New Moon in Gemini

See here:

This is tomorrow, the 16th June - around 3 pm.

For the past month we've been looking at nearly too much mental energy, frenetic socialising, and a driving need to communicate.

This new moon in hectic Gemini, sign of thought, communication and social networking, continues the theme. We are opening up another very busy 30-day cycle here. One in which anything – really anything – could happen.

– It has all the elements of a good fairy story, really. A seed in the mind coming to fruition...then suddenly it's a magic beanstalk, a road to the otherworld. And later this cycle, we come face to face with the giant – what we most fear maybe.

That's at the full moon in Capricorn in two weeks' time. I'll write about it closer to the time - it's a heavy one. But for now we'll focus on the new moon:

The sun and moon in Gemini will be conjunct Mars in Gemini. And all these planets are disposited by Mercury, also in Gemini, his home sign - and direct since the 11th June.

This is just a lot of busy-bee energy. A lot of jittering around, mentally and socially. People are going to be needing to talk and share information.

The new moon will also sextile the Jupiter-Uranus trine, which is nearly exact now. It will be exact on the 22nd June, but it's in effect. Lightning grace is underway.

It's about bravery, eureka moments, sparkly energy. Creativity, magic words; artistry and mastery. Inspired communciation and derring-do.

Magic, per Crowley, is "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will". This new moon looks like a pretty good setup for magic. Inspired solutions to old problems, or a new point of departure entirely. An opportunity to turn dreams into realities.

But please remember, magic is not something you play around with. Saturn is back in Scorpio as of this morning.

I've written about this plenty (see the tag-cloud entry for “Saturn in Scorpio” below) and will try not to repeat myself here. But this is a last-chance kind of transit – a three month window (mid June to mid-September) for dealing with Scorpio issues (sex, death, power, transformation, the Shadow, shared resources and energetic transactions).

It's time to take your psychological garbage out – unless you want to carry it for the next three decades or so.

There is great opportunity here - also great peril. Great pain, maybe. This transit feels so somber to me, and final. And frightening. It's not for wusses.

But it's what's required. After all, what is magic worth if there's nothing real at stake? What would a fairy tale be without monsters to fight? What is bravery worth without the possibility of loss and failure?

Saturn currently opposes Mercury – and this new moon is all about Mercury (mind, thought, communication, messages). What this means is, beneath all the surface social energy and activity, beneath all the chatter - there are very weighty, karmic issues preoccupying us. It may seem like a light time because of the Gemini emphasis. It is not light.

Further, Chiron in Pisces – representing an unhealable, inchoate sense of wounding – will be squaring the new moon and Mars. This is quite raw and uncomfortable, emotionally and mentally.

Again, very fitting for a fairy story. What starts a story in motion is dissatisfaction, unease, the sense of something wrong or lacking. Something out of joint with the world, something you desperately want, just out of reach...

Mercury is also trining the north node in Libra – so remember the aim of this story is harmony, balance, justice, right relationship.

So as in a fairy story, there are quests to undertake, dragons to be defeated, risks to be braved, prizes to be fought for...and a big alchemical wedding at the end.

--Sometimes I wonder how anyone could possibly find life boring. It's the biggest, most dangerous adventure anyone could ever undertake. People forget - in the grip of routine or inertia or ego – that the ground of our existence is magic and amazement. Magic is our birthright.

Beneath the 'mundane', socially agreed-upon surface of the world, beneath the scripts and programming we live by, life is a deep mystery and an endless strangeness.

T.S. Eliot, from “East Coker”:

There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived
Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.
In the middle, not only in the middle of the way
But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble,
On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold,
And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,
Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire 
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.


OK, so to sum up: we are living in a weird fairy tale this month. (Always really. But especially so this month, and this summer.)

Remember fairy tales are brutal and dangerous, like life. There are awful people in them who create terrible suffering. There are murderous bridegrooms, evil sisters, usurping kings. There are man-eating giants and wicked witches and monsters galore.

Also fairy godmothers, magical helpers, tricksters, talking animals. And moral laws whereby evil ultimately destroys itself and kindness and humility prevail.

