titleGemini Monthly Horoscope July 2008/titlepbMoney - Career Horoscope/b/ppIf you are creative and use the information positively you are on the way to success this month. There will be some change and new developments in your profession and it may have positive impact on your bank account./ppThe financial gain will stimulate your efforts and you may try to achieve more. But there will be issues regarding your house and family that might eat up much of your gain./ppThe second part of this month is progressive and you may get favorable results in interviews, negotiations and sales plans./ppbLove Horoscope/b/ppDuring this month the Pluto and the Black Moon in the house of relations may create anxiety and frustration, and you may feel blocked as there is no other planetary support in the first half./ppAfter July 12th you may get support from Venus in Leo which might stimulate your interest in love and romance. But you may be rather dreamy and may waste chances without actually doing anything substantially. You need help of some sweet words of encouragement./ppbHealth Horoscope/b/ppIn this month, due to emotional attachments or emotional issues, your mind will be little upset. You will feel very blocked or in a fixed situation, this may make you feel little uncomfortable mentally. But no major physical ailment is foreseen this time around./ppYou should fix your priorities and approached the problems methodically and spare some time for rest and relaxation. Dont over-burden yourself, instead go easy and slow to avoid health issues./ppa target=_new href=http://rjastro.blogspot.com/2008/06/gemini-monthly-horoscope-july-2008.htmlhttp://rjastro.blogspot.com/2008/06/gemini-monthly-horoscope-july-2008.html/a/pbrbr

titleLove Game - Rich Yummies Finish Last/titlepI tried to tell you in the first of this series. If you are running around with all the signs of a hefty bank account, you are in fact, a yummy, Cuckoo Nest 102 jargon for a sitting duck waiting to be mined by a gold digger.Want a formula to see how good you are at spotting these diamond loving predators who devour yummies while they shop at Tiffanys? Ok. Read on, male yummies, and see how clever you are. Put on your genuine Rolex, your diamond tiepin, and be sure you wear the snakeskin Guccis with a Givency suit. At the next cocktail party you go to, take a close look at the young beauties clustered around the bar waiting for an unsuspecting yummy. Saunter up, flash the Rolex, a smile, and then inch away. At least one will follow. Heres the drill.ulli Gaze into those beautiful eyes, recognize the following: admiration, respect, submission, and suddenly smitten./liliTake a few more sips of your drink and then listen to her as she asks all about your day, your week, your interests./liliNow ask about hers and find out, by some miracle, she loves all the things youve told her about. Amazing./li/ul/ppGo to the head of the class. You have found yourself a genuine gold digger, panting for a yummy. Looks like a match, doesnt it? Nothing but gentle smiles and tinkling laughter. But dont be fooled. Shes sharpening both incisors. But wait. You know what to do. Roll out the big gun. Tell her, you need another drink even though you know you shouldnt. Shell ask why. Now dont flinch. Stick to our plan. Tell her youve been drinking too much. Tell her youve got so much on your mind and again she will ask why.Take a deep breath and say the following:olli Your creditors are hauling you into court, before the month is up./lili You are declaring bankruptcy./lili All because your last financial vice president, a boyhood friend since childhood, messed around with the books, stole you blind, didnt pay the bills./lili The IRS is after him for fraud but hes left the country, vanished, no where to be found. /lili So here you are, left to face all the charges, about to become penniless./ol/li/ppBut your re unafraid, you tell her. Youve got a good lawyer. and you never stole a thing so youll be ok. Whats money, you smile bravely. To hell with the apartment over looking the river, the house in the Cayman Islands, the chalet in Switzerland. Excuse me, she says, I need to powder my nose.Clearly, you are in the wrong place for finding someone disinterested in wristwatches! What you need is plan B. You need to realize that materialistic people dominate the earth like cockroaches. Remember Darwin? It is now and has always been survival of the fittest. You need to realize that unless you reach out beyond yourself, you have little chance of meeting people who are caring, sincere, generous, giving. Look for special interest groups where people are indeed giving of themselves instead of acquiring. You might be surprised at what you find. You might be surprised at how good it is to give. And listen, theres nothing worse than being a yummy!And I havent forgotten you glass ceiling smashers. You have to beware of the male gold diggers known as spuddies, (not buddies, but spuddies, hot potatoes that burn your fingers from Cuckoo Nest 102) who are not that different except they open doors for you and send you flowers.Rich or poor, divorce rates are not encouraging. In Britain, they have the highest divorce rate in Europe with more than 40% of marriages ending in divorce. Of course, it is the high profile divorces which catch our attention, with the huge divorce settlements, like the recent Sir Paul Mc Cartney and Heather Mills and the not so recent Donald and Ivana Trump (20 million). And surely these people of extreme wealth realize they are prey and try to protect themselves by using pre nuptial agreements, of which we have many, the Jackie Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis being one of the most publicized. Hollywood celebrities are particularly vulnerable. A study of 127 Golden Globe winners from the years 2000 and 2001 by Gregory Baer showed that 68% had been married more than once. The conclusion was that the odds against a celebrity marriage succeeding was about 2 to 1. And one final interesting statistic: The divorced man, our yummy, is more likely to suffer depression than the divorced woman, based on a study done by Michelle Rottermann: (Statistic Canada;Marital Breakdown and subsequent Depression). Just remember, man or woman you dont want to a yummy./ppMore information on spuddies, pot holders, all that you successful women need to be sure you dont get burnt, see the third of this series with other useful information on a target=_new href=http://americanmadeyes.com/specialinterest.htmlhttp://americanmadeyes.com/specialinterest.html/a And RG has also researched some special interest groups where its all about non material things like the environment. I promise you that gold diggers and spuddies are allergic to bird watching./pbrbr

