Pisces, the fish, is also connected to unfathomable deeps, underscoring this watery theme. It speaks to dissolving boundaries, metaphorical or literal; an innate awareness of wholeness and interconnectedness; and compassion, in particular a desire to help those it feels are disempowered. The Spiritualist Movement began during the last pass of Neptune through Pisces in the mid-19^th Century, and we should again see renewed explorations into consciousness and its boundaries, with a strong spiritual leaning, during this new transit. Other boundary-dissolving movements and revelations which appeared during Neptune’s last trek through Pisces include Darwin’s On the Origins of Species (unifying the life sciences through the theory of evolution), the suffragist and abolitionist movements (offering equality and empowerment for the oppressed), and the Communist Manifesto (announcing Marx’s dream of a classless society).

February 7^th brings a full moon across the signs of Leo and Aquarius, asking us weigh our needs as an individual against those of our community to determine if we have the right balance. Is our subjective world (what makes me happy, where do I find my joy) aligned with our objective world (what is equitable, where do I contribute)? Have you become such a good citizen that you’ve stifled the creative, playful child in you, or have you been so immersed in what you want that you’ve neglected the world around you? Use the illumination of the full moon to reveal disparities between your desires and your obligations.

The full moon falls directly between the planets of Venus and Pluto, in a powerful midpoint configuration, demanding we pay attention to our relationships this month, including those to money and values. Fixed and rigid positions are set for reevaluation. If we haven’t been managing these areas of our life well, the following week may shake things up so that we see any discontinuities clearly.

The theme of the full moon continues the next day, February 8^th, when Saturn stations in Libra and Venus moves into Aries. Saturn, planetary statesman of tradition and duty, desires responsibility and integrity, and Libra seeks fairness, especially in one-on-one relationships. As Saturn turns retrograde – seeming to stop and turn direction in the sky – he asks that we slow down, take stock, and restructure our relationships to bring them into balance.

Conversely, Venus, goddess of love and pleasure, moving into self-reliant, independent Aries on the same day, speaks to honoring ourselves. Between February 8^th and February 15^th Venus makes tense aspects with Uranus (February 10^th) and Pluto (February 15^th). If handled skillfully, we are presented an opportunity to unfetter ourselves from false burdens. However, acting impulsively or without integrity may lead to sudden upsets or power struggles, financial setbacks, even a damaged a relationship. Remember to proceed with caution this week and to mediate your needs and those of others fairly. A childlike insistence on your own way will only backfire, but so will acquiescing solely out of a sense of obligation.

February 21^st brings a new moon in expansive Pisces and a lessening of tensions. The new moon, tied closely to Neptune and Chiron this month, calls us to tap into our healing dreams and expand our possibilities. Are you at the end of the tether in some area of our life? Are you limiting yourself from going after what you want because of an old wound? This is the moon cycle for applying healing balm and also for entertaining visions of what could be.

A good place to start is to ask a few key questions:

• If reality were limitless, where would I be, what would I be doing, and what shape would my life take?
• Do I feel deserving of my dreams? What healing do I need?
• What self-imposed limits do I need to expand beyond?

Conjure the ocean of your dreams and splash in the waves. Allow yourself the luxury of being a dreamy, inspired, poetic visionary during this moon, remembering that every great triumph began as a wispy vision and someone daring to believe.

But don’t just sit there. Develop a strategy. Supportive aspects from Saturn and Jupiter this new moon provide an opportunity to start managing the process. Envision your future; then map it out so the process feels controllable. Jupiter gives us the enthusiasm and vision to see ahead, but Saturn gives us the discipline and practical know-how to make that vision a reality.

To underscore this message, this month Mars remains retrograde in Virgo, which also speaks to the need for practical action. Taking a moment to review recent steps and refine plans can help prepare for the hard work of moving forward.

One note: with Mars in stressful relationship to Mercury in Pisces at the new moon, we must eventually ensure that our ideas are realistic. Mars sharpens whatever it touches, cutting away excess, so our minds (Mercury) and others’ minds may develop a critical edge. Those plans and ideas which can’t hold water may be challenged by other people – not so you throw up your hands and walk away, but to help you refine your vision and correct potential problems.

So dream large, my friend. Put no limits on your imagination. Once you have your vision firmly in your mind’s eye—but not before—you can give it proper shape. This moon calls for both limitless imagination and the further definition of dreams.

If you know the sign rising at the time of your birth (also known as the rising sign), read that sign as well as your birth sign, otherwise read your sun sign. If you don’t know your rising sign and would like to find out, click here for instructions.

A broad, monthly horoscope is no substitution for a consultation using your exact birth time. Consult my services page for more information or call me at 800.604.0299.

Aries: Put on your party dress on and circulate through the first half of the month. There’s fun to be had and an opportunity to meet new (and old) friends, so isolating at home won’t do. Work continues to be demanding this month, but you like a challenge. It’s all the more reason for you to go blow off some steam when the opportunity arises. Gemstone: Yellow Jasper

Taurus: You may find yourself out of sorts this month as Venus heads into Aries. Sticking close to the house helps, as does working through prickly feelings which may be bristling underneath the surface, especially with those near and dear. By the end of the month, seek out friends and share your heart’s desires. You’ll find a supportive audience. Gemstone: Ocean Jasper

Gemini: The first half of the month is a good period to ask yourself whether you’re walking your talk. If your values aren’t reflected in your day-to-day environment, look for ways to bring them in. Friends can be stimulating or disruptive right now. Paying attention to which of the two categories fit – especially at midmonth – may be revealing. Gemstone: Sodalite

Cancer: You’ve been holding your cards close to your chest of late and – so it continues, especially during the first part of the month. Use the time through the 7^th to look at your finances and fiscal plans. Work relationships may be tense the second half of the month. You’ll do well to focus on your big-picture values and what really matters, avoiding any drama. Gemstone: Orange Calcite

Leo: The fulcrum between yours and other’s needs may be difficult to keep balanced this month, with demands from others running high. Call on your well-known generosity of spirit and vitality to pull you through. Use the latter part of the month to pull back a bit and revisit your finances. Ensure they’ll meet your needs going forward, no matter how large you dream. Gemstone: Prehnite

Virgo: With Mars moving through your sign, you’re busier than normal and feeling the pressure. Good health routines – enough sleep, downtime, nutritious food, exercise – do much to ease any tension. Midmonth you may find yourself feeling touchy. Take a deep breath: cut wood, carry water. Feeling put upon will only increase the stress and dull your effectiveness. Gemstone: Red Jasper