There are quests and follies; there are inescapable realities of violence, injustice, loss... and the possibility of ultimate redemption.

And there are lucky portals of dazzling promise that open at a moment's notice – but you have to be brave or foolhardy enough to step through, into the unknown. To leave your known, comfortable reality behind.

Fairy tales and myths encode the way life actually works. If you're in any doubt on that score, watch how reality twists and morphs this summer.

Anyway...Let's look briefly at the next couple of weeks:

--the sun moves into Cancer the 22nd, followed by Mars on the 24th. Mars (warrior planet) is uncomfortable in Cancer, sign of emotions, nurturance and family. He can get very emotionally reactive, moody, manipulative and defensive here.

Mars will be in Cancer from the 24th June till the 9th August  – the best use of this is to be a warrior, emotionally – to express feelings, to stand up for your emotional truth, to defend those who are in your care. To feed people like a big Italian mama. It is a fiercely protective energy – like a mother animal defending her young. Fiercely focused on family, clan, 'your' people and belongings and emotional security – your home and personal domain.

The worst use of this is emotional warfare, moodiness, clinginess, guilt trips and general emo crap. And getting all butthurt and sulky over stupid shit. Especially family shit. Over-identification with 'your' people to the point where you think you have a right to control and manipulate them.

(Grumpy care bear)

Another dumb expression of Mars in Cancer is comfort eating (or drinking, or drugging). Stuffing feelings down via food or other addictive behaviours:

On the plus side, having Mars in Cancer should help with Saturn in Scorpio's requirement for deep emotional excavation. Intense energy will be available to do the necessary emotional work - it's just a matter of channelling it properly.

In other words, do not get sucked into moodiness and drama. Do not construct a sob story around your shifting emotional states and use it to manipulate others or turn your life into a soap opera.

But do use this energy to understand your moods at their roots. What is going on way under the surface? What is this really about, deep down? When have you felt this way before – what kind of emotional pattern is being manifested here?

Other things happening in the next couple of weeks: Mercury will square Neptune on the 23rd June. This is about intuition, inspiration and messages from the aether. Beware wooly-headedness and delusion though – and imprecise, confusing communication.

At the very end of the month and during first week of July, we have some hardcore loveliness. Venus conjuncts Jupiter and trines Uranus. This is incredibly sweet and liberating and lucky.

But it's also quite powerful and deep. July 2nd, while all this sweetness is at its height, we have a really heavy-duty and dark full moon in Capricorn. It looks emotionally cathartic and intense – like a full-on fairy-tale battle. Dragons and monsters to fight, like I said. And magical helpers with gifts.

I will write it out closer to the time, but it looks like a great story.

New Moon in Taurus

6 of pentacles - about having and not having - see here

And here's a poem by Yehuda Amichai -


This is on the 18th May, around 5 am GMT.

The sun and moon will be conjunct at 27 degrees Taurus. This is a slow, steady, solid, grounded energy. Also utterly determined. Fixated.

Normally Taurus is about pleasure and solidity – it is comforting. A new moon in Taurus is a good time to focus on eating a lot and lazing around in the sun like a simple happy creature. Or to focus on what makes you feel happy and satisfied in general.

In this case things don't look so comfortable, though. This new moon is quite stressfully aspected. This looks like steadiness allright - but of discomfort and pressure.

The moon and sun will be loosely conjunct Mars, now in communicative, mentally hyperactive Gemini – and this speaks of mental and emotional reactivity. Also mental fixation.

The new moon is also opposite party-killing Saturn in Sagittarius, a dour influence on our minds and moods.

Mars and Saturn are known as the lesser and greater malefics...not such easy planets to be caught up with...and Mars-Saturn aspects are about frustration, blockage and cruelty. We currently have an opposition between these planets - it peaked on the 15th of May and is waning now. But this energy colors the tone of the new moon and the month ahead.

Mars is life drive, will, desire, anger...and Saturn is limitation, karma, fear. So with this opposition, we are looking at blocked will, blocked desire, intense frustration – specifically in the realm of communication and self-expression, as Mars is in Gemini. A frustrating inability to say the necessary thing or to communicate, and potential violence and nastiness connected with that. Communication hitting a wall – painfully.

