What I Did on 8-8-8

I picked up lots of interesting odds and ends on what has become my annual pilgrimage to Lily Dale, N.Y., considered the home of American Spiritualism.

Patricia Bell’s workshop on manifesting the dream at 8:08 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2008 began with a wedding that caught some of the workshop’s participants off-guard. I thought it was wonderful celebration.

After members of the wedding party and spiritual sojourners alike sampled the delicious wedding cake, San Diego astrologer Kenneth D. Miller talked about the relationship between 8 and Saturn and provided a brief overview of Vedic astrology.

Bell was the fairy godmother of the event, bestowing blessings on the happy couple and presiding over rituals and exercises to help everyone manifest their own dream. The icing on the cake? Bell’s introduction to the Chinese design philosophy feng shui.

Recently, one of my commenters accused me of being on the “wrong side of history,” and that was certainly the case on Aug. 8. In order to attend Bell’s workshop and the wedding, I had to pass up watching the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics, which took place at 8:08 p.m. Thanks heavens for YouTube, which will allow me to watch the spectacular performance at my leisure, on my laptop.

Being a financially-oriented (if not accomplished) Capricorn, my “takeaway” for the weekend came during a reading that Bell, one of Lily Dale’s registered mediums, did for me.

I don’t know if this was Spirit or Bell talking, but somebody pointed out that real estate prices will continue to decline until the Nodes, which are currently in the middle of Aquarius/Leo, make their way back through Capricorn/Cancer from August 2009 to February 2011.

So if you’re looking to buy property at bargain prices, the best time to do it will be when the North Node is in Capricorn and the South Node is in Cancer, says Bell.

Barbara Hand Clow and Gerry Clow were in Lily Dale for the weekend, but alas my schedule didn’t permit me to attend their seminar. I did pick up a copy of Hand Clow’s book, The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind in the Lily Dale bookstore, though.

With the recent crop circle in Avebury, England, corresponding to the end day of the Mayan calendar, Dec. 21, 2012, I decided I need to learn more about Mayan lore.

Here’s my own 8-8-8 story. Last week, I went to the library and randomly checked out a book called Two Lives, a memoir by Vikram Seth. You may remember Seth as the author of A Suitable Boy, the epic novel about an Indian widow’s matchmaking odyssey on behalf of her daughter. On Aug. 6, as I was preparing for my 8-8-8 getaway, I read the following line:

“Shanti Behari Seth was born on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the twentieth century.”

Now, what are the chances of that? About one in 8 million, I’d guess.

What Planet Are These Guys Living On?

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is scan breaking news on the Web. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry when I read this:

“Meeting in Japan, leaders of eight of the world’s largest economies, including U.S. President George W. Bush, pledged to halve emissions of greenhouse gas in their own countries by 2050.”

Are you kidding me? 2050? Will the earth still be here then? Someone should tell the Group of Eight leaders that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. I’d like to believe we’re going to be here after that, but 2012 is a useful deadline for pressing tasks like saving the planet.

What’s more, as several commentators have noted, the Group of Eight doesn’t include the fast-growing economies of China, India, and Brazil, where thousands of new autos are hitting the road each year. The emissions produced by these vehicles aren’t included in the voluntary G8 accord. We’ve got to be able to do better than this. Our future is riding on it, to paraphrase the old Michelin tires commercial.