Weekly Astrology Forecast | Aug. 27 – Sept. 2, 2023 | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Astrology is a belief system that suggests a connection between the positions and movements of celestial bodies, such as planets and stars, and events and personality traits on Earth. It is an ancient practice that has been part of various cultures for thousands of years. Astrology is often associated with horoscopes, which are predictions or interpretations based on the positions of these celestial bodies at the time of a person's birth.

Weekly Astrology Forecast | Nov. 19 – Nov. 25 2023 | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Explore the cosmic currents with Joshua the Psychic's Weekly Astrology Forecast for November 19th to November 25th, 2023! Gain invaluable insights into the planetary movements and celestial energies shaping your week ahead. From Mercury's communication challenges to Venus' influence on matters of the heart, Joshua offers expert guidance to help you navigate the stars.

Weekly Astrology Forecast | Oct. 29 – Nov. 4, 2023 | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Law of Attraction | Desire | Scorpio Astrology | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Unlock the power of the Law of Attraction and explore the realm of desire through the lens of Scorpio astrology. Join Joshua the Psychic as he provides insightful guidance and astrological wisdom, helping you harness the energy of your desires for positive manifestation.

Astrology Forecast | Chiron Retrograde in Aries | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Ready to make next week great!!! Tune into This Week Astrology – your ultimate star-studded forecast – for the week of July 23–July 29, 2023!

Ready to make this week great? Tune into This Week Astrology – your ultimate star-studded forecast – for the week of July 9–July 15, 2023!

Moon in Scorpio | Scorpio Moon | Scorpio Astrology | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Discover the intense and transformative energy of a Moon in Scorpio, as Joshua the Psychic delves into Scorpio astrology to provide profound insights. Unravel mysteries, emotions, and hidden depths with

Book Review: Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made

For every movie that makes it to the screen, there are countless others that never see the light of day. In Abrams Books' Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, author Joshua Hull chronicles the ill-fated history of 50 movies that failed to come to fruition. The unique journeys - some were mere pitches, others were developed to varying extents, and a few even entered production - coupled with the reasons why they failed to come to fruition - from creative differences to budgetary concerns - provide a fascinating look at the challenging world of filmmaking.

It's frustrating that many of these promising projects came so close to reaching viewers (case in point: Guillermo Del Toro's $150 million adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror opus At the Mountains of Madness starring Tom Cruise), although there are a few that are probably best left unseen. (Did we really need The Lord of the Rings starring The Beatles or A Clockwork Orange starring The Rolling Stones?) Many of the movies were highly publicized in the internet age (like Neill Blomkamp's Alien legacy sequel), while others are more obscure (such as William Friedkin's Jack the Ripper with Anthony Hopkins or a David Lynch comedy starring Martin Short and Steve Martin). But in all cases, the "What if?" of it all is fascinating.

Underexposed would be a worthy addition to any cinephile's bookshelf regardless, but the addition of original artwork makes it worthy of a coveted coffee table display. With the assistance of PosterSpy, a different artist was commissioned to create a full-page poster for each of the 50 essays. The impressive and diverse lineup of talent includes Scott Saslow, Matt Talbot, Liza Shumskaya, Sam Coyle, Tom Coupland, Ben Turner, Mark Levy, Bella Grace, Julien Rico Jr, Si Heard, Chris Garofalo, and more.

Filmmaker Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps) provides a foreword in which he gives a glimpse into his first unmade movie: a Johnny Quest adaptation. He also discusses Shadow Company (detailed later in the book), an action-horror film he wrote with John Carpenter on board to direct and Kurt Russell in mind to star. His takeaways are that most movies don't get made, and if they do they bear little resemblance to the original vision. Hull also pens a brief introduction in which he explains that, as a no-budget filmmaker in Indiana, the book is the result of the old adage "write what you know."