Also, the ruler of Taurus – Venus, dispositor of this new moon – is stressfully aspected. She's currently in emotional, nurturing, motherly Cancer - and opposing Pluto, king of hell (exact on the 22nd May).

Venus-Pluto aspects are about love and power. Also love and death, love and pathology. Love that takes you to hell, toxic love, obsessive love. Dead loves coming back from the grave to haunt you.

At best, Venus-Pluto can be about regenerative, transformative love...but at worst it's about power plays and destructive relationships. Because Venus is currently in Cancer, a sign concerned with emotion – there is some very heavy, hellish emotional stuff connected with this aspect.

Venus is not just about relationships – she also has to do with money, values and self-esteem. These are Taurean themes. So this new moon really highlights a poverty vibe - deep feelings of lack in the love, money and self-esteem departments; frustrated desire courtesy of the Mars-Saturn opposition...aargh.

No satisfaction!

The new moon happens in the late degrees of Taurus, and in a few days the sun moves to sparky, communicative, jittery, social-networking Gemini. So this is actually the opener for Gemini season – and a particularly neuron-frazzling, hyperactive, wyrded-out Gemini season it is. Communication issues and blockages take center stage this month.

Gemini's ruler, Mercury, goes retrograde in his home sign the day after the new moon (19th May). Mercury retrogrades are times of communication breakdowns, glitches, problems with transportation and communication devices...

This retrograde lasts until the 11th June, and Mercury will be in Gemini till the 8th July. So altogether, he will have spent about two months in Gemini and by the end of it I guess we are going to be kinda fried in the brains department.

And Mars will be in Gemini as well – till the 24th June. Mars is moving to conjunct Mercury in Gemini (exact 27th May).

This is nearly too much mental energy and communication. Just zingy as hell, incredibly social and distracted. Intense mental chatter – frazzled synapses. Repetitive thought loops that just go and go and go. A good way to ground this kind of excess mental energy is physical movement and exercise - you pull it down out of your head and into your body. Letting it run riot in your head is a recipe for craziness.

Re. craziness: Mercury will be squaring Neptune in Pisces for much of this transit of Gemini – in fact this Mercury retrograde ends on the same day that Neptune stations retrograde. Mercury-Neptune aspects are about inspiration, intuition, guidance from beyond, creativity and art. But also mental delusion, lies, siren songs, general wooly-headedness...

Gemini is not the most truthful of signs, and Neptune is all illusion – so watch what you say and don't believe everything you're told. The rumour mill will be running at warp speed this month – you might want to turn off the social media, turn off your smartphone, avoid getting caught up in the hype. There will be a lot of frenetic gossip going on, much of it bullshit and insinuation. Try to avoid becoming a source of it.

(Aaargh, silly video. But the song fits.)

This influence will be strongest the last week in May & heading up to the full moon in Sagittarius on the 2nd June – which looks like a bit of a headfuck. I'll write about it closer to the time.

An aside – I was confused about what this new moon meant. I got in my car and turned on the radio, and immediately heard the two songs linked above, which seem to encapsulate the themes – poverty consciousness, frustration, romantic obsession, hectic social chatter, gossip.

Getting guidance from the radio (or billboards, the tv, random things you overhear people saying, or wherever) is a Mercury-Neptune thing. Messages coming from the aether.

This is a good time to pay attention to the messages you get - signs and synchronicities, your dreams, the advertising jingles stuck in your head. All these things can be considered messages from the unconscious – your unconscious mind instinctively hooks onto the information it needs. So don't ignore this stuff – it's valuable.

But use some discrimination too. Not everything is meaningful, not everything is true. Let your intuition be your guide - you'll know deep down what information you can trust (without necessarily being able to articulate why).

All the Venus-Pluto and Gemini stuff is happening as part of a yod - a tricky, tense, uncomfortable aspect pattern, in effect from now till late June. I am not going to describe this yod thing in detail, because my brain will explode...but the apex of the pattern is Pluto in Capricorn, which is about unearthing the truth underlying a corrupt status quo. The point of all this dissatisfaction and confusion this month is finding out what's true - what you really feel, what you really value, what's really fulfilling (all Taurus themes). And acting on your values; voicing them - in order to regenerate situations that have become blocked or ossified...or to do away with them so that something new can develop.

