November Curiosity Report
Monthly love letter, postcard, & written lecture #03: November 2024
November was the month of reeling between autumn and winter, chaos and calm, sadness and pure joy, and familiarity and newness. I spent most nights under a blanket, laptop perched on my lap, a novel waiting to be read, and notes sprawling out of my journal. Most afternoons that I did not have work, I spent at a different library browsing, studying, and reading. Though my studies required the majority of my focus this month, I still found time to dip my feet into the world of astrology, read a couple of novels, fall in love with multiple new songs, celebrate my birthday, and travel to New Orleans for a weekend.
November’s Notes
Pluto enters into Aquarius! Go Pluto, go! I’ve created a little bit of a study guide for anyone interested in understanding planetary movements and what this could do for you personally, a society, and the world. Feel free to read over the pages and if you have more information to share on the topic, please do! I am brand new to learning all of this too and would love to hear from anyone even slightly knowledgeable.
When a planet “moves into” a zodiac sign, from the Earth it appears that the planet is moving through a specific area of the sky associated with that zodiac sign. Astrologers interpret that planet’s potential impact by looking at the characteristics of that sign and relate it to different people based on their birth chart.
The most notable facts and predictions about Pluto moving into Aquarius is that this is a rare event that occurs every 248 years over the course of 20 years. Pluto is the planet of transformation, death, and rebirth. Though Aquarius will feel the shift the most, everyone’s lives will be impacted in very different ways depending on where their Aquarius falls in their birth chart. Most importantly: Pluto is a generational planet and is know to bring dramatic societal changes. Astrologers are predicting anything from a revolution to a civil war or possibly even World War 3 to happen due to this astrological shift.
Based on my research for my sign (Scorpio), it’s obvious that I need to give extra intentional care to transforming and uprooting familial relationships1.
Reading
(Long form)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a novel that feels like a bowl of beef stew and a warm hug from your mother on a crisp winter day. It is a tale of four sisters and their coming of age all together and as they separate and live their own adult lives. Together the girls face poverty, exciting friendships, romance, and what each of them uniquely yearn for from life.
Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth by Chris Priestly is a young adult spooky short story collection about a boy going on his first train ride alone and when it gets stuck, a mysterious woman entertains him with short, gruesome, scary stories. The book is a collection of the boy’s experience as well as a compilation of the stories being told.
An Unexpected Peril: Veronica Speedwell #6 by Deanna Raybourn. Not yet finished. Already adored.
(Short form)
“let your phone die in your hands” by
from “The Delicate Decade”.A beautiful mix of poetry and prose on consumption, specifically guilt-free, greedy consumption. This piece explores how limitations and habits in certain aspects of life can impact the overall savoring and full, bone-deep enjoyment of all memories and moments.
“The Owl and the Sundew” by Bryan Pfeiffer from “Chasing Nature”.
This quote specifically has been clattering around in my head since I’ve read it:
“Nurturing and reciprocity, of course, come most of all from other people — at our core we’re social animals. We need each other most in times of hatred and war and other injustices (which is basically all the time). Still, there is plenty of nurture and reciprocity for us in nature, if only we would stop abusing or destroying or ignoring it; if only we might look less at our phones and with even greater awareness at what’s most genuine in the world.” -
Vocabulary Vault
I have two new vocabulary words. The first I discovered while glancing through ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf. The second was dropped during the first five chapters of ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott.
Vitality (Vi-tal-i-ty): the state of being strong and active - energy / the power giving continuance of life, present in all living things
Despondency (De-spond-en-cy): a state of low spirits caused by loss of hope or courage
What’s On My Vanity?
“Who’s Crying Now (2022 Remaster)” by Journey, “Edge of Seventeen (2016 Remaster)” by Stevie Nicks, “I Want You” by Marvin Gaye, and “Don’t You Know That?” by Luther Vandross have been spinning on the record player over and over during the past month while I’ve been indulging in green tea with a tiny spoon of agave (at night) or a cinnamon swirl latte (in the morning).
Library book stack / books I’m reading next:
‘Cleopatra: A Life’ by Stacey Schiff (biography), ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf (nonfiction: essays), ‘Libraries of the Ancient World’ by Lionel Casson (nonfiction), and ‘Beartown’ by Fredrick Backman (fiction).
Growing in the Garden
The winter greens have been growing very steadily! In the beds are kale, mustard greens, collard greens, Mealycup Sage, and an unidentified white daisy cluster.
Yulani Sann.
More information about Pluto entering Aquarius and how it can impact each sign can be found at these sites: “Pluto in Aquarius: Sign by Sign – Empowering Astrology”, “Pluto In Aquarius and What It Means for Your Zodiac Sign | Almanac.com”, and “How Pluto in Aquarius Will Impact Each Sign”