As with all Cardinal Leadership Signs, we know that a new season is beginning. Libra is ready to start off Autumn upon the Equinox through it’s air guidance, granting the intellect and ideas a direction. With it’s ruling planet Venus, those influenced by the Scales are on a constant quest in life for balance, beauty and fairness.

The typical Libra native displays a charming, friendly, harmonious, idealistic, and diplomatic nature. Always a stead-fast judge, they are innate in seeing both sides of any issue. If those Scales become tipped in any way- they can fall to indecisiveness, vanity, insincerity, drama, and inconsistencies. One way a Libra can keep in check is always to be in full awareness of the relationship they first have with themselves before those with others.

The Zodiac House that Libra’s energy rules in the birth chart is the 7th of Partnerships/Marriage. This is the area of life in our chart that denotes how we desire to relate to any of our close and most intimate relationships, and the sign here also will point to the ultimate compatibility for the native. Looking to how the Zodiac Wheel may spin in any individual birth chart, the House Libra falls in is the area of life where they will see a harmonious and pleasure seeking nature behind all they do. Any planets that may be placed in Libra at the time of birth also take on their innate expression through the qualities of this peaceful and relationship-oriented sign.

Libra is our second cardinal and air sign upon the Zodiac Wheel. The collective naturally gravitates to coupled activities as the fall season begins upon the equinox. With the beauty of Venus as Libra’s ruler, the month urges us to spent time in pleasurable activities, romantic affairs and being fair! No other sign is more attuned to justice as a Libra innately knows how to ideally weigh both sides of the issue at hand.

Mercury visits his final Retrograde period of 2008 from 9/24 to 10/15. The Messenger will take a spin backwards through comparative Libra asking us to REassess our definition of diplomacy; ideally taking this period to engage in persuasive acts spirited with intuitive flashes. No doubt the world at large will be presented with negotiations that require a polished response. The Libra piece of your Zodiac pie points to where to watch for those communication mishaps and strive for extra understanding.

Mars enters transformational Scorpio upon the 10/3 and 10/4. The Universal urge to be perceptive and reveal secrets will be ultimately strong; while one should be aware of the tendency to swing to authoritative attitudes and insatiable desires. The Scorpio ruled area of the birth chart points to where one can anticipate powerful and passionate drive over the 6 weeks Mars visits the sign of regeneration.

Venus joins the Sun in Scorpio’s energy on 9/23 for 3 weeks. As the romantic planet now journeys with the Eagle, expect flattery, luxury, and purification to be at the core of value related matters, allowing revaluations of one’s experiences to emerge. Checking the area Scorpio affects you will be the slice of life that the potentials of mystery and deep change through renewed values can be brought to until 10.18.