Libra: With Saturn stationing in the last degree of your sign, you may feel like Sisyphus this month. You’re almost done pushing that boulder, but not quite ready to face the altered reality of finally getting it up the hill for good. Do something fun early in the month; by the second week there’s work to do. If tempers fly or people become erratic, draw upon your graciousness and tact to reel them in. Gemstone: Selenite

Scorpio: Ideally, what you do in the world aligns with who you are at core. This month evaluate if your current direction reflects your essential self. Reorient yourself if necessary and shore up your foundation to support your growing sense of new direction. Coworkers can be a source of frustration right now, so lean on friends to help keep perspective. Gemstone: Apophylite

Sagittarius: Your mind tends to be overactive right now, but unless you hitch your ideas to your fundamental values and motivations you’re likely to spin in place. Better yet, quiet your mind by with the simple remedy of taking care of what’s in front of you, especially on the job. When you need sanctuary, nights at home provide respite. Gemstone: Howlite

Capricorn: Early in the month you may want to calibrate your finances to bring them under control. Come the new moon, though, it’s time to connect with others. Circulate. You need to share your ideas and do a bit of intellectual cross-pollination. Sitting at home may make you feel stir crazy. Gemstone: Azurite

Aquarius: The ball is in your court, Aquarius, so state your position at the start of the month and let yourself be heard. Midmonth, take care that fuzzy math or inattention doesn’t turn costly. In fact, pragmatic strategies to tackle debt and unfetter yourself should pay off beautifully through June. If, after the first couple of weeks, communications begin to misfire, seek common ground. Gemstone: Blue Aventurine

Pisces: You may find you have more influence operating behind the scenes in the first half of the month. It’s a good time to evaluative your health and work routines to ensure they genuinely support your wellbeing. Come the new moon, bring the focus to your desires for yourself and the world, and to what work needs to be done in your one-on-one relationships. Gemstone: Chalcopyrite

TO FIND YOUR RISING SIGN (the Ascendant):

You’ll need the following information: date of birth, place of birth, and, most importantly, time of birth. Go to the following Astrodeinst webpage and select “Extended Chart Selection” at the bottom right section of the page.

• Select the bar which says “Click here to show the chart,” which is to the right and above the “Options” area of the page.
• You should find yourself at another page. Select “Click here to go directly to data entry page.”
• You’ll be taken to the data entry page. Enter your birth data and click on “Continue.”
• Your natal chart with the positions will appear. At the upper left, look for the information in red text. Your rising sign appears after the word “Ascendant.”
• You can print the chart if you like, too.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm

Tickets – $15* – Limited Seating Get Your Tickets Today!

ZOË LEWIS is a band in a body! She plays jazz, jump jive, latin grooves, swing, international folk, funk originals on anything from the piano to the spoons! Troubadour/vaudevillian/storyteller/singer-songwriter/piece of work!

ZOË started studying music (piano) in England at the age of seven in her little village on the south coast of England, Rottingdean. She began performing professionally playing the Hammond organ, piano and synthesizer for London Latin jazz ten-piece band AVANTI in 1986. The band toured the UK and cut a record. She went solo in 1988, performed piano / vocal jazz standards from the ’30s and ’40s in London pubs and later worked in South America and in the Caribbean.

In 1992 she began to perform in a variety of different acts in Provincetown on Cape Cod for the summer season. She became a local favourite and won Provincetown Paper’s “About Town Awards” for best piano player and best comedy duo. She’s toured all over the Unites States, has performed in England, Germany, Australia and aboard OLIVIA cruises. As well as continuing her solo career she is receiving much acclaim for her quartet ZOË LEWIS and her RUBBER BAND with Seattle bassist KATE WOLF, Quebec City percussionist SYLVIE RICHARD and ROXANNE LAYTON, on recorder. Performing upbeat and edgy tunes on a variety of weird instruments, telling traveling tales that’ll take you from England to New Orleans by way of Bangkok and Guatemala, they bend the notes and stretch your imagination!

Get Your Tickets Today at wildirisbooks.com!

*Sliding scale tickets are available for those in need.  Please stop by Wild Iris Books (802 W University Ave) for more information.

A couple of weeks ago – Ms. Magazine compiled a list of the of the Top 100 Non-Fiction Feminist Books… And this gave one of our volunteers a brilliant idea – why not create a book club focused on some of the top ranking titles?

So that’s exactly what Friends of Wild Iris decided to do… Starting in January 2012, we’ll create a intimate, thought provoking, knowledge increasing, safe space for people to discuss these books and analyze what they mean for our lives and what lessons we can take with us from these pioneers in feminist literature.

Meetings will be held the Third Tuesday of every month from 7-8pm at Wild Iris Books.

Some of us will gather before the meeting from 6-7pm so that we can grab dinner and drinks from Cafe Colette – and we invite you to join us for good eats to fuel our minds for discussion time…

This reading group is free and open to anybody who is interested…   

Mention that you’re purchasing the title to participate in the reading club and you’ll save 10% off the purchase price – you can also reserve your copy on wildirisbooks.com – just be sure to put “Feminist Reading Group” in the comment section of your order at check out.

To keep your anticipation high, here’s the first few books that will be on the agenda.

February 21, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, Inga Muscio

March 20, Sister Outsider, Essays and Speeches, Audre Lorde

April 17, A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Wolfe

For more information contact Wild Iris Books.

The last Tuesday night of every month at 7:30pm.

Wild Iris Books, 802 W University Ave., Gainesville, FL 32601

Our aim is to create a safe space where individuals can celebrate, challenge and express their artistic personas! Hosted by Gainesville’s own wonderful poet and queer activist Johnny Rocket. We encourage all poets, musicians, and other artists types to attend. A selection of beverages (alcoholic and non) are available for purchase thanks to the lovely staff of Wild Iris Books.

Join our Facebook group!

Join our Facebook event.

I will be bringing a restock of HaldeBalm to Wild Iris Books this afternoon, and used the opportunity of making some to take new photos yesterday. Don’t they just make your mouth water?

You can find HaldeBalm online at the Wild Iris Marketplace; HaldeBalm Tins are here, and HaldeBalm Tubes are here. Starting in February I’m going to be bringing these into my Etsy shop as well. Originally I had planned for them to be exclusive to Wild Iris, but I’ve had a number of requests to put them on Etsy so that people can buy them at the same time they’re buying other things. They will still be at The Iris, and I have a number of other ideas for exclusive Iris products, so don’t feel that I’m slighting the bookstore! I actually have a lot of good ideas for new Iris-only products… : steeples fingers and laughs like a mad scientist :

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m sure hundreds of people have reviewed this already, so…

I picked this up because I wanted to read them before the American movie came out (I have not yet seen the Swedish movies). It took about 100 pages or so for me to get into it, but when I did…? BAM.

