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In the blink of an eye Audio narration on YouTube coming soon. In the four months she’d lived there, my Mama did what she could to comfort this sad little boy, but Leland never let her get too close. She’d never been around a five-year-old like him. Always so quiet, he was the one she had to go lookin’ for. All she had to do with the others was listen an’ follow the noise. At breakfast that mornin’ he’d been even quieter than usual. When ever’body else had gone to start their

Hello Everyone, This week’s astrology has a very different rhythm than what we’ll experience as July gets underway. On June 29, we have a Capricorn Full Moon, and just a few hours later Mercury stations retrograde in Cancer. Together, these two events encourage us to slow down, even if life doesn’t. Many of us still have jobs, families, appointments, and responsibilities that require our attention. The astrology isn’t suggesting those things disappear. It’s encouraging us t

In the Blink of an Eye Audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/GP3p-mgQDAY Maggie went into labor on November 28, 1950. Twenty-four long hours later, Leland’s promised baby brother arrived at 5:30 a.m., just before sunrise. It had been a long, hard night. But Maggie couldn’t be happier with the beautiful little golden-haired boy she held in her arms. An hour later, as the sun peeked over the horizon, she an’ Walter celebrated their ten-year weddin’ anniversary as he s

Nobody Saw it Comin’ Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/W_ZOsx0rGAI On January 8, 1950, after chores were done, Walter took Maggie an’ Leland to stay with her parents in Greenfield, twelve miles north. They were much closer to the doctor who was treatin’ her ongoin’ flu symptoms. Livin’ this far out in the country like they did, in this kind of weather, she was lucky to see him once a month. Now, his house calls could be made several times a week. H

Hello Everyone, This week, I’m focusing on a single transit: Venus Enters Leo On June 13, Venus moved into Leo, bringing warmth, creativity, and heart-centered expression. In the SGs community chart, she enters the 8th house of transformation, healing, shared resources, and the places where we grow by letting go. This isn’t a quiet Venus. Leo wants to love generously, create boldly, and be seen for who it truly is. As Venus moves through this part of our community chart, she

Nobody Saw it Comin’ Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/SBay0rKTkxI Walter Phillips was a hard-workin’ man who thought through things an’ always had a plan. He’d learned from experience to prepare for the worst. It was bound to show up someday. It always did. Walter went to work as a farm hand in 1935, right about the time Germany was beginning to believe they could take over the world. He was twenty-one years old. He’d worked on his family’s farm i

Read this week's Becoming Faye blog post at: https://www.thehealingriver.net/post/part-2-mama-and-gene ​ Hello Everyone, This week asks us to be gentle with ourselves. I needed to hear that, and I’ll be following that advice. Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is sitting at 29° Aries, the final degree of the sign. In our community chart, this happens in the 4th house of home, family, roots, and the private parts of life that most people never see. For nearly seven years, Chiron has

Elves Runnin' Loose in the Kitchen Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/AKQKuhrRv4o Gene’s voice brought her back to her kitchen table when he said, “Yeah, Dad lived right behind Darrell’s grandparents,” then his voice went low, like he was sharin’ a secret. “I spent a lot of time with those folks. They were good to me. The whole family was.” For a moment, Mama thought he might not continue. “So, I saw Dad plenty, too. But don’t tell Mom about it. She

Elves Runnin’ Loose in the Kitchen Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/vM695nj5IWw In early April 1951, Mama’s younger brother, Gene, who’d be twenty in December, but had looked an’ lived like a grown man since he was fourteen, came for an unexpected visit. Mama was livin’ in Rock Island, workin’ at S.S. Kresge, a five-n-dime type department store that would eventually be called K-Mart. It was the kind of place where the smell of fresh popcorn and pe

They All Live Happily Ever After Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/nkJh8XO67Vg Mama an’ Barney’s house sat six miles from the Rock Island Arsenal, where the guns under their kitchen floor were manufactured, but it was just 50 yards from Rock River, a tributary spillin’ into the Mississippi less than a mile from their front door. Loaded down with weaponized metal, Mama ran outside, recallin’ how Barney insisted that livin’ by the river could come in

