Diwali – Festival of Light in India.
A five-day festival of light & color – signifying knowledge over ignorance, light overtaking darkness, Good over evil.
Monday, today, a new week begins. October 20, 2025.
Monday is Ray 4, the day for humanity.
Sun/Moon in Libra (3) – New moon tomorrow.
Mercury (4) / Mars (6) in Scorpio (4).
Sun enters Scorpio Wednesday. Our last days of Libra.
Diwali – Festival of Light over Darkness, Good over evil.
May the festival of Lights – Diwali – light up with each of us new dreams, fresh hopes, bringing forth everything bright & beautiful and fill our days with sunrises. Happy Diwali everyone!, love, Risa

Sunday – the Sun’s day. Day of rest, of contemplation.
Sun/Saturn today – Quiet & stillness.
Sun in Libra, Moon in Libra too.
New moon Tuesday – Scorpio Sun Wednesday.
Resting today, preparing for the new upcoming week.
Of things yet to be! love, Risa
Stillness of Sunday…

Origin story – Saturday, October 18, 2025.
Ray 3 day – Emerald green like the forest day today.

Virgo Gardens moon then a v/c then Libra Goodwill moon.
Yesterday….
I wrote about our Esoteric Group beginnings.
Today….as a meditation, I read one of the origin stories of the Earth, the creation story of SkyWoman from several Native American tribes, notably the Iroquois, Powatami and certain Anishinaabe tribes.
Note: the Earth is considered by all religions & cultures as feminine – Mother Earth. This story is also adapted from oral tradition.

Story from the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer.

In autumn & deep into winter, when the green earth lies resting beneath a blanket of cold & snow, it is the time for storytelling.
The storytellers begin by calling upon those who came before who passed the stories down to us, for we are only messengers.

In the beginning there was the Skyworld.
And from the Skyworld there was Skywoman.
A chasm opened up in the Skyworld & Skywoman began to fall
spiraling down into the air below.
She fell like a maple seed, pirouetting on an autumn breeze.
A column of light streamed from the chasm in the Skyworld, marking her path where only darkness had been before.
It took her a long time to fall. In fear, or maybe hope, she clutched a bundle tightly in her hand.

Falling downward, Skywoman saw only dark water below. But in that emptiness there were many eyes gazing up at this sudden shaft of light. They saw a small object, a mere dust mote in the lightbeam. As it grew closer, they could see that it was a woman, arms outstretched, long black hair billowing behind as she spiraled toward them. Leaves and stalks clutched tightly in her hands. A new song began to be heard.

The geese noticed her too & wondered how to help Skywoman so she would be safe as she fell & they nodded at one another and rose together from the water in a wave of goose music.
Skywoman felt the beat of their wings as they flew beneath to break her fall. Far from the only home she’d ever known, she caught her breath at the warm embrace of soft feathers as they gently carried her downward. And so it began.

The geese realized they could not hold the woman above the water forever or for much longer, so they called a council to all the animals to decide what to do.
Resting on their wings, she saw the animals all gathered: the loons, otters, swans, beavers, fish of all kinds.
A great turtle floated in their midst and offered his back for her to rest upon. Gratefully, she stepped from the goose wings onto the dome of his shell. The others understood that she needed land for her home and discussed how they might serve her need. The deep divers among them had heard of mud at the bottom of the water and agreed to go find some.

Loon dove first, but the distance was too far and after a long while he surfaced with nothing to show for his efforts. One by one, the other animals offered to help—Otter, Beaver, Sturgeon—but the depth, the darkness, and the pressures were too great for even the strongest of swimmers. They returned gasping for air with their heads ringing. Some did not return at all.
Soon only little Muskrat was left, the weakest diver of all.
He volunteered to go while the others looked on doubtfully.
His small legs flailed as he worked his way downward and he was gone a very long time.

They waited and waited for him to return, fearing the worst for their relative, and, before long, a stream of bubbles rose with the small, limp body of the muskrat. He had given his life to aid this helpless human. But then the others noticed that his paw was tightly clenched and, when they opened it, there was a small handful of mud.
Turtle said, “Here, put it on my back and I will hold it.”

Skywoman bent and spread the mud with her hands across the shell of the turtle. Moved by the extraordinary gifts of the animals, she sang in thanksgiving and then began to dance, her feet touching the earth.

And so…
The land grew and grew as she danced her thanks, from the dab of mud on Turtle’s back until a whole earth globe was made.
Not by Skywoman alone, but from the alchemy of all the animals’ gifts coupled with her deep gratitude. Together they formed what we know today as Turtle Island, our home.

Like any good guest, Skywoman had not come empty-handed.
A bundle of stalks flowers & seeds were still clutched in her hand. When she toppled from the opening in the Skyworld she had reached out to grab onto the Tree of Life that grew there.
In her grasp at the Tree of Life, her hands also gathered branches—fruits and seeds of all kinds of plants.
These Skywoman scattered onto the new ground and began to carefully tend each one until overtime, the world turned from brown to green.
Sunlight streamed through the opening from the Skyworld, the light allowing the seeds to grow, bloom & flourish. Wild grasses, flowers, trees, and medicines spread everywhere. And now that the animals, too, had plenty to eat, many came to live with her on Turtle Island.

Addenda:
On one of the days of this Creation, humanity was eventually born. And lived in this land with the others. Under the Tree of Life.

