Category: Blog

True Love

Monday, 06 February 2012 07:52 0 Comments

Did you happen to notice a dreamy feeling flooding in around midday last Friday (February 3rd)? Neptune, the planet representing high love, compassion and intuition, moved into its own sign of Pisces, signaling a consciousness shift we will be experiencing on many levels for the next 14 years. This is a powerful shift within us that calls for deeper levels of meditation and retreat, spiritual discipline and connection with nature to be integrated elegantly. As we align with this frequency, our connection to a sense of Spirit in general, our Spirit guides, our High Self, our higher purpose and compassion for all may be heightened. I think of this as the a wild card of love that has been waiting in the wings. Without this infusion of compassion, the current revolutionary energy of Pluto and Uranus wouldn’t be nearly as encouraging.

While spiritual focus might be our best way to align with Neptune, another perfectly lovely response might be to connect to transcendent forms of creativity, from inspirational films that touch our hearts and minds, to music, dance and many forms of art.

The risk of Neptune in Pisces is that we will drift into a confusing fog, content to pursue addictive or mind numbing activities. These include socially accepted addictions such as endless television and gaming, unhealthy food used to stuff feelings, or simply allowing our minds to stay stuck in story lines, denial and delusion. When we find ourselves feeling the compulsion to zone out like this (and most of us do from time to time), it’s helpful to look at how we might be overwhelmed by various external energies. Perhaps we’re watching or reading too much news or mindless superficiality, or we’re hanging out with negative, energy-draining, complaining people — perhaps working too hard or succumbing to other people’s agendas and pressure. Setting boundaries and making new choices, however small, will help us feel centered in our own energy and less inclined to pursue numbness.

One simple mindfulness technique to stay connected to Spirit is to do things in a non-habitual way. The easiest starting place is to use your non dominant hand to eat, to brush your teeth, wash your face, or other daily tasks. Get out of bed from the other side. Change your morning routine. Even small mindfulness changes create powerful rewards.

Combining mindful actions with deep, meditative breaths throughout the day, helps us stay balanced. The gift of Neptune in Pisces is the possibility of boundless joy and bliss as we open our hearts. This true love of the compassionate open heart leads to healing in our personal worlds and in the world at large.

One of the finest gifts of healthy Neptune in Pisces is the ability to feel compassion for those who are ill or suffering, to surrender and trust in the power and perfection of the Universe, and to give whatever we are able to give without becoming a martyr or a victim.

Expect miracles!

Are You Having a 5 Star Day?

Monday, 30 January 2012 08:00 0 Comments

I had an opportunity to preview a charming new film with an astrological theme called ’5 Star Day’. (Details about its release and a coupon discount at the end of this post!) A young man named Jake (Cam Gigandet) reads his horoscope on his birthday and is told that planets are lined up on his Midheaven and he’s going to have a fabulous 5 Star Day. What actually happens is definitely not a good day, by any stretch. And so, to disprove astrology he ventures back to his hometown to find other people who were born on his same birthday, same hospital, within a few minutes of each other, to find out if their day sucked too.

What a great premise! How often do we wonder about all the people born on the same day and exactly the same time in our city, or corrected for location we could look at everyone in the world born with a near identical chart. Are we all the same? Are we all losing our job on the same day, or falling in love? Statistically it can’t be possible, so how can astrology be accurate and helpful and not be reduced to the same predicted events for everyone.

As I watched 5 Star Day I wanted to reach through the screen and grab Jake to explain how it all works so he wouldn’t have to go through the cross country flight and the search that began with a door slammed in his face. But of course if I could have explained to him the nature of sun sign astrology and the way karma, fate and free will unfold we wouldn’t have had an entertaining indie comedy/romance to watch.

So, dear Jake and others who wonder, here’s the cosmic truth:

1. Sun sign astrology that you get in the newspapers and magazines is based on the Sun sign and the rising sign being the same. There is a level of validity to this approach, but it suggests general trends and influences, not like your own personal astrological reading where you have your actual rising sign degree and the current transits of planets are definitely in the right house, or area of your life. When Sun Sign astrology says planets are on your Midheaven that is really only strongly true if your Sun and Rising Sign are the same… you were born around sunrise. Planets on the Midheaven indicates energies that affect your reputation and how you are seen by the world. Normally this is positive, but not always, especially at first.

2. The influences of the planets are energetic; in fact what is happening in the sky is a symbolic picture of what is happening inside of each of us. Depending on our level of consciousness, own personal karma and the exact way these energies interact with our exact natal horoscope, these energetic influences might affect us psychologically, spiritually or emotionally — or they may indicate events we will experience so that we grow and evolve. There is no way through Sun sign astrology to predict everyone born on a certain day is going to have a great day, but we can predict the types of issues and concerns that may be triggered — a forecast of the astrological weather.