It may not offer any new insight, as the content is gleaned from public information, but Underexposed is a convenient resource with concise overviews that span only a few pages. The essays are broken down into four screenplay-inspired sections: Fade In (setting up the background), Flashback (providing context on the project and filmmaker), Action (detailing on the development), and Cut (exploring why it failed and what became of it). Far from reading a Wikipedia entry, Hull's casual, snark-tinged tone makes the 252-page book an easy read.

Horror fans will be delighted - and heartbroken - to read about a sixth Nightmare on Elm Street installment written by Peter Jackson (which could still work as a revival of the franchise); Alfred Hitchcock’s boundary-pushing Kaleidoscope told from a serial killer's point of view; Quentin Tarantino's remake of the Lucio Fulci giallo The Psychic; a concept for Jason vs. Cheech and Chong from the director of Friday the 13th Part VI; Joe Dante's surreal tribute to Roger Corman with Colin Firth as the B-movie maven; an attempt at Batman vs. Godzilla in the wake of King Kong vs. Godzilla’s success; and more. They're not all horror, but a large percentage of the 50 films covered are genre titles.

Several of the essays are accompanied by sidebars that touch on related unmade films, either by the same filmmaker or based on the same property. Hull smartly relegates two unmade films that each have a documentary's worth of information readily available - Tim Burton's Superman Returns and Alejandro Jodorowsky's June - to the sidebar, but many others are worthy of their own essays and artwork. With no shortage of material to pull from, I would love to see Hull, PosterSpy, and Abrams re-team for a sequel.

Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made is available now in hardcover and e-book via Abrams Books.

Witchy Podcasts

WitchWave- with Pam Grossman, who is a writer, curator, and teacher of magic and its history. She is the author of What Is A Witch and her writings have been featured in Sabat, Huffington Post, MSN, and Abraxas Journal. Her art shows have been featured in The New York Times and Art in America. She also launched a WitchEmoji sticker pack for iMessage. She currently lives in Brooklyn. Each episode is an interview with someone who is a leading visionary in art, culture, or the occult and they discuss witchcraft. Recommended episodes: Judika Illes (author of 5,000 Spells and other essential witchcraft books), Jessyka Winston (of Haus of Hoodoo), and Gabriela Herstik (author of Craft: How to Be a Modern Witch).

Hippie Witch- with Joanna Devoe, who is a writer, an artist, and a front-woman of the band Obedient Waves. She’s a very peppy, high-energy host with episodes that talk about Harry Potter philosophy in witchcraft, Stephen King book club, and discusses modern-day topics in a fun, newsie way. Recommended episodes: Rethinking Toxic Terms + Black Panther Magick, The Life of a Psycho-Spiritual Witch, and Spiritual Rewiliding.

Serpent Cast- a weekly podcast about sex and spirituality by VICE/Broadly astrologer Annabel Gat and GQ/Allure sex writer Sophie Saint Thomas. Featuring expert interviews, magical product reviews, esoteric books, and musings on aliens, herbs, feminism, queerness, and the occult. Recommended episodes: The Fitness Witch, Ammo O’Day, Bri Luna, Hoodwitch, Chelsea Selby, Witch Baby Soap, and Khi Armand: Shaman, Root Doctor, and Houngan.

Living Open- is a podcast for mystics and seekers hosted by Tarot reader, Reiki practitioner, and yoga teacher Eryn Johnson. Explore these topics along with crystals, meditation, travel, entrepreneurship, activism, and more. Recommended episodes: Folk Tarot Reader and Witch Tess Giberson on Magic as Your Birthright, Crystal Resonance Therapists Christel Alberez and Nerissa Alberts on Intuitive Crystal Healing, 11-Minute Chakra Opening Meditation, and Yoga Teacher Kassandra Reignhardet on Lunar Yoga and Yin Yoga as Shadow Work.

