Balancing Acts

Autumnal Equinox
by Caryl Bryer Fallert

At around 5:05am this morning, the Sun entered the balancing air sign of Libra. I woke up around 1:45am, 3 hours early wondering why I had awakened at such an ungodly hour.  It was the intensity of the moon and sun, the earth and sky pulling towards each other. I was feeling it. And I was fighting it.  Restless, toiling and rolling then remembering to breathe, I soon drifted back into the other world.

True balance and harmony integrates both the light and the dark.  Staring into the blazing fire during my agnihotra meditation, I sat hearing the words, a whisper from the spirit of the autumn equinox asking that both the light and the dark aspects of my being be accepted equally. No exception, only total acceptance. Being comfortable with the everything I am; learning to value even those parts of me I learned to deny.  It's so easy to go into a blah blah state about balance and the light, and when it comes to the darkness we freeze up, tense up and avoid it at all costs. I'm guilty as s_it! (Yep, take a seat!)

With a parade of planets either already in Libra or making their way there I don't think any of us can avoid our dark side, the parts of us that stay hidden in our blind spots or curled up in a dark corner inside.  The ones that are starving from not being allowed in the living room, but shoved in the corner of the closet for what seem like an eternity.  The dance in Libra is hitting my 1st house. I wonder where it's happening for you? As for me I being challenged because I am already in the midst of my 7 numerology year; I haven't been much of a social butterfly, nor have I had the usual public appearances or hung out at any of the spots I used to.  I have been behind the scenes studying, learning, growing painfully and working diligently on finishing my book, completing other projects, reorganizing and refreshing my business and taking care of my family. Now all this song and dance where its' been quiet.

With the Sun, Venus and Saturn already sipping cocktails in my first house waiting for Mercury to join them on the 25th of this month while the moon will stop by for a brief visit in on the party on Tuesday, the 27th.  I had better prepare myself to host all these guests that are all professors out to school me (and you). Imagine having a cluster of teachers in a classroom teaching you all at the same time. What an accelerated learning camp!

The first house rules overall vitality, your height, your weight, the shape of your jaw, the expectations you have of beginnings, how you interact with others, your overall approach to life. The 1st house holds first impressions -- the ones you make on the world, and the ones the world makes on you, according to Astrologer Dana Gerhardt. Now I have this growing feeling that somehow I am being asked to come out from behind the pole a little bit to mingle with others. To do my own balancing act. Then it's no coincident that I am getting my newsletter out after so many years.

The Balancing Act

RELATIONSHIPS and LOVE and even how we earn money are key right now. We are all getting a visit from the Goddess of Love somewhere in our lives now that Venus is in her home sign Libra. She's calling us to align with our hearts and not our egos.

I love how life brings us the people and relationships that we need to learn the lessons we need to learn to be more of who we are, to be greater. My girlfriend Jeneba called me yesterday to ask me about a woman who called accusing her of being with "her man" - the "man" who happens to be married to a friend of Jeneba's. What a joke & entanglement.  During our conversation I asked her how her new Cancer boyfriend was coming along. "He's so emotional! Other than that he's giving and showing me a lot that I never had before." I laughed out loud and said, "It's time for emotional balance." When a Cancer man enters your womb and your life you had better know it's very much about emotions- about bringing your dark hidden ones into the light. He will make sure of that because he hides not his own (light & dark) and knows how to bring yours out of you. I also told her it's also about you reflecting on your role as a mother. Cancer is the most mothering, family sign. As I began to tell her ... "speaking of motherhood I've been wanting to chat with you about that but have been waiting to see you and the right time.  My phone suddenly, and I mean out of nowhere snapped, powered off all by itself. KA BAM!! An energetic BARRACADE! I knew that I needed to leave that alone for now.

