June 21 The last new moon was notable for its total eclipse of the sun. Though said eclipse was not visible in England, I meditated during it anyway (the best thing to do during any eclipse), following the advice of Vimalananda, who insisted that eclipse effects spread worldwide, not just in their locales of visibility. England was waiting for me in excellent condition on my return from Turkey, with bright sunny skies to make that island even greener than its normal green. After a week in London lecturing I moved out to the Hampshire countryside, to Upper Clatford, where ducks dabbled uptailed in the River Anton, a chalk-bottomed trout stream that flows down to meet the similarly-configured River Test. The wet winter was encouraging every plant to grow in profusion, but the omnipresent, enthusiastic nettles seemed to be winning out. Just next to Upper Clatford (whose name is said to mean "the upstream village near the ford where the burdock grows") and its 12th century church (which I was pleased to learn has been duly entered in the Churchyard Beautification Competition) is Abbott's Ann, with its giant chestnut trees. Its church is the only one in England that perpetuates the custom of awarding "virgin crowns" on their demises to women (and the occasional man) who remained unmarried but of stainless repute throughout their lives. These wooden crowns remain hanging in the church until they fall of their own accord. Some have been preserved for centuries. The custom continues, the most recent being awarded in 1973. A mere half-hour from this bucolic beauty is the cathedral city of Winchester, whose noble minster and Great Hall (in which hangs the Round Table) are well worth a visit. Nearer to Upper Clatford is Andover, where I found in a supermarket a fruit of the night-blooming cereus. I'd had but one before, n Hawaii, grown there. They call it "dragon fruit" now, grown commercially in Vietnam, perhaps on its way to a shop near you. If so, invest in one (they are not cheap), and try it out - they are superb. Hurrah for the cereus! June 5 This full moon, in Scorpio keeping company with bright Antares and the brilliant Mars, rose for me from behind the pool of a hot spring in Cappadocia, Turkey, where the food is great (the main cash crop here is organic apricots), the folk music tuneful, the natives friendly, and the surroundings dramatic. I was conducting a "rejuvenation retreat" in a nearby "cave hotel," the Gamirasu, a converted Orthodox monastery that had been created in the 10th or 12th Century by digging caves into the thick layer of volcanic tuff that carpets much of the Anatolian plateau. A lush little valley, its rock walls honeycombed with ancient caves, sits like a moat between the hotel and the village. At its head, fields of wheat and apricots rise toward herb-dotted hillsides. High above the hotel sits a grove of stunted old oak trees, on a ridge from hich the dramatically snow-capped peak of the extinct volcano Mount Ercyius gazes down on a field of unique fig-shaped rock formations known locally as "fairy chimneys." Human ingenuity takes the prize in Cappadocia's several underground cities. I visited one of the largest, at Kaymakli, 8 stories deep, of which 4 are open to the public. Its sophisticated airshafts, keystones used to block strategic passages, and warren of rooms are absolutely fantastic. Digging for them began in Hittite times, or earlier, then accelerated during the Roman and Arab eras for protection of local Christians from persecution. Alternative theories suggest they were for hiding troops to attack other armies from behind, and perhaps both explanations were true, at varying times ... Ibrahim, the Gamirasu's owner, who runs the hotel with help from his cousin Suleyman, is a fine chap who richly deserves your business when you are next in that neighborhood: Gamirasu Hotel, Ayvali Köyü, Ürgüp 50400 - www.gamirasu.com; gamirasu@hotmail.com; phone +90-384-354-5815 or +90-384-341-5825; fax +90-384-354-5815; mobile +90-532-561-6292 Sagul, Turkey!