Thunder: The Sound of Light

Metaphorcast  7/19-25, 202

Listen to this episode here

There is a Full Thunder Moon headed our way this week, on Friday, July 23rd.  As the season shifts from the mysterious electricity of Cancer to the bright and obvious light of Leo, it seems a perfect time to ponder the phenomenon of thunder: the electric rumble born out of light itself.    

The sound of light comes in two distinct forms: the long low rumble and the sudden loud crack.

The long and low rumble is heard when the light is far away.  Rumbling like the grumbling of hunger.  But this hunger is a spiritual appetite, a “hero’s call” for adventure.  The farther away the light the more the blood stirs.     

The sudden loud crack is when light is astonishingly nearby.  It’s what propelled Archimedes to jump out of the bathwater yelling “eureka”, which is Greek for “I found it!”.  Finding such a light can seemingly stop the flow of time.  It’s the nature of a peak experience; a bubbling over of sheer delight.  

In both instances, light is making sound, and in special cases, it is recorded to allow the sound to become a second birth of light.  

A record player is a perfect example: the light of Louis Armstrong is expressed through sound, which is captured on record, to be played for someone who enjoys it.  The record is like thunder, the sound of light, it may come again as a loud crack or distant rumble to the right set of ears.  One of those sets of ears belonged to the 12 year old Billie Holiday who, in between scrubbing the halls and kitchens of some neighborhood apartments, first heard Armstrong’s “West End Blues”.  Whether it was a low rumble or a sudden crack we may not know, but as her nickname Lady Day suggests, she rebirthed the light.

Rebirthing the light is a virgin birth.  As Joseph Campbell explains it, “The virgin birth has nothing to do with a biological accident,”.  It symbolizes instead “the awakening of spiritual life in the human animal.”

Our job then, is to tune in to those low frequencies of rumbling thunder that are so often unheard so that we can give attention to a faraway light that “calls”.   We must also be ready to seize the light if we are lucky enough to hear the sudden loud crack and yell Eureka, I have it!  I have in my possession the light that found me.  

Just like a record player, one can learn to get into the habit of recording light;  paying attention in those times of rich warmth and bright meaning, then committing them to a precious bank of memory within.  Letting these instances of warmth, meaning and light fill up a personal account.  Drawing from an inner currency that answers to the highest of gold standards; that of light itself.

Nikola Tesla famously said “Everything is the light.”

He said “I am part of a light, and it is the music.” 

When asked by the journalist interviewing him whether he heard this music he replied, “I hear it all the time. My spiritual ear is as big as the sky we see above us.”  

Make big your spiritual ears this week!  

As always, happy astro pondering

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

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Venus in Capricorn- The World as a Whole

This past week Venus entered Capricorn, the sign of the real world. Capricorn is the mythical SeaGoat. We can find a goat in the world and we can find a fish in the world, but we can’t find a SeaGoat in the real world.

Or can we?

Perhaps what is necessary is to examine what is meant by a real world.

In his book, Leisure as the Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper says that a world is a “field of relations”. To have a world is to “be the center, the coordinator, of a field of relations”. He gives the example of a plant using its surroundings; absorbing the air, the sunshine, and drawing nourishment from the ground. `

If the world is defined by our relations, of our inner life to our outer life, then a human’s world would include all the many relations of the mind and heart. The world becomes deeper and wider.

Imagination, philosophy, dreaming, these are the things that extend the boundaries of our world into the reality of wholeness. This, as Pieper saw it, is the real world. The world as a whole. For us to be at peace with ourselves, we must not mistake our environment with the real world of wholeness.

"The really human thing is to see the stars above the roof, to preserve our apprehension of the universality of things in the midst of the habits of our daily life, and to see "the world" above and beyond our immediate environment."   Joseph Pieper- Leisure The Basis of Culture

For the rest of this month, as Venus moves through the Capricorn, don’t forget to see those stars amidst your daily habits.

Venus will move into Aquarius on February 1st.

As always, happy astro pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

The Future of Value. Uranus Moves Direct

 The planet of future moves forward today in Taurus, the sign of value, after having been retrograde since mid August.  