Libra is the universal symbol of close one-on-one relationships. How well are you allowing your heart to open with those individuals you relate to?  How honestly are you allowing your true self to shine in those relationships? What issues of equality (Libra) and conversations needs to take place and be addressed here? Have you allowed things to go unspoken or discussed until now? Is it time to let go of people in your life because the time has come to move on to where they cannot follow?

Now is the time to reflect on that which has taken place since the Spring Equinox and ask yourself: Am I truly heading toward my heart's desire or am I still caught up in my head and allowing others to dictate who I am and what I do with my life? Even while in close relationship with others we cannot give up our goals and dreams just because we are caught up in a pattern of trying to please others.

Think about all you have undergone since the March Vernal Equinox and ask yourself this: Am I truly heading toward my heart's desire or am I still allowing others to dictate where I am and what I do for my life? We can still be in close relationships with others; however, we cannot give up our goals and dreams just because we have known one another for decades. The past is no longer an excuse that works anymore. It is an Ego trick to keep us from moving forward as our Soul wants us to.

Take a good heartfelt look at the obstacles and excuses your Ego is putting in front of you for not wanting to break free of the habits or history of the past. Uranus (which is retrograde at 2 degrees of Aries in my house of relationships - have mercy on me!) will ensure it happens whether or not we decide to first do so. Did I tell you that while the party is going on with Libra, Uranus is opposing the party? The North Node is now at 17 degrees of Sagittarius 51 minutes, still wanting us to take stock on top of our little mole hill, looking back to where we have been, where we are right now, and what beckons us on.

Do you have the courage and Faith and Trust to follow your heart's desire?

Feel your way forward, honor your emotions, especially EGO's fears and anger about change and moving forward, take assertive action, and be prepared for the sudden changes that come from letting go of the old and outmoded past. It's time to choose once and for all WHERE you want to be come Saturday. And remember this...... if you don't make your intentions clear, someone or something else will do it for you (and most likely not in the way you originally intended).

Let your old leaves fall....... HAPPY FALL EQUINOX!!!

Get Your Intuitive Astrology Equinox Reading 
TODAY!!

Want to know where you are and what's going on with you personally around these planetary transits, shifts, transformations and changes that are calling you? Email me to schedule a reading!! It really helps to lift you up.  Clarity comes, confidence soars and you align with the planetary dance that is always greater than You  & I. 

Reach me at: ecosensualliving@gmail.com or 301+637 +6739

Fall Breakast Party

When the sun and time begins to descend a minute earlier each day and the temperature starts declining, I start to prepare breakfasts that warm my family and I from the inside. A fruit or veggie juice don't quite do it alone for the belly.  I need foods of more substance and body first thing in the morning. I'm talking good old fashion Oatmeal....

 The Eco Goddess Cinna-butter-mon Oatmeal

Oatmeal
almond or hemp milk

cinnamon powder

earth balance butter

honey

Directions: prepare your oatmeal (I like mine soft), place in bowl, sprinkle cinnamon powder on it, add a tablespoon of earth balance butter, pour desired amount of milk and add a teaspoon of honey. Stir up and enjoy!! You can add any fruit you like.

And when I feel like eating like a queen, I go for the pancake feast and I'm talking double decking with dripping grade A organic maple syrup and fruits of my choice.

The Eco Goddess Sensual Pancakes

organic multigrain pancakes
sliced organic bananas or apples
crushed organic walnuts or sliced almonds
earth balance butter
organic caramel syrup or organic chocolate syrup
soy whipped cream

Directions: I usually make multigrain pancakes and spread a bit of butter on top immediately out taking them out the pan. Slice up bananas or apples in a bowl.  Put 3 tablespoons of earth balance in the heated sauce pan until melted, then pour in sliced fruits. Saute slowly for about 2 -3 minutes until fruit is soft golden brown. Add fruits on top of stacked pancakes, pour heated butter on pancakes as well. (I usually only eat one slice of pancake because of its sensual richness. But for those who can stack up more inside of you then make as many as you desire.) Pour the organic syrup of your choice. Then top with soy whipped cream. A toe curling delight!