May your start of Autumn ‘08 be full of harmonic relations from the wisdom of seeking to understand others.

Since the young age of 7, Sharita has been a student of the planets above and all of the mysteries of our Universe. She is available for all levels of astrological, numerical and lexigram analysis through readings and party services, available at: http://www.sharitastar.com - She resides between New York City and Chatham, NY while currently finishing her first book.

If you are worried about getting a good haircut in a hair salon, that should be the least of your worries. Microscopic organisms, viruses, and bacteria thrive in hair salons. Dirty and contaminated combs, brushes, clips, curling irons, towels, robes, shampoo capes, shampoo bowls, chairs and floors are violations for a growing number of salons. State boards of cosmetology are the regulators for sanitization in hair salons, but their hard work still leaves room for improvement with the respect for health concerns of the consumer.

If this disturbs you, then you might want to consider inspecting the hair salon yourself. There are several factors that you should consider when evaluating the cleanliness of a hair salon.

First, look at the overall picture:

• Are the walls, floors, and ceiling clean?
• Is there dust on the shelves, on the products for sale, on the chairs?
• Can you see trashcans without lids for hair clippings?
• Are the shampoo bowls and hair strainers clean?
• Are the towels in a closed cabinet and do they smell fresh?
• Do you see dirty towels overflowing from a container?

Next, look at the workstations:

• Are there hair clippings on the floor, counter, chair?
• Is there a container for used combs and brushes?
• Are the clean combs and brushes in a drawer? (Note: It may be impossible to know if the combs and brushes are in a sterile environment without intruding!)

Finally, observe the hairstylist:

• Does he or she wash his or her hands in between customers?
• Is the hair stylist’s fingernails and clothing clean?
• Do they have food around their workstation?
• Does the stylist use a clean towel or neck strip on the patron before using a shampoo cape?

All of these questions relate to the sanitation and cleanliness of the salon. You may have never thought about these issues, or maybe you just thought all hair salons are regulated, so they must be clean. Speaking from experience, many hair salons are only inspected once a year, not nearly enough in my opinion.

Everything considered, you could reduce your chances for getting sick from unsanitary hair salons the following ways:

• Buy your own combs and brushes, and insist the hair stylist use them on yourself and your family.
• Inspect the salon for sanitation yourself, even though you will never be sure there are not lurking bacteria and contamination of equipment.
• Do not go to a hair salon. Cut your family’s hair at home.

One more thing… To the three quarters of a million hair stylists in the United States, if you are practicing sanitation and sterilization as you were trained in cosmetology school, THANK YOU! You should not be offended by this article, and know this is not meant to harm you and your business. For the ones who are careless about sanitation, please reconsider your current practices, as your health and the health of your customers depend on it.

Great Home Haircuts was founded by Pamela Collins, the author of this article, in effort to educate and inform hair enthusiasts. At http://www.greathomehaircuts.com you will discover how easy it is to cut hair at home for your family and friends. Step by step videos for bobs, layered cuts, clipper cuts, children’s cuts and more are available at this website. Hair recipes and more articles can be found there as well.

Anyone, even if least interested in fashion, will jump out of his/her seat, if told about this new genre of fashion. But those, who know what does it mean to be safe on one hand and fashionable on the other, will tell not only the benefits of this “bullet-proof’ fashion, but also they will sing a praise-song for Miguel Caballero, a Colombia born.

Commonly, he is termed as “Armani of Armour” in the world of fashion. According to the reports, he was very much perturbed by the killings of people, especially the important ones, in the civil war of his country. Hence, this catastrophic situation sparked in him the inspiration to use fashion not for its centuries old purpose, but to save the lives of people. A completely different and bizarre use of fashion, indeed.

1992 was the year when he launched his unique version of fashion apparels in order to keep the bullets, fired with evil intentions, away from the innocent lives. This happened after his stay in Bogota, where he studied, which had proved a fashion laboratory for him. He was quite fascinated by the bullet-proof apparel worn by his classmates. Most importantly, most of them were offspring of famous personalities of Columbia.

