Hal Bahr on UAC 2012 New Orleans: The Land of Dreams

This is another update we received from Hal Bahr on our Postcards from UAC Facebook Group. You can find him on Facebook HERE  and also on his Wordpress Site: Soul Journey Design

I had another wonderful day in New Orleans. As I walked into the lobby of the Marriott I saw clumps of astrologers deciding what to do with this last day before the conference begins. For me it began with a walk through the French Quarter with Caroline Casey to historic gathering place Cafe du Monde for beignets, cafe au lait, and orange juice. A young man sitting close by wore a t-shirt whose slogan caught our eyes Work Hard, Be Nice. Good guiding words for two people who will be very busy over the next week. We then went and took in the view from the square. Treasured time sharing stories, possible visions of the future, and confidences with my great ally and friend knowing we were in no hurry but the with the aim of exploring the voodoo vibe of NOLA and a visit to the resting place of Marie Laveau the voodoo priestess of New Orleans. Caroline first caught my attention in the 80's when she was on Nightline with Pat Buchanan talking politics and astro-wisdom. Later she inspired me with her book Making the Gods Work for You, amazed me with a personal reading and over the last few years she had become a friend. That's one great thing I have found with the astrologer tribe. These wise and learned folks are also accessible and even greater in their heart-centered humanity.

As we wandered Caroline told me stories of coming to NOLA just months after Katarina. Anti-depressants made it here faster than clean water, a city in shock with every person you met having a heart-rending story to tell, and the miracle of sunflowers and watermelons growing rampant in every vacant once-flooded space of the devastated city. After stopping and greeting our great spirit ancestor Marie Laveau's final resting place and tidying things up bit our tour continued. We paused in another gathering spot on the way to visiting Priestess Miriam and the Voodoo Spiritual Temple and cultural center while Caroline told me a story about Marie Laveau. Marie was in love with a high-born white New Orleans white man who took the legal steps to be declared colored so that he and Marie could own property and be together. Marie had the voodoo herbal cures for ailments like yellow fever and this among other things gained her entree among many unlikely and disparate groups. It was Marie who held the first multi-racial gatherings in the city where drumming and spirit was called forth for the good of all.

Then on to the Voodoo Spiritual Temple and cultural center where modern-day voodoo priestess Miriam Chamani presides. The shop was a sight to behold. Filled with talismans, remedies, candles, music, books, altars and Miriam who is available for personal readings, greetings, and chat while the images of Marie Laveau and Baron Samedi gaze down upon the visitors.

After stopping for delicious gelato and a quirky conversation with a flamboyantly dressed busker we eventually wandered back toward the hotel. As soon as we entered the building you could feel the vibe had changed from languorous lounging to the building frenzy of a huge gathering of astrological stars. I think we may have enough accumulated talent and brightness here to begin the Big Bang all over again. Checking in with Michael Erliwine again we all proceeded up to the registration check-in desk for the conference to get our credentials, badges and tickets for the various parts of the conference. I was delighted to find Victoria Naumann Peltz and Geri Bellino staffing the desk. The generous volunteer work at this conference is a tribute to the passion and excitement this kind of event stirs up in folks. Micheal took us behind closed doors into the UAC marketplace where we got to see the vendors setting up, Micheal's expansive booth and, wouldn't you know it... that same original couple setting up their bookstore booth. I told you paths would continue to meet here.

Then I began to get calls with questions about where the room monitors were going to be meeting and I had to leave my companions and see if could help the flow of communication. On the way I ran into friends, colleagues, teachers and astrological/organizational treasures Chris McRae, Monica Dimino, Richard Smoot, Henry Selzer, Robert Corre, and Maureen Ambrose. Once back up in my room I had the pleasure of a visit from Cayelin Castell co-founder of the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School and her gorgeous daughter Jenna. Rockin goddesses. Cayelin and Daniel Giamario will be hosting a booth in the marketplace that will offer a new version of the groundbreaking Shamanic Astrology Handbook. Check it out!