3. As they say, you generally have to break an egg to make an omelette. Often in order to experience the fabulousness of an astrological transit you first have to let go of what isn’t working in your life. And if you don’t let it go willingly, it will generally be ripped from you, like that tired old stuffed bear no one could stand to see another minute (ah the trauma!). We humans don’t like change much, even when the letting go of the bad will allow the space for our dreams and wishes to come true.

Each of the endearing characters in 5 Star Day wasn’t ready for their new and highest visions and dreams to manifest because they were hanging on to at least some aspect of their old lives. Bad jobs, terrible relationships … when we learn to transform or let go more willingly we tend not to suffer the unexpected pink slips of life. Astrology tells us when it’s time for a change; we get to choose how by our level of inner preparation and the choices we make.

It’s a matter of perspective. We usually have to get a bit of distance from the losses of our life to see how a wave of destruction swept away our shattered dreams and castles built on shifting sands — to make way for not only a 5 Star Day — but actually to create a 5 Star Life.

I love to support art that supports astrology and metaphysical topics. You can purchase this film direct from Breaking Glass Pictures by going to their website and using the promo code 5starastrology to get a $5 discount. Or you can go to iTunes and prepurchase for the February 7th release or rent the film through iTunes too!

Snap out of It! Aquarius New Moon

Monday, 23 January 2012 01:31 0 Comments

I’ve been pondering how people change. And whether we should even focus on change. Sometimes total acceptance and gratitude for every moment are really the answers.

Yet most of us are not completely in acceptance. We have issues and challenges we’d like to change, transform, or address in some way. We work on these ‘problems’, talk about them, process and perhaps debate whether they’re even changeable. The issues might be quite personal, like wanting to change jobs, lose or gain weight, find a relationship, have more money, eat more healthily. We might want to transform the glaring issues we see in our community or in another part of the world. We donate money; we volunteer.

What I notice is that most people circle around issues for quite a long time before they change. Most of us don’t change much at all in key areas or we change quite slowly. We end a relationship because we don’t feel it’s the right one only to pick another person, soon finding ourself in a similar relationship dilemma. We go on and off diets for various reasons. We donate money to a cause and then feel frustrated and dejected about its potential to really help. Intention becomes action and then fades to inaction.

And then it changes. Something happens and we snap. The friend we’ve been thinking about letting go of disappoints us just one time too many. We see a photo and are shocked at how we actually look. We see a community problem that hasn’t been fixed for years but we snap into an awareness that it really can be transformed.

One woman described her relationship snap. She had put up with several long relationships with men who weren’t really committed or present. Leaving the last one after several years of therapy and workshops, she was dating and feeling discouraged about ever finding a life mate. Then a man she was interested in called at the last minute to finalize details of a previously planned date, having left her wondering for days whether it was on or off. That was her snap moment. She told him she wasn’t interested in the date or in seeing him at all. That moment crystallized her sense of self worth to know she deserved and wanted a mate who would be reliable and committed. Weeks later that mate showed up and they are still married many years later.

We have a new Moon in Aquarius today. Aquarius is the sign of snap! Fast, unpredictable, lightning bolt change is possible when we tune into Aquarius. New Moons represent new starts. Aquarius is about authentic freedom and the ability to evolve rapidly.

What would you like to change? It may be that you’d like to not actually change anything, that your evolutionary goal would be to accept what you have and snap into gratitude and faith. That’s fine too. But if there’s something you’ve been thinking about changing, this Moon might provide a bit of an extra push.

Truthfully though, the potential to snap out of what we don’t want and snap into what we do want is always within us.

Astrology Highlights for January & February 2012

Thursday, 12 January 2012 18:47 1 Comment

We began the year with an opposition between Jupiter and Saturn that will last until mid February. Saturn represents the structure, stability and groundedness in our lives, what we’re working diligently on to create in the material world. It also may signal a time to look at where we feel blocked and challenged by the various brick walls of reality, sometimes leading to a feeling of discouragement or depression. Jupiter represents hope and optimism, an inner sense we can expand and accomplish anything in alignment with our beliefs. So this tension between the possibilities of who we are and the apparent limitations of the world sets the entry level stage of 2012. On January 1st significant planets are talking to Saturn (connected by aspect: Pluto & Sun by quintile, a creative vibration between the structuring principle and transformation and identity, Neptune by trine (flow between structure and higher love), Uranus by quincunx (hard to find a connection between the structure and the need for freedom and enlightenment), and of course that opposition to Jupiter.

