Hello, everyone! It's been a while but I am thrilled to check in with the news that my Wavelength Tarot site is now live. Just click here to visit today.

What I'm probably most excited about is that I installed and dressed up this fabulous Word Press blog all by myself -- and I am definitely not what you would call a techie by any stretch of the imagination. The beautiful graphics are not my doing, however: that was sheer luck I came across such a gorgeous template. But it was really me doing FTP magic earlier this week.

Where did I learn how to install and customize blogs in less than a week? (Yep -- I started classes on Monday of this week.) I attended Blog Design Bootcamp which really was a great investment for me. Now I'm still adding to the site and eventually it will be polished up. In the meanwhile, feel free to visit!

Living in New York City, the meltdown on Wall Street seems even that much more frighteningly real. Last week's events were a rollercoaster ride of the market going up, up, up and down, down, down. Seeing that the Autumn equinox occurred today at precisely 11:44 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time), it made sense to perform a special blessing just for Wall Street this past Monday.

A group of us who have in the past worked with Urban Shaman, Mama Donna Henes agreed to meet right in front of the New York Stock Exchange this autumn equinox to chant special blessings. Why? Says Donna: "Monday marks a new week. And a new season. A good time to make a clean sweep and set off on a fresh start. The perfect time to purify the culture of greed that has poisoned not only the economy, but also the popular psyche."

She continues: "On the Equinox, there is a total equilibrium of darkness and light. Let us offer blessings of health, balance and sustainability to the financial system that supports us all."

We all wore white to signify our pure intentions. I was struck by how many tourists were walking around the Wall Street area, taking pictures of the New York Stock Exchange. I, of course, became one of them - as witnessed by the above photo. After we attuned ourselves at the moment of the Equinox, we waited until noon for our special blessings. Sage was lit, my drum came out and we cleansed the building and all it represented of greed, imbalance and other negativity. Nary an eyebrow was raised, although I did notice several of the tourists with cameras were now taking more pictures - of us this time! Whether the ceremony was a success remains to be seen but we all felt much calmer and centered after the ceremony.

Readers interested in a tarotist's take on the Wall Street meltdown may be interested in Joanna Powell Colbert's three-card spread on the situation, which may be found here. Obviously, this is a situation that has long-term repercussions and brings its own particular brand of stress and anxiety along with it.

In the meanwhile, our own blessing group had very little anxiety at the end of the cleansing ritual, as this picture of our happy faces demonstrates. A happy Autumn Equinox to all!

P.S. The ceremony got a write-up in the New York Observer today, in an article called "At the Emergency Equinox Blessing on Wall Street." Read it here.

On Monday. A group of us, led by Mama Donna Henes, went down to the New York Stock Exchange to create a blessing on troubled Wall Street at the exact moment of the Autumn Equinox. Everyone was very sincere in this effort, but the "acting" came in in the sense that while we were carrying out the ceremony, people around us began watching and even taking pictures. We were clad all in white, burning sage, drumming and chanting. However, our purpose came from the heart and I believe that this form of "being on stage" helped the participants reveal more of their true, core selves than wearing masks.

Autumn is most definitely here! Okay, it's not really noticeable all that much in the city yet, but we did take a trip up to the beautiful Catskill Mountains this weekend and enjoyed a very scenic drive. The further north we went, the more the leaves were seen to be changing although we didn't notice it be particularly nippy these past few days.

I was unplugged from the computer for the whole weekend since where we were staying didn't have TV, didn't have Internet access and what else? Oh! Spotty cell phone service. Still, when you are viewing the gorgeous countryside, these conveniences don't seem all that important.

The weather was a bit rainy, but all that meant was that I woke up to misty mountain autumn mornings that looked like this (see right.) The trip was very refreshing. I did, however, take out a bit of time to review Elizabeth Hazel's The Whispering Tarot and its accompanying guidebook, The Whispering Tarot: Softly Spoken Secrets for New Age Journal online. The review, I expect, will be available soon. Meanwhile, if you'd like to find out more about The Whispering Tarot, please visit Kozmic Kitchen by clicking here. Hope your autumn is also underway and going splendidly!