Self Service- with Jerico Mandybur, who is an LA-based writer and editor of Girlboss Radio. This is your cosmic comfort zone, an “inner-beauty school” where self-care is celebrated, where getting real with emotions is a treat, and an interest in thoughtful, funny conversations, weird wellness and astrology is unabashed. Episodes have astrology reports with Jessica Lanyadoo. Recommended episodes: How to Be a Spiritual Activist, Crystals 101 and What to Do with Crushes in Astrology, What About Women of Color in Wellness?, A Sober-Curious Guide to Sobriety with Ruby Warrington.

The Fat Feminist Witch- Paige, the self-acclaimed fat, feminist witch. It’s a podcast with ranting, raving, and wand-waving! Paige examines witchcraft and paganism from a modern perspective featuring topics such as author interviews, magical ethics, social justice, law, and witchcraft from around the world. Recommended episodes: Chakras Plain & Simple, #WitchNBitch-Witch, Ya Basic!, Glamour Magic with Deborah Castellano.

Your Own Magic- hosted by Allie Michelle & Raquelle Mantra. This podcast connects you with inspiring artists, wellness experts, humanitarians, spiritual leaders, entrepreneurs, and other influential visionaries who are living magic and making an impact. Recommended episodes: Energy Muse: the Crystal Episode, Koi Fresco, Enlightenment, Soulmates, and Astral Projection, Jill Wintersteen: Astrology, Dreamcatchers, and Strengthening Intuition, Shaman Durek: The Spirit Hacker, Sahara Rose: Doshas, Dharma, Kriya, and Karma.

WitchCraftsy- with Amy Lynn. This podcast is a place for any Dreamweaver looking for healing, inspiration, and conversation about all things occult and taboo. Topics include healing heartbreak, spirit guides, astral planes, sex magick, death, community, and breaking patriarchy. Recommended episodes: Craft of Conjure: How do you Hoo Doo? With Loretta “Loo” Ledesma, Spiritual Factors of Illness & Health with Herbalist Raven Rose, Queer Hip-Hop with Kitty Crimes, Witchy Spiritual Lessons- Where the People Are.

Sovereign Society- hosted by Sabrina Riccio, a medicine priestess, soulistic alchemist, and speaker from Joshua Tree ,California. This is a detailed, extensive podcast on topics such as kundalini yoga, astrology, psychedelics, shamanic breathwork, Reiki, sound medicine, chakra system, spiritual leadership, business design, metaphysics, self-love, and conscious health living. Recommended episodes: Upleveling to Your Authentic Radness with Luke Storey, Connecting With Loved Ones on the Other Side and Radiating Your Holiness with Arielle Ford, Spiritual Bypassing + Upleveling with Kundalini Yoga with Krisa Reierson, Aligning and Activating Your Sacred Business with Brianna Rose.

Priestess Podcast- with Julie Parker, founder of The Beautiful You Coaching Academy where she trains people to become life coaches, and is the Editor-in-Chief of COACH magazine. She is a published author and speaker. She is a priestess that focuses on Celtic, Balkan, Iberian, and Greek lineage. This podcast has interviews and intimate conversations about the divine feminine, goddess culture, women’s spirituality, and spiritual business. Recommended Episodes: Mariah McCarthy on the Divine Feminine & Being Non-Binary, Gala Darling on the Modern Witch, Jessica Reid on Clairvoyancy and Channeling, Sarah Magdalena Love on Queer Magic, and Hibiscus Moon on Crystal Power.

Almost 30- with Krista Williams, creator of The Hundred Blog and has been featured in Women’s Health, Self Magazine, and Refinery 29; and Lindsey Simsick, actress, singer, model, and SoulCycle instructor. This podcast focuses on wellness, entrepreneurship, spirituality & self-development. Recommended podcasts: How to Expand Your Consciousness + Align Your Chakras with Reiki Healer Milana Snow, Modern Mystic + Sexuality Goddess Alexandra Roxo, Relationship Coach + Teacher John Wineland Parts 1 & 2, and Jill Willard on Becoming Intuitive.