Meanwhile Pluto is in Capricorn, continuing our ongoing saga of transformation of all structures. You might see how the opposition of Saturn to Jupiter is related. We have to transform the parts of our lives, and our world, that are no longer sufficient to hold a container for our expanded beliefs. As Neptune enters the sign of Pisces on February 3rd to stay until around 2026, we will be infused with a greater level of heart and spirit than we can probably imagine, although if we were paying attention last year between April and August we had a taste of this genuinely compassionate, intuitive, spirit infused field of consciousness that holds a good part of the key to our world’s transition. On the shadow side, we must be mindful of addictive and mind numbing activities. We are called to surrender to that we cannot control, each of us a conduit for unconditional love and compassion.

I’ve been feeling an interesting window of time between the full Moon we just had on January 8th and the new Moon on January 22nd. It feels like we’re still working with the energies to release old patterns during this time, and not ready for a real new year’s start until the new moon in Aquarius on Sunday the 22nd of January. This is a great time to get your life in order and slowly put your new year’s plans into effect. Yet, right with that new moon, Mars will go retrograde on January 23rd at 23 degrees of Virgo. The action planet in the sign of diligent work indicates there’s still more to review. Between this retrograde of initiating force and a Saturn retrograde beginning February 7th, we may feel like our plans are not generating the results we’re hoping for. The answer is to be patient, do the work, be conscientious about the details, and take the long term view during this period of time that lasts until April 13 (Mars direct) and June 24 (Saturn direct). It’s not that nothing happens in a retrograde period, it’s that there’s a great deal of internal work to do and the energies we are cultivating now will often pay off later.

The natural rhythm of things:
START ON NEW MOONS / COMPLETE ON FULL MOONS
January Full Moon: January 8 @ 11:30 pm PST: 19 degrees Cancer
January New Moon: January 22 @ 11:40 pm: 3 degrees Aquarius
February Full Moon: February 7 @ 1:54 pm PST: 19 degrees Leo
February New Moon: February 21 @ 2:34 pm PST: 3 degrees Pisces

Mercury Retrogrades – the year of the Action/Emotional (Fire & Water Sign) review
March 11 to April 4 – 7 degrees Aries back to 24 Pisces
July 14 to August 7 – 13 degrees Leo back to 2 degrees Leo
November 6 to November 25 – 5 degrees Sagittarius back to 19 degrees Scorpio

Honoring your Own Turning Points

Sunday, 08 January 2012 18:12 0 Comments

I have to admit, I really didn’t resonate with New Year’s Day this year. I wasn’t ready to release the old and bring in the new. I was steeped in an internal philosophical battle between the part of me that wants to simply live in each now moment, and the part that wants to organize and plan for the future. The pain in my back for the first few days of the year engaged my concentration, and my desire to focus on diet and health was met with powerful resistance. Ever notice when you decide to change something your internal parts that don’t want to change become very very strong?!

So I decided today, January 8th would be my New Year’s Day. Seemed like that would give me enough time to get into the year and be ready. And yet as we arrive at this day I am noticing it is the day of the Full Moon, exact at 11:30 pm tonight, Pacific time. The Sun is in Capricorn, the Moon in Cancer. We are all triggered internally to find balance between structure, success and our goals, with our needs for love, nurturing and family (family includes friends and beloved pets too!). And, a Full Moon always has a quality of completion, of letting go. Intuitively, today is a great day to ponder the past month and what it has brought to us, and perhaps to consider the whole year of 2011: where we’ve felt success and accomplished our aims as well as where we’ve felt blocked. We might also look at where have our emotional needs been true, clear and met with healthy care and love, and where have we depleted ourselves in our mission to feel secure and loved. The chart for this Full Moon also inspires us to balance between caution and conservatism and a desire to expand our selves and our life, as well as an ability to think deeply about the transformational process we all find ourselves in.

The New Moon on January 22nd will in fact truly be the beginning of the new year energetically. At 3 degrees of Aquarius and forming a tense yet creative alignment with the forces of constructive conservatism and expansive optimism, after January 22nd will really be the time to initiate significant change, internally or externally, if that’s what we’re called to do. The first three weeks of the year give us much time to analyze, transform and slowly initiate the changes, letting go of old patterns and understanding ourselves and our shadow material more deeply.

We are meandering into 2012, unlike the obvious shift at the turn of the year that we feel in some years. I am honoring my internal call, and accepting the energies of each day as I perceive them, creating my own turning points and rhythm.

« Older Entries