Who Do You Think You Are? by Margaret Ullrich

Monday is Full Moon number seven for 2013.

Usually I like seeing full moons.

Well... not this month.

I was so confident after reading Tisha Morris' book Feng Shui Your Life.

Tisha made getting rid of the crap in my house sound so easy.

Each project had been covered in a couple of pages.

A couple of pages should have translated into a couple of days to finish a job, right?

Wrong.

I really thought I'd be all done with clearing out my least favourite room by now.

Yeah, well, if I were being realistic, this shouldn't have surprised me.

It took quite a few years to create that mess.

Clear it in one month?

I don't think so.

Going through that stuff reminds me of Who Do You Think You Are? 

That's the series where a celebrity goes on a trip to trace his family tree. 

I get it that the actors (never BIG STAR types) are enjoying a free trip.

And the extra publicity never hurts in that type of work.

But, does it really, really matter that anyone is in the same gene pool as someone who lived a few hundred years ago?

And I have to wonder which branches of the family tree were conveniently trimmed.

One just has to look at siblings in the news to know DNA doesn't explain everything.

Just compare the royal brothers King Edward VIII and King George VI in the movie The King's Speech.

Or how about their descendants Prince William and Prince Harry?

In Canada we had the Nielsen brothers, politician Erik and actor Leslie.

The States had President Jimmy Carter and his beer drinking brother Billy.

Ancestors of the Carters fought in the American Revolution.

Their great-grandfather served the Confederates during the American Civil War.

Billy once urinated on an airport runway in full view of the press and dignitaries.

Yeah, they must really prune the family trees they explore on that show.

You know how archeologists dig and, travelling through time, find things in layers?

Nice, neat layers starting from the present Cenozoic era through to the Mesozoic era right down to the Paleozoic era?

Earth and its inhabitants have gone through quite a few changes over the years.

The stuff reminds me that I've gone through quite a few changes, too.

Stuff from Empty Nest Me through to Mommy Me right down to Newlywed Me.

There's even stuff from the Student Me and Childhood Me eras.

To be honest, those Mes aren't Me anymore.

And yet I still have the stuff that belonged to other Mes.

I don't think I'd even want to spend an afternoon with an earlier Me.

So why do I still have stuff that basically belongs to other people?

The day after the last new moon I got a Feng Shui update. The Feng Shui plant associated with July is the lotus…  it is untouched by the mud from which it originates. Tisha had talked about the lotus, the symbol of transformation, enlightenment and rebirth.

It's July… the lotus month… time for a rebirth.

It should be the perfect time to clean house.

I just wish it wasn't taking so long.

Maybe the Sun being in supersensitive Cancer is the problem.

I mean, I look at the stuff and get all sentimental.

Let's just see what astrology.com has to say about the sign Cancer:

Cancer is one of the most sentimental signs.

Tell me about it.
With the Sun in Cancer comfort is especially in focus. 

Going through stuff and deciding what to toss is not comfortable.

Cancer's energy asks that you enhance what makes your home life sweet. 

Uh, oh... I don't like where this is going.

Ditch dated furnishings that no longer suit your space or provide a useful function. 

That's easy for astrology.com to say.

On July 22, besides the full moon, there's other stuff happening in the sky:

Mars conjuncts Jupiter, giving you the energy and courage to make changes in your life… you'll be able to accomplish a great deal this week.

Also on Monday Venus enters Virgo when love manifests through tangible acts… 

complete a house project that's been on your to-do list. 

Come on, Mars, Jupiter and Venus!!