New Moon Journal

Soul-argh Eclipse in Cancer

The energy of Cancer, the 4th house is straddled by the signs Gemini and Leo. If we follow the law of attraction our thoughts and feelings create the outcome- Gemini/thoughts > Cancer/feelings > Leo/joy. Understand and embody the energy of Gemini/Cancer then you can easily manifest your joy.

The Moon represents the death and rebirth of light, for women it's the death and rebirth of our monthly periods. The Moon rules the sign Cancer and all things to do with feelings, emotions and intuition.

What are the energetic consequences of discounting the Cancerian qualities womanhood offers you (intuition, feelings, emotions, moods, Moon, mothering, roots, home and family)? As little girls we are connected to the world around us, but by the age of seven we enter the structure of school- the rational is honored while the intuitive is discounted. The feeling function goes into hiding, add trauma or abuse to the mix and you are left with a lot of feelings and anxiety that just doesn’t make sense. You can’t name it or see it so your intuitive knowing is labeled not real.

Many readers shared they resonated with this statement:

“Empathic by nature and then by trauma I didn’t know where I began and others left off; the container of my body felt elusive- I’d either merge too much and/or retreat and go into hiding.”

And now we greet a very powerful potent new moon in Cancer, a solar eclipse at 30 degrees on Tuesday, July 21, 2009. This is the SECOND new moon in Cancer, so the Cancer area of your chart and life continues to be highlighted and challenged again for another 29 days.

Isn’t the universe saying “whoa Nelly you aren’t cooked yet; you need a bit more Cancer energy to mull over.”

There is a dance between the Sun/Moon through the birth chart that naturally connects you to your ’bio-rhythm’.

When you begin to consciously work with these energies it creates magic in your life. As above, so below, sky shamanism known as astrology is an ancient language of cycles through the planetary movements (archetypal forces).

These Helping Allies are time keepers for your life’s journey. When you dance in partnership with this sacred rhythm you become in-sync with those energies and your vibration rises; you consciously transmute the shadow and your Light shines more brightly -within and out into the world.

New moons bring up your shadow, the egoic stuff that keeps us stuck. When you actively work with the new moon energies you call up this good rich muck of the past- the thoughts, images and beliefs that are holding you back from living your joy. So to have two new moons in Cancer, lets me know to pay attention. Expect a release at the full moon.

Find your place in Joy:

To move into Joy [at the New Moon in Leo] we have to be comfortable with all types of feelings, we have to be content just where we are, not push the hurt, anger and pain away. With compassion call it up and look it square in the face, dialog with it, mediate it. Love it and yourself by...

Appreciating the gifts these feelings bring. Mercury’s last retrograde period, including the shadow period from April 5-June 15, certainly stirred both the Taurus/Gemini pot. Gemini rules all forms of communication, black and white thinking, and your sibling issues.

The Mercury retrograde, the subsequent new moons brought up issues and feelings, thoughts and beliefs that still triggered me in life. Until you read this post, maybe you were in it and didn’t even know it. You may not fully appreciate these experiences until the Full Moon in Cancer six months from now. You may have immediate ahas. You may find yourself saying…

“Aren’t you/we over that yet?” Sure I had dealt with ‘that’ in therapy, cried, choked and puked the negative feelings at a gut level, but like peeling an onion there was a new awareness of how I navigated my life related to shame.

Brene Brown in her book I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame writes “Shame is that feeling that comes over you life a hot wave and the minute it comes over you you think to yourself ‘Oh, my God, where can I hide? How can I disappear?’ Shame, fear and anxiety are all major incubators of judgment.”

"To shame" generally means to actively assign or communicate a state of shame to another. Behaviors designed to "uncover" or "expose" others are sometimes used for this purpose, as are utterances like "Shame!" or "Shame on you!...While guilt is a painful feeling of regret and responsibility for one's actions, shame is a painful feeling about oneself as a person.” More about shame here.

 “Shame on you” "Who do you think you are" was a familiar phrase I heard growing up. My unconscious parents used the energy to judge and control; while they did not mean to wound, their scars left scars on me.

My shame felt like a big black hole; it could, at times suck, the life out of my creativity and joy. All shame is linked to our thinking (Gemini) imbued upon us by others… then we take it in and digest as our own. We digest their judgments.

Cancer rules digestion, the stomach, nurturance, the mother. In my chart intercepted Uranus in Cancer sits at 29° in the 8th house of death and rebirth; I equate it with self > mother > awakening. How am I still living my mother’s Fractured Fairy Tale?