Uranus has been called the Great Awakener.  These awakenings are born from a kind of shaking, a moving, a turbulence, or perhaps a strange moment of wonder that renders us back to a freshness as a beginner.

The past year has shook the entire globe up into a collective new reality.  The question is, from such a change, what is the future of value itself? 

Is there a future where wellbeing is deemed more valuable than money?  What would such a future look like?  John Lennon painted such a future, from his imagination outward.  When he said he was not the only dreamer, he understood full well the joy of the beginner.  Embracing what is fresh, and yet to be.  

Uranus is the planet of future because it is the essence of yet to be.  In Taurus we tie in an element of goodness.  Taurus is the kinds of response we prefer to hold on to, to constitute ourselves, to be secure and strong.  Be it food, thought, relations, environment, tradition, habit, what have you.  Taurus uses whatever it can to continue to constitute itself and make itself strong.

The future lives in every moment, as we are free to shake off the imposing qualities of the immediate past (as philosopher Alfred North Whitehead talks about) and create something new with a “bid for freedom”.  In this way, we step into the realm of yet to be instead of sinking into the swamp of that’s just the way it is.

As the future gains its forward stride, cultivate moments of well-being, that inform you from the inside the true meaning of value.  Lightning visions of intuition may find you in such moments, illuminating this question even more, then gone in a flash, yet hopefully rediscovered through… pondering! 

As always, happy astro pondering! 

Uranus won’t retrograde again until August 2022, and will be in Taurus until April 2026.

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New Moon Solar Eclipse and a Well Placed Pause

Metaphorcast 12/14-20, 2020

What a week we have in store, with a Solar Eclipse and so much more.  The New Moon Sagittarius Solar Eclipse kicks of the beginning of the week with a burst of spirited horsepower.  For the people in Chile it will really be a treat- as the Full light of the Sun will it’s opposite meet, in the darkness of daylight the insects will pause their applause, the  temperature drops along with thousands of jaws.  Parts of Argentina will see this as well, but alas, not here in the NorthEast of the U.S.  Yet even though en masse, our heads won’t be up, this event invites us to still get revved up, and feel united in a moment when time seems to disengage-  Silent and in sight of, a brilliant New Age.

As Existentialist writer and philosopher, Rollo May said, “Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.”

Saturn, the old SeaGoat of Time and Order, is at last committing to it’s forward journey into Aquarius on Thursday, the 17th. Back in late March, Saturn tested these strange Aquarian waters, but retrograded back into Capricorn by the beginning of July.  This time, he advances with out looking back, and to make matters ever the more exciting, he will be joined by our Seasonal spirited horse, Jupiter, who will as well move into Aquarius on Saturday, the 19th.  Saturn will continue in Aquarius until 2023, and Jupiter, until the end of next year.  By the year 2023, big and powerful Pluto will step into this future as well, and be in the sign of Man until the year 2043.

It could be said, quite naturally, that the Aquarian Age is officially here.  Aquarius, the sign of Freedom, Future, Evolution and Awareness.  The Age of Aquarius is the age in which we become dynamically aware of our own Evolution.  

Freedom, and the capacity to pause to choose a worthy response.  A great cause for a pause.   

As Mark Twain said, “the right word may be effective; but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”

A worthy response reflects your true values. Little bells that ring like wind chimes inside and integrate a strong resonance of self.  To become aware of our evolution is to become aware of the truly important values, for one and for all.  A global wind chime with a resonance so strong, it is sensed in the present as a place we belong.  

The future lives strong in the open space of a pause. 

Speaking of open spaces, we are in the last week of Sagittarius, the sign of the horse, who’s affinity for open spaces is surpassed by none.  The heart of the Sun and the mind of Mercury are already galavanting in the open green, and they will be joined on Tuesday by the gorgeous goddess of love.  She charges forth with spirit, inspired by the previous day’s New Moon Eclipse.    

The Goddess of Love knows all about the pause, as others might call it a rest.  It is her sacred space, her negatively charged grace, like a waterfall under a Full Moon, or the aftermath of a rainy afternoon- she will applause the pause as one of nature’s best laws.  