When he provided some very accurate and safe services in Columbia, he got a series of clients begging him for his assistance. Apart from Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe, the presidents of Venezuela and his very Columbia respectively, he got some other famous clients such as King Abdullah of Jordan and Hollywood Action Star, Steven Seagal. However, these 1.2 Kilograms bullet-proof jackets can be bought at the famous Harrods in London by anyone.

He got his clients all around the globe. Being famous and rich, they never wanted to compromise with their fashion quotient. Hence, they wanted to be safe. At that period, Caballero’s “bullet-proof and fashionable” apparels came to their rescue. Now, their blazers, shirts, leather jackets and even the ties have gone bullet-proof. It means, there is the surety of a complete safe and fashionable life to them.

Definitely, this rare innovation in the field of fashion apparel is going to serve the mankind for long in a completely different way.

Read Fashion Industry Overview.

Read more of my posts in my blog Exploring Fashion.

When my niece gave my sister-in-law her Christmas wish list my sister-in-law said she held her  breath.  My niece is at that age where she wants shoes and handbags and clothes. She doesn’t have much idea of the cost of things, or if she does, she doesn’t care. I do know all about buying clothing, handbags and shoes.  My sister-in-law asked for my help. She says I know where to go to get fabulous trendy celebrity inspired handbags and fashions for a fraction of the cost of the originals.

At least my niece isn’t stuck on designer names when it comes to handbags. She says things like “Mom, I want an orange hobo” or “I’d like a black satchel.” She doesn’t insist on Prada or Coach or L.A.M.B. because she knows my brother and sister-in-law  would never spend that much money on a handbag for her.

I’ was able to help my sister-in-law find some great online sources for celebrity and designer inspired handbags.  She’d  never heard of designer inspired handbags before.  What designer inspired means is that manufacturers take the best design element from the designer bag and re-work it into another bag. Talk about affordable designer handbags! It’s wonderful to see a true designer handbag for less than $200.  One of my favorite affordable and trendy handbag styles is from Melie Bianco. Melie Bianco handbags have been featured in magazines such as Life & Style, Self and People Magazine.

It seems that Melie Bianco became popular when one of the bags was carried on the MTV reality show Laguna Beach and they’ve really caught on. Since then they’ve become a hit with celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Kelly Osborne.

Melie Bianco’s mission is to supply chic affordable handbags. They do this by using the highest quality faux leathers, quality lining materials and hardware. They offer a wide range of styles for every woman, and girl, of every age. Melie Bianco’s designs come in almost every imaginable handbag style, clutches and satchels, hobos, and shoulder bags. Nylon, canvas and buttery faux woven leather, patent leather are also available. Handbags are also available in croc and python as well as animal prints such as giraffe and zebra.

Another great feature of some of the online sources is that they let you search handbags by style or fabric, size, price, color and by celebrity sighting.

Along with Melie Bianco there are many other great designers such as Nicole Lee, Ed Hardy, Besso, Christine Price, Chinese Laundry and Roxbury. Bags such as the Nicole Lee Multi Colored Croc Tote and the Jessica Simpson Glazed Delia Shopper are made with quality synthetic leather which means these handbags are extremely affordable for everyone.

Ultimately my sister-in-law decided on a Primo Limited Medium Loft Tote for my niece. This is a designer inspired handbag which resembles a classic Balenciaga Motorcycle bag. The cost is only $50.00. She thought the price was so reasonable she bought one for herself too!

Catherine Olivia knows about fashion and style. Visit to learn about designer inspired handbags and fake designer handbags

A person who blindly relies on astrology in a wrong hand, under the influence of false information, to shape their lives will be very dangerous! If true, it deserves greater study and usage to benefit humanity; if false, it has caused many people to waste time and make wrong decisions. This will getting worst, if a leader of country takes a fake advice by consulting astrologers. The result can destroy millions of people lives. This happened a lot in the ancient time. Even whole countries could be destroyed!

Failed predictions will happen when misunderstand the astrology or false information used. Especially when this mysterious of ancient knowledge go through thousands years. Astrology is ancient, more ancient than most of us realize. There is evidence that our ancestors knew of astrology as far back as 27000 years ago, before the destruction of 90% of the world’s flora and fauna at the end of the last ice age 12000 years ago.