We are collectively getting a double dose of cancer new moons to understand our issues with security, safety and managing day-to-day fears. Look at life events from June 2003- 2005 when Saturn moved through the sign Cancer? Life events from April 1974 through June 1976 when Saturn was in Cancer.

Moving into Joy:

The house where Cancer sits in your chart is the seat of your intuition- where you experience gut feelings (clairsentience). Your approach to these activities requires logic balanced with instinct, and then the flow of your emotions serves your path and your life purpose. Cancer is water/emotional, cardinal/assertive and is passive/feminine in gender. This tells us that Cancer will take action and can be assertive, but does so cautiously and according to feeling (moon).

 Where do I belong?  This is a major theme where Cancer is in your chart. The challenge is to develop security by nurturing experiences rather than clinging to, depending on the strength of others. Cancer needs to say; “I feel.” - I feel secure.  I feel safe.  I feel content.  I feel at home with myself.  How are you feeling?

If you find yourself in a funk see if the energy is tied to missing your home, your childhood home, and family home, things related to home, heart [h] and mother.

“In order to release Cancer’s creativity, we must first cut the umbilical cord which binds us to family karma; leave the safe womb of the home and choose our own direction in life.” (Archetypes of the Zodiac by Burt, p. 113)

If so do some journaling and write down your expectations, you may want to create a SoulCollage® around the energy to get the message. Light up the fire pit (or barbecue) and release the old stuff to the fire.

Death and rebirth-be a vessel of vision at this Cancer New Moon

The goal is to make ourselves strong enough to be leaders, healers and teachers in our time. To create a strong central axis that each of us can stand her ground in the face of opposition, visible or invisible, that attempts to stop the expulsion of the possessing entity that has taking over the world.

A process of embodiment is taking place wherein women are called to become willing vessels of the vision. The women who perform this function are called Shakti women. Shakti meaning "to be able" refers to the power of the feminine force that is creative, instinctual and becoming. Shakti Woman by Vicki Nobel, p. 240

At this Second New Moon Solar Eclipse reflect on your own journey of death and rebirth, what's been stalking you the last 30-60 days? Are you pregnant with Shame? Are you ready to birth your Intuition? Your Heart(h) energy represented by home and family? Where are you in the life cycle of death and rebirth, how do you embrace the fine art of shedding your shame?

What I am saying is this: this second new moon in Cancer and a solar eclipse is going to stir up some shadow issues, from your past, that still have a hold on you. For the last sixty days you had glimpses of its energy. You may have over reacted for no apparent reason, maybe you felt like crawling into bed and pulling the covers over you head. For the last two weeks since the Capricorn Full Moon on July 7th the pressure was released, the clean-up crew is ready for action on the New Moon in Cancer on July 21st.

Like the Moon our body, mind and spirit mirrors these processes of letting go, going into the dark to birth the light; the creative process of building up and letting go. Holding the vision, rather than holding the shame. The womb, our connection to place and space (home and work) and our intuition is our vessel to birth-new ideas, children, home, and businesses. That is why the Moon is so important; her Light reflects our mystery and the nature of our earthly dance. From full to dark to full there is great leadership, power and spirit in all that you are. Embrace the release on the new moon and find the joy.

Click to visit Brene Brown's Blog, and commit to being Authentic.

 

Journaling prompts for this Cancer New Moon: http://www.newmoonjournal.com/adobe/altar.pdf

Michele Bailey-Lessirard is an artist, astrologer, shamanic practitioner and teacher. For over a decade she has written about the moon and the stars, performed hundreds of soul retrievals and taught through out the United States. She invites you to “come explore the magic of the moment and the mystery of you found in bits of paper and glue through the New Moon SoulCollage® process online at The New Moon Journal http://www.newmoonjournal.blogs.com/ © 2009 The New Moon Journal

Sailing the Capricorn Full Moon

Finally I succumb to the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (LG). The book calls to me just before leaving on our four day cruise to Mexico. What a delightful way to cook oneself just before the Full Moon in Capricorn. Set sail on the wide blue ocean (Cancer) on a ship (Capricorn) of strangers.

I tried to read the book a few years back and just couldn’t get through the first couple of pages; then in February after seeing LG’s wonderful TED video on creativity I decide, ”Hey Liz I’ll give you another chance!”

Dear Husband (DH) and I leave the quiet calm of Vero and head into our old hometown South FLA; just as we drive into Port Everglades the skies open up in one of those SouthFLA torrential downpours that drowns even the frogs. Rainwater even gushes up through the parking garage drains reminding me we are at or below sea level. Wading through a foot of water to cross the street attempting to enter the terminal, we are greeted by the chaos of drivers and their cars unconsciously splashing bystanders. Everyone is dropping off their bag and milling about as we move forward taking our place in line to board the ship. Shoes soaked, people pushing, no one smiling except the Philippine guy with the camera ready to take the boarding photos (we look like drowned rats)…suddenly reminded of why we moved out of SouthFLA a year ago.