Mars deep in Aries, standing tall like Michelangelo’s The David, demonstrating courage in a most powerful and mature way as he comes into square with Pluto in Capricorn.  His power coming from a  sense of readiness.  A mature and powerful readiness, to choose the right response to which he throws his weight.

Uranus in Taurus- Conscious evolution strengthening the all in tandem with strengthening the self- as Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “No evolutionary future awaits man except in association with all other men.”

Neptune in Pisces- Imagine all the people living for today

The Moon

After the phenomenon of Mondays New Moon Eclipse, she will grow with sturdiness, as into Capricorn she slips.  Tuesday and Wednesday will be excellent times, to reel in your energies and hear those wind chimes.

Expect strong breezes on Thursday, as she grows in Aquarius, the same day that Saturn takes that bold first step into the reality of the Water Bearer.  We bearers of water, holding shape-shifts of responses, with awareness is birthed many new rennaisances! Celebrate the coming of a new age today, in the Season of the Horse, indulge in some full-hearted faith in the future.

The weekend welcomes a growing Pisces Moon and the atmosphere takes on a dreamy dimension, just in time for Jupiter’s entrance into Aquarius, where optimism meets the reality of future.  Mercury will also be conjunct the Sun, integrating the life of the mind with the centrality of the heart.   Limitless mind and centering heart, both which operate on through the powers of connection.  To value these powers is to know our direction.  

In the wake of this week’s New Moon Solar Eclipse, 

when into obscurity, the Sun itself slips,

And people react with their oohs and ahs

Remember the revolution

Of a well placed

Pause.  

As Always, happy astro pondering!

Metaphorcast 11/2- 11/8, 2020

November has begun with the thinning of the Sun.  The gloaming of a very strange year, what new new normals might appear? 

This week marks a sweep of change- a tango of the normal and the strange.  Over the weekend we changed the sequence of time, setting our clocks back before to bed we climbed.  The birth of daylight’s extra hour, puts 60 more minutes in your power, to get out there and cast your vote, but like many others you may have voted remote!  Which in case, good for you!  As Thomas Jefferson said, “We do not have government by the majority, we have government by the majority who participate.”

Changes of time and changes of government- two structures of order changing within days of each other.  Scorpio, the current Sun-King, is delighted.  The tango of order and change lies at the core of it’s dark matter heart, as does the waltz of normal and strange.  Ray Bradbury said, “Time is strange and life is twice as strange.” 

Normal and strange, order and change.  The renewal from that which is rearranged.

In the Season of change-relishing Scorpio, its totem planet, Pluto, continues a long journey through the atmosphere of Capricorn, the sign of time, order and normalcy.  As we know, normalcy is now something new.  Jupiter and Saturn are also in Capricorn- bringing in themes of hope and structure.  What structures might we hope to see emerge as new, in your personal life as well as in the world?  How can we bring these structures into existence?   

Socrates said “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”  Bucky Fuller’s idea was to “build a new model that makes the old one obsolete”.  

Mars, Scorpio’s other totem planet, is championing the “new”, in Aries, the dawn of a new day.  What new worths have been unearthed that you’d like to pursue?  What rings out in the dark as profoundly true?  A blueprint of that model new, to build and put your energy into!  And don’t limit yourself to what you see as possible.  Use the full power of the Scorpio’s  strange quantum-verse.  Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.  Mark Twain saw this to be true because “Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities [and] Truth isn’t.  

Mercury, the planet of perception moves direct on Tuesday, election day, in social-minded Libra.  Forward with decisive social action.  

Venus also in Libra- making absolutely sure that you are a part of this process!  Participating, in the life of change and order.  As Pete Seeger said, “Participation- it’s what’s gonna save the human race.”

Uranus the planet of future in bountiful-building Taurus.  Building that new model that makes the old one obsolete.

Neptune in Pisces- the emergence of truth in a sea of darkness.  

The Moon

The Moon will begin the week big in Gemini, a curious mood thirsty for new information.  Your clock may set itself back, but don’t rely much more on autopilots- a curious mood requires engagement! 

