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Now that the Senate has forced a debate on the ACA repeal, we may only have a few days to stop Republicans from stripping up to 32 million Americans of their healthcare. (For those of you who vote Republican, consider this an invitation to think deeply about what your party has become. Is this really what you had in mind when you registered to vote? Might this be an opportunity for you to help bring the party back from the brink?) In addition to calling your senators, hitting the streets, and taking action in other ways--see, for example, Indivisible's new tool for people in blue states--here's a simple spell to help stop TrumpCare from becoming a reality.

You'll need:

Old Granny Nicburne kept the Devil upstairs in an old black kettle.

Look on in, and you'd swear you were looking down an old, dry well.

And there at the bottom, looking back up, two eyes like a couple of fires.

They say one night a fellow broke into Granny's place, whilst she was up to the mountain at one of her jamborees.

Puzzled the sheriff no end.

Broke in, didn't steal nothing; just plain vanished into thin air.

Footprints in the dust led on up the stairs, and into an empty room, with nothing inside it but a deer skull in an old kettle.

Full step of prints going up those stairs.

The Mother Church of the ATC sits along the beautiful and wild, Skykomish River in a private resort community, in the very small township of Index, Washington. This quaint, cozy and magical place is one of the oldest and longest serving houses of witchcraft, the world headquarters of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church. Within its property lines are a 38-year sacred collection of Wiccan artifacts, witchcraft history, sacred documents, and even items that belong to the Gods themselves.

Hamilton, the Broadway musical that has become a force in itself, has also become a force for me lately. The hip-hop inspired musical about the “bastard, orphan, son of a whore” who became America’s “10 dollar founding father” has broken fertile ground on Broadway and opened it to new directions and a new future inspired by a fresh genre of music that easily translates itself into storytelling.

Cancer, being a Cardinal sign, kicks off the season, sets the tone and the template, not just for its own solar transit, but for the whole Summer. A Cardinal sign initiates the new season, hits the reset button—it sows the seeds that will come to their fullest expression and fruition, and be harvested, later on.

                The New Moon in Leo occurs this year just as the Leo solar transit begins. The Sun rules Leo, and is enthroned there when it returns, deep in the hottest days of Summer, the Solstice long past, looking at Lughnasadh is on the horizon. A Fixed sign, Leo’s heat and light reflect the intensity of the heart of this extreme season, when everything is growing, blooming, and bearing fruit. Under the intensity of the Leo Sun, the immense power of life force unrestrained. With Sun, Moon, Mercury and Mars all in Leo, the fiery power of Summer becomes even more potent.

Do you lead a beautiful life?

Ethicist Magenta Griffith once observed to me that beauty is a moral quality.

This strikes me as one of the most profound—and useful—statements on the topic that I've heard in years.

When making decisions, I frequently have cause to ask myself: What is the right thing to do? What is the honorable thing to do?

But maybe I also need to be asking: What is the beautiful thing to do?

We err if we restrict consideration of the beautiful to aesthetics. Beautiful behavior is something that we all recognize when we see it, even if we can't define it.

What is the beautiful thing to do? Well, Socrates could give you a better rule of thumb than I can. But I'll be happy to name some specifics.

Yes, it looks like a wild, fasten your seatbelts kind of month ahead, and the days leading up to the New Moon will be pretty interesting, too. (Then, of course, we have the powerful New Moon eclipse in late August, but more on that later)