Highest Self with Sahara Rose- she is the best-selling author of the Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, which is critically acclaimed by Deepak Chopra. She discusses how to tune into your life, find your purpose (or Dharma) and how to be the best person you can be. She goes into detail on Ayurveda and other similar practices that can transform your life. Recommended podcasts: How to Balance Your Chakras Through Dance, Activating Your Shamanic Roots with Shaman Durek, Who is Your Highest Self?, and How to Spiritually Grow Through Ease.

That’s So Retrograde- Elizabeth Kott and Stephanie Simbari have been coined “the Ab Fab of the new age.” Merging pop culture, wellness, and spirituality together in one podcast, these women deliver conscious conversations with realness and humor, all while providing tips and expert insight to guide listeners to their most enlightened path. Recommended episodes: Magical Sabbatical with Sage Goddess, Fairy Godguru with Guru Jagat, The Genius Life with Max Lugavere, and Full Circle Moment with Andrea Bendawald.

Balanced Blonde- with Jordan Younger, an entrepreneurial and wellness blogger. She discusses everything from branding and writing to friendships and things that set your soul on fire. Recommended episodes: Jasmine Hemsley-Ayurveda Meets the West, Nicole Cogan-Girl Talk with NOBREAD: Numerology, Trevor Hall- The Spiritual Power of Writing Music, Psychic Medium Mayhem! With MaryAnn DiMarco, and Biet Simkin-WHO ARE YOU?

Elevator- with hosts Britt and Tara of Elevate the Globe, the spiritual lifestyle movement. Their mission: elevating the vibration of the planet, one person at a time. They discuss ancient and modern spiritual principles, practices, and tools to elevate the vibration of your own energy. Many episodes are interviews with guests who talk about their favorite way to elevate themselves and what their journeys are like. Recommended episodes: Elevate Your Intuition with Jill Willard, Helping Others Get Stronger + Heal by Taryn Toomey, Bringing Mysticism + Yogic Practice into the Arts with Jamie Wollrab, Britt + Tara on All Things Kundalini, Everyday Rituals to Tune into the Real You with Energy Muse, and RISE UP: Everything You Need to Know About Your Chakras + Allowing Yourself to Live a High-Vibrational Life.

Source: Wanderlust Soul

Justice in Minnesota / Injustice in Paris

A native of Lod, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi was one of the greatest scholars in the Land of Israel in the first half of the third century BCE. Not too much is known of his family other than that he had a son named Joseph, who later grew up to become a rabbi like his father and to marry the daughter of Rabbi Judah, Patriarch of the Jewish community. But before Joseph grew to adulthood and achieved rabbinic ordination, it once happened that he fell terribly ill and sunk into a kind of coma during which he had vivid hallucinations. It lasted for days, but eventually he came out of it and, when he did, his father asked him what he had seen in the course of those hours spent in hallucinatory delirium. “I saw a topsy-turvy world,” Joseph reported, a crazy place in which things were the opposite of what they really are: “the things that belong on top were all on the bottom and vice versa—the things that belonged down below were all up on high.” Rabbi Joshua listened carefully to his son’s report about the olam hafukh, the topsy-turvy world that had been so prominently featured in his comatose dreamscape. And then he gave his considered, now famous, answer, “My son,” he said, that wasn’t hallucination, it was insight, because there, in your protracted dream, “you saw things as they truly are in this world.”

For twenty centuries, students of Talmud have been discussing what Rabbi Joshua could have meant. But now, just this very week, the secret has finally been revealed: Rabbi Joseph must have been dreaming about France, my new candidate for the most topsy-turvy nation in the world, a place where criminals bear no responsibility for their deeds, where murder is not an actionable crime, where voluntary drug use can relieve even the most vicious criminals of any responsibility for their crimes, and where the fully intentional murder of an elderly Jewish physician, a woman whose entire professional life was devoted to helping others, can be deemed an unfortunate mishap, an inconsequential accident unworthy of adjudication in the courts. These would have constituted a shocking turn of events to consider in the course of any week at all. But coming in the course of the same week in which the American justice system showed itself capable of convicting a veteran police officer who was deemed responsible for the death of a citizen in his custody, it was especially hard to swallow.

