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Rebirth of A New Nation: Uranus is honored to join the current retrograde season to add more emphasis and texture with a splash of color vision to your eyesight in an old-fashioned way. Jupiter will play its role in joining the retrograde on September 4, 2023, a time to reflect, reorganize, and reinvent yourself in areas of personal, business, financial, spiritual, and personal appearance. Uranus will trigger your memory and emotions. A lot of what you didn’t see is revealed to better gain knowledge of self, both within your environment and on a global level. “While we revel in the passion of the ‘moment’ braving the whirlpool of time, a flow of vibrations may surprise us and reveal unsuspected power in our inner self, giving us muscle and confidence.” — Erik Pevernagie

Capricorn: Get ready for September to be an eye-opener full of amazing progress, experiences, lessons, abundance, and grace. You’ve got to keep your eyes peeled and ears open for the things the divine has put in place and in sight for you. A graceful revelation of things unknown will express itself to you. Continue to follow your spirit and allow your heart to guide you, and remember: you give your brain the command to make it a reality. From September 3 around 11 a.m. until September 5 around 4 p.m., you are not in the driver’s seat, so just watch how things unfold in slow flow motion. Take a backseat and watch the movie play out. 

Aquarius: It’s time to tidy up in September; nothing personal, it’s all business, even your existence. No time for what-ifs; it’s all about utilizing your imagination and seeing yourself having it, and then the reality will occur. Not everything you hear is true. Go to the main source to get the correct information. When something isn’t feeling right, ask yourself what, who, where, when, and where to recall data for the answer you need. From September 5 around 4:07 p.m. until September 8 around midnight, your establishment, along with your reputation, are key focuses to continue to elevate. It’s not always green on the other side of the world, it might just be orange, red, and gold. 

Pisces: It’s time to make big boss moves to complete a vision you’ve been working on. Do not drag your feet; feel your creative spark to see your project through. When you decide to do something, your brain and the universe are working on catering to your needs when you apply the footwork. What is the fuel that drives you to your passion to manifest your dream? This week, be a bit selfish of your time and space, but not egotistically, and listen with an open heart. From August 30 around 9:56 a.m. until September 1 around 9 a.m., when you observe, you receive more, so stay in the flow like water. 

Aries: When you are driving, there are constantly signs and symbols around you. Like the red, yellow, and green lights, each has a meaning. What other signs do you see, feel, hear, and sometimes touch that are sending you messages? What you seek, you will find. When the messages, signs, and symbols appear, do not misinterpret them; it is what it is. It’s up to you to do your part, which is to follow your gut and not overreact. From September 1 around 9:25 a.m. until September 3 around 10:30 a.m., operate in a different approach to receive a different outcome. Invest in yourself and do what feels right in your heart to do.

Taurus: Enough is enough. If you are not following your heart mission, then change the direction of your course. That sounds like a Jupiter retrograde after being in direct motion to see if you stay on the mission. You do not need permission from anyone but yourself to follow your dreams and the gift that the divine installs in you. Beyoncé sings a song called “Listen” — it’s time to listen to yourself and not the people who claim they know what is best for you. That ah-ha moment is fast approaching, and you are about to make bull moves no one saw coming. From September 3 around 11 a.m. until September 5 around 4 p.m., once a bull’s mind is made up, it’s on a mission, so folks need to step aside and get out of the way.

Gemini: What’s on your mind while your ruling planet Mercury is in retrograde? Having conversations and doing things differently than normal — for example, checking to see if you did the work and are not just talking. It’s time to show and prove when Mercury stations direct motion. What do you have to lose? Give it your best and forget the rest. Address any concerns or matters of the heart to progress forward in your life. Contradiction can play a role only if you doubt your potential. Say and do what’s in your heart, and the results will follow suit. From September 5 around 4:07 p.m. until September 8 around midnight, when you do your best you feel great,

Cancer: A whirlwind of emotions is building up in the process of purging, meaning it’s time to reinvent yourself to rise to the occasion. This week feels like a one-stop shop; once you let go, new opportunities are showing up. It’s a cycle to rediscover your talents and utilize them differently to gain resources and be a resource to others. Be mindful of sharp instruments, such as knives, as you may be a bit clumsy this week and an accident of any kind can happen. From August 30 around 9:56 a.m. until September 1 around 9 a.m., with all that talent, what’s your story behind the scenes? 

Leo: September is “WOW, Woah, I’m so grateful, I’m so thankful.” When you push purpose on a mission to see your vision, the help, resources, and people will show up. Sometimes in life, it’s about catching up, which means stop idling and get to work toward your passion and drive. Once you are driven to make a vision come true through all the obstacles, trials, errors, and great times, remembering the experience is the step to success. It’s in the process. From August 30 around 9:56 a.m. until September 1 around 9 a.m., the soul is aligning you with a date with destiny. Unfolding all the details, you’ll find this is not a dream, it’s real.  