Birthday in the Ashram.
Today, October 17, 2025 is the 27th birthday of the first class of our Esoteric Group (Esoteric & Astrological Studies & Research, Arts & Sciences Institute) begun on a Sunday in our building in Santa Cruz at 523 Center St., at the corner of New & Center Streets, next to a Baptist church, the participants of which sang gospel day and night & next door to a Buddhist Sangha.
After years of writing the Astrology column & teaching in everyone else’s building, office space, venue, school, corridor, rooftop, gallery & home in Santa Cruz…we finally had a building – a Center of our own.
The owner was Dr. Elmore (people who are esotericist will notice the significance of his name). It had a small back yard. It was 560 square feet.
One day while driving around Santa Cruz I saw this little crooked building, with a big dusty plate glass window in the front. It literally was crooked & a bit sideways (like Uranus). It had been occupied by a tax man who studied the Book of Enoch. The man had died & the place had been empty. Who owned this building I wondered? I knew it was to be our center.
I went to the courthouse to find the owner, found his name & phone number and called him. I told him I wanted to rent the space (it was connected to his dentist’s office) for a school & he agreed immediately. This was in January, 1998.
Well, it was Venus retrograde when he agreed I could rent that little crooked space and then we had severe storms that winter & spring & for several months the place was filled with floodwaters. Over & over we had to put sand bags at the front & back doors. The flood water were not deterred. They would splash into the little building, feet deep, like ocean waves.
Spring then summer & things dried out. Surveying what was ahead we saw the following – the walls needed painting, partitions had to be taken down, old rug taken out, new carpetting, new bathroom installed, large white board for one wall in the room, multiple bookshelves, blinds to cover the big window (golden), a desk, table, chairs, refrigerator, pillows for students to sit on the floor during classes, etc.
Students stepped in (I had been teachings for many years before, teaching astrology classes – but this building was for the Esoteric Astrology school) – they painted (sponged) the walls a pale ochre yellow, took down partitions, two tall white columns showed up, book shelves, too.
I received a call from a woman that her father had died, and the family wanted to donate his esoteric books to our school.
During the summer we had our first astrology classes. Then in October, on a Sunday, on October 17th, we had our first Esoteric Wisdom Class. This consisted of students who had studied astrology with me for several years and who I knew were ready for the deeper studies – Esoteric Astrology & the Seven Rays.

On that Sunday as we began our new studies (the Alice Bailey teachings, the Seven Rays, etc.) we heard a sound outside our building from down the street. We went outside & looking up Center Street and marching down the street were high school marching bands from all over the state – a parade of them all playing their music, cymbals clashing, trumpets blaring, bells ringing – brass, woodwinds, tubas (sousaphones), saxophones, clarinets, zylaphones, flutes, and various drums, the percussive rhythm & musical tempo, flags, a color guard dancing, spinning, tossing flags in the air &, at times, a baton twirler!

We were surprised. It was laughable. I could not teach. It was so loud! What was this I wondered? And so we stood outside, lining up against the big glass window for the next hour watching the parade – the colorful and different styles of each marching band & listening to their steady energetic pace and musical performances. It was a celebration! And it was fun!

After the marching bands had passed, went inside again & discussed what we had seen. What we all came to realize this was a party, an honor, a festival, musical merriment, an outer celebration recognizing the opening of our Esoteric School & our very first esoteric class. It all seemed perfect & appropriate, actually! A celebration of our first esoteric wisdom class.

So….our school went on with classes for the next 10 years in that location until Dr. Elmore retired & the building was sold to another dentist (Dr. McClure) who tore down everything but one wall – the wall where the white board was, with 10 years of astrological esoteric seven rays teachings on it – that wall still stand & is the foundation for the entire new building.

After the building was torn down & rebuilt to be a medical office,
our school went online, where it is today. We presently have an inner esoteric group still working together – 12 students who have been together now for over 27+ years.

In the days ahead, I will begin new study groups, new classes in basic astrology in order to create a foundation for later wisdom teaching studies.

Today our esoteric group, after morning medication, talked together about our history, our origins, the experiences we have had together these past 30 years or more. Over those years our students grew up, got married, had relationships, went to college, had children (who are adults in college now).

They talked about how important our classes were for them, building a new mind, learning & studying and building a new mind & understanding astrology, linking heaven & earth, the personality with the Soul. And how everyone learned to eat better too. After each Sunday class we sat together & ate together. Everyone was responsible for bringing home made organic food to share with everyone. Salads, & chickens & stews & tacos & chai & home made desserts. We ate together after our classes. And everyone learned everything all together, over time & all at once.

We look forward to someday have another such building. But a bigger one, this time. With land & gardens, with meadows & children, with a professional kitchen, buildings, libraries, and a warm swimming pool. An Erdkinder for everyone, the City of Humanity, the City of Light.

Tonight, wherever we all are, in the Ashram, we will eat cake together. And remember our past 27+ years together. And talk of the future. And blow out 27 candles. love, Risa

Photos:
523 Center St. today (Dentist office now).
Center St, down from the Center, white building is an Orthodox Church.
Street name – Center Street.
Lincoln Court – California cottages, built in 1920, a perfect community build – 1/2 a block down from the Center, on New Street. Living here w/ students would be a dream come true.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=205302