Taurus is supposed to be about fulfillment and comfort. But in this scenario, discomfort, lack and frustration act as spurs to direct us toward what might actually be fulfilling. And our intuition - the Mercury-Neptune stuff - serves the same purpose. There is a guiding design at work here, if we can calm down enough to receive the directions we're being given and act on them.

--Also, Taurus is about what's tangible, what we actually possess. Focusing on what you actually have as opposed to what you lack should help with the frustration. And focusing on the tangible, physical reality of your life can cut through the mental chatter and distraction.

--Forgot to say - drug & booze alert for the remainder of the month and the beginning of June. It's pretty easy to get in over your head with mind-altering substances right now, so be careful.

Social stuff can also function as a drug / addiction / distraction. For example, it's funny how many people I've heard talking about facebook as an addiction lately...I think that will be a theme. If you are overly influenced by social media, it might be good to take a break about now or set yourself some limits, because our circuits will be overloaded enough as it is.

New Moon in Gemini

This is on Wednesday the 28th May, around 7:45 GMT. The sun and moon will be conjunct at 7 degrees Gemini. Sparkly, hyperactive, hyper-communicative Gemini!

This is a breath of fresh air after all the intensities of the cardinal grand cross. Some fun, finally.

Plus, Mars is finally moving forward again in Libra, after months of lousy retrograde motion! Things are coming unstuck. Time to go out and party and network and generally jitter around like a crazy thing.

News, messages, gossip, communications...you can expect a bunch of that. I've written about Gemini here if you want to refresh yourself. It's a fun sign. Light and jumpy and adaptable, which is a relief. I've had about enough of heavy. I don't feel like writing ANYTHING else about heavy.

OK, but needless to say, more heavy is coming. Mid to late June, Mars is headed for cardinal t-square territory with Uranus and Pluto, and things get all fraught and dangerous and intense again for a while.

I don't want to think about it now, thanks! Let's just watch some Sparkle Motion.

Aaargh, that ending is NOT FUN! Let's forget all about it!!

Well that's the kind of scenario you could be looking at here. Neptune (dreams, delusions, lies) is heavily involved with this new moon. It exactly squares it from 7 degrees Pisces. Plus Mercury, ruler of Gemini, is trining Neptune in Pisces from the last degree of Gemini.

Gemini is pretty flexible with the truth, and Neptune fogs it out altogether. So while there may be plenty of information swirling around, figuring out what's true and what's false might be a tough business. Paying attention to unpleasant facts might be a tough business too.

This can go two ways, I think, because Neptune has two guises and is all illusion.

Either you are dealing with lies and delusions, your own or other peoples: misinformation, deception, confusion, propaganda, general bullshit.

Or you might find yourself inspired, intuitive, creative...channeling the ethereal realms and whatnot.

Maybe both at the same time. ''Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art'', per Oscar Wilde.

Or Yeats in "The Circus Animals Desertion", making much the same point, in a more elaborate and disillusioned way.

Those masterful images because complete
Grew in pure mind, but out of what began?
A mound of refuse or the sweepings of a street,
Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart. 

This is a good new moon for masterful images growing out of pure mind – for poetic licence; beautiful lies. Finding your personal mythos via art.

Don't forget the imperfect reality all art and mythology is based on though....otherwise you court massive disillusion. Like poor old Yeats, looking back at his work at the end of his life and seeing a circus, all tinsel and bullshit.

Neptune has to do with idealization, and idealization can be so beautiful and dreamy that we forget how dangerous it is. Putting people on pedestals is never a good idea. It leads to ugly power dynamics. It's a denial of reality, in which nobody is perfect...and when reality asserts itself after the dream ends, life looks bleak and degraded: a foul rag and bone shop.

Neptune is about drugged-out bliss and the channeling of ethereal realms. It is also the hangover when that state departs. It's about the dissolution of personal boundaries to let in the divine, but also the dis-illusion that follows.

I guess you don't really get one without the other. You don't get the ethereal realms and fairy lights without the return to reality, and having to do the dishes and take the garbage out.