Virgo: Get in position for September to set off the remaining three months of the year for the growth and expansion of your business and plans/projects. Build up your confidence, process, systems, strategies, team, and curriculum for the next upcoming project debut. It’s been a minute since you’ve been on the scene with new stuff. The planet Mercury is in retrograde in your sign, passing you the ball to get your feet in the game. From September 3 around 11 a.m. until September 5 around 4 p.m., take notes, follow up on homework assignments, and outline personal and business expenses. Apply for resources within your community for what you need to make progress. 

Libra: September is coming strong, similar to when Libra season kicks in: the air rubs against your neck differently than in the summertime. This month, get into a structured routine that you will commit to for a length of time. Do not allow anyone to distract you from your course. When it seems that all odds are against you and the work is getting tougher, do not break or fold; just continue the mission. From September 5 around 4:07 p.m. until September 8 around midnight, work through the process to pass the test from the universe that puts you on the spot. 

Scorpio: Can you say, “Do you remember?” September is a flashback moment of things revealed. Wait for it. How far do the rabbit and beavers’ burrows go? Well, there is always light at the top and at the end of the burrow, if you dig to get out. What you see is what you get. The question is, what is your response, and what angle of approach are you coming from? This weekly adventure is spiritual and divine on purpose for you to see your potential and what you possess inside rather than outside. From August 30 around 9:56 a.m. until September 1 around 9 a.m., without the details, you are missing both the point and the other side of the story. 

Sagittarius: This is a soul contract mission to put you in a position to network and create a new program of your choice. It’s all about the choices we make in our lives that will lead us on different paths. With experience, you make better decisions and position yourself differently. This week, it is meeting with the bosses and those in higher positions. What boss moves are you making? What pieces are you moving on the chess board, and what game pieces are you playing as yourself in Monopoly, or are you the game? From August 30 around 9:56 a.m. until September 1 around 9 a.m., when you decide, miracles happen.

The post KnowYourNumb3rs August 31- September 6, 2023 appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

NEW YORK (AP) — There was a Williams sister out there in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night, much to the delight of spectators who offered a standing ovation at the end of the match. Except this time it was Venus, not Serena, and there was no ceremony, no formal farewell — and, unlike a year ago, no indication of what the future might hold.

Her younger sister’s playing days are done after one last hurrah at Flushing Meadows in 2022, but Venus Williams is still competing, still striving, even if her age, 43, and a bum knee did her no favors on this muggy evening. Williams was eliminated 6-1, 6-1 by Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen in the first round of the U.S. Open, her most lopsided loss in 100 career matches at the Grand Slam tournament where she won the trophy in 2000 and 2001.

The crowd that seemed thrilled just to get a chance to see Williams play in person sent her toward the locker room with applause and yells. She gave a quick wave and a smile as she walked off, her red racket bag slung over her left shoulder.

“It was really great to hear the support. I know the fans have been here for me forever, so that’s fantastic to still have that support even more than ever,” said Williams, the oldest player in the field. “So it’s a beautiful thing, and I love the Open.”

The first 21 times Williams entered the event, she went 21-0 in the first round. But this was her third consecutive opening-round loss since.

Afterward in Ashe, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the second round when his opponent, Dominik Koepfer, stopped playing while trailing 6-2, 3-2. Koepfer turned his ankle on the match’s eighth point and, while he initially continued after getting treated, eventually conceded.

The 26-year-old Minnen — who threw an uppercut and raised her arms after winning — was born in August 1997, the month before Williams reached the U.S. Open final for the first time.

“For me, it was incredible to play a legend like her. I have huge respect,” said Minnen, who is ranked 97th and entered the evening with a 4-12 career record in Grand Slam matches. “To be there at 43 years old, it’s amazing really.”

Williams owns seven major championships, including five at Wimbledon. But she has lost in the first or second round in each of her past 12 Slam appearances, including bowing out at the All England Club in July after taking a tumble in her opening match.

Various injuries have limited her to 10 matches this season — she is 3-7 — after just four in all of 2022. The latest problem is with a knee that forced her to withdraw from a tune-up tournament in Cleveland a little more than a week ago and left her unsure of whether she would be able to play in New York.

But there she was.

“I have to really thank my doctors for helping me to get here. That in itself was a blessing,” Williams said. “I love playing here. I really gave it my all today. I really played some great shots, but she had some incredible answers to that. I wish I could have been more prepared for that.”

The temperature was in the low 70s Fahrenheit (20s Celsius), but the humidity was 90%, and Williams was not able to stay in the points with Minnen.

It was quickly 3-0, with Williams — owner of what used to be one of the most intimidating serves in the game — broken twice right away. She lost each of her first half-dozen second-serve points.

Minnen did what she could to keep Williams off-balance, particularly with drop shots, and it worked.