Goddess Kale Juice

Juice of the day @ the Eco Goddess Temple

 

 

Ingredients

Kale

Carrots

Apples

Pears

Garlic 

Lemon

Blend three bunches of organic kale, a small bag of organic carrots, 2 apples, 2 pears, 4 garlic bulbs and a two squeezed lemons in a juicer.  And there you have it.

You can use the pulp as a topping for your salad
with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt or sautee it lightly in coconut oil with a pinch of himalayan or sea salt

. .

Eco Spiritual Praying

The word "Prayer" is one of those words that came to me in such a limited and restricted fashion that as a young girl I was determined to stretch the walls that so many have placed around it, especially those who literally get a high from using it to flaunt their so-called relationship with "God".

So if I keep getting on my knees and praying to God will I enter the kingdom of heaven? I would often ask myself? It always seem like a one way street with no one else on the other side. Yet, as I grew I learned that the spirit of God is everywhere and I don't need to be on my knees to reach him or it. I also learned that the supreme being was not confined to wearing pants, certainly had no one skin color and was not beyond the clouds in the sky.

Time would reveal that my relationship with the divine could be as creative as I was capable of being. And this did not exclude my sex life for it soon unfolded as the playing field for creativity, creation and where God existed in the middle.

My day then became filled with magical moments of conversations with God. We met in restrooms where I lay my burdens down; in the middle of a test in school when I needed confirmation of an
answer; at crossroads of my travels when I received guidance in a strange land from familiar spirits; in those disappointing times when things didn't go my way or someone did not deliver; and even in my dreams where the great one appeared as a flower growing through the crack of a concrete surface.

God became truly infinite, bottomless, topless, endless. I learned that most times we talk too damn
much and need to listen more to the voices of the divine - for its voice shape shifts and can take on the look of anything that pulsates or the sound of thunder, the tweeting of a bird or the laughter of a child. And as my eco spiritual life began to shape and mold me into Earth's daughter I began to value and thank and bless all those who played a role in getting food on the table - from the earth that grew it to those who planted them, watered and nurtured them. I always thank those who picked them, transported them, packaged and delivered them, to the market that sold them. I acknowledge and thank all the players leaving no one out of my prayers.

Today I still enjoy and celebrate the dialogues between Great Spirit and I. And the creative
expressions between us is never ending. Taking prayers into my love making moments I bless the phallus that enters my sacred green womb garden and my lover bows down on his knees to pray before entering into the heaven that rests between my earthy legs.

So be it and it is so!

FEET Don't Fail Me Now!

 by Lydia Bisanti

Ha Ha!! (music playing.....)

It's the Full Moon in Pisces today! Can you hear the celestial music that fills the air? Can you feel the pull of gravity luring your feet to dance? Or are you weaving in and out of dream and wake as I have been doing for the last 3 days?

Although my mind was still in a dream fog this morning after seeing my son off to school, I coaxed it to step outside and join my feet in doing its "earthing".  Me and my canine companion started off with a brisk walk until we reached the park and then we did a few laps on the field. I was socks free today because I wanted to be as close to the earth as I could naturally be since being barefooted was not an option.

Pisces is the sign that rules the feet. The last sign of the yearly astro journey as well as the last part of our bodies. The Sun is in Virgo but the Moon's fullness is in the spiritual land of happy dreamers - Pisces. Dream (Pisces) work (Virgo) is ideal at this time. Perhaps you've been having a flux of vivid and revealing dreams knocking on the door of your consciousness looking for resolution to a complex issue or a part of you seeking closure or acceptance.  They are messages from the underworld. Did you get them? I mean the message? Or did you just dismiss them as images floating around in dream land?

Dreamwork entails the ability to first remember and record your dreams, then spend time listening to and interpreting them for the secret clues and messages hidden in symbols and other times quite clear and in the your face. A lady in my formal dreamworks group kept dreaming about a scorpion but refused to acknowledge the stinging aspects of her own nature. She got sick with a sore throat and congestion (refusal to speak truth) for well over a week.