Our visit was sweet but brief as I had to go to the first gathering of the cast and crew of Micheal Lutin's OMG The Mayans Were Right. I was impressed with the stage and overwhelmed with the sheer star power of great astrologer's who Micheal had somehow convinced, cajoled, cohooted, and coerced into putting their trust and faith in him and Gloria Star. I want to reel off the list of who's in the cast but I know I'll miss some name and so I'll wait till a later date to fill you in but it's truly an astonishing assortment of the incredibly well-known, stunningly talented and beautiful, and the quirky and unlikely. You will gasp in wonder, surprise, and delight. When Michael outlined the show I could see it's truly something not to be missed for all those who are here and sure to be heard about for a long time to come.

I left the meeting early to get to yet another meeting being held by Michelle Gould and Charlotte Benson training the first group of room monitors for the pre-conference speaker presentations. Again the volunteer commitment at this conference is simply off the scale. What a group tribal effort of love. Michelle has done an extraordinary job of organizing and coordinating the various pieces that make up the support staff and I know I want to at least buy this Wonder-full lady a tall drink before this event is over.

I'll be working as one of 4 "Floor Runners" helping to keep the flow of room monitors, recording, and speakers moving smoothly throughout the conference. My main task will be taking care of the presentations on the 41st floor which will be the Symmetrical or Uranaian Astrology track and helping out on the 4th floor. Check in on Friday for my first reports which I'll be titling Notes from Uranus. It's after midnight now and I'm reporting for duty at 8:30 am to help out at Ray Merriman's pre-conference presentation tomorrow so as my fingers cramp and my eyes water I end this report and head off to the land of dreams. Oh wait that's where I've spent the whole day already isn't it? Only at UAC in New Orleans 2012.

Photo by Hal Bahr

Brilliant Dreamers, Thinkers, Observers and Speakers On a Night In New Orleans at UAC 2012

 

This is another update we received from Hal Bahr on our Postcards from UAC Facebook Group. You can find him on Facebook HERE  and also on his Wordpress Site: Soul Journey Design

This particular volunteer was fortunate enough to live in New Orleans (in the Marigny, just outside the Quarter) for a number of years. I visited the Quarter in 2008, 3 years after the devastation of Katrina. Hal's description and observations are gratefully received. It's only the very beginning and already he has made me feel just the tiniest bit part of it all and he has made my heart sing just a little bit. This is what I had always hoped Postcards from UAC could be. So, please, don't be shy. Send us your videos, your photos, your words, your poetry...

With much gratitude,

Robin Dalton

Postcards from UAC Volunteer

Back at the hotel after a great evening spent with Caroline Casey, Michael Erlewine, and Martha Ward, who wrote an amazing biography of Marie Laveau, the voodoo priestess of New Orleans, among other books. It was a treat to meet Michael and watch as two brilliant master astrologers (among other things in lives lived broad and deep) and abstract thinkers met each other for the first time and began to exchange ideas and vastly broad life experiences with one another. Being in the presence of People of Presence I got to be the listener, happier than any fly on the wall, with better drinks and food.

Martha lives here in New Orleans and picked us up at the hotel to take us on a tour of the Bywater neighborhood and the Lower 9th Ward. She told stories of the devastation of Katrina and the renewal of spirit that followed. We stopped at one spot in Bywater that had been blighted, but was taken over by the Vodoun community and rebuilt as a center of community growth and activity. Now filled with restaurants, healing arts, health foods (literally the only one on this side of the Mississippi) community credit union, yoga studio, dance studio, community outreach, low-cost housing, and an interfaith center. Rebuilt and painted in vibrant hues that proclaim new life and unity of purpose. She then took us on a tour of the hardest hit parts of the 9th ward. New buildings interspersed with still-blighted homes, vacant lots and the heart-tugging sight of only the front steps and walk up to what were once houses that families lived and thrived in. Six years later the wounds are still present but so is the creative and concrete rebirth.