There is violence and inhumanity in this book, but also revenge, retribution, and a certain sense of morality. One of the most violent scenes seemed gratuitous until I found out upon cracking the second book that it was a set-up for the next two novels. At that point, then, it made complete sense.

Very, very glad I picked these up, and can now understand why people I know who have read them tend to look a little fanatical about them.

View all my reviews

Through each of her own personal trials, Patricka Daley-Pledger has kept a journal of uplifting poetry she wishes to pass on to you. Patricka’s poetry is heartfelt and relatable and will have you asking, why shouldn’t I take that ‘New Lease on Life’ and let myself ‘Just Shine’?

Whether your present situation is bigger or small than hers, Patricka provides inspirational insights for overcoming whatever life may be throwing at you.

2012 sweeps in on the coattails of a wild 2011. The changes we saw beginning, on a global level but also for each of us personally, continue to develop in 2012, so prepare yourselves for an enlivening, transformative year.

With so much change in the air, from upheavals in the Middle East to intimations of a revolution even in our understanding of energy and matter, we need to be gentle with ourselves and with each other. Change brings uncertainty, and uncertainty may conjure fear. When in doubt, we should always summon our better natures and the genuine panacea of generosity and humor.

And love. Let’s throw in love, the very essence of our nature once stripped of its mundane concerns and personas. When we begin sharing that essential self, which is whole and never lacking, we can become the presence of love in all we do — not just to family and friends, but to all.

Here’s my New Year’s wish for each of us in 2012: May we walk through this year recognizing the love within us, and may that love touch and heal all we meet. And may that same blessing be passed from hand to hand until all are touched.  By year end, we may realize a revolution indeed.

2012 Forecast

If you know your rising sign (the sign on the ascendant at the time of your birth), read that description as well as your birth sign.  If you don’t know your rising sign and would like to find out, click here for instructions.

As always, a broad analysis such as this is no substitute for a personal astrological consultation based your full birth data.  If you are interested in setting up an appointment, please email me or call me at 800.604.0299.

ARIES              TAURUS           GEMINI                    CANCER                 LEO                   VIRGO

LIBRA              SCORPIO         SAGITTARIUS        CAPRICORN          AQUARIUS        PISCES

ARIES

Traditional gemstones: Red coral, Carnelian, Diamond, Bloodstone

In 2011 you began an eight-year cycle in which you will be called to become your most authentic self. Stultifying routines, drowsy habits – any debilitating pattern which shackles your freedom and interferes with your ability to be wholly yourself – will be shaken from its slumber by Uranus’ journey through your sign. The areas of your life that limit your range of motion may be unlocked by liberating jolts from the outside.

It’s not so much that you’ve been untrue to yourself but that you’re life hasn’t kept up with your need for freshness and sparks of the unexpected. If you feel trapped in the identity that you have built for yourself, the next few years will update the way you see yourself and the world sees you. Rams born in March will find 2012 particularly significant, especially during early spring.

The more open to change and the more in need of fresh air you are, the more revitalizing and exciting 2012 has the possibility of being. If you primarily define yourself by what you “do,” i.e., your career, that area is ripe for metamorphosis.  If you define yourself by the roles you play, especially if you are overly attached to a public image – mother, father, successful entrepreneur, spouse, do-gooder – be open to reinvention.

Should you find this disruptive, ask yourself if your current world order is truly an authentic expression of your whole person or whether it is simply comfortable and familiar. Any changes coming in now will help you sweep the relics of the past out the door so you ultimately feel more energized, alive, and fully present.  Think of it this way, when you jump on a roller coaster you have two choices: you can close your eyes and pray that it ends soon, or your can open your eyes, embrace the moment, and allow yourself to relish the rush of adrenaline, the fine line between excitement and fear.

You’ll do best if you relax and enjoy the ride. To enforce control or take a my-way-or-the-highway approach will just frustrate you and those around you.

2012 brings you an opportunity to broaden your values and perhaps to increase your income–that is, if you don’t outdistance your preparations, especially in the first half of the year. In the second half, you’ll be able to sell others on your ideas and have the opportunity to expand your outlook if you have carefully grounded your plans. Hard work and attention to detail in your day-to-day work environment, mapping out procedures, and initiating a new work or wellness routine can pay lasting dividends.

Choose to have an exhilarating ride. If you find yourself clinging to the past, remember that the new day is an opportunity for elation, if you are willing to take the risk.

TAURUS

Traditional gemstones: Diamond, White Coral, Zircon, Emerald, Amber

Opportunities abound for you this year, if you’re open to growth and willing to kick-start the action.  The first half of the year is particularly fertile ground for self-improvement programs that bring you increased self-confidence and a sense of optimism.  If you put forth the effort, goals that may have seemed difficult in the past will find purchase.

Take advantage of this window for expansion. Identify at least one thing you want to change about or do for yourself, and start on it in the early months of 2012.  Self-reassessment works magic this year. Putting into motion a plan, especially the first part of the year, has the potential to profoundly impact your life for the next twelve years.  Roll up your sleeves and do the groundwork early this year to get the momentum going.  Don’t wait.

But keep this in mind: nothing happens without your effort, and streamlined, simple plans are easier to put in place than elaborate ones.  The opportunities are there, but they can’t come into being unless you make the first move. You must be self-directed, action-oriented, and willing to push past inertia or complacency.  If you do nothing, the promise of this year comes to nothing, with the only expansion, sadly, appearing in your waistline.

Have you had a growing feeling that your current direction isn’t everything for which you hoped? Do you feel a nagging tug of dissatisfaction or an inkling that something more magical that awaits you, if you could just put your finger on it? Pay attention to your dreams. They will provide clues to your nascent self and new direction.

If you allow yourself to question your assumptions about life and how it operates, even your beliefs and moral strictures, you open up yourself to profound epiphanies; your entire world order may be turned on its head, and you may begin to see life anew.  Secrets about yourself, your past, and your limiting assumptions may reveal themselves, freeing you to reconstruct your understanding of the world. You may find your spiritual life revitalized in the process.

This questioning and re-evaluation of your beliefs and assumptions will provide the foundation for yet unformed dreams of the future, so while you push ahead to create opportunities this year, also schedule a bit of quiet time to let the slow currents building underneath the placid surface of your life gain power.

GEMINI

Traditional Gemstones:  Emerald, Peridot, Jade, Sapphire

Though you are always adept at tapping into the flow of ideas and information, 2102 positions you to catch a new glimpse of the future, to awaken to intimations of what is to come.

