Greetings!
Ahh...Fall...can you believe it's here already?!
September is always jam-packed with events, energy
and excitement from all the newness and shifting
going
on as we transition from a fancy free summer, to the
more serious-
minded "back to school" mentality. Most of the
month 'falls' under the sign of Virgo, ruled
by the planet Mercury, which in astrology brings with
it the characteristics of being
discriminating,
critical, analytical, practical and orderly, and
anything having to do with details and facts.
In recent years the month of September
has taken on another energy - that of remembering
some of the worst catastrophes our country, and the
world,
has seen in recent years. With the anniversaries of
the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 occurring
within
weeks of each other at this time of year, with a little
distance, it's important to gain some perspective
and
go beyond the heightened emotions, drama and
often gratuitous sensationalism that have
accompanied such events, and that we as women
especially,
tend to
respond to more strongly. Instead, we should try to
use
the Virgo
characteristics of being critical, analytical and
practical in order to make some intelligent,
rational sense of
things, learn lessons and acquire a more accurate
assessment of
when, where, why and how
adjustments need to take place in order
to move forward for the good of all.
There have been
numerous videos, films and documentaries
made
about 9/11 -
the most well-known being Michael Moore's
Fahrenheit 9/11,
and
the more recent shocking and revealing Loose
Change 2nd Edition (viewed for free on Google
Video)
giving one take on what happened, and then
more mainstream films like United 93,
World Trade
Center and ABC's docudrama, The Path of
9/11 - all
of
which stirred up much controversy in their own
ways; the point is that we must use our critical
faculties to look at all possibilities of what could
have/should have/did happen and try to see the
truth through whatever
perspective, bias or sensationalistic and dramatic
license the filmmaker or writers may have taken - it
is not always easy, but
we
must ceaselessly strive to separate fact from fiction
and
propaganda from proof on whatever topic, in
whatever form of media it arrives...This will be
the
true test of our freedom and intelligence in the times
to come -
how
much have you exercised your discernment muscles
lately?
We'll be applying the energies of Virgo to The
Women's Mosaic this
Fall as
well, as we move into our own period of
assessing, analyzing and adjusting
in
order to make things better than
ever.
As you know, we have already begun the process
with our TWM Survey -
please be
sure
to take it if you have not already done so -
we
need
to
know who you are and what you think so we can
serve you as best we can (another Virgo
quality!).
We also have our
Advisory
Committee working on our Fall Membership
Drive (so don't be surprised if one of them rings
you
up this month!) and will be planning the rest of
the
year and beyond; also,
we are currently working on the second edition
of our printed newsletter INSPIRER,
which should be
out by the end of October...There's lots to be done,
and we'll need your help so stay tuned for updates
on all!
As for events this month, you should already be
aware of
our Visioning
Workshop: Using Your Creativity and Intuition to Gain
Clarity, Find Focus and Manifest Your Dreams!
coming up
next Saturday, September 23rd . This is a
great opportunity to take the time to see where you
are at right now in your life, what
your goals and desires are at this moment, and then
create a potent tool to
manifest them! We have a new space so we should
be able to accommodate more attendees, as these
have been so
popular that our last two workshops sold out! See
article below for
more details, discounts for members and Evite.
In conjunction with our Membership Drive, we're
thrilled to offer our second TWM Members-Only
event - a
treat for your body, mind and soul at the Chopra
Center & Spa at Dream Hotel on
October
21st! It'll be a great
way to take some quality time for yourself on a
Saturday
afternoon to connect with other TWM ladies while
learning about the ancient Indian science of
Ayurveda
and relaxing with gentle yoga and meditation
all in a gorgeous, peaceful environment! All TWM
Members who attend will also receive a gift
certificate for 2 complimentary yoga classes and a
15% discount on a spa treatment! We have
some great bonus gifts with membership this month
as well which you can read about in article below.
What are
you waiting for? With all these great benefits why
not become a member of TWM today !
In other news, TWM is thrilled to be a Community
Partner for the upcoming
Women's Economic Power Day presented by
LifeMoxie! at the Javits
Center on Saturday, September 30th. TWM
ladies
can attend at a discounted rate - TWM Board
Member Melanie McEvoy and I will be
featured
speakers so we hope you can be there and spread
the
word to all your friends! We're also very pleased to
announce the
addition
of longtime supporter and volunteer Kekla
Magoon to our Board, as well as
the comments and support of Terrie M.
Williams to
our list of Who's Saying What About
TWM.
Don't forget there are several
other
ways you can support
our
mission of
educating, inspiring and motivating women to
express their full power and potential in the world.
There are many costs
associated with putting the
events together with the staff needed to
coordinate and run them year round. We
urgently need your
financial support to continue doing what we are
doing and eventually grow to offer you even
more. Whether you become a Member, use
GoodSearch.com or spend $5 for
a CHICKS ROCK button or Macy's Shopping Pass -
every penny counts, so please contribute at the
highest level possible!
And of course, we want to make sure
that you check
out the many great Non-Mosaic events happening this
month, not the least of which is Lonely
Planet's
campaign for a National
Passport Month. TWM loves this concept
because
we know that travel is a powerful vehicle for both
intercultural understanding as well as personal
growth - the more people that experience each
other's country and culture firsthand, the better off
we all are for it -
and now, more than ever,
Americans need to get out, explore
the world and become personal ambassadors of
peace
whenever we can.
So with that, and in keeping with the astrology
theme this month, we note that
the
end of September leading into much of October is
ruled by the sign of Libra, symbolizing peace,
balance, justice and harmony - September 21st
is the
International Day of Peace, and Mahatma
Gandhi's birthday (whose nonviolent movement
began
exactly 100 years ago to the day on Sept. 11th!) on
October 2nd are welcome energies to look
forward to, inspiring us to Be the Change
We
Wish to See in the World.

Kristina M. Leonardi, Founder & Executive Director