The failure of predictions could be have multiple reasons:

- The incomplete or wrong birth information (date and time) given.

- After many years, the chart may be drawn wrongly, or could be wrong interpreted by the non-experiences astrologers / numerologist.

- New planets discover and old planets destroy every day. We might don’t know all the stars or planets that control the destiny. There doesn’t seem to be any natural explanation for how the stars could directly affect a child at the point of birth, at a certain time place. And even if planets influence us, how can we be sure that they were named correctly and ascribed with the correct attributes from the correct ancient deity?

- Every people have free will. He has effort to choose one way or make thing change, change destiny. Free will is always the deciding factor in life. In such cases predications based on birth data could interpreted wrong or may be away from observed events. By the way, these not saying that behavior forecasting were the only function of Astrology.

‘Yes’ and ‘no’ would both be correct answers. Astrology uncovers tendencies or proclivities for events to happen. A good astrologer would never say it’s 100% certain. They would say an event is very likely to happen, or almost certainly will happen, or that it probably won’t happen.

We will explain and show you step by step how to easily use the correct way to understand this mysterious art - horoscope or astrology.

Click on this => http://www.pezeland.com/horoscope.html - you will discover more!!

We all know Jessica Simpson because of The Dukes of Hazzard and from the reality hit show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. We see her wearing short dresses, high heels, and sparkly jewelry, and yet she knows how to carry them and pulls it off.

You may have seen her with other blonde pop singers like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. And of course, her celebrated marriage with the 98 degrees boy band member, Nick Lachey. She is a Texas girl who loves showing off her hourglass figure by wearing curve hugging outfits and is not one to hide her assets. She is always seen wearing crazy patterns, bold colors and skin baring cuts. You may wear her stuff such as shoes, swimwear and jeans, and be happy to know that they all cost under $200.

When Jessica is not at a recording studio, or out starring in a new movie, you may see her with the quarterback of Dallas Cowboys, Tony Romo.

Jessica is indeed a fashion icon, having popularized a lot of fashion trends such as Primo sweat suit, Juicy tube, de Bucourt shawl. She can pull the LA chic thing so well, and is spectacular in sky high wedges, vintage cowboy boots and super-distressed denim. Her favorite designers include Corey Lynn Calter, Roberto Cavalli, Michael Kors, and Louis Vuitton for her bags.

We see Jessica recently wearing her golden locks in a stick straight razored do, and wearing light day make up. If you want to be and look like Jess, then the boho socialite look is for you. Wear distressed jeans, and accessorize them with high wedges, a silky headband and a strand of beads.

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Every woman wants to smell divine. But the quest for the right fragrance can be as elusive as that search for the perfect Prince Charming. Yes, there are plenty of fish in the sea. And, sure, it’s easy to steer clear of the cheaper, less desirable, options. But even when you limit yourself to the high-end stuff, the choice of fragrance is overwhelming.

Shopping for perfume or cologne is additionally complicated by the fact that the olfactory system quickly becomes overwhelmed. After three or four fragrances, your ability to differentiate between scents is probably shot. And, because you absolutely have to try fragrance on your own skin (it will react differently with each person’s skin), you’ve probably run out of places to spritz it too!

Memory & Smell:

While cologne and perfume are known for providing fragrance, perfume bottles have long been sought after for their display-worthy design.

Our sense of smell is deeply connected to our faculty of memory. Marcel Proust, the French author, described in great detail how a smell from childhood can trigger an intense and involuntary graphic memory of a certain event and emotional state.

It makes sense, then, that we are attracted to fragrances that are somehow connected to positive memories, however abstractly. The types of fragrance each of us is drawn to will fall into one of two camps: light and dark.

A Lighter Fragrance Touch

As the name suggests, light fragrances are floral, ozonic and fresh. They evoke a sense cleanliness and youth, smelling of line-dried laundry and fresh growth, of freshly chopped wood, spring rain and newborn babies.