You may have been feeling a little restless the past few years, sensing the need to make a few changes. The next several years will be interesting times for you, as you turn your head away from the life you have now and shift toward a new direction. If your birthday falls in May, you will find 2012 a particularly creative year, with insights and ideas coming in fast and furious. Put them to good use.

Use the first half of the year to dig a little deeper into what it is you want, especially in terms of your career and relationships, and what might be limiting you in those arenas. If there are blocks there, the common denominator is you.  An honest assessment on how and why you might be sabotaging yourself can be extremely fruitful the first half of the year.

Are your home life and finances structured in a way that will let you take advantage of opportunities that crop up, or are you saddled with debts and obligations that could hinder your ability to seize the moment?

You have between now and mid-June to tie up loose ends and take care of details which you may have been putting off, especially concerning your home and family. Now is the time to streamline and create order.

If your life has been a bit chaotic or you’ve been less than attentive to your day-to-day routines, get yourself organized. Clean out your house and take care of your obligations so you have a firm foundation for the second half of the year. Repairing you home, supporting those who live with you, addressing family issues, and reorganizing the household all demand your attention. Get these areas in order before June, so you can propel yourself forward starting mid-summer and into 2013.

Mid-June brings opportunities to break out of your rut and make yourself heard. Sitting at home ruminating won’t do the trick: Fortune favors those who circulate, so connect with others and share your ideas.  If you’ve brought your home life into order, you’ll be better able to tap into the creative flow and win over others with your ideas. You’ll be in the position to ride the wave coming your way.

Part of bringing in the new is acknowledging what is over. As part of the general housecleaning you’ll be doing in 2012, you should be willing to release those aspects of your attitudes, habits, or circumstances – perhaps residual from childhood – that prevent you from moving forward. Late April through the third week of May could bring into focus an aspect of your life which must brought to some sort of closure. This is a threshold, not a dead end, so be willing to eliminate whatever might impede you from moving ahead.

CANCER

Traditional Gemstones: Natural Pearl, Moonstone, Ruby

This year brings big changes to sensitive Cancer, if you’re willing to take some risks in your career and allow your relationships to be transformed.

In some ways the two issues are intertwined. Your caring nature makes it difficult for you to put yourself first, especially if a change will impact your loved ones, but you are being called to do just that: put yourself first, make some selfish decisions regarding what it is you want from life, even though you look crazy or reckless to others, and ask the people in your life to adjust their expectations of you.

More importantly, if you’re attached to being the nurturer and helpmate, it also requires you altering your own expectations about how you love, support, and nurture those around you, as well as how you want others to love, support, and nurture you.

Now is the time to be your own best mother, to offer vital sustenance to yourself and your dreams. Don’t wait for others to provide you with the confidence to go for what you truly want. You have the resources within you. Daily prayer or meditation can remind you just how much support surrounds you.

From now through May, restructure your home life and put your ideas for the future on paper. What changes do you need to implement at home to better support changes to your outer life?  Do you need a home office, help with the household chores, a block of quiet time?  Get those in place now.

Then create a pragmatic, step-by-step plan for what you want to happen in your career and relationships. Putting your vision on paper will build your sense of safety and confidence. The concreteness of the roadmap will keep you on path and ease your doubts and worries. If you become overwhelmed with this process, bounce your ideas off of a trusted friend.

Expect time and activity to pick up pace from May through September. If you feel you’re busy now, brace yourself because the speed will only increase.  Keep checking in: Are you still on task with your vision plan or are you allowing yourself to be distracted from your own work by others’ needs and demands?  The better you set boundaries – within yourself and with others – the more successful you’ll be at managing the changes which will appear.

Change is definitely coming, so set your intentions, and position yourself for the future. This year has the potential to be a watershed for you, moving you into unchartered territory and allowing you more freedom than you’ve ever had, but only if you embrace the metamorphoses approaching rather than clinging to the past.

Whether through wholesale reinvention and rebirth…or change within the modest parameters of an already familiar backyard, the universe is handing you an awesome responsibility, one for which you are prepared and for which you have been waiting. You are ready. Dare to dream large, my friend.

LEO

Traditional Gemstones: Ruby, Red Spinel, Rhodolite, Peridot, Golden Topaz

Over the past few years, your work and daily routines have been changing. Old routines have fallen away and new ones have taken their place. What was once unquestioned may have been undermined or upended so it holds a less important place in your life. In short, what has power in your daily life is shifting, allowing for greater creativity but perhaps also bringing some turbulence as you reevaluate and transform your day-to-day world.

This process continues and strengthens in 2012. Formerly stable beliefs may receive shocks which force you to break from past traditions. New ideas and people may arrive, revolutionizing your way of seeing the world and awakening you to yet unconsidered possibilities. Whether you find this exciting or shocking depends on how attached you are to your current situation and how primed you are for revitalizing the organizing truths of your life.

If you remain open to possibility, you may discover this year to be one of adventure, unexpected travels, and electrifying new ideas that reignite your passion and clarify your worldview. Trusting your enthusiasm and your inspirations will land you in the right places.

Resist impulse purchases through the first half of the year, as what you see might not be what you get. Through June, in fact, economic gains tend to come through sheer hard work and personal effort. If you haven’t been paying attention to the financial details of your life, the first half of the year is a good time to straighten out your finances and create a budget.

Throughout the year you have a knack of being in the right place at the right time to make important contacts with people who can further your goals. Your ability to communicate your creative vision inspires others and catalyzes their support.

With your ability to generate energy and excitement running high, you may want to be strategic with your focus and put the spotlight on only those projects for which you wish to build support, lest you spread yourself too thin.  Do you want recognition for your work? Get out there and let yourself be seen.

When fall arrives, however, it’s time to bring your attention to home and family. You may want to restructure a home office or rebalance your work/home schedule to better meet the obligations of family. Take stock. Is your home your private sanctuary, providing you the stability you need to soar in the world? If not, how might you restructure it to strengthen your foundation?

VIRGO

Traditional Gemstones: Emerald, Peridot, Jade, Sapphire

Think of 2012 as your DIY year. If you want to make something happen, the surest bet is to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself. This is especially true through the first half of the year. As you’re no stranger to hard work, you might as well jump in and get the party started.

You can make enormous gains in any self-improvement plan you initiate, and if you are willing to do a bit of self-promotion, you have the capacity to push forward some personal project dear to your heart or position yourself for a job you want. But this means hustling and nonstop activity for the first half of the year.