“Already when I was 5, 6 years old, she was on TV almost every Slam. She was going so far in every tournament,” said Minnen, who acknowledged feeling jittery before the match because of the opponent and the size of the largest Grand Slam stadium. “She’s always been an amazing player and she still is now. I knew I had to bring my ‘A’ game to beat her. Even though she’s a bit older, she keeps hitting the ball very good.”

For more than two decades, Venus and Serena traveled the world together, swapping the No. 1 ranking and the biggest trophies in their sport the way other siblings might share clothes or hobbies.

Now that Serena, who recently had her second baby, is done playing on tour, there are inevitable questions about how much longer Venus will compete. She has grown used to those queries and grown adept at deflecting them and did so again Tuesday, unwilling to say for sure whether she will play again this season, let alone beyond.

Was it hard to be at Flushing Meadows without her sister?

“I mean, I was very much aware that Serena wouldn’t be playing the tournament, so I think I was OK. I’ve had a chance to get used to that idea even before she retired,” the elder Williams said. “I kind of knew that was coming.”

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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* This article was originally published here

NEW YORK (AP) — The Muslim call to prayer will ring out more freely in New York City under guidelines announced Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams, which he said should foster a spirit of inclusivity.

Under the new rules, Adams said, mosques will not need a special permit to publicly broadcast the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, on Fridays and at sundown during the holy month of Ramadan. Friday is the traditional Islamic holy day, and Muslims break their fast at sunset during Ramadan.

The police department’s community affairs bureau will work with mosques to communicate the new guidelines and ensure that devices used to broadcast the adhan are set to appropriate decibel levels, Adams said. Houses of worship can broadcast up to 10 decibels over the ambient sound level, the mayor’s office said.

“For too long, there has been a feeling that our communities were not allowed to amplify their calls to prayer,” Adams said. “Today, we are cutting red tape and saying clearly that mosques and houses of worship are free to amplify their call to prayer on Fridays and during Ramadan without a permit necessary.”

Flanked by Muslim leaders at a City Hall news conference, Adams said Muslim New Yorkers “will not live in the shadows of the American dream while I am the mayor of the city of New York.”

The adhan is a familiar sound in majority-Muslim countries but is heard less frequently in the United States.

Officials in Minneapolis made news last year when they moved to allow mosques to broadcast the adhan publicly.

The adhan declares that God is great and proclaims the Prophet Muhammad as his messenger. It exhorts men — women are not required — to go to the closest mosque five times a day for prayer, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

“The sound of the adhan is not just a call to prayer; it is a call to unity, reflection, and community,” Afaf Nasher, the executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. “We believe that this action will contribute to greater understanding and appreciation of the Muslim community’s values and traditions.”

Somaia Ferozi, principal of the Ideal Islamic School in Queens, said New York City’s new rules send a positive message to her students.

“Our children are reminded of who they are when they hear the adhan,” said Ferozi, who attended Adams’ news conference. “Having that echo in a New York City neighborhood will make them feel part of a community that acknowledges them.”

Adams, a Democrat, enjoys close relationships with faith leaders from various traditions and has promoted the role of religion in public life.

He has at times alarmed civil libertarians by saying he doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state.

“State is the body. Church is the heart,” Adams said at an interfaith breakfast earlier this year. “You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.”

A spokesperson for the mayor said at the time that Adams merely meant that faith guides his actions.

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* This article was originally published here

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Idalia has made landfall on Florida’s west coast as a dangerous Category 3 storm on Wednesday and was unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall in an area not accustomed to such pummeling.

Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula.

Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave as Idalia gained strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And those who didn’t were warned to find a safe place while the storm moves through.

“Don’t put your life at risk by doing anything dumb at this point,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday morning. “This thing’s powerful. If you’re inside, just hunker down until it gets past you.”

Storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters) in some places.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend. The state, still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian, feared disastrous results.

But not everyone was heeding the warning to leave.

Andy Bair, owner of the Island Hotel on Cedar Key, said he intended to “babysit” his bed-and-breakfast, which predates the Civil War. The building has not flooded in the almost 20 years he has owned it, not even when Hurricane Hermine flooded the city in 2016.

“Being a caretaker of the oldest building in Cedar Key, I just feel kind of like I need to be here,” Bair said. “We’ve proven time and again that we’re not going to wash away. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but we’ll be OK eventually.”

Idalia had grown into a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon and became a Category 3 just hours earlier Wednesday before strengthening to a Category 4 and then weakening slightly to a high-end Category 3. The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event” since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.

Hurricanes are measured on a five category scale, with a Category 5 being the strongest. A Category 3 storm is the first on the scale considered a major hurricane and the National Hurricane Center says a Category 4 storm brings “catastrophic damage.”

Associated Press writers Mike Schneider in St. Louis, Missouri; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Curt Anderson in Orlando, Florida; Chris O’Meara in Clearwater, Florida; Cristiana Mesquita in Havana; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Tara Copp in Washington; and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

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* This article was originally published here