Edgar Cayce, known as the "sleeping prophet", was the father of holistic medicine and the most documented psychic of the 20th century.  Cayce was a Pisces himself and a lot of his power, insights and healing wisdom came through his dreams.  I have been drawn to Cayce's work for decades and like him, I have Saturn in Pisces.  Cayce was able to access healing wisdom and insight from his dreams to interpret the illness or disease that his clients were facing.

Dreams have been one of my greatest healing tools. When I was pregnant with my son, my grandmother appeared in my dream barefooted and pregnant, walking around a hospital. She was as old as she was when she transitioned. The next day, my visit to the doctor confirmed that I was indeed pregnant.  When I was a little girl, my sister and I found ourselves giving accounts of our dreams one morning only to discover that they were identical dreams which pointed to the unexpected death of a beloved cousin the next day. I don't ignore, nor play around with my dreams. I take them quite seriously for they tell me so much. 

Celebrate this Pisces Full Moon! If you can, at sunset, find a spot in nature and step on it barefooted. Spend time earthing - something that my ancestors practiced and lived since the beginning of time.  Don't be thrown off by the fancy word(s) that some people and institutions are now packaging and selling. It is free and in your inherent nature.  Just go outside. Walk the earth..... barefooted.

Does your feet feel as though they are each being pulled in two directions? It may be the double opposing forces of both the sun and moon and the moon being in Pisces (two fish swimming in opposite directions). The challenge now is to bring conflicting needs into balance. What do you want or desire as opposed to what you have been told you should want or pursuing the unfulfilled wishes of your mother or father.

This is not a full moon to listen to music without dancing.  Don't hold back. Surrender (a Pisces theme)! Sing out loud, sway your hips, shake your booty, move your head, snap your fingers. Dance like no one is looking.

The full moon is a time to step out of the mundane and commune with your higher self. How's that dialogue (inside) anyway? Is it the same old same old? Perhaps you've come up with a new way, with new words to speak to your creator, your higher power or even your inner self.  It is usually an energetically busy time - from emergency calls and hospital rooms filing up, to police sirens in pursuit or solving crimes or domestic violence. It's always crazy during the full moon  - when we get looney or mooney.

If you had three additional hours this day what would you do? Assume that all your obligations have been met and this time you are totally free to do as you please. Make a list of all the things you have always wanted to do. Pick at least one of them and vow to do it today or tomorrow or this week.  How would you spend those three credit hours? 

You can go on an "Artist Date" as Julia Cameron suggests in her book, The Artist's Way. The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. What would you like to explore during this full moon?

Take the energy efficiency quiz to begin to assess your current level of energy savings and raise it higher.  After that write down one thing you can begin to do to save energy starting today.

I have one simple energy savings tip for you: Practice taking your shoes off before you walk into your home; leave them at the front door, walk barefooted in your home. Of course, you will need to have every single guest take off their shoes before coming into your home.  How does this save energy? You ask. Well, you get to walk in your own home naturally. This will require that you keep your floors clean, at least, which helps keep you and your family grounded and encourages you to maintain a clean space (washing & cleaning your floors less), thus saving water & energy and keeping a healthy home environment.

And in case you didn't know, every time someone walks into your home with their shoes on they bring in the trails of stuff (dirt, excess & foreign energy from chemicals, toxins, wastes, petroleum, etc) into your home - thus congesting your space, contaminating the energy in your home and contributing to an unhealthy environment.

The professional cleaning industry estimates that we track 85% of the dirt in our homes in from the outside on our shoes or paws of pets. In a recent warning about lead exposure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specifically recommends that shoes remain outside the house. According to a report called The Door Mat Study, lead-contaminated soil from the outside causes almost all the lead  dust inside homes.  Yes, that $500 shoes can cause you more harm - so leave it outside. And no more dog or cat sleeping in your bed or that of the kids. (I was guilty of that.) LOL!!