Consider: do you want forward someone else’s agenda or your own? This year asks you put yourself and your interests first. Be willing to stand up and take credit for your work, to communicate and network with others about your ideas, above all to keep moving forward. You are enormously creative this year, and primed for a breakthrough if you keep the focus on your creative output and what you want to bring into the world.

If you keep grounded in your true aspirations – big picture, long term – and avoid getting caught up in petty, short-term frustrations or obsessing about what’s broken, you can take a giant step toward your ultimate goal.

In short, it will be your passion, competency, and excitement that wins over others and it will be your impatience, resentment and/or anger that will turn them away. 2012 is a high-energy, high-demand year. You can push you through to a new level or you can let the cumulative pressures of stress and your own high standards undo you.

You can an enormously productive this year, particularly when allowed to work independently. If your work requires you to work collaboratively, find time to decompress. Use physical activity to deal with stress, and work in appointments for self-care, such as massage or walks in nature.

Finances have been tight for the past few years, and you will need to continue to budget through fall of 2012, but with hard work this year, the tide will begin to turn. In short, don’t stop now. With continued effort on your end, the latter half of the year will bring a lighter load and you’ll begin seeing the fruits of your labor.

Relationships can at times feel a bit murky and may be colored more by wishful thinking and fantasy than informed by facts. To avoid mistaken assumptions about another’s motivations or suffering unnecessary ambiguity, make time for in-depth conversation. You can’t err by asking for clarity. Upfront dialogue will help disperse the distorting clouds.

LIBRA

Traditional Gemstones: Diamond, White Coral, Zircon, Opal, Peridot

For the past several years, you’ve been stepping up your game and redefining who you are and how you respond to the world around. You’re finding new ways to put limits on yourself, and you’re less willing to give up what is important to you for the sake of keeping peace with others.

Your ability to set boundaries and define what you want will continue to be an important theme through 2012. This maturation process – a maturation of your very identity – is in its final stages. Through fall of 2012, your work is to continue to redefine your responses to the people in your life, to your family, and to yourself.

Your ability to define your expectations, needs, and limits and to state them clearly and directly will be critical for laying the foundation for the next seven years. Holding others accountable when they do not respect your expectations – rather than discounting your needs or rationalizing their behavior – will also be critical for the continued development of your new authority.

This new maturity in your relationships will steer you well through years when many around you may seem to be falling apart or acting erratically. Calling on your inner authority to guide you in such turbulent situations will anchor you in right action and will in turn help anchor others.

In some ways, you may feel like you’ve been completely reconstituted, right down to the cellular level, over the past few years. If you want to make the most of these transformational times, be willing to dig deep into your past and question everything on which you have built your foundation, including youthful expectations about home, family, and tradition.  Take ownership of where things stand now.

Root out anything that undermines your ability to be effective and responsible in your current life. Let go of anything that limits your confidence or negates your personal power.  Be uncompromisingly true to yourself and release any limiting assumptions that take away your power. You are your own power source.

This period is one of the most profound of your life. Can you control everything? No, but whether this period is fruitful or barren depends wholly on how you choose to define your experience and respond to your life as it is now.  See it as a deep-sea adventure. Time is your ship, and you are the well-qualified captain, at the helm and ready to steer.

SCORPIO

Traditional Gemstones: Red Coral, Carnelian, Citrine, Obsidian

Always perceptive, with a knack of looking through the surface into the underbelly of the conversation, you have always understood that words have power, as do secrets.  In the past few years you have been gaining greater understanding of just how deep that truism runs.

You are at the precipice of a new cycle, which begins in fall.  Until that time, you are behind the scenes, preparing for the change.  You’re feeling a bit restless, ready to act on your ideas, and becoming more bored with the status quo.  This is natural.  However, a few key decisions must be made before moving into the next phase; you must spend the first six months of the year mapping out the details of your plan and rooting out any potential problems with its execution.

In short, you have the seed within you, but if you want your vision to grow strong, you must first fertilize the soil. Otherwise, it may never take root.

In the first half of the year, other people may bring talents and skills to the table that you lack. Trust their insights and their ability to ground your vision in practical steps. If you do not have the expertise you need, be humble, reach out. Consult with those who have the necessary resources. And keep an open mind. Your thinking is profound right now, but sometimes inflexible. Your vision may need to change to accommodate a real world setting.

Relax and let go. The more you try to control, limit, or hide your thinking, the less opportunity others have to facilitate and speed up this ongoing process. Their ideas bring opportunities and plain good luck to your table. If you’re not yet certain of particular people in your circle, revelations around late May will help you clarify any remaining questions.

The second half of the year, pay attention to how and where your money is being spent. Keep your debt under control.

By the end of the year, October through December, serious decisions will have to be made that impact the next twenty-eight years.  Choose well, choose carefully, choose based on well-researched facts and materials.  Take all the advice and information you’ve gathered, and take your first tentative steps into the future.

It may feel chaotic and like time is speeding up, especially come late fall, but this is what you have been preparing for all year.

SAGITTARIUS

Traditional Gemstones: Yellow Sapphire, Topaz, Citrine, Ruby

Broadminded and tolerant, you typically make yourself at home wherever your travels land you, Sagittarius. Lately, though, a sense of belonging – a deep rootedness – has eluded you.

You may be struggling with questions of where to live, or your home situation may be uncertain or unmoored. Creating a sense of stability may prove elusive at this moment, blocked by a deep-seated longing for something you can’t quite describe.

Even with a stable home and family, there may be an underlying dissatisfaction, a lack of charm or delight you may wish to remedy.  In the next eight years, you are on a quest to make home and family a place of sanctuary, to spiritualize your life at its most fundamental level.

You may need to set up an altar space or plant a garden. It may mean creating a little sacred time each day at home, one that your family honors, a quiet period each morning in which you drift, dream, praise, and connect with something larger than yourself. The struggle is to make the ordinary extraordinary: how can you make your most familiar surroundings reflect a little of the universe’s magic?

2011 was an amazingly creative year for you, and 2012 is lining up to be equally prolific. You generate original ideas effortlessly and with a childlike enthusiasm that others find appealing. That said, this isn’t a period for unmitigated risk-taking and wild, faith-based gambles.  Rely on good financial planning with the help of someone qualified to check that you’ve dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s. Simple budgets that help you maintain financial discipline can prevent you from careening off course.

As carefree and optimistic as you naturally are, a healthy dose of caution will help. Try not to take on more than you can easily manage, as you can easily overextend yourself this year, especially during the first six months when your day-to-day schedule and workload are prone to explode in scale.

