New Moon Journal

Good enough and Libra's New Moon

Today we have a new moon in Libra- the sign of relationship, the sign of balance. Libra calls us to let go, to harvest seeds from last spring’s planting. If you planted corn you are harvesting corn, If you planted weeds then you are now harvesting weeds. It’s that time of year we gather seed thoughts for manifesting [planting] in Spring of 2009. Mercury is still retrograding in Libra and while you may find the energy within and around a little sticky/cloudy, it’s still time to do some inner work.

This New Moon in Libra rules:

• Marriage including partnerships, agreements, sharing, interdependence
• Fairness including balance, equality, appreciation of opposite views, negotiation, counseling.
• Harmony- peace, beauty, art, decorations
• Teamwork- giving and receiving, collaboration, supportive relationships, cooperation.
• Social ability- being companionable, tact, getting along with others, one on one interactions, diplomacy, affinity for others.
• Refinement- luxury, elegance, pampering, good taste, grace.
• Loss of self-identity- co-dependency, appeasing behaviors, indecision, aimless discussion.
• Restoring health- adrenal glands, buttocks, diabetes, kidneys.

A keyword for me at this time of year is balance. How am I balancing the 12th house Muse (Neptune sits at the doorway of my 12th house in the sign Libra) with the mundane work of the moment? How am I lost in the fog, or muddled down in matter that is not serving me? 24 to 48 hours before a new moon is always a great time to get insights around what the issues are. Me? I ran around gathering items to bring for Saturday’s workshop "Jump start your writing" with Suzanne Fox at the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

Frustrated because I can’t find a dang thing since the move. The luscious colored pens, my fabulous journal for taking notes are still packed away in some u-haul box. And yes I am mentally beating myself up for not taking care of this sooner. In one box I manage to find a few blank sheets of card stock, four colored pens and some grey markers. It’ll do.

Before I head out the door I open up the wooden box of SoulCollage cards sitting on my desk, Let’s pick three to bring to the writing session!" My hand moves instinctively over the stack...what is the message of today’s work?

First card: I am the One who observes. I love this card. It’s one of my favorites.

Second card: I am the One who is not good enough. When I see this card, my heart sinks into my stomach, "oh my not her again. will I never be done with you!?! ARRGH! I am the one who lives with the angry mother. I am the one can’t do anything right. I am small and vulnerable and no one is taking care of me. I am the One who carries the shame." I take a moment to breath, gathering up the third and last card still wondering what the little one is ready to share today about writing?

Third card: The Gift... Christmas candles. "I am the One, the Unseen who Lights the Way."

Out the door I fly, heading to a place I don’t know, to sit with unfamiliar people in a class called "Jump start your writing." How I need this, its been a struggle this last year, to find the time and the space to write, with getting the house ready, then the move. I literally packed up my creative self, books and studio into the storage POD to stage the house; in hindsight putting away the mystical side of me has not been good for my Work.

The museum is charming. The tall windows offer an inspiring view to the courtyard beyond. Taking a seat near the door, I lay pens and paper out on the table. The three SoulCollage cards sit in front of me while the teacher speaks. Suzanne’s describing the right and left sides of the brain, the aspects of each and how to marshal those energies in service to your writing muse. Me? I am busy doodling notes and listening, observing... the aha’s come in filing out the evaluation form, writing about the challenge of writing that the "One who is not good enough" comes through with her message.

"I am the One who is not good enough" offers up the gift of seeing beyond the smallness of my inner child’s pain to a greater story. She reveals a bit of wisdom I hadn’t considered before. I leave the session with a clear and brighter spirit, inspired.

Sorry I won’t share the exact nature of the message here, because that is part of my problem/process. I share too much before its time and for today will let the new insights cook a bit. What I will share is this...This week I commit to finding my art supplies and setting up a decent studio space to create SoulCollage cards and write again.

I am in love again with the SoulCollage process; in awe of the wisdom and magic, that a card created over five years ago is still be offering up gifts.

And you dear friends?? How are you living an artful life? Creating SoulCollage cards is easy and inspiring... and now at this new moon in Libra is a great time to start. Find out what is holding you back, harvest the Soul messages so in the Spring you are ready to plant new seeds.