By early evening on Wednesday she continues her gibbous wane into Cancer, the sign of response.  To respond to change as an explorer of that dark matter- seeking the true in the strange- the profound in the outer bounds.  The poet Paul Valery saw this type of exploration to be philosophy’s purpose; “to return from the familiar to the strange and, in the strange to confront the real.”

By the weekend a Leo Moon wanes into its 4th quarter, playful and spontaneous.  Its getting late in the year, and winter will soon be here.  Leo Moons inspire self-creation, to which maturity bears much relation.  To mature is to, in the words of philosopher Henri Bergson “go on creating oneself endlessly.”  

Order and change, normal and strange, preserving each other with progressive exchange.  In participating we anticipate

the mountain range of the Aquarian Age!

As always, happy astro pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Metaphorcast for 10/19-25, 2020

Libra Season comes to an end this week, the colorful leaves just past their peak- The first half of the week, in a major key, sings a blissful autumn symphony.  But by Thursday at the strike of dusk, a new seed emerges from it’s husk, hungering to become more free, the music shifts to a minor key.

Scorpio, the 8th and most enigmatic sign is not satisfied to be just the minor side of the piano- it will take all 88 keys.  What more could a power-loving water sign want following Libra, the sign of duality.  What has Scorpio learned?  Surely not to settle for half of the piano!

Scorpio is hungry for power, it’s consciousness is a merging one, deep waters hold an emerging sun, providing more light from which to see, beyond the scope of just two keys.

Libra’s 7 is bound up in the objective world- in the 7 days of the week, the 7 notes of a scale, and its general airy feeling of luck and openness.  Libra lets the scenery do the talking, what does the world speak to you, onlooker?  And do you see it’s refreshing sense of order in it’s shapes and patterns?

Armed with the wide and refreshing perspective of Libra, Scorpio scuba dives down into the depths of the innermost life, with an intent, to merge two worlds.  

During this Seasonal shift your Libra hot cider sip co-mingles with a glimpse of a giant spider plastered on a door- altering the sweetness to a place more sublime.  We are entering the realm of all 88 keys, how might we navigate this terrain with ease, this terrain of infinite possibilities?

French Physiologist Claude Bernard said “Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.”  The shift is from the 7 to the 8.  From the everyday world of otherness, to an unknowable realm of possibility.  The minor key signals the fear of the unknown, as does the eight-legged spider on the door.  But we didn’t dive down to the depths to constrict the known- we dove down to expand it.  

Relaxing into the abyss, the vision expands. Two worlds.  The life of the imagination and the life of the world outside.  How can they better serve each other, better enhance each other.  What new life can emerge?

Mercury the planet of mind treads mysterious water in Scorpio’s realm of the unknown.  Rene Magritte said “The mind loves the unknown.”  The trickster is somewhat at home in the unknown.  With stream of consciousness magnetized the energy gets galvanized!

Venus moves deeper into Virgo, that second brain called of the gut, the most regenerative place in the body.  Her full body thinking is one of leisurely contemplation.  She makes a friendly trine to a trio of Capricorn planets; Jupiter Saturn and Pluto.  This trio has been hanging near each other for quite some time, perpetuating serious themes of hope, striving and transformation.  With the bigger questions and concerns this upcoming week, don’t forget to consult the constantly refreshing oracle, of your gut!

Mars in Aries approaches that Cappy trio with tension instead of ease, making a square aspect, and in retrograde.  The Will is likely frustrated and feeling blocked.  Remember to train those eyes to synthesize your creative vision with the life your livin’!  Build some imagination into your world.  As architect Frank Gehry said “You’ve got to bumble forward into the unknown.”

Uranus in Taurus, reawakening to the flow of known to unknown to known

Neptune in Pisces- the churning Seas of what’s unseen

The Moon

The Moon begins the week a waxing Crescent in spirited Sagittarius, who’s knowingness comes from the heights of enthusiasm.  A growing Sagittarius Moon is an invitation to feel that spirited sensation of heights, whether in the moment, in the memory, or in the imagination, and become accustomed to it, as your faith-filled steed! 