I am thinking, of course, of the decision this week by the Court de Cassation, France’s highest appeals court, to accept a lower court’s decision not to try Kobili Traoré, 31, for the 2017 murder of Sarah Halimi. Ordinarily, this would not be a subject for discussion at all. The crime was as horrific as it was brutal. The details themselves, including the identity of the perpetrator, are not in doubt: Traoré, a neighbor of Mme. Halimi, forced his way into her apartment and beat her so severely for a full thirty minutes before shoving her out a window of her third-story apartment that one of the few details that remain unresolved with respect to the crime is whether the victim was already dead when pitched out her own window to crash-land on the street or whether she died upon impact. Nor is the motive for the murder in any sort of doubt: Traoré, an immigrant to France from Mali in West Africa, was motivated, to quote his psychiatric evaluation, by a “frantic outburst of hate” directed towards his victim because of her Jewishness. As she shoved her out the window, he was heard to have called out the Arabic words Allahu akbar (“God is great”) and “I have killed the devil.” More specifically, it seems that Traoré was particularly enraged by the daily sight of the mezuzah affixed to the outer doorway of Mme. Halimi’s apartment, its mute presence reminding him daily that he was forced to live under the same roof as a Jewish woman.

So if neither the details of the crime nor the identity of its perpetrator are in doubt, why would the Court de Cassation have confirmed a lower court’s ruling forbidding the government from putting Kobili Traoré on trial? The answer, they said, is simple: according to French law, “a person is not criminally responsible [for his or her own deeds if those deeds were done while their doer was] suffering at the time of the event from [the kind of] psychic or neuropsychic disturbance that eliminate [the possibility of] discernment or control” and which that person might otherwise have brought to bear to rein in his or her behavior. For Americans, that too sounds like a familiar concept: we too do not put mentally ill people unable to distinguish right from wrong on trial. Indeed, the famous outcome of Durham v. United States in 1954 to the effect that a defendant can avoid conviction if it can be demonstrated convincingly that the “unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect” could hardly be more well known in our country.

But Kobili was not mentally ill in the way the term is normally used. Instead, his mental state—including his rage against his victim because of her ethnicity and faith and his willingness to express that rage brutally and sadistically—had been brought on by himself through his intense use of cannabis. And so the court concluded that Mme. Halimi’s murderer could not stand trial for his deeds because he had self-stupefied before entering his victim’s apartment. The moral of the story: if you are planning to travel to France to murder someone, be sure to pack your bong along with your gun and your ammo!

It has been a difficult decade for the Jews of France. Many will remember the 2012 murder by an Islamic fanatic of three children and a teacher in a Jewish school in Toulouse. And it was just three years later, in 2015, that Amedy Coulibaly entered a kosher supermarket in Paris with the specific intention of murdering the four Jews he killed there because of his hatred of Jewish people. And then, just a year after Mme. Halimi was murdered, a different elderly woman, Mireille Knoll, was also murdered—she was stabbed to death—by a madman who targeted her specifically because of her Jewishness. Those cases, it is true, were duly prosecuted and the defendants found guilty. But, even so, this week’s decision by the Court de Cassation, in effect excusing Mme. Halimi’s murderer from prosecution because of his voluntarily, intentional, and—it turns out—exceptionally well-timed drug use, was something that struck many onlookers as bizarre and more than slightly menacing.

The responses to the court’s decision have been angry. One of the public prosecutors on the case referred to the court’s decision as a gift of “complete impunity” to the murderer. Shimon Samuels, director for international affairs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote that the court’s decision “potentially creates a precedent for all hate criminals to simply claim insanity or decide to smoke, snort, or inject drugs, or even [just] get drunk, before committing their crimes.” Even Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, got into the act, calling for a swift change to the law to avoid the possibility of murderers going free after claiming that their own intentional drug use rendered them incapable of understanding the gravity or consequences of their own deeds. “Deciding to take narcotics and then going ‘like crazy’ should not in my eyes remove your criminal responsibility,” the President said clearly and unambiguously.