Where is 7 degrees of Libra in your birth chart. Look at what is out of balance in your life, what calls for attention -body, mind and spirit? Write three intentions you would like to manifest in the next 30 days. 24 hours after the new moon release this energy to the Universe. See what unfolds in the next fourteen days. Journal about the insights. Make some art.

Instructions on SoulCollage cards can be found here.
And if you know what needs to be created in your life, why not create a treasure map to harvest the Fall gold - Vision Board.

A random selection from Michele’s SoulCollage deck:

www.flickr.com

Mercury Retrograde- stop pushing

After Monday’s financial crisis on Wall Street I am reminded the SoulCollage card I created for Pluto entering Capricorn. Pluto renders old outdated forms to create the new. Pluto rules death and rebirth. Capricorn’s energy represents the structure...we are collectively building new structures.

Mercury moved into it’s shadow on September 3rd getting ready to go retrograde on September 24 at 23 degrees of Libra. The archetypal force of Mercury rules thinking, the day-to-day consciousness one brings to their relationships. When Mercury retrogrades (a backing up energy) it is said that your conscious mind out to lunch for the first ten days, until Mercury meets up with the Sun and then the second ten days of the retrograde period we collectively see, feel, sense things differently. It’s a universal do-over.

Stop Pushing

The action energies of your birth chart are affected by this Mercury retrograde. The action to get things done, push and control. Do you have any planets in your chart at 21-27 degrees? In the signs Libra, Capricorn, Aries and/or Cancer? If so expect some aha’s. The keyword here is 'to understand'. Over the last three weeks what has come up for you (financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically) prior to this retrograde period and ponder this~

• How have I been challenged?
• Have I been heard?
• Have I really listened?
• Have I asked the question in a clear and concise way or was I muddled?

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.- Anne Frank

Mercury goes retrograde in the sign of Libra- fair and balanced Libra- the blindfolded Venus (intuitive person) who holds the scales of truth and justice. She also wields a sword to cut through illusions, to get to the 'heart' of the matter. Venus rules the sign Libra asking "how do I value me, how do I value you in partnering, in all my relationships?" At the time of the Mercury retrograde Mars sits with Mercury.

Mars rules war, anger and aggression, it also rules passion and action. Since Mercury rules the mind, our thinking and the ability to focus I am left wondering which candidate is going to put his or her foot in her mouth. The call is understand, the response to stop and breath before talking, think seriously before exploding, choose to be kind to one another.

Now how do these energies affect you and I on a personal level?

It’s a time to create...it’s not a time to be on the computer or be watching endless television.

It’s a time to go out into nature, its not the time to sit by yourself in a dark room or argue with friends over which candidate is right or wrong.

It’s a great time to move energy (or get rid of) things in your house/body. In Feng Shui just rearranging ten things begins a shift in one’s energy.

Expect stop and starts. In other words let go of control to make something happen, pushing is not a good energy during a Mercury retrograde. **smile **

Let go...Expect a shift.

First expect to see what is holding you back from living your intentions. Become the Observer. The first 10 days of a Mercury retrograde you’ll see what needs fixing [September 24-October 4th], the rest of the Mercury retrograde [October 4th-15th] get down to business and start to take action to balance the chaos and bring order. It’s a do-over. Bide your time/energy and you’ll get insights especially by the Full Moon in Aries on October 14th.

Here are several suggested places to read:

April Kent writes "Everyone take a deep breath, and step away from CNN. Close down your internet browser. If only for a single day, eschew the steady diet of divisive nastiness that the media delight in dishing up. The breathless reporting of vicious gossip, lies, and slander are toxic projections of trickster Mercury/Virgo energy at its ugliest and least productive. Enter the Full Moon in Pisces and an opportunity to move toward higher ground." read more of this article here...

Lynn Hayes on Astrological Musings writes about Pluto in Capricorn.

Or check out the blog Mercury Retrograde -The cosmic art of driving in reverse gear while looking through the rear-view mirror.

Failure to Launch and the Pisces Full Moon

We have a Full Moon in Pisces at 23 degrees. Uranus, the planetary energy of awakening is slowly moving over my Pisces Sun in the 4th house of home, roots and family. Uranus wakes us up from the outside, like a lightning bolt of energy you can have sudden aha’s. A full moon energy brings things to a head. On the Virgo homefront Saturn is pummeling through my 10th house representing career and public persona -restructuring the past to move into the future. The energy of it at times has felt like Chinese water torture...where our hero is splayed out on a cold marble slab against his will while the villain randomly drips cold water slowly on the forehead (the 3rd eye/6th chakra) trying to elicit the person to talk.