Even in the sterile environment that most modern homes and offices epitomize, there exists a desire for a fragrance that spells “clean”, but yet adds gentle warmth to our anonymous surroundings. Lighter scents accomplish this task with subtlety and style. Their wearers are vivacious and playful, yet they don’t take themselves too seriously.

But though these discount designer fragrances are light, they are not necessarily un-complex: The bouquet can be a blend of many floral fragrances, with dashes of fruit, citrus, water or ‘green’ notes such as grass and herbs, which will evolve differently on each wearer.

A Little on the Darker Side

At the other end of the Globe, there are dark fragrances. Dark scents are not the natural choice of most girls: They’re gritty, tenacious, dirty and full of depth. They smell like old books, of worn leather, wet earth and rotting wood.

The original purpose of all fragrance was, of course, to stop us from stinking in times when people could not bathe daily; hence the name “toilet water” or eau de toilette. The ingredients chosen were ones that signalled freshness, like lemon, lavender and roses; ingredients we associate with lighter scents. But people soon developed a use for fragrance beyond that of plain deodorizer, and there lies the origin of darker fragrances.

In 18th century France, perfumers began to add excrement, diluted extremely, to floral fragrances to create depth and complexity. Nowadays, the equivalent ingredient is musk, which will add an animal note to any fragrance.

Of course, the original perfumer employs these ingredients with skill. Adding musk to floral and fruit scents will create a sickly, sweet scent, that’s at once nauseating and luxurious. Dark fragrances speak of a woman who is sexual, confident, mysterious and passionate.

Signature Scents:

Whether you gravitate towards dark or light perfume or cologne, at some point you’ll find one you adore. Then the inevitable question becomes whether that fragrance is a life-long love or a fickle fling.

But there’s an inherent Catch-22 in adopting a signature scent: On one hand, you’ll leave a definite imprint on people’s subconscious memory. You’ll be forever associated with that fragrance and it will become a part of your personality, a part of your identity - like the colour of your eyes or the sound of your laughter.

On the other hand, the longer you wear a fragrance, the less you’ll be able to detect it yourself. You won’t yourself enjoy the waft of fragrance that a man smells when he kisses the nape of your neck. You’ll also have to become a pro about how much you apply. Those ghastly ladies who wear too much perfume probably can’t smell the fact they’ve gone overboard!

Myself, I’m a big fan of the signature scent. I’ve been wearing the same fragrance for more than 15 years and although I have had the odd affair with another fragrance, I’ve always come back to my dependable signature scent. And returning has been like reconnecting with an old lover; there’s a sense of familiarity and reinforcement of a deeply-ingrained identity.<

Star Power:

But perfume and cologne is not all about sensual pleasure. As an estimated US$2.8 billion dollar industry, there’s tough competition to stake and maintain a hold in the fragrance market. And what better to boost sales than a peppering of star-power?

Stars like Britney Spears and Sarah-Jessica Parker have, with varying degrees of involvement, lent their names to fragrances. But, while a star certainly adds sizzle, they are no guarantee of success.

Celebrity fragrance may have initial pull with a loyal fan-base, but such discount perfumes will unlikely have the longevity of more established fragrances. Chanel No. 5 has been around since 1921, Guerlain Mitsuoko was created in 1919 and Shalimar has been around since 1925. These fragrances tell a story of a bygone era, yet are still wearable and coveted nearly a century later. Will we be able to say the same thing about Curious by Britney Spears?

At the end of the day, if any discount fragrance is going to develop a loyal following, it has to seduce our senses and not simply appeal to a fickle fashion trend. After all, a woman’s relationship with her fragrance is a complex one, grown over time. The fragrance that will ultimately make us fall in love is one that is an ineffable expression of our true selves.

I am an avid fragrance enthusiast and reviewer. I have been around the perfume and cologne fragrance industry for over 20years. A great site I’ve found and used many times to buy discount perfume and cologne is YourNewFragrance.Com.

The swelling was getting worse. I said to a John as he dressed my wound, “I would like to understand kamma more completely, just in case I don’t make it.”