Hello everyone, We moved into Gemini season a few days ago. Everything moves faster in Gemini, the sign of the twins. Gemini is very curious and often leads us to ask lots of questions. The duality of this air sign takes us into more thinking, more talking, and (hopefully) more listening. Our minds can go into overdrive. Equally possible, we can download new ideas and sudden lightning bolt understandings that break us free of old stories that have kept us limited. This is hap

Read my new blog post here: https://www.thehealingriver.net/post/mama-and-barney-part-2 Hello Everyone, As I’m preparing this reading on May 16, we are in the middle of the Taurus New Moon. This New Moon initiates a big shift as the five main personal planets all change signs this week. The first one to move is the Moon, of course. She moves through every sign in the zodiac each month, so her cycles move quickly. This is a powerful Super New Moon that invites us to slow down,

They All Live Happily Ever After Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/4BCqZNfuOKo Mama turned seventeen on July 14, 1944, an’ Barney was there to help her celebrate. It didn’t take long before she decided to let this puppy follow her home. By September, she was pregnant. Mama never shared that part of the story with me, though. It would be decades before I thought through the timelines and figured it out for myself. She never wanted me to know she had

Hello everyone, This week Pluto in Aquarius, Mars-Chiron in Aries, transits through Taurus, and Jupiter in Cancer are all in the headlines. In the community chart, Pluto is in our 2nd house of money, values, and possessions. Jupiter is in our 7th house of relationships, and the action in Aries is happening in our 4th house of home and family. On May 6, Pluto in Aquarius stationed retrograde and will remain there until October 15, 2026. This begins a deep period of

They All Live Happily Ever After Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at https://youtu.be/2krhKEYSVcE Kissiah “Kit” Smith was born on January 16, 1817. She entered this world on the wings of grief an’ loss, just a few hours after her father’s passin’. Her name would become a prayer whispered in anguish an’ a curse muttered in dark corners, when at seventeen, she became The Sin-Eater of Mount Pisgah, Kentucky. Not by choice but by necessity. It was a role she inherited whe

It looks a lot like home to me Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/8DJd4F93RrI Summertime, an' the livin' is easy Richard got sick in June of 1942, a few weeks before Mama’s birthday. His symptoms were mild at first an’ because his mother had survived the same disease as a young child, an’ had immunity, he remained at home rather than bein’ isolated in a polio ward. Quarantine signs were placed on each door an’ along the white picket fence that surro

This week, Mercury and Pluto are in a challenging conversation. They’re going back and forth across the room, trying to figure out how they want to work together. That means you might be thinking about something obsessively, going deeper with it to try and make sense of it all. At the same time, Mars is moving fast in Aries so there’s a lot of push behind things this week. It doesn’t take much for something small to turn into something big. And Mercury just moved into Taurus

Read this week's blog post at: https://www.thehealingriver.net/post/part-1-death-divorce-and-disappointment ​ Ask the Spirit Guides Weekly Reading Clear Eyes, Quick Shifts, and Right Moves “At the center of your being, you have the answer…” ​— Lao Tzu ​"But finding that answer is gonna mess up your hair!" — ​Faye This week, it’s full speed ahead with a little bit of “take it easy there, champ” underneath. Uranus in Gemini is pedal to the metal, and Venus helps us find the be

She's got the whole world in her hands, and it starts from the inside out What's happening in the world right now is affecting all of us. So, instead of ignoring it, we’re going to stay grounded and strong as we move through it. That means taking a beat to breathe so we can think clearly and decide what we’re going to do with what’s coming at us. We have sovereign power over our own lives and the choices we make. And my first choice is to stay aware of 3D chaos while stay

It looks a lot like home to me Listen to the audio narration on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/-Iy7PsZ8-qU Summertime, an' the livin' is easy... Mama was the second child an’ only daughter of Herbert an’ Faye Smith, born an’ raised in the cozy little farm town of Grinnell, Iowa, where ever’body really did know your name. All your secrets, too. In 1939 she had a Tale of Two Cities kind of year. One of the best an’ worst she’d ever known. It would portend the rest of her life,