“Only when human beings are able to perceive and acknowledge the Self in each other can there be real peace.”-Amma

The crowd's frenetic energy temporarily sucks me into its grip until I remember to ground and hold balance (Capricorn). The squish, squish, squish of my soaking sneakers certainly helps; we move through the lines, effortlessly board and land in our lovely balcony stateroom. Eventually we’ll overlook the sea but for now it’s a view of stacked port containers and roof air conditioners. Ah we’re here, let the celebration begin!

The Full Moon in Capricorn is your soul’s quest to create a safe structure within when you are emotionally thrown out into a sea of feelings (at the Cancer New Moon). No matter where you find yourself. You may be seeing tangible results from those intentions set and/or vision boards you created at the start of 2009. If not, why not I ask?

At the moment of my birth Cancer and Capricorn are intercepted in my birth chart, Mom and Dad at times reversed roles. Interceptions? In order to find the intercepted energy one has to enter the room, then go into a closet and close the door to have a dialog. In essence the energy of the sign and planets there are protected by divine design. But one isn't told that as a child.

Empathic by nature and then by trauma I didn’t know where I began and others left off; it’s always been a dance because the container of my body felt so elusive- I’d either merge too much and/or retreat and go into hiding. How did I compensate? Starting around the age 3…my relationship to food and my attempts to manage the anxiety of tuning-in, I am more aware of Weight protector in a sea of energies. Some of us drink, some people smoke…each of us is trying to find our peace.

You too are a ship sailing in a sea of energies…how you deal with the waves coming at you is what the Cancer New Moon and Capricorn Full Moon speaks to. Eclipses intensify the spectrum of feelings if planetary energies in your chart are set off. Expect a release at this Full Moon.

At this Full Moon in Capricorn my natal Moon sits at 14° of Aries, so I find myself on high alert. New and full moons call you to task; to manage the internal and external forces that cause us to go off course. Cancer asks us to take care, and Capricorn wants a structure for that merging energy. Healthy care taking. Keep in mind if we don’t get our Cancer/Capricorn needs met as a child we either merge too much or put up walls to protect.

At this Full Moon in Capricorn is your container (body, mind and/or emotions) more jello than mortar? Do you need to set a boundary or merge with the energies at play? Is it safe? Exactly where are you? Ponder on this…

Cruising through Eat, Pray, Love...

EAT: We walk into the Windjammer for a buffet lunch. There’s a feeding frenzy going on and a wall of energy hits me heart on. People seem to be walking from station to station in a hypnotic trance… mindlessly bumping into one another trying to get another something on that already piled high plate of food. Just moving through the sea of foodies- both fat and thin, makes me feel anxious and angry…the intensity of my anger surprises me…where did you come from, how spiritual is that, Michele?  Everyman for himself energy DH and I agree “Let’s get out of here, so we can read and be alone.” We find a lovely breezy spot on the upper deck, we talk and we read, I find myself journeying through Italy with LG...

The first 36 stories in Eat, Pray, Love is all about LG’s love of Italy and food, the community of souls and her need for connection, to find God within and around her. “I want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on the water.” For today I am not seeing God in myself [not with this anger] or these people on the boat. My peace comes from looking out at the sea, and watching the incredibly moving blue water.

PRAY: Seeking. Second day at sea LG and I journey to the ashram, she's seeking to know God more. I want that too! Reading I start to question my own relationship with God. Do I need to go to an ashram? I wonder, then recognize I share a lot of the experiences she’s talking about. I’ve touched in and felt the presence, had aha’s and mystical unions with the Divine. All while being a mother and wife, my journey is different than her journey, but we all come to the same place seeking peace at different times. It's the judging that does me in, separates me. And for today...

Can I find happiness even after my scrambled eggs are mashed down by hairy-elbow-guy who didn’t look to see where he was going in the buffet line? Or the woman who decides to wash her sticky hands off in the community ice bucket by the ice machine. Yuck.

How am I blessed by the woman who woke up this morning and decided to slip into her too tight stretchy pants of red, white and blue USA flags and waving green dollar bills? Yes...WAVING GREEN DOLLAR BILLS. Reminding me it's a Happy 4th of July at sea with my shipmates. At this point I am praying for redemption.

I am in so much judgment. Okay I don’t like these people much, I’m trying, I pray. It suddenly dawns on me I feel spiritually arrogant… I think I’m better than these people just because ___________. You can fill in the blank. Can you relate to all this?