Leaving your shoes outside is an old eco-spiritual and eco-wellness practice that has been celebrated for years. And it is not going anywhere.... so try it and make it a daily ritual.

Don't forget to celebrate the spiritual, emotional and physical value of your FEET! Give yourself a Reflexology session (come to me - Reflexology is a part of my training & practice)  Or give yourself a pedicure. And I promise your FEET won't fail you.

Happy Pisces Full Moon!

Cum again!

MOJO SPICE 911 Smoothie

MOJO SPICE 911 Smoothie ©

created by 

The Eco Goddess

INGREDIENTS

Pears

Grapes

Bananas

Oranges

Lemon

Cinnamon

Garlic

Slice the fruits removing all seeds. Peel open banana. The oranges are sliced and plugged to use the pulp segment. Add fresh organic lemon juice and organic orange juice. Slice a lemon in half and squeeze the pulp and juice into the smoothie.  Slice up 3 garlic bulbs and add. Top off with a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix all together in blender. 

This smoothie was inspired by the urgency to boost my MOJO (and all those who concur). This sexual magic potion was created on September 11th 2011in the kitchen of the Eco-Goddess Temple.

I’ve used a blend of organic fruits, herbs and spice for the healing properties and medicinal benefits they each carry. The taste is sexy, spicy and smooth!  Enjoy!

Take a look at the ingredients:

Pears are a yin tonic that clear heat and mucus and energize the stomach, spleen and lungs. The pear is used in the treatment of diabetes, hot cough, gallbladder obstruction, and constipation. Freshly squeezed pear juice is a kitchen remedy for a hangover.  Pears are a good source of fiber, particularly pectin, as well as potassium and boron. The pectin in pears reduce serum cholesterol and cleanses the body of environmental and radioactive toxins.

Grapes are good to treat thirst, constipation, gastritis, menopausal heat symptoms, difficult urination, edema, and dry cough. All of which are associated with low libido, compromising  our sexual organs and reproductive health. Grapes can help activate healthy love juices in both the saliva and the sexual organs.

Bananas are rich in potassium and B vitamins, necessary for sex-hormone production. The banana flower with its amazing phallic shape adds to the popularity of the banana as an aphrodisiac food. 

Oranges are a cooling food and a sour and sweet yin tonic that help circulate chi, clear heat, and quench thirst. They act upon the lung, spleen, stomach, and liver organ systems and help aid digestion, reduce intestinal gas, pain and bloating. Oranges have medicinal properties for those with liver weakness; they help cleanse the blood and liver.  Of course, they are a great source of vitamin C as well as potassium and calcium.

Garlic, as I wrote in the Food and Sex Link of the Sistah Vegan Anthology, may be weird on the breath but it is good on the sex drive. It is better if both parties love and enjoy the benefits of garlic. Garlic contains high levels of allicin - a compound that can improve blood flow to the sexual organs. 

Garlic's distinct flavor and aroma whet the appetite and excite the passions. It's this feature that makes it prohibited by the Jain religion and some Buddhist practitioners, and traditionally its use is limited in Indian cuisine for that same reason. Garlic is warming in thermal nature, invigorates chi, is a stimulant, and tonifies the spleen, stomach, kidney, and lung meridians. It stimulates metabolism and improves digestion. 

Cinnamon has a strong, sexy aromatic zing and is one of humanity's oldest spice. It is a yang tonic that supports the spleen, lung, kidney, heart and uterus function. Cinnamon can increase digestive fluid secretion and ameliorate intestinal gas. It raises vitality and stimulates all the vital functions of the body, counteracting congestion and aiding the peripheral circulation of the blood. Good for menstrual cramps; its aroma relieves tension and helps steady the nerves. Definite requirements for sexual relaxation and enjoyment.