“Your mind will never comprehend kamma fully, for it is very complicated - its tentacles reach in all directions. Only your heart can someday understand. Think of it being a riverbed and we the stream, or the various forms over uncountable lifetimes. When stepping into a river, you can never step into the same river twice, as the same water never flows over the bed. Likewise, there is never the same being that remains with the kamma. The bodies come and go similar to the flowing stream, but the kamma, like the riverbed, changes very slowly. The flowing of the water; or the actions of the beings, will eventually change the riverbed of our kamma over a long period of time, wearing down the rocks and altering their appearance, sometimes even changing the course of the river itself, which is our destiny if the water is strong enough.” Then a John laughed and said, “Or sometimes there is an earthquake and the river bed changes quickly!”

He turned to Moosawa, “Do you remember your first love; how simple it was, requiring no more than a moon reflecting on the water. How much do you require now for your happiness? What is it you really want out of life? This is a very important question, Moosawa, for if it is not considered carefully, you might find yourself on a track to somewhere, which upon arrival could be disappointing or even have unexpected, dire consequences. If your destination is predictable, will it not be discarded as soon as it is achieved, when the adventure ends? Then you will be faced with yourself again until you can begin the next journey. And so it will go for you, lifetime after lifetime, until you exhaust every avenue and are finally faced with the wall of emptiness.”

Moosawa now knew that we knew. A John gently put his hand on his shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, saying nothing. Moosawa could not maintain eye contact with such a powerful being and quickly looked down at the floor. Then he slowly stood up and walked out.

I miraculously made it through the second long day and interminably long night with a John keeping me awake by talking incessantly. Everything he said was to the point and aimed toward helping me find my key, never discussing his family, his village, or the affairs of kings. His advice was essential, and I tried to remember every word of it just in case my search resumed. If I could somehow make it through this third day, I might live.

The swelling began to ease while a John wiled away the rest of the afternoon with teachings and stories, not appearing to be the least bit tired, even though he had been going non-stop for three days. I could now feel the close bond these robed men had with each other, and I would not have traded this moment or my situation for anything, no matter how dire it was. Surprisingly I was not afraid. I had no fear regarding death because I now felt that whether I lived or died did not matter in the least. If the quest did not continue in this lifetime, I was confident it would continue in the next.

Finally, during the third night, I knew that I had beaten the snake’s poison. Early next the morning the two robed men who saved me with their needles and vial came by, laughing and holding their noses. The putrid smell of the released Banded Krait poison that had oozed out through my pores was extremely nauseating. In fact, it was the worst smell imaginable, prompting the men to throw open the shutters and let in some air.

They shook their heads in amazement saying that they had never seen anybody live to tell the tale of such a vicious bite and were delightfully surprised that I survived. I told them that the first thing I was going to do, when I had the strength to stand up, was to sweep my path! The two robed men laughed at my belated wisdom and said they were taking care of sweeping the path, but reminded me that it must be done each afternoon before the bath. Moosawa’s involvement was never mentioned.

I slowly regained my health and worked my way back into my daily routine of waking up at three o’clock in the morning, walking to the bell platform (on the cleanest path in the community), ringing the bell, and lighting the candles in the hall. Many times, while standing on the platform I could not help but notice the hot skulls in the glowing cremation fire pit that was next to the bell. At times, in the dark morning hours I was positive that a skull was smiling at me. But of course it was only my imagination. How can a skull smile?

Another occurrence was stranger yet. After ringing the bell, I would go into the pitch-black hall and light the candles. There, in the lantern’s glow my attention would always be drawn directly to the ‘baby’. When it died in infancy, the parents chose not to cremate it and instead donated its body to be displayed in the hall. It was floating with its eyes closed in a large, transparent container filled with a liquid preservative as if it were sleeping. It was a reminder that life is uncertain; a bubble in a stream that could burst at any time even in infancy and therefore the robed men should be diligent in finding their key as quickly as possible.

What was strange was that I could swear at first glance that the baby’s eyes were open and staring at me, but the instant I swung around and looked at it directly, its eyes would be closed as usual. This was unnerving, but like the smiling skulls, I again thought it was simply my imagination.

With the bell rung and candles lit, robed men would start filing into the hall to practice together from three thirty in the morning until dawn, when we would begin walking silently into the surrounding villages in bare feet and with heads bowed.