Then I remember a phrase learned long ago in recovery “if I think I am better than you or if I think I am less than you, then there is an inner child that needs some attention (healing).” This truth humbles me, takes me down another path of awareness. My peace comes from the laughter of my husband as I make a joke, looking out at sea and watching the incredibly blue water.

Sitting in a quiet spot on the upper deck, we are in line with the jogging path, there is a steady stream of people walking by. I decide to try and make eye contact with people, connect by smiling…no one but children notice. Even the children are surprised by my smiles. One four year old boy looks at me, I smile sending out love, in return he gives me a very guarded half smile. A reminder we learn too soon how not to connect. It’s all very weird. We are a community of souls on the boat. Our dinner companions, a lovely couple from Dallas Texas share that people seem to be pushy and mean to the help. DH and I laugh explaining that’s SouthFLA way.

I start asking our waiters something personal, have a conversation…and then watch their polite rote masks fall away, they share stories of being out at sea, threats of job loss, the time away from their families and children and new babies. Like our Hungarian waiter whose getting his degree in Environmental Sciences at FIU so he can move up into ship management, get more time off to be with his wife and new baby. My peace comes from these connections and as each story unfolds the light in their eyes touches my heart.

LOVE: Third day at sea we are getting into a routine. Feeding frenzy at breakfast is worse today because everyone wants to get off the boat and hit Cozumel. DH wants Cuban cigars and I just want to walk for nothing in particular, just want to be with him…we leave the ship, taxi into town. The slap haphazardness of Mexico is disconcerting, and the poverty leaves me feeling sad. How the trickle down economy is hurting these people. Hey lady do you want to have a drink..here's a free shot coupon, step this way.

As a little girl and young woman I had a tough time saying NO. Timid and quiet, raised to be very polite "good little girl"; in Mexico being timid won’t work. Merging with my True Self and the protectors for the middle-world I am ready for the psychic onslaught. Vendors with some very creepy vibes and their soul sucking eyes cajole us at every step trying to hawk their wares, “hey lady, hey lady, I have a gift for you. Come into my store.” Strangely enough the energy shape-shifts and starts to be a game each of us is playing for the other.I start to have fun with my strong polite "no thanks".

LG shares in the book the Balinese do not let their children touch the earth (structure/father/Capricorn) for the first six months of life; babies are considered to be gods sent straight from Heaven (womb/mother/Cancer). Babies are carried and revered as minor deities. Then at six months of age there is a blessing ritual honoring the four directions using Holy Water as their feet touch the ground. Imagine that, to begin life in such a connected way. Would we collectively need to drive ourselves to distraction- eat, drink, shop, smoke if we began with such love and appreciation.

While we almost lose it from Mexican heat, DH and I get back to the ship with cigars in hand. I have a deep appreciation for how far I’ve come from that timid and shy little girl I once was.

LOVE Day Four: LG and I are now traveling to Bali to meet with her medicine man, the Healer. There’s a hungering within me to stand on the ship deck, to sing and rattle to the Ocean- the Holy Water that surrounds us and is within us, but there isn’t a place to do that in this world at sea. I’ll stand out from the crowd, and well it’s easier to blend in and be like the others. But who's that serving? Living on the edge leaves me wondering “what does it mean to be a Healer in this ‘normal’ world?”

My thoughts seem to flow now like the pages of the book coming now in little vignettes. Last night at sea, tonight the silvery moonlight shimmers on the water, the stars twinkle, the wind breezes by us standing on the bow of our ship as we head to port. Boundaries and right timing, a good solid first chakra energy is what Capricorn demands. Returning Home one of the first emails I read is "Plunging to the Heart of Earth Life" and I am caught and taught by these words:

“…That perpetual gap between the one who knows that they know and the one who pretends that they don't, that gap is being bridged. We are going to be developing in the next years a mediating self. An awareness self, who can navigate and circulate, moving ever more fluently back and forth between the cosmic and earthly worlds.

As that bridging happens, as that navigational fluency develops, we will be able to sense simultaneously that somebody in us is wise, aware, awake, in tune. And that somebody in us is somehow still lost. And the further we're able to sense and know and be with that, the more the one who's lost will find themselves, and the one who is navigating from a greater cosmic reality will be able to embody through the one who thought they were just a little self caught in the world.We're getting updated.

We're getting fine-tuned. We're getting brought alive. We're getting brought forward, brought through, consciously-wakefully. And it will take years for this to fully register and integrate. But it is already happening, and it is a tremendous advance.

