Libra Full Moon, journey to the Effigy Mounds

The Libra full moon today highlights issues of balance and harmony, the art of relating...taking care of self versus taking care of others from a place of love. Libra is ruled by Venus, and Venus in your body sits at the heart chakra. So how's your love of life? The love of self and others. How are you out of balance? At this full moon there is a release of pent up energy that's been cooking you since the New Moon in Aries and even as far back as the fall [New Moon in Libra].

Over a decade ago a shamanic client came to her session with a wonderful image on a 4x6 index card; she said it was from a SPIRIT CARD WRITING session with Hoyt Robinette.

Rev. Robinette puts in a small light-tight basket a lot of markers, pencils, crayons and other writing utensils. He then lets a new sitter open a package of blank index cards and buts them in too. The basket is closed and he goes around the room telling us who in spirit is with us along with a message. His spirit guide tells him when the cards are ready. He opens the basket and there’s a card for each person in the circle with signatures from those who are with us in spirit on one side and a beautiful, unique picture on the other side.

I went to a session with Robinette and came away with my own spirit card about a month later (can't seem to find it but it looked like this picture above sans people). I was amazed at the different artwork each person received, the cards were beautiful. Mine was rather simple and plain, a picture of a prairie at dusk with birds flying... on the back of the card in different handwriting and various pens colors it was signed by the guides. I don't live in prairie terrain so the Spirit Card didn't make much sense.

Until last month when I traveled to the shamanic training session in Wisconsin. The first morning I looked out my window...the color of the sky and the view over the prairie grass was exactly the image drawn on my Spirit Card a decade earlier. Oh my! One part of me is amazed, another part of me is going "huh-oh" this is not a random event of me just showing up for a retreat session. LOL.

As a shamanic practitioner and healer we are called to be a walker between the worlds, to do that effectively and safely we must understand the shadow and how she dances with us...we must come from the heart seeking balance-the energies of Libra.

Now I had never stepped into this circle of people before, they didn't know me and I didn't know them...but I trust Betsy's ability to create a safe container. On the morning of the Vernal Equinox we gathered as a group to greet the morning Sun. The sunrise over the mountains at the Bethel Horizons Retreat Center was spectacular... a few hours later we boarded a bus and traveled to the Indian Effigy Mounds. It is very cold in Wisconsin... brrr.

No one knows what the purpose of these effigy mounds are or how they were created...archaeologists have studied them for years, the mounds line up with the rising sun on the Vernal Equinox. When our group arrived each of us walked the sacred site in silence honoring the place in their own way. I introduced myself "Hello I am Michele from Florida." and looked out over the valley below...but I was seeing it as it was in the past, seeing it as the Indigenous peoples in ceremony saw it. Walking in two worlds....I started rattling and singing softly; listening to my inner guidance I walked the perimeter of the mound at the outer edge. Then journeyed to meet with the Spirit of the Mound, honoring her with sage. Once I completed the circle around the mound I walked to the bus. It was a sweet experience to honor the earth and the Sun.

In ceremony later that same evening we as a circle created a living representation of the Effigy Mounds...people volunteered to stand in as a living representative for a particular energy while two people drummed. One part I was really excited about- the 13 effigy mounds representing the Moon, so 13 people stood to honor her.

I stood for Grandmother [two grandmothers anchored the energies] in the circle and merged with my Helping Spirit. A song came through me for the circle to honor the celebration of the Earth and the Stars, the energy of the song, it's vibration and sound served to activate and anchor the Light bodies of those present in the room. The song and experience was very powerful and life affirming for me and others; the effects of the merging lasted for several days. Even now the energy of it is still with me and I am filled with love for my Teacher. A decade in the making I honor the Mystery of it all. So at this full moon in Libra I leave you with this thought...

"In this time of the 'quickening' each of us is now being called to become a Human Initiate- to walk the Path you must become a receiver of Spirit's symbolic messages- a trained observer of the rich deep subjective life we can embrace through dreams, inner visions, inspiration and the Law of Synchronicity."- Jacqueline Small from the Christ Path Teachings.

In the sign Libra you are called to seek the balance of that betwixt between place of self and other, this world and that. The fulcrum point is always the heart. It's not someone else's channeled experience of it, or their written words describing it. It's an embodiment and initiation, and once you 'know' it by direct experience, your life magically shifts.

Is your need for safety making you compromise? The energy of relating, Libra is about collaboration, partnership and marriage. In order to partner successfully with others [and that includes your Spirit Guides] I must have a strong sense of Self. How many times have I merged too deeply with another and lost my voice, negated my inner knowing? In those instances I am destroying my inner design, not following my life pulse, negating the Moon energy within me.

Ask these questions:

• How can I be incredibly selfish? What does that look like, feel like?
• What are my own hot spots?
• Do I need to move away from something/someone to gain more clarity?
• Aries is about the fire of self purification…burning up to push out into the world- to expose. Seeds push up from the dark into the light of our fiery Sun.
• Libra is about balance, allowing the beauty of air and fire to nurture and sustain my “incredibly selfish” dreams.

This is the week of Passover and Easter. We are in a three month spiritual festival that ends at the Full Moon in Gemini. Easter represents the Cycle of Restoration.

At each new and full moon the task is to show up for yourself...you are attending an initiation school disguised as your life. Know it is not necessary for you to have a working knowledge of astrology or even shamanic journeywork. All you need bring is your Self, together with an openness to the Moon energies at play- your soul's essence and heart's desire creates the container for the experiences to unfold in a magically deep and sacred way.

Who knows what song you'll sing. *smile*

Namaste,
Michele

PS Heartfelt thanks goes out to Betsy, Anna, Deb and the circle for such a wonderful experience!