interpreted for your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews etc.. Of course these charts can be incredible gifts for both parents and the children themselves! When you understand the primary motivations, talents and challenges of the people in your life, we are often more compassionate, empathetic and better able to help and assist the people we truly care about.
Astrology charts for when to begin a business, marriages, or considering relocating are also great ways to plan life more efficiently. Solar return charts are an excellent way to see the themes of the year ahead.
Understanding Current astrological and near future transits is an excellent way to see both restrictions as well as opportunities and to make the best of timing cycles.
Email me at Venturasag@yahoo.com to book your discounted September session or to purchase (maximum of two at this current rate) a gift certificate purchased for yourself or a friend will be good for one full year! Mention September Astrological Special when booking.
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” Oscar Wilde
Here’s my contact information to make an appointment for a session, or information on current classes: Phone: (602)957-3035 text: (602)349-0746 Email: Venturasag@yahoo.com (best method for contact).
Information about the different sessions and types of readings and services, past Snake Oil columns, and how to order my books and audio CD’s can be found at my website: Http://JimVentura.com
“Friend” me on Facebook to get other extra offers and in between column extras! Signing up for my fan page will get you even more extras and first shot at reading specials. Simply click on “like” on the fan page and you will automatically get my weekly updates.
You also may want to check out my posts on Tumblr.com: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/snake-oil-blog
All sessions/readings for 2016 are: Full (70 minutes) $110.00; Shorter session (45 minutes) $80.00; Extended session (90 minutes) $130.00 (two people can split an extended session back to back for $65.00 each). Email me for information about my Regular Client Program for even bigger discounts on session prices with the added benefit of monthly or quarterly check-ins.
All Current Snake Oil subscribers get $5.00 off all listed prices for any 45-90 minute sessions (except when using a special discount promotion). Local in office visits receive another $5 off listed prices for cash or check payments.