Anyway, with this new moon so wound up with Neptunian energy, expect new endeavors to be quite unclear and maybe too good to be true. Read the fine print. Be prepared for confusion and disillusion...try not to get in over your head.

And as always with Neptunian energy, beware of psychoactive substances. They can be portals to the divine, and they can also screw your head up completely, and render you gullible and vulnerable.

Overloaded mental circuits, scatty thinking and brain fog are also very likely. Maybe make sure you have some time away from people and their endless chatter...you might need a bit of solitude in which to mentally regroup.

Did I start this out by saying this new moon looked fun?!! And now I'm talking about danger and overload...

Well you know, this is sort of an illustration of how Neptune works. The sirens promise pleasure and then devour you...It takes some heroic self-possession to keep a clear head while they're spinning their beautiful bullshit.

Anyway, warnings aside, the new moon does look fun and sociable, and kind of higgeldy-piggeldy with new developments and interactions. Like the Tarot card for the 2 of Pentacles.

Everything kinda topsy-turvy and changeable...but not in a bad way. Just there's a lot of juggling involved. You can see how keeping a clear head becomes difficult with this level of distraction.

So to sum up...enjoy this new moon because it's pretty light compared to what we've been experiencing, and there's some more tension and difficulty ahead. Maybe start some new creative or artistic project...something lovely and dreamy, that doesn't rely too heavily on logic!

Just don't believe anybody's hype, not even your own, because you can find yourself deluded and befuddled all to hell pretty fast. Try to keep a clear head and watch out for the substances. They might be more fun that usual right now...but also more dangerous.

Let's listen to some Bollywood. These energies remind me of Bollywood: dreamy and romantic, hyper and dancey at the same time. More fun than will ever be humanly possible! Completely disconnected from reality...but this is the sort of illusion that makes life worth living.

I could just keep posting Bollywood videos forever. Better stop now, before the sirens of Bollywood devour my brain. Very dangerous stuff!

Mercury into Gemini / Venus Opposite Mars / Full Moon in Scorpio / Mars Direct

by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

There's a bunch of stuff going on in the sky at the moment, & I'm inclined to feel that the intensities April promised are all hitting about NOW. Last week was a doozy and I think the next few weeks will be tough as well. You know, the cardinal grand cross, at its height, felt like immense blockage and pressure – everything at an impasse. It's still in effect, but things are starting to come unstuck...just kinda explosively. So it's not exactly relief.

Ok, so what have we got? First off, Mercury has just moved out of Taurus into his home sign of Gemini, and this represents a shift in our thinking and communication style. From slow and deliberate to speedy, darting, sparky, hyper. A trine to Mars amps up the energy: people will be popping up with news and messages and gossip all over the place. A square to Neptune means be careful what information you trust: plenty of room for deception, delusion and misunderstanding here.

And Venus has been in Aries for about a week. Venus in Aries is a firebrand who goes after what she wants. Except the way things are set up right now, she's going to have a hard time getting it. Let's look at this situation a bit more closely...

Mars, ruler of Aries, is in Libra, which is Venus's home domain - so each planet is in the other's home sign. This is called a mutual reception and it means these planets have some business with each other. Also, they're opposing each other: so definitely these two are talking. Or arguing more likely, from completely opposite viewpoints. Sparks fly between men and women under a Venus-Mars opposition.

Mars has slowed down in his retrograde motion and is stationing at 9 degrees Libra, getting ready to go direct on the 20th of May. This will be a big release of pent up energy and drive, but till then, it represents some real passive aggression and covert operating on the part of Mars. Or just plain dicking around. He doesn't know what he wants, he's dithering, he's weighing his options, he's acting like a wuss, etc.

And Venus is moving into exact conjunction with Uranus in Aries, meaning she's fed-up with this crap and getting ready to cut ties and move on. She is LEAVING.

But some things are not all that easy to walk out on...There are big consequences.

The north node in Libra and the south node in Aries mean that issues of right relationship take center stage right now. There is definitely something to be worked out via relationship here. And the sun in late Taurus is moving into opposition with Saturn in Scorpio: so what has to be worked out is heavy, karmic, depressing, full of blockages. But it has to be done.