The second half of the year brings opportunity in the guise of others, but also can also bring confusion to the table. You may meet the right people with all the right information, but they might not be able to deliver as promised, especially in the period between mid-June and mid-July. Avoiding serious contractual obligations during this time – especially pertaining to home, property, and family – might save you a few headaches.  If you do go forward, make sure both parties’ expectations are spelled out clearly and in detail. Then keep the lines of communication open. Unspoken assumptions can create unwonted chaos and misunderstandings.

Finish off the year by pulling in and taking stock.  Starting in fall and over the next two and a half years, you are preparing for a new cycle. Part of this preparation entails a bit of restlessness and figuring out what really matters to you. You can’t start pruning the unnecessary until you become wholly clear on what is essential.

CAPRICORN

Traditional Gemstones: Blue sapphire, Amethyst, Tanzanite, Garnet, Black Onyx

Home and family continue to be rocky and unpredictable, Capricorn. And though it may feel disruptive, trust that a breath of new life will free up additional energy for the profound changes you are experiencing.

Moving or a change of scenery is a possibility, especially if your birthday falls in December.  Even if you can’t move, find ways to bring your home into line with your evolving self. Clear out closets, redecorate, shake things up a bit. Still have the old lamp bequeathed by your Aunt Mary that you’ve never liked? Now is the time to give it to someone who appreciates it (if you can find one) or simply let it go. Traditions are being overturned. So be it.

Sometimes our attachment to the past keeps us frozen in time. Let go. You are being called to transform who you are and your path through the world.  This year you have the energy to accelerate this process tremendously, and this is especially true if you were born between December 28^th and January 2^nd.  It may be a tumultuous time, but it will be one of the most memorable and fruitful of your life.

You need to spend some time alone. With so much inner tumult, you can feel moody at times, and solitude will provide you the space you need to gestate the deep changes going on within you. Look around you. Are the people, places, and objects of your life the right ones? Does its music provide the proper cadence?

If not, be ruthlessly honest and true to yourself. Release and relinquish. Make room for the unknowable, and surround yourself with the people and circumstances that represent who you wish to be. Standing still can only create unnecessary pain.

As pressure builds and wanes through the year, find time for physical activity. It will relieve your stress, move physical energy, and aid in the whole-life detoxification you are immersed in.  As you slough off old aspects of your personality and identity, you may want to support that process with a gentle cleansing routine or breath work to release old emotions.  You may find yourself embracing a new health regime, one that strengthens your body and your emerging new life.

The first half of the year brings opportunity for love and a growing self-expressiveness. Foster it. Though you need solitude, you also need friends and fun.  Blow some fresh air to your hermitage. Grounding yourself in life’s pleasures is a healthy antidote to the brooding and shedding that’s also a necessary feature of the year. Just make sure that your fun aligns with your values and supports the person you are becoming.

By fall, Saturn leaves your house of career and Jupiter sits in your house of work, bringing with it opportunities and more joy in day-to-day routines. You may find your load a bit lighter and sense a hint of renewal in the crisp fall air.

AQUARIUS

Traditional Gemstones: Blue Sapphire, Amethyst, Tanzanite, Moss Agate

2012 presents you with a chance to break free of limiting mental constructs and work with innovative people and technologies. If you aren’t talking, sharing ideas, and connecting with your community – be it through a blog or over a cup of coffee – you miss a point of entry to change and revitalization. The more you network and connect with like-minded others, the more the chains and limitations of your life slip free.

You’ve always been an inventive thinker, but this year your ideas can potentially overturn the status quo, opening you – and others around you – to a new way of seeing and approaching your day-to-day environment. With your sharp eye, you can spot ways to revitalize processes and jump-start stalled relationships. By doing so, you benefit us all.

Endings this year may be as important beginnings. The first half of the year, put your energy into tying down whatever is dangling in your life. You may need to take care of old debts, be they financial or personal, to clear the way for an emerging you.  Pay off old loans, work with your partner on your joint finances to bring them into alignment. Doing so may breathe new life into your home life.

Do you need to acknowledge someone who has been important to you?  Do you need to let go of old resentments that now only tether you to your youth? Look into the shadowy recesses of your psyche to find the cobwebbed relics that must be pulled out, dusted off, and pushed to the curb.

Be ready to acknowledge the ways you hold yourself back, perhaps through inflexible stands around your values, which, in truth, stem from early pain or situations in which you weren’t valued for your intrinsic self. Consciously choosing to apply healing compassion to those wounds will release the ties that bind you to ancient suffering.

A thoughtful housekeeping can free up enormous amounts of energy. If, in the first six months of the year, you finish up projects you’ve left incomplete, you’ll find your physical energy increasing in the process.

Late fall, as Saturn enters your house of career and public standing, you enter a two- and a-half year period in which duties and responsibility build. If you are on track, expect more authority and autonomy – and hard-won recognition.  If you find your professional life unsatisfying or your ability to meet your responsibilities wobbly, reality checks may arise to help you clarify and restructure your role.

Right now your ideas are innovative, original and highly creative. Remember to apply them to your own life, not just your community. Set aside time, both for yourself and with loved ones, to recharge your batteries and loosen ancient tangles. With this downtime, you home life will improve in the first half of the year, allowing for a creative burst of energy in the latter half.

PISCES

Traditional Gemstones: Yellow Sapphire, Topaz, Citrine, Aquamarine, Rock Crystal

You’ve always been comfortable losing yourself in the ocean of life. Your fluidity allows you to see everything around you as interconnected and enables you to tap into an oceanic oneness with the world, from which your enormous capacity for compassion springs.

With the planet Neptune entering your sign, your tendency to diffuse your own boundaries and merge with others and the world will increase. As your sense of separation from others begins to further dissolve, you are presented with an opportunity to deepen your innate mystical gifts and connection to the divine. Those of you born between February 20^th and February 24^th will feel this influence particularly strongly this year. Vision quests and spiritual retreats will renew you this year and support the new direction you sense growing within you.

Taken too far, however, this dissolution may make it difficult for you to tap into what you want, enough that you risk losing yourself in an idealistic – but unrealistic – fog.  Lean on friends with practical know-how and solid common sense as sounding boards for your ideas.

Actively working and doing tasks tied to others – building your relationships, repairing what is broken, advocating in practical ways for others – help ground you, especially during the first half of the year. Taking care of the ones you love, in practical and visible ways, during the first half of the year will help renew home and family in the second half.

Your finances may continue to be a bit erratic this year, so avoid unnecessary gambles.  You have an opportunity to revitalize and renew your values over the next eight years. Part of this shift is a growing appreciation that you are thirsty for enlivening experience, not stuff that bogs you down. Recalibrate your life to reflect that awareness.