Meanwhile, on the surface of things out there in the world, there's a tremendous destabilizing energy at work (like a feeding frenzy at a buffet). We're being pushed right out of the past but into no place yet. There's an anxiety, apprehension, a millennial fever of subliminally sensing that something big is happening, but what is it? And can we go with it? And what is it really asking of us?- Mark Borax, 7.09 Soul Level Astrology Newsletter

So that is where I'm at at this Full Moon in Capricorn, remembering, connecting and wondering…how are these eclipse energies working you? Your thoughts?

Blessings,

Rev. Michele Lessirard, C.Ht. is an artist, inter-faith minister, shamanic practitioner, astrologer and teacher. Since 1995 she has preformed hundreds of soul retrievals, teaches through out the United States and is recognized for her ability to communicate the visible elements with the invisible- the spiritual aspects that are mirrored through one’s day-to day relationships with family, home and work.

© 2009 The New Moon Journal http://www.newmoonjournal.blogs.com written by shamanic astrologer and teacher Michele Bailey-Lessirard.

Michele pick up the rattle

Chiron is a wonderful planetary energy, when you tap into the Chironic energies; in essence you are dancing with the wound that causes most of the problems in your life. Those drama/traumas that get you when you least expect it. If reading this you hear yourself say “well the past is the past”, well then think again. The places where we hurt make us more human. As healers we are expected to understand the pain; your “blessed wound” is what makes you a healer in the first place. In your birth chart Chiron’s placement and journey through the chart gives you understanding of what is out of balance and how to go about fixing it.

It takes 49/50 years for Chiron travel round your birth chart-in astrology it’s called a Chiron Return. Each time Chiron enters a sign he brings the deeper message of your “blessed wound”. Chiron is a bridge builder…he builds a bridge from the personal planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) to the trans-personal planets (Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto).

“[This story is] for the children within us who knew there were nature spirits, shining ones and more and the children whose lives we touch. May we open our hearts to the compassion and love of the Spirit world.  May the joy of knowing we are supported be with us each and every day.”- Shamanic practitioner Elaine Egidio

June 2009: Chiron is now enjoined with Neptune and Jupiter at 26 degrees of Aquarius. Neptune rules dream time and the fog of our addictions- drinking, drugging, food, shopping, spending, rescuing, hoarding, etc.

How one chooses to numb out when their pain gets too intense…wound= pain. Jupiter represents the energy of the teacher, Jupiter asks us each to expand into new territory, take a risk. Aquarius represents an original thinker, someone who thinks outside the box.

Chiron = Blessed Wound
Jupiter = Teacher
Neptune = Addiction
Aquarius = Stepping outside the box, being weird because you are not the norm.

Can you see the dance here of these energies? At fifty I breathed a sigh of relief that Chiron was through with me. Whew what a ride!

Yet starting this past December at each quarter turn-solstice, equinox, solstice I am deepening my understanding of long standing issues and taking the healing to a new level of love and understanding. Has that been happening with you? I knew I was in something and riding the wave once again…being rubbed raw to become real. Last week I asked the question…

When was the last time Chiron was at 26° degrees of Aquarius? I looked at the charts last week and thought "oh @#$#!"

Spring of 1959-I was three years old, the time of my first official food binge. I ate so many carrots I turned orange (yes I have clear memory of this, I remember a lot of my childhood). It was also the time I saw my first vision (clear sight). It was also the time I came in from playing and innocently told my mother I was talking to my friends- the nature spirits and shining ones. Mom’s harsh reaction and response to my declaration, “don’t be silly, there are no such things” sent me into a deep silence of shame.

She knew...
before everyone else
she knew

As a child she heard
and felt things
In people
their homes
in places
she knew.

The Unexplainable and
just plain weird
the good and the bad
she took it on
she took it in
she looked at it
sometimes digested it
she knew

She didn't fit
She threw fits.
She felt weird.
Because

No one could explain
this part life to her.
How do you explain
the unexplainable?
She hid it well
kept this secret
for a very long time.

Years later, now a young woman
Dad left her house
She felt it in her bones
the pain of never seeing
her Daddy again.
She cried all day.
Weeks later
the boating accident
then the stroke.
He's never been the same since.
She knew

Sitting in the meeting
the urge to leave.
Her child was in trouble
could she be imagining things?
She rushed home to find
Little girl and sitter
locked out of the house
in a thunderstorm
for over an hour.
She unlocked the door
daughter scared for her life
leaped into her arms.
She knew.

Dreaming
she saw her sister
sick and ill.
she woke up crying
two months later
the truth is revealed
about the tumor.
She knew

Finally one day
she visits The Healer
filled with spirit, laughter and joy.
Who became the mentor, teacher and friend
Re-birthed her gift of knowing
breathing in the truth "I believe in me" and
"I forgive myself for not believing-
I know what I know."