By Wednesday she matures into Capricorn, the planet of constriction, of focus and maturity.  This Moon, at dusk will welcome in the New Scorpion King.  Confront any troubles with the wisdom of all 88 keys.  As Niels Bohr said, “Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.”

By Friday and through most of the weekend, an Aquarian Moon browns beyond its first quarter.  The Aquarian Age upon us in the Season of infinite change, this Moonlight will highlight that full piano range.  How can you get started, on expanding the known?

By Sunday evening, as Mercury closes in on the Sun, a Pisces Moon sets sail.  The trickster of mind lit up with Neon Scorpio Sunshine, and the Pisces Moon is blissfully happy to make poetry of whatever it finds.  Beyond the land of opposites, into the realm of something else.  Do you know anything of this realm?  Isn’t that you at the quantum sea ship’s helm?

As always, happy astro pondering! 

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Metaphorcast for the week of Monday August 24th through Sunday August 30th

Virgo Season has begun, with its specific charm so homespun.  In the evenings you may notice an increase of space between the crickets chirps as the temperature starts to drop.  Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and add 37- the number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature.  The complexities of nature become astonishingly simplified by Virgo and her science.  From her close-up and studious vantage point, she peers into eternity.

Teilhard de Chardin describes evolution as process that leads to increasing complexity, and with this increase of complexity also comes an increasing of the “within”, a certain interiority, which forms the basis for all our knowledge- a consciousness, a spirituality, call it what you may.  On Virgo’s opposite end swim the fish of  eternity- the place of poetry and dreams.   Science measures the treasures of mystery- and the complexity finds its unity in simplified understanding.  Poetry does a similar thing but in reverse- as it takes the likeness of a moment, simple as it may be, and elevates it to what feels like a rightful divine status.  From mundane to miraculous.

Virgo Season is ripe with moments- small little droplets of time- measurements of life itself.  As novelist Cesare Pavese wrote “We never remember days, only moments.”

Moments are absorbed into memory, as sure as nutrients are absorbed into the body.

Moments are classified by the most authentic of scientists, who are in touch with the sacred privacy of their own interiority – their own inner space- constantly expanding as an appetite for learning increases.

Virgo days are comprised of complexity and simplicity.  In the most modest of moments may come floods of understanding- in the most complicated of scenes may come tranquility of thought.  Simple and complex- she wouldn’t have it any other way.  As Virgo Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe said “Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.”

The science of that space between the crickets chirps may measure the temperature, but the poetry of the space elevates the moment- as the silence caresses a busied mind.

As Rumi said “In silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.”

Mercury, the planet of mind is strong and adaptable in its seasonal sign of Virgo.  Moving into a supportive trine aspect with the great awakener Uranus- a flexible outlook may lead to a breakthrough in understanding- as you make headway with the powers of Virgo-adaptability.  As writer Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand wrote “Like a kingfisher I have made my nest on the waves.”

Venus moving deeper into the waters of Cancer and receiving supportive aspects from both Jupiter and Neptune- the Goddess supported by Sky and Sea- is there nothing that love can’t do or be?  Chardin saw Love to be the agent of universal synthesis- and that with every increasing evolutionary complexity comes the growing unity of Love and consciousness.    

Mars representing the only fire in the sky- burning hot in the late degrees of Aries and making a dynamic square to Saturn.  An eager Will in a barroom brawl with Time itself.  Who will win? Maybe time will tell.  Maybe will will will.  Will ultimately comes out pretty strong over the dominion of time as long as we hold true to the power of the moment.  As Abraham Maslow said “I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act.”

Jupiter Saturn and Pluto all in Capricorn and retrograde- Pattern, Law, and Transformation all in the sign of Standards. A growing human race of complexity, a growing center of compassionate unity- Laws and Patterns that are in need of timely transformation.

Uranus in Taurus- the value of a moment

Neptune in Pisces- the growing space of within.

The Moon

The Moon starts the week off a waxing crescent in Scorpio, the sign of magic.  In the Season of the Maiden, this is simple magic, everyday magic, the beyond-logic realm of connectedness- encircling everyone with its web homespun.  Choose a thread, any thread, look at it but don’t tell anyone!