This smoothie is dedicated to all the sexy spirits that are on the path of merging their sexual MOJO with their spiritual MOJO for a magical combustion! To those who know that true wellness begins from our sexual center and that when that is balanced and well and happy..... the energies flow easily and effortlessly into all other areas of our lives.

Let the magic begin and may the MOJO SPICE 911 Smoothie © awaken your sexual juices and sensually spicy spirit. May you ride the endless orgasmic waves of sex & spirit!

 Cum again!

The Mystery of Moon, Meditation & Blood

We just completed the 21 Day Meditation challenge with the Deepak Chopra center and it really was a nice rhythmic experience that certainly set some energies in motion, particularly in that unconscious space. Seeds where planted, weeds were uprooted, soil turned over, hell even an earthquake took place.

I happened to be in the midst of meditation when the earthquake ruffled parts of the east coast's belly.  I remained calm and centered while the furniture, windows, floors and the earth moved beneath me. I held such a loving space of surrender during those moments. The moments of being still, sitting in silence, breathing and letting go slipped me into the eye of the energetic storm.

I have nothing tangible to put on the table as a result of those 21 days but I know with certainty that I f-e-e-l something has shifted in side of me. It must have been a soul earthquake because I am still ruffled inside.

Women Meditating
By Brenda Claws
From the Birth Painting Series

One of the mysteries that did occur is worth noting and celebrating. I didn't do the meditation alone. Thousands of others joined in from across the world (at their leisure) some coinciding with others. Talk about the power of the internet. It can be useful for strategic, positive change and unions such as this.

I did, however, join forces with goddess Larissa and we communicated each of the entire 21 days sharing our progress and experiences, pondering life and its dance and mystic, simply connecting and bonding.

I did her chart and discovered that we both have 12th house planets which brought about some commonalities and interesting insights and understanding. I even referred to her as a twin soul after so may intersections of our personal experiences and interactions were revealed. We both have Mercury in Sagittarius which makes our style of communicating, thinking and dexterity bare striking similarities.

Faceless
by Larafairie

Basically the 12th house is symbolic of the hidden world, the unconscious realm, institutions, retreat, meditation, prisons, hospitals, anywhere that is outside the domain of the public life or out in the open, the community or society. It is where you become faceless; it is the blind spot of our lives.

In this last house (or room) are those things we don't readily and easily see. Like a car driving in the lane next to you and you can only see it if you look in your side view mirror. The mirror is there to help you see what may be coming out of nowhere , who's behind you or in your blind spot. It's also the house of hidden enemies - the one inside of you and reflected outside of you.  I like astrology because it gives us a mirror that can help us see what's back there, behind you and inside you. It offers choices and future possibilities -if you dare.  

Having planets here makes you naturally gravitate towards a sense of seclusion  (well enjoyed - by the way) giving you an edge of comfort around being alone (and I didn't say lonely).  Even though, as in my case, I have also always been a social butterfly who values and needs my dosage of "me alone"  like an aphrodisiac drug.

Saturn has been transiting my 12th house for (hold on... let me check... yeah, its been that long) almost 2 and a half years! (Lol!) And if you know anything about old man Saturn you know that "hommie don't play".  He comes to get your ass straight where you've crooked for too long.  The last 2 years have been - pretty much - about restrictions, limitations, stiffness, twisted moments, boundaries, time, and the lessons of discipline, authority and perseverance with a heavy hand. All for the greater good of my soul evolution.

You know that planet that has a ring around it? Well that's how I've been feeling for the last 2 and a half years.... re-stricted, as though I am in some sort of prison with an irregular amount of limitations around what I used to know as freedom.  At times, it's like looking outside the window of my castle.  Through it I see so much beauty in nature's expressions; so many people to meet and places to go. Yet, I can not step outside. There is this invisible lock on the door. And when I do venture outside, I dare not stray too far away.  It was like having a ring around my spirit and other times one around my tongue. But its all in accordance! :-0

Thanks to the players of this dance, the planets, the earth, the animals, the trees, the flowers, everything that vibrates. They make it beautiful. They make it real. So I try my best to flow with the  dance and apply the virtue of patience.  It's all about time - that powerful illusion. Yet it's one of the perks. And Saturn give us plenty of it.