But future changes in the law will come too late to bring Sarah Halimi’s killer to justice. And that too seems to be universally understood by all concerned parties in France and abroad.

There is something logical and just about the basic notion that people unable to understand the consequences of their own actions should be treated kindly and mercifully by the criminal justice system. We treat children differently than adults in that regard, and for the same reason. As well we should, too—I don’t think anyone is arguing against that principle, which pertains not only in the U.S. and in France but in all enlightened countries of the world, nor would any normal person. But to extend that thought to include people who intentionally drug themselves to the point at which they can argue later on that they should not be held responsible for their own actions—that seems to me like the extension of a logical idea into the realm of true craziness. Kobili Traoré murdered Sarah Halimi because he found her existence as a Jewish woman offensive to the point of being unbearable. And, yes, he acted on his deeply anti-Semitic beliefs in a way that he might have not done had he not been high. But to conclude that the man should reasonably escape prosecution, conviction, and punishment because he willingly set himself outside the boundaries of culpability and responsibility through drug use—that seems to me to skate far too close to excusing the basic principle upon which all just criminal laws lies: that people who can tell right from wrong should be obliged to take responsibility for their own actions.

Sarah Halimi will rest in peace because she lived a decent, good life. She was the mother of four and a former physician, an older woman living a peaceful life in retirement. Why shouldn’t she rest in peace? But that her murderer will apparently legally avoid having to take any responsibility for her death—that seems to me to constitute an outcome wholly at variance with the facts of the case under consideration. I believe that justice was done for George Floyd this week in Minneapolis. I wasn’t sure how things would turn out, but the bottom line is that the basic principle that individuals, even police officers, must take responsibility for their own actions was upheld and affirmed. It’s too bad Paris isn’t in Hennepin County, Minnesota!

Weekly Astrology Forecast | Sept. 3 – Sept. 9, 2023 | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

It's important to note that astrology is considered a pseudoscience by the scientific community because its principles lack empirical evidence and do not conform to the scientific method. Critics argue that astrology's predictions and personality assessments are vague and can be applied to anyone..

Gemini Full Moon Horoscopes Tarotscopes ♊🌕| Joshua the Psychic

Join Joshua the Psychic for an illuminating journey through the Gemini Full Moon Horoscopes Tarotscopes! Explore the dynamic energies of the Gemini Full Moon and uncover the divine guidance the cards hold for your zodiac sign. From witty revelations to intellectual insights, Joshua offers personalized wisdom to help you navigate this celestial event.

Weekly Astrology Forecast | Nov. 19 – Nov. 25 2023 | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

In this weekly astrology forecast, you will gain insights into the cosmic energies and planetary influences that will shape the week from November 19 – November 25, 2023! The forecast provides a comprehensive overview of the astrological events, transits, and aspects occurring during this specific timeframe. Join me every Friday at 1pm Eastern to learn how to make the most of the upcoming astrological influences.

Weekly Astrology Forecast | July 2 – July 8, 2023 | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

In this weekly astrology forecast, you will gain insights into the cosmic energies and planetary influences that will shape the week from July 2 to July 8, 2023. The forecast provides a comprehensive overview of the astrological events, transits, and aspects occurring during this specific timeframe. I hope you enjoy this new time slot, so you can prepare for the week ahead with more notice!

Moon in Scorpio | Scorpio Moon | Scorpio Astrology | Insights from Joshua the Psychic

Ready to make next week great!!! Tune into This Week Astrology – your ultimate star-studded forecast – for the week of July 23–July 29, 2023!

Ready to make this week great!!! Tune into This Week Astrology – your ultimate star-studded forecast – for the week of July 16–July 22, 2023!