IMHO so many people in Broward and Dade (south florida, CSI Miami, south beach, etc.,) are living in survival mode and stress (I’ll get from you before you get from me attitude), they have lost their connection to the land and one another, it’s a collective soul loss. Those who are more conscious and caring cling to each other in respite trying to make things a little better for each other. Living in this energy was leaving my creativity dry and dull. On my last week at the house, a neighbor and friend, a very southern gentile woman I have known for over 15 years said she was tired of being nice with all the rude people surrounding her. The night the Plantation house closed we stayed at a nice hotel next to I-595; the wall of noise getting out of the car made me sick to my stomach…that is the sound I heard every time I opened the front door in the morning (the Plantation house sits about 2 miles away from that highway). The move out of South Florida allowed me to come out of the collective fog, and I am just starting to create with the new found energy.

For over a decade I sat in shamanic circles, as student and teacher, learning and yearning for deeper understanding and connection to what makes me (and you) tick- emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Each spring and fall the land and friends greeted me at Omega in Rhinebeck, NY. The experiences were rich and sweet...and each time I made the journey to the north it was harder and harder to move back into the South Florida energy. Two weeks after September 11th I reluctantly traveled to NY aboard an empty airliner to attend the first session of Sandra Ingerman’s shamanic teacher training. On my return five days later national guards armed with machine guns flanked security points at the Albany Airport, nothing would ever be the same. Two years later after the graduation ceremony I took a solitary walk on the Omega land one last time..the clear message was, move MOVE...it was time. A place that I could connect with in times of chaos and change. A place where I could root (4th house) and connect.

But I didn’t know how shut down I was until we moved to Vero Beach last month- I knew, but I didn’t know. My soul was parched for the sights and sounds of nature so lacking in the asphalt jungle of South Florida. While I miss friends and places we have grown to love, I sure like it here. People are nice. I am so used to being guarded and meeting people that are guarded, it’s taken some getting used too. The first time I stopped by our local Winn-Dixie store (I stayed away from the plantation local store because the people were so grumpy) the cashier handed me the change she gave a huge smile while looking me straight in the eye. The power of her presence brought me to tears. I was raised in a small town atmosphere (south jersey and Naples). Vero feels more like home to me. While it’s a slower pace, I like it, Dear Husband likes it. The first morning in the house a wild rabbit greeted us on the pool deck.

Failure to Launch- In Pisces we are called into spiritual realms of fog and mist (mystic) to connect with spirit (the God/Goddess of your understanding), and in Virgo you are called out into the world to take spiritual action from that sense of knowing. If you are experiencing false starts, and can’t seem to get your act together, first look around at the home front. To be rooted, soul-fully means your home must offer up sanctuary.

Grounded in Spirit means the space and place you launch from feeds your body, mind and spirit for you to do your life’s work out in the world. The Call and response- you may need to take a break from the known and regroup to find yourself again. You may have been in a cacoon and are now ready to emerge like a butterfly.

The stars shine brighter and an owl hoots at night when I am walking the dog. Shortly after the move, late one night I looked up through the pine trees at the full moon, what greeted me was the pine tree picture on my blog, except the moon was full... the symbolic meaning of the moment spoke volumes.. I visioned oak and pine trees...we bought a house surrounded oaks and pines. I visioned living on a lake...we found a great house that sits on a spring fed lake (rare in this part of Florida). I visioned a place where nature sings...the land here is sings. I visioned sanctuary and peace. I am embodying those feelings more fully. Vision and Action, Pisces and Virgo. I am grateful and counting our blessings taking it all in.

Thus I haven’t blogged in a very, very long time.. Life is shifting, this blog and what I share will be shifting as well. Emerging from a vision quest that started while walking the land; birthed from a spiritual search for self and soul. Now I am greeted, not by a wall of traffic noise, but with the sounds of birds, trees rustling in the breeze, a pine needle carpet crunches under foot, wind dances on water.

So at this full moon how has Uranus struck you like a lightning bolt? What are your aha’s? Life is....

GOOD.