On a grander scale, your hopes and dreams are being utterly transformed. What held your interest before no longer retains its shine. People important to you in the past may feel corrupt or flawed, and new friends and people keep arriving, which is a good thing, given your longing for a soul tribe.

You have begun to overthrow the old world order of your dreams, and your trajectory now points in a different direction. This direction may not seem clear yet, but only because your compass no longer points to the same North.

In some ways, 2012 is a year in which you operate on a hope and a prayer.  You sense your old dreams are dying and that you need to attend to the details of this passage by tying up loose ends and dealing with the contingencies that arise, but you don’t have a clear sense of direction yet – only the knowledge that something is coming.

Get your house in order and nurture your spirit.  Call on your most powerful ally: faith.

TO FIND YOUR RISING SIGN (the Ascendant):

You’ll need the following information: date of birth, place of birth, and, most importantly, time of birth.  Go to the following webpage: http://www.astro.com/horoscopes and select “Extended Chart Selection” at the bottom right section of the page. (Warning, clicking on the above link will take you away from this webpage!  If you don’t want to lose this site, copy the above link to a new tab in your browser to keep both webpages open.)

• Select the bar which says “Click here to show the chart,” which is to the right and above the “Options” area of the page.
• You should find yourself at another page. Select “Click here to go directly to data entry page.”
• You’ll be taken to the data entry page. Enter your birth data and click on “Continue.”
• Your natal chart with the positions will appear.  At the upper left, look for the information in red text. Your rising sign appears after the word “Ascendant.”
• You can print the chart if you like, too.

Michelle Gould is a consulting astrologer living in Gainesville, Florida.  For more information about her services, visit her website: www.heavenlywriting.com.

So head on over to Wild Iris Books to purchase your tickets.  Buying tickets at the Iris gives you the opportunity to win a signed lithograph poster (see left) and a vinyl copy of Brandi’s new live album “Live At Benaroya Hall With The Seattle Symphony”. Prize will be distributed at the show.

Mark your calendars, grab some friends and come out to celebrate women in music…

Wild Iris will be there….  will you?

BRANDI CARLILE

with special guests

Doors Open at 6pm

Sun Feb 12 @ Florida Theater of Gainesville

GENERAL ADMISSION Standing $23 in Advance/$25 the night of the show

VIP SEATING AVAILABLE ! (only at Ticketweb.com)

$1 charity donation included in every ticket!

Authentic. That’s the first word that springs to mind when you encounter Brandi Carlile. From her rootsy bell-clear voice to the palpable emotion that seeps through every song on her stunning debut album, everything about this singer/songwriter from rural Washington state is the real deal.  If you’re a fan of INDIGO GIRLS and SARAH MCLACHLAN you’ll love Brandi! First ever headlining tour in FL!

Other Important Info: ALL AGES allowed when accompanied by parent / legal guardian, $2 under 21 charge at door, Valid photo ID required to enter

We’ve compiled this last minute list to help you with your last minute gifts.  So however you celebrate, let Wild Iris Books be a part of your gift giving traditions!

Here’s eleven ideas for Gifts Under $10 to get your creative juices flowing.  Find lots more at Wild Iris Books.  There’s so much to choose from and a lot of it is made by people in our community.  From books to crystals and gems to candles to calendars – there’s sure to be something that catches your eye.

Monica’s Cococastile Soap – $5.50

Monica’s soaps are made with food grade Olive oil and Coconut oil to create a super bubbly Shampoo, Shower, Shave bar unlike any other I have found. The Olive oil is the best for your skin and the coconut is the best for your hair, and the lather is greater than commercial shampoo, far more gentle too.

Goddess Soap by Haldecraft – $4.50

Celebrate your inner goddess with this Goddess soap. Goat’s Milk has been celebrated for its moisturizing and skin-softening properties for centuries. Natural vitamins and minerals in fresh goat’s milk are easily absorbed into the skin, along with protein, healing rough skin and making you feel soft and rejuvenated when you rinse away the creamy lather.

Femin-Its – $6.18

Let Rosie the Riveter grace all your sticky notes.  With assorted sizes and types – these sticky notes make a statement.  Handy check boxes let you determine if something is: Patriarchal, Hetero-Sexist, Womyn Friendly or Gynocentric!

Tiny Tarot Key Chain – $7.00

Now you can take tarot with you wherever you go. The world’s smallest complete tarot deck is available as a key chain. Packaged in an attractive, durable carrying case. Includes 78-card Tiny Universal Waite® Tarot Deck and instructions.

Mints – Unemployed Philosophers Guild – $2.99

You can do it, ladies! And for those times you think you can’t, Empowermints has got your back. These deliciously strong peppermints are formulated to give you an extra boost when the going gets rough and your confidence sags. Just pop one or two Empowermints into your mouth, roll up your sleeves, and take care of business. Empowermints come in an inspiring reusable tin and work just as well on men, too.

Comes in a Rosie the Riveter collectors tin box.

Also available in Enlightmints and Before, During and After Sex Mint Tins.

IndieBound Bookmarks – $1.00

Made by Graeham Owens, Handmade Paper Products

Our handmade paper is made in rural, mountainous villages in Nepal, utilizing neither electricity nor petroleum in the process. The paper travels for five days on the backs of donkeys, through mountain passes and over bamboo bridges before it reaches the nearest passable road. After the long and adventurous journey, it arrives to our partner in Kathmandu, where our finished product is handmade.

Our paper is completely made from renewable resources. It is tree-free, acid-free and totally “green”. Our business supports many hardworking people in Nepal. We are proud of that and ever mindful of compensating them fairly.

Graeham Owens enthusiastically supports independent booksellers and the IndieBound program! Independent retailers are essential to the diversity of our communities and healthy for our local economies.

Wooden Pillar Cone Incense Burner – $6.95

These 5″ tall wooden pillars are cut with different designs to allow the smoke of your favorite cone incense to waft about the room. Beautiful and very secure, the snug joining of base and pillar insures that the ash and heat produced will stay safely contained.

Passport Journals – Unemployed Philosophers Guild -$3.95

You don’t want to be caught through the looking glass without proper papers. Get your passport to Wonderland from UPG. The crime for crossing Wonderland borders illegally? Off with your head! It’s also a nice notebook.   Includes travel tips and an official passport information page.  Also available in Nirvana or Oz Styles.

Aloha Bay Chakra Votive Candles – $2.50

Votive candles of palm wax with 100% Pure Essential Oils.

2 oz.

Burn Time: 16 hrs.

