Culture

Art reflects culture. What's acceptable and desirable is generational -- cyclical planetary influences have their way here. One good example of this comes out of Australia. Aboriginal art was dismissed by most white Australians until recently. Now it's appreciated and celebrated as part of culture. Part of that acceptance came from the interest of the rest of the world in indigenous artists. White Australians didn't want to be shunned or thought ignorant of this vast cultural phenomenon.

Egyptian hieroglyphics -- which were made for the purpose of communication -- are now looked at as a form of art and the forms tell us much about the culture. Early cave paintings, Japanese calligraphy, and other graphic forms of communication that evolved with grace and could be marked by a personal flourish have been appreciated as art, as well as a means to transmit cultural information.

Culture makes a country or a place unique and individual. What a place is known for (or avoided for) may distinguish it. Most places have something its citizens pride themselves on or something that distinctively forms the culture -- for instance, English culture is based on the weather. Here's where Venus' influence is apparent. Sometimes a place becomes defined by what people love or hate about it. How the country presents itself to those outside its borders is made up of a number of little things that form the whole impression.

Culture changes, always evolving out of historical roots in particular places. California cultures, for example, in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, have roots in the Gold Rush. People came to California from all over the world to seek their fortunes. It wasn't easy to get there in the early days, as people had to come over mountains or cross seas without airplanes or big ships. This belief in self-determination is built into the California psyche.

Culture evolves from ethnic roots as well. In the United States, incoming populations overlaid their culture on the native peoples who had lived on the land for thousands of years. From Africans and Chinese who were brought here against their will, to Irish, Italians, Latinos, Asians, and others who came looking for a better life -- cultures have formed within a mixed melting-pot culture. American cities reflect that history and the flavors of various neighborhoods are often throwbacks to their ethnic lineage.

Certain states carry strong imprints from the people who settled there -- the Nordic influences in the midwest, Latino and indigenous groups in the southwest. In other places, the culture reflects not so much the ethnic beginnings as the psychology of its settling. California is the mecca for those who want to get rich or to be well-known. Border towns are often sad, in-between kind of places.

In Europe, which is one land mass, you can drive across a border and everything changes in the matter of a minute. It has been so diverse, yet the economic community is now trying to pull it all together with one currency.

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