Oh what a night!

Must be left over stuff from yesterday's Lunar Eclipse.

Finished my two hours of writing yesterday (YAY!), but didn't get a chance to read it all in class. Today was my first Monday class at the new location and with the students who are supposed to be the final class... and everything was so damn distracting! People had to leave early for kids, for an audition, the street-cleaning trucks couldn't get by, cars had to moved -- and out of five, I went last again. Why do I do that?! Teacher said from now on, Madley, you practice not being last! Then of course I couldn't read the whole piece I wrote -- AND BOY I DIDN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL. So lesson learned -- be polite but take care of ME first. (OOh, so hard for a water heart line.)

Went straight to the bookstore to check out the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene -- the book Sergio Mora was talking about on The Contender last night that Joey Gilbert was reading about STRATEGY... man, is that a fabulous book. Some people might think it's manipulative and cruel, and yes, they quote Machiavelli -- but they quote a lot of other folks too... think what you will, but I think it's a terrific read! (And yes, I read La Princessa too, the women's answer to Machiavell's The Prince.) I love reading these mano a mano kind of things... the psychology of man facscinates me to no end.

Fell asleep and was 10 minutes late for my first Esoteric Astrology Class with dear Heidi Rose Robbins -- we studied Aries/Libra tonight and boy did I have a blast! Didn't realize I had so much Aries (and Libra) in my chart:

Sun Aries
Moon Libra
ASC Aquarius
Mars (ruler) Pisces 1st House
Mercury (soul ruler) Pisces 1st House
Venus Aries

Very interesting stuff -- I can't wait until I can read a progressed chart correctly. I'm still getting the glyphs for Jupiter and Saturn mixed up and boy, do I hate not having this language at my fingertips yet.

Afterwards, Viv and I went to House of Pies at Franklin/Vermont -- smack in the middle of Los Feliz/Hollywood -- great burgers. Viv asks me something about the new horizontals that have appeared in her right hand (of course they'd come up Viv, you're coming out into the world!)... and all of a sudden, this young, soul-patched and multi-pierced and tatted urchin fellow in the booth across from our table sticks his palms out and asks if I can read his palms. Never passing up a chance to look at hands, I said, Sure and tapped on the chair next to me (I'd read his hands, but I wasn't gonna move too).

He came over in a flash and I did a good short read that he and I liked. I asked about spiritual things because of all the stuff coming out of his moon... he of course says he's into witchcraft and showed me his 5-point star silver ring that matched all the other hardware on his face. :) , The weirdest piece was the huge hoop from inside his lower lip to his chin...where was the insertion point -- I couldn't figure it out.

But as we got comfortable (and anybody who knows me knows I like to ask questions!), we find out he's only been here for three weeks from Pensacola, FLA -- came with some friends to stay with a friend, who is gone now because she has cancer and he's on the streets and trying to find work (at The Grove, no less). I asked where his buddy was that came in with him... he kinda was shy about telling us they were at the strip club next door but he was only 18 and couldn't get in.

Of course, I'm thinking this could all be a fine manipulation (I'm in the town of actors and bums, remember, and sometimes they're one in the same), but he was way too naive for that, especially after I read his hands. I saw he was ambitious and an artist (he's a rapper), and even showed us his sketchbook (of some pretty scary drawings). Martin said he'd like to get into animation as well as being a tattoo artist (he did 12 of the 17 on his own body)... the whole reason he's here is family is really a mess in Pensacola and he didn't them to have to take care of him and his siblings too and he wanted to find his own way.

He also said he just found out February 18 that he became a father, and now he really wants to make something of himself so he can go back and grab custody. Now that may have been laying it on thick, and I'm telling you, maybe 15 years ago when I had all that room in the house at Eagle Rock that guy would've been sleeping on my couch that very second. But not now... a good hand reading and some encouragement to take care of himself (so he could take care of his kid) was enough.

As he got out of his seat, the fellow in the booth in front of him came over and said, "We couldn't help but notice that you read hands... would you be kind enough to look at my girlfriend's hands just for a moment? She's had a really bad day."

Of course I didn't mind, but I wanted to check with Viv... and she was very worried about our buddy Martin sitting alone in his booth. I asked Mara to sit down in the hot seat and her boyfriend (darn, I hate forgetting names) teased that I would be known now as the House of Pies Official Palm Reader. I thought that was cute -- as I checked out whether I thought they could afford to drop me a few dollars... but then I let that go and got down to reading her beautifully soft water hands/water heart line that were jam-packed with gift-markings... poor girl, I know she's not at ALL doing what she's supposed to yet...

Her boyfriend asked me if I could see she had a Pure Heart -- what do you mean by that, I asked, because I know she's sensitive, nurturing and empathetic -- and he said, yes, she is, and they smiled at each other... how cute was that? I also told her she had to learn how to maintain her own identity so she could get out the career confusion she was in (mole/freckle)... she needed to have the Courage to Have a Self (mole/freckle). There was so much more -- thank goodness her boyfriend had nice earth hands/earth heart line so they could balance her out.

Viv by this time has paid our bill -- and paid Martin's as well. She was at his booth busy talking with him when we we hear some "Zorba the Greek" type music on a loud speaker or... was it... it was! There was an old guy at a table with his friends playing a mandolin!

"Yes, " says The Boyfriend, "it's a rocking night at the House of Pies!" (And I didn't need an index card note to tell me I needed to write this all down as soon as I got home :)

We tell Mara and The Boyfriend about Martin's poor plight, and of course Viv is worried sick about him. We've told him about shelters, but he didn't want to go to them yet, he was trying to work it out on his own and he didn't seem like he was strung out on anything... but it was really time to leave before I started gathering a crowd.

But wait, here comes Martin back in the restaurant... he says it's too cold to go out right now. Oh poor Martin... and we just tell him to take care of himself and say good night to them all.

In the parking lot, Viv's still anxious -- we both know that we did the best we could do, and bought him food without supplying him with potential drug money, etc. At least we've been around long enough for that.

"Come on, Viv, let's go home. He's not a stray and we can't take him in." We need to take care of ourselves.

But then Viv looked in to the restaurant one last time. "Hey, look!"

I turned.

"They're talking to him!" Mara and The Boyfriend were sitting at the counter and talking with Martin.

"That's good -- right?" she asked.

We decided it was a great sign and hoped they all made a connection -- there were synchronicity markings in four of the six hands in there, so I'm sure everything ended up quite all right...

Whew! What a full, full, perfect and enriching day... full to brim.