This is all happening in the context of the cardinal grand cross, and needless to say, it doesn't look fun. It looks fraught and final. The weekend ahead is especially full of potential for hurt feelings and busted relationships: on Sunday the 11th, the moon conjuncts Mars and opposes Venus and Uranus, lending emotional intensity to the Venus-Mars opposition and to the cardinal grand cross it is tied up with. The Mercury-Neptune square will be exact that day as well.

Meaning amid all the tears and accusations and flying crockery...someone is LYING, deluding themselves, misunderstanding the facts, wilfully obfuscating, withholding information. Spreading propaganda. Maybe it's both parties.

See here for something ridiculous, but based around a dead serious subject...

Dialogue should be possible. Mercury beneficially aspects both the Venus-Uranus and Mars-Moon conjunctions. There is diplomacy and arbitration available to the warring parties...if they can see past their personal grievances and hurt feelings and look at things objectively. Easier said than done!

And in a lot of cases, we are looking at associations that are definitely OVER and need to be buried. Venus is squaring Pluto, and under this aspect you can expect old partners or relational issues to come back to haunt you. Toxic love.

(Never seen this video before, but it's creepy & weird as hell! Yikes!!)

Anyway, in such circumstances, please remember yr Dr. Phil:

Venus is not just about relationships: she also has to do with your self-esteem, money and values. So the issues haunting you now might have to do with the way you spend money, or how you undermine your own self-esteem or values. What toxic habits are you stuck in, that you want to get rid of but can't seem to shake? This is the right time to blow yourself clear of them, if you can muster up the strength.

Because however you look at it, something is ending here. We have a full moon in Scorpio on the 14th (around 8 pm GMT) to drive this point home. Full moons are culminations or endings, remember. Release-points. And Scorpio is about deep psychological insight, and an all-or-nothing stance toward life. Committing to what's real and amputating what's rotten.

So whatever in your life supports and stabilises you - you can recognize and commit to that. And whatever bullshit is dogging you now, whether it's a destructive relationship or a habitual pattern that screws you up, or an addiction...you have a chance to look deeply into it and cut it off. Abruptly. If you know something you're doing is poisonous to your self-worth or your values or your financial status...you can always just stop doing it. You can.

This is not to gloss over how potentially difficult this full moon looks. It is conjunct Saturn in Scorpio, which is really fucking uncomfortable, involving feelings of constraint, deprivation and fear. Something is dying, and for a lot of people right now, there are big losses involved that no amount of positive psychology can whitewash away. These times are hard.

But there is great emotional support and healing available too, in the form of a grand water trine between Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces.

What this means is, if you can let go of what you know you have to let go of, accept that this is uncomfortable and painful, have a good, long cry about it...you'll be supported and aided by these skies. But if you attempt to hold on you'll get all smashed up, and it'll hurt worse in the long run.

On some level I think we all know this is what's going down. It's very stark and simple, and there really isn't much else to say about it.

Except that you know, you might want to lay low and protect yourself this week. People will be feeling shitty and explosive, and you might be too. It's easy to get into big emotional blowouts over stupid crap right now, and things can go horribly wrong forever between people in about 5 seconds. Often as a result of simple misunderstandings or drunkenness (Mercury-Neptune).

Be careful driving and operating machinery too. We have a Mars-Uranus opposition going on, and that means sudden accidents are more likely. Especially when you combine it with all the emotional intensities that are in effect.

(Yep.)

Early on the 20th May, Mars will move forward again after an exhausting retrograde period that started in early March. I think this should provide a bit of relief: things will start moving again. Energy and will should start working properly again. Time to move on, for real.

And here's another road song, while we're listening to road songs:

They're always so sad! Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...

Oh well, here is the mother of all road songs for Venus conjunct Uranus in Aries. I guess I have to play it. :)

(PS: I just want to emphasize how hazy things can get with the Mercury-Neptune square we have going on...it is a recipe for delusion and head-fuckery. Under the circumstances, drinking and getting stoned is pretty dangerous right now and can lead to all kinds of problems. Ok, I'm going out for a pint now, bye!)