WHAT’S IN A NAME? MERCURY AND THE POWER OF NAMING. 03.18.26.    By Soror Claudia Bader PhD, NCGR-PAA Level IV Consulting Astrologer, Registered/Board Certified Art Therapist, Licensed Psychoanalyst, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist As astrologers know, a significant part of our changing celestial scene is that Uranus, the higher octave of Mercury, has begun its transit through Mercury ruled Gemini. It first entered Gemini July 7, 2025, and leaves May 22, 2033. It fully stays in Gemini from April 25, 2026, to August 3, 2032. This highlights the Mercury archetype. Mercury is a complex and often underrated planetary archetype. It is

Preparing to Understand Life After Death By Jim G (NYC Temple) | published February 2026 At the OHM grand convocation in August of 2025, we explored the meaning of death and the apparent paradox it presents to a belief system rooted in the principle of eternal life. While we all acknowledge the finiteness of the physical body’s life cycle, what of our seemingly instinctive sense of consciousness as something that transcends our tangible experience? Is that “sense” a perception of something objective? Is it a projection of something we wish to be true as a defense against the possibility that

Celebrating The Winter Solstice By Ker Garin, Imperium Lodge : December 21, 2025 On December 21, 2025 at 10:03 am EST (7:03 am PST) the Sun moves into the sign of Capricorn on the tropical zodiac. At that time the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, that imaginary line of latitude across the Earth and due to the planet’s axial tilt, its northern hemisphere is furthest away from the Sun. therefore receiving the least amount of sunlight marking the onset of the winter season and that day is the shortest of the year and the night is at

Confronting Our Red Knight Frater Nick H, Arduus Ad Solem December 8, 2025 I often spend a quiet evening reading through a stack of books, and the works of Jungian psychologist Robert Johnson have been a welcome addition to my reading list. Johnson’s works were recommended to me by a fellow Frater of the OHM, and I can certainly see why! They are short, accessible, and also are extremely meaningful – and an insight I had when reading his He: Understanding Masculine Psychology was worth expanding upon and sharing in this forum. Ever since childhood, I have been a fan

Creative Visualization With The Moon by Ker Garin, Imperium Lodge The Full Moon has been the subject of countless poems, prose and songs. Stevie Nicks in her tune “Landslide” called the Moon the “mirror in the sky,” an accurate description because when the Moon, on one side of the Earth is directly opposite the Sun with the Earth in between, then this is the Full Moon phase thus mirroring the Sun. But when the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun, the side of the Moon facing the Earth appears to be dark and invisible. This would be

Asteroids: Icons For The Emerging Feminine By Ker Garin, Imperium Lodge | October 2025 Why should we care about asteroids, those celestial bodies located between Mars and Jupiter? Other than the Moon and Venus, the rest of the planets in astrology have masculine vibrations. In order to achieve a better balance between the genders, a more feminine influence is needed. There are an estimated 40,000 asteroids orbiting in the Asteroid Belt with about 3,000 that have been given names. Legend has it that the asteroids were the result of a hypothetical planet called Phaeton somehow exploding; perhaps it was a

When Was Jesus Christ Born? : An Astrologers Perspective by Gaston M | Sapientiae Lodge September 10, 2025 Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25, but that date was adopted for convenience as the actual birth date was not recorded and is not known. The story of the Star of Bethlehem offers a tantalizing clue—but searches of the heavens for an explanation of this phenomenon have been fruitless for more than 2,000 years. Michael R. Molnar, an astronomer and former manager of the Physics Instructional Labs at Rutgers University, purchased an ancient coin for fifty dollars. The

Ritual and Routine by Ker Garin, Imperium Lodge | August 20, 2025 The purpose of ritual is to awaken consciousness. We all have our mundane rituals, whether it is daily hygiene or the path by which we drive to work or school, if we even drive at all. In the novel “Way Of The Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Millman (a semi-autobiography), Dan is a student-athlete at Berkeley in the 1960s and befriends an elderly gentleman who works at an all-night gas station. He calls him Socrates, and they have many philosophical conversations. They discuss matters of life including relationships, politics,

Still Waters and Silent Witness : Meditation and the Three-Fold Mind Understanding Meditation Through the Subconscious, Self-Conscious, and Superconscious Mind by Brian S | July 23, 2025 Meditation is a topic with no shortage of wise voices and ancient systems. I’m not trying to propose some new ground breaking system, just to offer a perspective that’s helped me, and maybe it will help you, too. This is not an expert lecture, but a shared reflection. Let’s start with the three-level model of the mind: subconscious, self-conscious, and superconscious. This is not a clinical framework, but a practical one. The subconscious

Bupkis and The Beggar by Penny O | July 1, 2025 Nothing. Naught. Nil. Diddly. Goose-egg. Bupkis. Zilch. Zip. Zero. No matter how you say it, the number zero is more than just… nothing. As a number it’s a compelling concept that revolutionized mathematics and science. And in its contradictory nature, zero has played a unique part in the enrichment and elevation of philosophy and esoteric wisdom, allowing for deeper understanding of what is, while compelling us to consider what isn’t. Zero, in spite of being the lowest of numbers, nobly wields the power to express the inconceivable for it