A few men were always fasting to improve their inner work and would not make the trip into the village. They would stay in seclusion for weeks at a time, these fasting key seekers, finally eating again only to ward off starvation. If they were missing for longer than twenty days, we would check on them, but not sooner, because an interruption during intense inner work can be more serious than death if the key seeker is close to an attainment. Many future lifetimes would be at stake, not merely this one.

Sometimes illness would prevent a key seeker from not showing up for the morning’s inner work. In this case they also preferred to stay alone in their huts with their malady until they either improved or died, seeing illness as another excellent opportunity to go deeper. These brave men had no fear of death and considered death a mere transition, another opportunity to seek their key. They had that much faith and confidence.

After receiving the food offering from the villagers, we would return to the hall and eat our meal. Then a senior key seeker would give a short talk to any villagers who might be in attendance, after which we would wash our clay pots and return to our huts to practice our inner work until late in the afternoon.

At four p.m. we would sweep our paths, eventually meeting by the well for our daily bath and to make bamboo sweeping brooms, or perhaps wash and dye our robes and bathing cloths. This was a social time as well where we discussed anything that might have come up in the community or in the villages, and talked about our progress with the inner work. I always felt embarrassed when listening to the other key seeker’s progress with their inner work. They would never lie about these things, and what they said was so incredible that they made me want to strive even harder to reach the lofty peaks that they described.

Within the shelter of this peaceful routine of every-day life, my inner work was improving, but I still had problems keeping thoughts away, and had to resort to counting my breaths to divert the thoughts. My mind was far too clever for this however and quickly learned how to think and count at the same time! Then I tried counting backwards. After exhaling, I counted “100″ and on the next out breath, I counted “99,” all the way down to “1″ but this still did not stop the thoughts. Finally, I devised a sequence of counting so complicated that it would have delighted a mathematician! I was forced to perform this intricate counting procedure for one hour before my untrained mind would at last settle down long enough to concentrate on the feeling of my breath touching the inside of my nose. I had unbelievable trials and tribulations with my unusually active mind, even in this peaceful forest.

Then there was the problem of sleepiness. The minute my mind would finally calm down, I would nod off. When I mentioned this to a John, he said that there are two kinds of sleep: regular sleep and key seeker sleep.

“With key seeker sleep,” he explained, “your mind has no recollection of what has transpired other than a block of time disappearing. This experience is very close to common sleep and it takes a subtle perception to distinguish between the two. With key seeker sleep, your intuition knows that a subtle communication has taken place with the Source, even though your foggy intellect has no idea what has happened. The only thing that your mind recognizes is that for some reason it can see a little clearer now. One way you can tell the difference between regular sleep and key seeker sleep is that you will feel refreshed after key seeker sleep, not sluggish like after a nap. It is a very subtle experience and at first, you will surely think that you have only fallen asleep as usual, but there are clues that this is different. The threshold of falling in and out of key seeker sleep is often filled with visions, words, or involuntary body movements. The visions and words will be difficult to remember unless you write them down immediately because they go directly to your intuition; with your mind having no recollection except for that fraction of a moment when they appear.

“They come from a higher consciousness and are teachings, but in the beginning it is best not to try and remember or interpret them as this will only keep your mind occupied when it should be doing the inner work. If you stop and attempt to remember them, you will interrupt your concentration. These communications are meant for the silent voice in your heart where it will do its work, and your logic has merely overheard a private conversation that it shouldn’t meddle in. It doesn’t have the required open awareness to understand.

“This Key seeker sleep is usually mysterious to the mind but a step to a higher consciousness, where everything will be seen in a new brilliancy. It is a step in the right direction, but just a step, nothing to become infatuated with. Infatuation and excitement can only distract you from your practice as it breeds unending mental activity. Let me know, however, if you experience any signs after key seeker sleep of merging, unification, or non-dualism where you don’t see yourself as separate from everything else.”

I told him that it was surely regular sleep that I was having problems with, because when I woke up I felt sluggish, as if I had taken a long, mid-afternoon nap. Satisfied with my explanation that I was just being inattentive, he made a suggestion. He instructed me to practice my inner work while sitting on the edge of the high cliff by the waterfall!

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com