Saturn will lift my curfew by next year. The ring's already loosening up. I am feeling it. (whoopie doo!) And....(with a southern drawl) don't I have my own Saturn story! Well, I happen to be a Saturn's blood daughter -  a Capricorn.  :-)

Drum Covered in Menstrual Blood 

Women Who Make Art with Menstrual Blood

Back to my original story, the mystery - more like ancient mysteries - that unraveled after the 21 day meditation with Larissa as my companion is that we both got our periods at the same time and we both shared that it came early. My last period was during the dark of the moon. We just had a new moon the 28th of August. The dark moon phase precedes a new moon. It's been far less than 21 days.  In fact its been 11 days since I had my last period. I had a period during the meditation. So there's the old saying that when women come together in heart and spirit, there moon times synchronize.  On the other hand, we sure must have needed to a special release, a purging of some excess energy and garbage. Don't you just love nature? It never fails us. We are not in control. Are we?

 Yoni Light 2
Art by Norman E. Masters

On the other hand....that's the power of our sexual & creative center; such occurrences speak highly of an incredible divine feminine force that simply exists. It speaks to the power of energy and how we blend with each other by an invisible energy field that we need to be more mindful of. 'Cause it's got a lot more to tell us.

We are in fact, one with each other. (Can I get a witness!! Clap your hands! Stomp!)

This totally raises greater awareness of energy.  For me - at least. And it also makes me deeply respectful of, as I must bow down to the divine (dark) feminine force that BE!

Thank you for reading! Cum again!

Goddess Sounds

ASTRUD GILBERTO

featured artist during the 2011 Labor Day Weekend 

@

The Eco-Goddess Temple

with Surya

"The Girl from Ipanema"

Astrud Gilberto, known as "The Girl from Ipanema" and often referred to as "The Queen of Bossa Nova", is an artist with roots planted firmly in Brazilian music. Her music has become an interesting combination of the sensual rhythms of Braziil and American Pop and Jazz.

Born in the Northeast of Brazil, in the state of Bahia, one  of three sisters of a German father and a Brazilian mother, Astrud grew up in Rio de Janeiro. She immigrated to the United States in the early 1960s, where she resides since then.  Read more...

I was born into a family that played music, collected music, loved music and celebrated life with music just about every single day.  For me it gradually became a powerful healing tool and part of my life, soothing and balancing my range of emotions as a divine feminine being. 

Birthed into the era of the mid 60's, I was raptured at an early age by the seductive tones of Bossa Nova. And at that time  Brazilian artists like Astrud Gilberto had filled the globe with their soul soothing sounds.  I was also surrounded by music of legendary greats like Dizzie Gillespie,  Miles Davis,  Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole (his daughter Natalie Cole - I loved the album & title track, "Inseparable" and the whole pink album cover stuff.), Santana, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and so many more including those from the African world like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba & Fela.  

Tunes from the diaspora like R&B, Blues, Latin Jazz, Calypso, Roots Reggae, Afro Pop were all a part of my musical foundation while I grew up with even classical music as a part of my daily life after school.  It played on the radio each week day while I ate my after school snack and had my siesta. 

Besides, I took piano lessons for 7 years and played in piano concerts. I was not only a music baby but I was a dancer as well.  

Ironically, decades later I would marry a fierce Afri-Brazilian artist/musican from Salvador, Bahia and the beat of Samba and other sounds of Brazil would soon join forces with my already vast and ecclectic selection of tunes in my life's musical library.

Music is at the core of my life. My favorites, my collection, my musical treasure is broad in range, scope, culture and genre. I am so happy to share a piece of my music joy and world with each of you. Enjoy and do explore more on your own.