Coexist Bumper Sticker – $3.00

Wild Iris Books Gift Certificate -$ Any Amount $

Still at a loss?  Why not go with a gift certificate to Wild Iris Books – good for anything in the store!

We’ve compiled this last minute list to help you with your last minute gifts.  So however you celebrate, let Wild Iris Books be a part of your gift giving traditions!

Here’s ten ideas for Gifts Under $20 to get your creative juices flowing.  Find lots more at Wild Iris Books.  There’s so much to choose from and a lot of it is made by people in our community.  From books to crystals and gems to candles to calendars – there’s sure to be something that catches your eye.

We’moon, Chrysalis: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn 2012 -$18.95

Multicultural earth-spirited datebook. With full lunar & astrological data, stunning art and inspired words from the global women’s community, We’Moon 2012: Chrysalis explores the transformative moment, invoking radical trust for times of deep change.

The 31st edition of the iconic Datebook We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn spins around the theme of Chrysalis, our interpretation of Tarot Card #12, The Hanged One. Powerful and beautiful, We’Moon 2012 weaves insightful astrological articles, grounding Holy Day writings, stunning art and writing from over 150 gifted contributors into a handbook for the year ahead. A co-creation of the global women’s community, a gorgeous and useful touchstone for daiy connection, We’Moon 2012 explores the transformative moment, invoking radical trust for times of deep change

Ceramic Incense Holder -$14.95

• Ceramic
• Approx. 4.5″ diameter
• Single hole
• Use with incense sticks, cones and coils

Himalayan Crystal Salt Ceramic Grinder -$18.90

“The Best Salt on Earth!” Gourmet cooks recommend the exquisite taste of our wholesome, natural, pink Himalayan crystal salt. Bio-energetically “alive”, this salt contains the same 84 key trace minerals as found in our bodies, so it is easily metabolized. Hammer-crushed and additive-free, this salt is pinkish in color due to the minerals it contains. The items below are fair trade products from the Salt Range region of Pakistan.

Goddess Bracelets -$15.00

Striking bracelets, ½” wide in Goddess designs with messages of inspiration on the inside. Sold in an assortment of 6 bracelets. Fine pewter – Lead free – Made in USA.

Sweetwater Whole Bean Coffee -$10.50

Sweetwater Organic Coffee is located in sunny Gainesville, Florida, Home of the Florida Gators as well as offering numerous avenues for adventure! Totally committed to Fair Trade, Organic coffee and sustainability, we roast our coffee daily in micro-batches to ensure freshness within each cup.

Llewellyn’s 2012 Astrological Calendar -$13.99

Bring astral wisdom and beauty to your year with monthly horoscopes, an astrology primer, and dazzling original artwork by John J. Blumen.

Featuring horoscopes for each sign by Lesley Francis, and:

• A guide to the planets, signs, houses, aspects, and transits
• Travel forecasts by Bruce Scofield
• Best days for planting and fishing
• The Moon’s sign, phase, and void-of-course dates
• Graphic planetary retrograde table
• Major daily aspects, monthly ephemerides, and 2012 eclipses

Aloha Bay Chakra Energy Jars -$12.00

16 oz.

Unscented Palm Wax

8” Tall

Burn Time: 100 hrs

Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home -$16.14

This is NOT your father’s home repair book!

And it’s not your husband’s, your brother’s, your boyfriend’s, or the guy’s next door. Dare to Repair is a do-it-herself book for every woman who would rather be self-reliant than rely on a super or contractor.

No matter the depth of your pockets or the size of your home, a toilet will get clogged, a circuit breaker will trip, and a smoke detector will stop working. It’s up to you how you’ll deal with them — live in denial, pay the piper, or get real and do it yourself.

Dare to Repair demystifies these home repairs by providing information that other books leave out.

In Dare to Repair, you’ll learn how to:

• Take the plunge — from fixing a leaky faucet to cleaning the gutters.
• Lighten up — from removing a broken light bulb to installing a dimmer switch.
• Keep your cool — from maintaining a refrigerator’s gasket to changing the rotation of a ceiling fan.
• Get a handle on it — from replacing a doorknob to repairing a broken window.
• Play it safe — from planning a fire escape route to installing a smoke detector.

Filled with detailed illustrations, Dare to Repair provides even the most repair-challenged woman with the ability to successfully fix things around the home. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.

Moleskine Ruled Cahier Journal: Set of 3 Ruled Journals -$12.95

The Moleskine Cahiers are journals with a flexible heavy-duty cardboard cover in black with visible stitching on the spine. The last 16 sheets are detachable and there is a pocket for loose notes. Each set of 3 pieces includes the Moleskine history. With acid free paper ruled pages.Set of 3

Wild Iris Books Gift Certificate -$ Any Amount $

Still at a loss?  Why not go with a gift certificate to Wild Iris Books – good for anything in the store!

As we continue to grow our site at wildirisbooks.com – we wanted a way to give back to the organizations who share our values.  We wanted to help agencies and people who work hard long hours to bring awareness and action into the hearts of our community.

It goes without saying that the CMC is one of our favorite non-profits.  Now you can get your reading fix, support Florida’s only feminist bookstore and feel good knowing your purchase will support the CMC and their mission.

If you don’t know about them yet – jump over to their site immediately and get to know them.  With an amazing arsenal of documentaries, meeting space for radical and progressive groups, local and traveling music shows, weekly open mics, and an intense and stimulating reading room  – well what can we say – to know them is to love them.

If you visit our site using the CMC Affiliate link – we’ll donate 10% of your purchase price to the Civic Media Center.  With over 4 million print titles, eBooks for all types of readers and the ability to search for rare and out of print titles – the possibilities are very close to endless.

Oh yeah, one more perk – select to pick up in store and you get a donation in the form of free shipping...

So what are you waiting for….  show your support for Wild Iris Books and The Civic Media Center by making your purchase at wildirisbooks.com/cmc today!

Civic Media Center in Some of Their Own Words

If you have realized that the news you get from the mainstream media isn’t really comprehensive or even truthful, and that a lot of news and views are filtered out of mainstream media outlets, libraries, and thus, public debate, then you’ve found a home. We are one of the few alternative libraries in the U.S.

We carry over fifteen thousand books, journals, zines, videos and audio recordings, newspapers and magazines by independent, non-corporate media on a wide variety of subjects. The CMC is an independent 501.(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by memberships and donations, and the hard work of many volunteers.

Numerous progressive and radical community groups in Gainesville, Florida use the Center as a meeting place and venue for events, and make regular donations as well.We are located at 433 S. Main St., in Gainesville, FL.