And so began the journey
to be okay,
with the knowing.
That comes and goes
Flows like the Tides
She knows...

It's the nature of women to know, it's part of our sacred feminine mystery; the betwixt and between that is not taught. Our mothers, our grandmothers are wounded, and this soul loss is passed down generation upon generation...are you the one to say "enough is enough, I want to know again?" How did your mother travel the psychic waters of Knowing? How do you discount your own knowing?

Full Moon and healing with spiritual light

Tired from editing and sorting 15 years of accumulated stuff, I unconsciously drop the heavy box of art supplies down onto the hand truck; the cart handle shoots up and slams me square on the bridge of my nose. Shocked by the force of the impact, I straighten up, numbness now rapidly spreading out across my face as I start silently shouting ’oh no, oh no, oh no!!!’ Am I bleeding? I move into transmuting the energy, healing with spiritual light, along with running for the Bach’s Rescue Remedy to take the edge off my fear. Dang it, why did I pack my essential oils?

Okay the dog did think me a bit crazy waving my arms [extracting], praying and singing to my nose...but it worked. After a trip to the emergency room for x-rays the doctor advises it’s a broken nose with hairline crack, I decide to take things easy, thus I didn’t feel like writing this week. What just happened?

Removing the WOO WOO

For the last four weeks I embraced some serious house staging to sell our home, which means dismantling my healing room and giving the space back to Dear Husband as a home office. He is soo happy! [There’s some good mojo in that space.] It also meant packing a vital part of myself away- the huminia, humina stuff [dear daughter’s description for her mother’s quirkiness].

The staging and healing room dismantling [it’s now sitting in a POD] caused some tears [I felt like I was going into hiding], but it also gave me the opportunity to know that many of the tools/things/stuff I had acquired and leaned on these last 12 years are no longer necessary to do healings. I grew out of them and the items need to move on.

In making over the house, normalizing it for an everyday family means I am called to withdraw my energy as I move from room to room. From a shamanic feng shui point of view it is much harder to sell a house when the person/family still has heart attachments to the place. There’s been joy and sadness- remembering. I am aware of all these things as I pick up this and that, making choices- keep/pack, toss or give, Free Cycle and Shred-it has become my favorite resources.

The smack on the head, specifically to the third eye, brings me new insights. First off I am glad to know alternative measures for healing- I don’t need a bunch of tools-rather simply become the healing... and then there is the self reflection "Why this injury, why now?" The trauma is right below my third eye, the seat of intuition and the Full Moon in Cancer is fast approaching (Sunday, December 23 at 2° of Cancer). Cancer and Capricorn work together to balance the masculine and feminine energies within us. Cancer is the mother, Capricorn represents the father. Water and earth. A man builds a house, but a woman’s energy makes it a home.

The Moon rules the sign Cancer and all things to do with feelings, emotions and intuition.What are the energetic consequences of discounting the Cancerian qualities womanhood offers you (intuition, feelings, emotions, moods, Moon, mothering, roots, home and family) in favor of being more masculine? This week the buzz has been around teenage pregnancy? And that is exactly what I wrote about six months ago at the New Moon in Cancer.

On Wednesday Jupiter entered Capricorn for the first time in 12 years, Saturn started retrograding at 8° Virgo...Saturn rules Capricorn and relates to the structure, the bones, support. And wow just in time I whack my third eye. Thus I start asking "what am I not seeing, feeling, sensing? What is breaking down to break through.?" A flood of insights bubble up related to personal and work experiences that happened around this time back in Christmas of 1987; which had to do with getting pregnant, moving to a new home and office and self-esteem issues. **smile** It’s all so fascinating how one thing weaves into another, and maybe I needed the smack in the head to wake up. Lesson learned, thank you very much.

Taking care of your Heart’s Ache

If you find yourself in a holiday funk see if the energy is tied into missing your home, your childhood home, family home, things related to home, heart[h] and mother. “In order to release Cancer’s creativity, we must first cut the umbilical cord which binds us to family karma; leave the safe womb of the home and choose our own direction in life.” (Archetypes of the Zodiac by Burt, p. 113) If so do some journaling and write down your expectations, you may want to create a soulcollage around the energy to get the message. Light up the fire pit (or barbecue) and release the old stuff to the fire.

I feel grateful, while I did look like Marsha, Marsha, Marsha from the Brady Bunch for a day, the swelling went away, and I am on the mend with a bit of tenderness and very little bruising. Tonight we’ll light a fire in celebration of the Solstice where I’ll be releasing this karmic stuff to the spirit of the fire. Happy Solstice and full moon!