By Tuesday the Moon reaches its first quarter in Sagittarius, the high-flying horse of zest.  The sense of unity that comes form these elevated vantage-points, when patterns are perceived in full, and the business and noise seem so far away.  Such  a lifted perspective encourages optimism and sense of unity- The upward nature of fire and the cohesive nature of Love. 

By Thursday afternoon the Moon continues to wax gibbous in Capricorn, the sign of time and mastery.  Thomas Mann said “Order and simplification are the first steps towards mastery of a subject.”  In these late days of Summer, Virgo lights our sight with a snap of attentiveness- deeply absorbed in her orderly instincts- she flows naturally towards a goal of mastery, just as water molecules form beautiful hexagons under the influence of the cold.    

By Saturday night the Moon goes into Aquarius- the only air in the astrological line up!  The sign of Man- the water bearer- the consciousness sharer- the awakening awarer- Separating from the crowd while at the same time merging with a greater humanity- Complex with originality, simple with a shared human flame- As an interiority increases so does a range of response, an expanding spontaneity, a freedom of vision. Maybe in moments, we can experience shifts towards the Aquarian Age, as Consciousness grows and unites.

As Colin Wilson wrote, “Man does not yet exist.”

As Always, happy astro pondering

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Romance Loves Heights, Full June Moon in Sagittarius!

The Full June Moon Friday will make you SWOON- in Sagittarius-, the high flying horse.  Heights are romance’s true love- and the horse knows the secret of flight- the secret of lightening the heart and mirroring the beauty that surrounds you-

“Perception is a mirror not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

This Full Strawberry Moon will occur on June 5th, a Friday- original day of Venus.  Venus herself will be opposite it- conjunct the Sun, wearing strawberry-colored lipstick on her smile!

The Sun and Venus in Gemini- the sign of the living silver- the reflective magic of mirroring felt most easily in the presence of a smile.

“A smile is the best makeup a girl could wear”- Marilyn Monroe, Gemini.

This Moon will be in square with Mars in Pisces- adding much beguile to the smile.  Some ocean to the potion!  Soften those eyes and look upon the Full Moon- listen for the waves!

Know as the Strawberry Moon, or the Rose Moon- with Strawberries being a member of the Rose family- one more reason to admit- that this June Moon is ready to make you SWOON.

Happy Astro Pondering!

Don’t forget to hear the full weekly Metaphorcast here.

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New Episodes!

Are you wondering what the poetry of the skies is up to this week?  Join me for 5 minutes of reflection!  Every week new episodes are posted on Monday at dawn.

3 Ways to Jumpstart your Sagittarius Season!

Sagittarius Season has commenced.  The smell of pine trees find their way into your local shopping mart.  Glimmering lights are beginning to sprout up in the neighborhood.  It’s cold outside, but the inner hearth is warming up.

Here are 3 things you can do to actively engage with the spirited archetype of the Archer!

1. Fire your arrow of attention at positive targets.

When you find yourself in a tailspin of repetitive negative thoughts, the happy horse is here to remind you of your superpower.  You can aim your arrow of attention at another target, one that provides you with a better emotional response.  This is not denial of feeling, this is true maturity.  This is choosing what feelings you would like to see recede into the distance, and what feelings you would like to see come forth.  This is your birthright as a conscious human being.

The Centaur has immense strength and skillful aim.

2. Soak up the sights of a grand vista!

No other sign knows the importance of wide open spaces like the eager-to-run horse.  Grand open spaces are a release from the pesky details of the day to day that diminish the deeper meanings of life as a whole.  Standing out in an open field, or up on a mountain, or even just outside instead of inside refreshes the mind with an intuition of a greater meaning to life.  Don’t forget to soak up some vista sights!

Where did those troubles go?

3.  Say yes to the zest!

Eat your food!  Your food for life, which is the zest of living.  If things are becoming too mechanical and meaningless- take a day off!  Your soul needs spiritual food just like your body!

There you have it.  Onward with the Season of the Horse!

As always, Happy Astro Pondering!

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