On Saturday morning a red admiral paid me a visit and stayed long enough beside me to allow several close up photos. The following day I opted for a walk along the Rochdale Canal to try and locate a heronry that I had been told about. En route I went to capture a photo of the low water level below lock 7 through the arch of bridge 13. A second or two later and I would have captured the incredible sight of an adult heron coming towards me under the bridge and within two feet of my head. As it was I managed to turn round and catch it in flight. Failing to sight the heronry my attention had been drawn to dozens of vintage commercial vehicles which I discovered were participating in the 55th annual Trans Pennine Run of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society (founded in the year of my birth). So I set off for Skipton on a whim (well actually two buses and a train) to view the collection of over 100 vehicles assembled at the Craven Cattle Market (auction ground) following their 60+mile jour

Tomorrow's full moon, known variously as a buck, thunder or hay moon, will be exact mid afternoon in the UK which means if you wish to see it then you will have from 21:06 on Tuesday evening until 03:22 Wednesday morning and again from 21:24. It is a powerful moon that aligns very well with Andy Burnham's natal, progressed and solar return charts which can be translated, as we have already begun to see, with his increased institutional responsibility, visible public leadership, reform of governance, practical measures aimed at everyday living conditions. Furthermore the image above showing the conjunction of the Moon and Pluto in Capricorn on the left hand side and below the horizon with the Sun and Jupiter together in Cancer in opposition have aspects emphasised in his own charts especially the moon which is exactly conjunct his progressed moon. Cancer/Capricorn Full Moon: balancing care for people with the machinery of government. His first speech emphasised putting "the care of peop

The universe revealed this quote to me last night and thus I felt it was appropriate to share whilst the lunar nodes are still in direct motion (for another half hour at the time of creating this post). The nodes are normally in retrograde motion for most of the year and turn direct for a few days each month. The fact that this happened this weekend coinciding with the peak of the Barbault basket and, here in the UK, a change of Prime Minister is I feel quite a positive omen. Direct motion functions like a brief structural test. The collective is pushed to actively implement an onjective, forward-thinking idea before the node turns retrograde which will send us inward to integrate what happened. Kālidāsa was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviving works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter poems.

Tuesday, July 14, 2026 in numerology is 22/4 and it is represented in tarot cards by Death and the Emperor with a theme of releasing the past and being accountable for the present and the future. Combined with the day's destiny cards and the Mayan long count date I feel that a significant shift is imminent. It's 4953 days since the original notion that the Mayan long count calendar at 13.0.0.0.0 signified the end of the world on December 21, 2012 and 1,876,953 days since the inception of this calendar. In the Mayan haab calendar today is the seventh day of the sixth month of Xul (dog) associated with transformation and rebirth. My previous post about the Barbault basket ties in with the energies which will be peaking in six days time when Jupiter in Cancer makes its exact opposition to Pluto retrograde in Capricorn - a powerful aspect which could easily be translated as the people vs the establishment and a bridge between endings and the establishment of a new foundation. Does security

The hot summer days have seen me lazing in my hammock by the canal but when the winds get up and the towpaths become busy with the myriad visitors to the town I escape to the hills on either side of the beautiful Calder Valley where hardly a soul can be seen. Yesterday (Sunday) was such a day and my heightened state wasn't due to psychedelics of any kind but the release of endorphins resulting from the exercise, being out in nature, soaking up the vitamin D and a view of which I never tire. My only company on the two and a half hour walk was a flock of sheep. Yes I was high above Hebden with views stretching across the valley to Heptonstall, up the valley to Stoodley Pike and down towards Mytholmroyd and Cragg Vale. There's always a new trail to discover and yesterday I got up to the peculiarly named Butts Bottom - a short stretch of lane which, going down hill is preceded by Haven Lane and followed by Dole Lane and Spencer Lane - before venturing on to a track on which the sheep encou

Living by the Rochdale Canal I am fortunate to enjoy the many goings on both on the water and the towpath opposite my boat. Having recently completed two four hour walks along sections of both the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and the Lancaster Canal I have been inspired to create a new series of posts based primarily on my encounters with the creatures native to the environment of the frequent towpath walks I undertake and also those on the mooring itself. 'Tales of the Riverbank' was a children's TV series narrated by Johnny Morris in the early sixties and originally, having sighted a herd of cows by the Lancaster Canal, I had thought of calling this thread 'Tails of the Canal bank'. Whilst the TV series did feature mainy creatures with tails it is rare to actually see rodents thus the more fitting title for this thread which offers greater scope. Having said that there are plenty of fish in the canal (I saw a shoal of mature tench the other day) and also numerous species of birds in the i