Reference Book- Archetypes Of The Zodiac (The Llewellyn Modern Astrology Library)

A woman's place is in the home

Going to get the mail Dear Daughter toddled down the narrow hall in front of me, laughing and smiling with all the innocence of a one year old when suddenly the broker stuck his head out of the conference room door to give me a angry glare that psychically screamed “shut that damn kid up”.

I felt guilty for bothering him. Later on I got very angry at myself…my vision of motherhood, having both career and family each seamlessly blending, was falling apart. Working* with fortune 500 companies in the corporate world I had a foot on two shores- the business world and mommy world, then I fell into the waters (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) where nothing would ever be the same.

A year into my Mommyhood I attended a Nawbo Conference in LA. One speaker was Sharon Poindexter, a past national president of Nawbo and one of the founding members who helped shape the vision and mission of the National Association of Women Business Owners in the early 80’s.

That day Sharon took the stage she didn’t talk about business matters, making money or networking. She shared the story of her soul loss and the missing piece we were all collectively searching for- the divine connection... heart and soul, a woman’s ability to create. She called us to look beyond the known, to blend our leadership, power and spirituality in the service for humanity.

In the late 80’s Sharon had the courage to let go of her corporate life to become a Unity minister, that day she got a standing ovation from her peers. I stood there clapping and crying, not knowing why. Even today I cry as share the legacy how her inspiring words touched me.

A woman’s place in the Home.

“I was raised to believe that you must aspire to be a homemaker or Miss America. I never wanted to be Jane. I always wanted to be Tarzan. I didn’t want to vacuum the tree house and take care of Cheetah and Boy. I wanted to swing from the vines”- Cybill Shepherd in Fearless Women.

At what point did Homemaker become a dirty word?

Homemaking felt so limiting to me in high school. Like Cybill I embraced the freedom of Tarzan, abandoned Jane. The sign Cancer rules intuition, feelings, emotions, moods, Moon, mothering, roots, home and family. Homemaker. There is a new moon in Cancer at 22 degrees on July 14th at 8:04 am.

Why this topic? Why now? Conversations. My best friends unmarried, frustrated artist-daughter announces she wants to have a baby. We sent our only child off to college last week. I fell into a deep conversation about soul loss, mothering and creativity with a woman I just met and well this morning I woke up to read a blog post from one of my favorite coaches -

And...lest you be worried, let me assure you - no this won’t be turning into a fertility blog although I’m sure my writing will take on some of these new flavors in the pursuit of money and meaning transparently with your company. My goal is to remain as useful and enjoyable as ever!

Useful and enjoyable as ever? Oh my, sadly it sounds like my coaching friend won’t ever share her insights again about trying to become a mom...let’s just focus on the business of coaching, networking, making money. She seems almost apologetic. Less Jane, more Tarzan.

I just want to say Yes!! share your struggle, Yes!! share how this is impacting your business women persona. Would we have this discussion if a great blogger shared some of his daddy insights about his journey? What is wrong with mommyhood, being a blogger, being an entrepreneur? The soul of you- in all facets of living life.

Does anyone else see the creative connection? Cancer is the archetypal force of fertility. Pregnancy is the divine form of creativity. We give birth in so many forms- we birth a business, we birth a book, we birth a child, we birth a home; sharing our personal journey makes us human, even in the business world of trying to become a mom.

Fertility and today’s modern woman.

InFertility is a creative issue women are facing at alarming rates. Especially in business women. Energy. Vibration. Collectively women are out of sync with their Moon and internal MOM, the waters within. Leadership, power and spirit is a creative process found in HomeMaking. Sadly many women find the need to hide their mommyhood, sensing that sharing their experience in everyday matters somehow intrudes on our ability as business women. Makes us less credible. Pam Smart asks- Are you in the mom (or dad) closet?

For me it’s a 30 year journey that I am now looking at with a wider lens. Upon graduating from college I swore I would never be a stay at home mom. Never. Ever. Fourteen years later I changed my mind. Oops! It wasn’t easy and I felt very guilty leaving my business and my business women friends.

When I left the corporate world* to be a full time Mom and Homemaker I saw things differently... I began the journey to heal my pain, but then I saw the same pain in my Nawbo friends and neighbors.

Take Jane, an IBM programmer, who went through two intense in vitro fertilizations to conceive her first child. At her baby shower the corporate bankers and IBM moms separated themselves from the non-working mothers. There was no mixing or mingling, there was no common ground. It was a bizarre evening...With her second child on the way, Jane was at a crossroads; sharing my story, exploring what her heart really wanted gave Jane the courage to transition from corporate life to HomeMaker.