Remembered will be the musician's neighborhood where artists were given low-cost homes in exchange for sweat equity and work on neighbor's houses, the area where Brad Pitt financed new green technology homes built high enough to survive another great flood and fitted with solar panels, The community garden area, the sun setting over a new levee and storm walls. The blood and tears of the past have watered and fertilized this new garden of the future and breeding ground of creative vision. The triumph of the weediness in the human race that lets us set down roots and re-grow even after devastation.

Seeing a slice of history as we passed the Mother-in-law lounge. Finally we ended up at a quintessential New Orleans restaurant The Praline Connection. How many things can you have deep fried? Apparently pretty much everything including okra, pickles, oysters, catfish, chicken livers, crab cakes, crayfish, and shrimp accompanied with tasty sides of mustard and collard greens. Definitely got my fix of Corexit [see euphemism for oil~rd] and a taste of the faith of the people who live in an area that intertwines the economies of oil and fishing in slightly uncomfortable and delicious ways. Talk about Neptune in Pisces during a time of Pluto/Uranus...The food, wonderful as it was, got overshadowed by the interplay of these brilliant thinkers, dreamers, observers and speakers with the backdrop of a high-school kids band on the corner tuning up to improvise the night away. Only available at UAC in New Orleans 2012.

23 May 2012 05:28

Back at the hotel after a great evening spent with Caroline Casey, Michael Erlewine, and Martha Ward who wrote an amazing biography of Marie Laveau the voodoo priestess of New Orleans among other books. It was a treat to meet Michael and watch as two brilliant master astrologers(among other things in lives lived broad ...See more

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Hal Bahr's Travels to UAC 2012

This is an update we got from Hal Bahr on our Postcards from UAC Facebook Group. You can find him on Facebook HERE 

.... and when you do, thank him for sharing his story with us!!

I woke at 3:15 am(after falling asleep at midnight) in my sweet house in Phoenix, Oregon to go to the Medford airport and head to New Orleans for the UAC astrology conference. Over 1500 astrologers under one roof! Now if that ain't enough to make you see stars. I flew in a very small plane with very narrow seats to Denver first. My row-mate was an evangelical minister heading to his son's wedding in Little Rock. He had his bible open and I had my Mountain Astrologer. I couldn't help but take some un-guilty pleasure over our close physical proximity. With every bump I somehow ended up rubbing up against him. Don't hold it against me...;-)

Standing in the boarding line in my Denver to NOLA segment I heard my name being called and turned around to see the beautiful sight of Sandra-Leigh Serio taking the same flight as me. She let me know our mutual buddy Geri Bellino was on the flight too. Of course Sandra is such a class act she was up in First Class but Geri and I got to catch up a bit before she got kicked out of the seat next to me. (okay, her real seat was a couple rows back but for awhile it looked like we were going to be able to hold hands and snuggle on the way to the Big Easy). I had fun watching people get on the plane and deciding whether they were astrologers or not. One couple especially caught my eye and I said to myself "yup, them for sure".

Once on the ground I hooked up with ally Caroline Casey at the baggage claim looking radiant in deep purple hair and smashing fetish jewelry. Groups of astrologers all aglow over being set free to roam together in the wild dire beauty of NOLA! We headed out to share a cab together and wouldn't you know it but that couple from the plane started talking with us and we all climbed into a cab together. Excited sharing of identities, anticipation of roaming the city, and midwestern reminiscences. Barely on the ground and already connecting with spirit tribe allies.

As we were walking to the cab Caroline was expressing her joy in the fact they allow smoking in the cabs here she had brought her organic sacred tobacco with her and was ready for a smoke, and when we got into the cab indeed the scent of well-smoked ciggies already permeated. As we traveled together talking and laughing Caroline lit up and our fellow Pluto-on-his-ascendant health police went into high harrumphatude. Control issues, campaign slogans, reprimands, and counter harrumphs were observed being volleyed to and fro. Will this be UAC in microcosm? Can we appreciate and allow each other to just be without stinking up the place? All this and we've only just gotten to the Marriott! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for that couple. Our paths are bound to remain entwined. So happy to be seeing my Astro-family in all their gory glory. Stay Tuned for more!