Last weekend, Rick and Jeff — Tarot.com’s esteemed astrologer team (and two of the best in the world) — held their annual winter retreat at Breitenbush Hot Springs in the old growth forest of the Cascades mountain range of Oregon, a spectacularly beautiful place with exceptional features.
First of all, there is the largest surface geothermal pool I’ve ever seen … I mean, there is a sizeable pool of water that is 180° at the surface! Of course, it is fenced off, but it is an amazing site, near the Breitenbush River. The BB community generates its own electricity from the BB River and, along with everything else, it uses some of this power to push hot water through a huge network of radiators, providing comfy heat to all of the 60 or so cabins, as well as the cooperative community that runs the place and the big lodge, office, etc. This is really being “off the grid!” No wireless, no internet either (which is kind of a nice vacation in a way).
There are lots of hot tubs and even a steamroom that sits on top of the steaming creek that flows out of the big hot pool I mentioned. Best steambath ever! Being an inveterate hippie, I also like the fact that all the soaking pools and steambath, etc. are “clothing optional.” Skinnydipping is such a psychologically healthy (and probably one of the less sexual) things you can do — a mild remedy for body-shame, no matter what kind of shape you are in, once you overcome your ingrained self-consciousness. (As Gay Hendricks recommends in his book Conscious Living, “I am committed to loving my body.”)
If you get the chance next winter, be sure to attend Rick and Jeff’s “Winter Astrology Conference” — only 2 hours from Portland (see Breitenbush.com). This place is toasty warm and R&J are an incredible team. Not only will you learn a lot about astrology, but you will get an in-person forecast for the coming year … great stuff. As Wendy from Vancouver BC emailed me, “The weekend was nothing short of magical and yet paradoxically full of practical learning that I can integrate daily.”
See you in the hot tubs!