How are you living your mother’s Fractured Fairy Tale?

Today young women are making their way through the old consciousness we left behind (from the 70’s and 80’s) about what it means to be a woman, wife, a mother, a professional in business. Think for a moment about Anna Nicole, Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton. Aren’t they living out their mother’s fractured fairy tale?

As a former corporate person who has lived and witnessed this split (in herself and others)...I offer this- if one discounts any aspect of their life, pushes it into the shadow then that person and their family suffers, because you are not being real. How are you living an Authentic Life?

In my practice with clients I see a collective soul loss in the psyche of women around all forms of mothering- becoming a Mom and being seen as a Mommy in the business world. Through birth we bring Spirit into matter. Heaven into earth. Maybe this all started with…

Good Girls don’t get pregnant.

Did you grow up in a time where it was not okay to ‘get pregnant’ if you weren’t married? Good girls don’t..don’t sleep around (hook-up). Don’t get pregnant. The call- focus on your career (not the home). Swing from the vine.

Career= Capricorn= masculine= practical= more Tarzan
Home = Cancer= feminine= mystic= less Jane

Birth control pills did the trick for me, but the concept of not getting pregnant was so engrained in my psyche (even while I was married) that by the time I wanted to ‘get pregnant’ I couldn’t. Duh?

What about the energetic consequences of discounting the Cancerian qualities womanhood offers you (intuition, feelings, emotions, moods, Moon, mothering, roots, home and family) in favor of being more masculine? Do you still call it the Curse?

From the age of twelve each monthly period brought an unconscious awareness-grinding in my mother’s message- good girls don’t get pregnant (many of my older female cousins had to ’get married’). Fractured fairy tales.

What does that say about my relationship with the 2nd chakra, the divine feminine within. It was pretty wounded. As women the true spirit of our work is to blend both the practical and mystical (Cancer/Capricorn), then we live in authenticity and can be of service. Healthy caretaking at it’s best.

Cancer represents our relationship with the Great Cosmic Mother…

"In indigenous cultures [a woman’s period, blood time] is revered as a sacred mystery where psychic powers open us up for revelation. Ancient women were able to access power and vision during their periods that lead to tribal decision making and the laying down of tribal law". (Noble, p. 22)

And now there is a pill that reduces this fertile time away from young women to just four times a year? Don’t conceive, don’t bleed, don’t create!!

And what happens when you want to conceive?? What happens to your intuition along the way? Your creativity? What are we saying to young women? What are we thinking as a society?

Are you Dressed for Success?

In the 80’s women dressed like men for business. Remember the concept of “Power Dressing?” Thankfully that trend has abated, but do you really understand the dance of Cancer and how that time period still impacts your life today? Have you made sense of your own fractured fairy tale?

Especially related to the creative juices of your womb, your self, your career, your home? How has the journey impacted our daughters and sons?

Wait I hear a pregnant pause!

For those maidens born in the 1970’s and onward…you were raised at the time of women’s rights, women in business, Gloria Steinem.

How did your Mom model this concept of womanhood for you? What constitutes power for you as a woman today? HomeMaker. DreamMaker. Business woman. How are rubbing up against those choices (conscious and unconscious)- you made, your mother made and yes even your feminine ancestors made at this New Moon in Cancer?

Good Girls don’t get Pregnant…

Coach friend I lived with the pain of infertility. My period was always on time. As a married couple it took us five years to conceive. I underwent laparoscopic surgery to find out nothing was wrong. We waited a year. Then Dear Husband and I spent six months for an appointment with the best fertility doctor in our area. We had the session with the noted doctor and his swimmers checked out fine. I checked out fine. Doctor said meds in a month. It was a mystery.

The following weekend I volunteered our services to baby-sit for a friend/client who was in a childcare bind. Hubby and I moved into their waterfront home (think Moon and the tides) for four days of instant family soup. Suddenly we had three kids- ages 3, 6, and 8. It was a blast. Within two weeks I was pregnant. That family experience said to my psyche it’s okay now, you can do this…

Find the WOW in your Mom and being a MOM.

In the 70’s, with the equal rights movement women abandoned home and hearth (Cancer) for the corporate office (Capricorn) thinking that it would complete us. We collectively made HomeMaking a dirty word. I pushed off one shore for another, fell in the waters and was called to find my WOW in being a Mom. Nine months after the weekend with the kids Motherhood followed and some seventeen years later Dear Daughter wrote this on a college application:

My mother is quiet, artistic and very progressive. From her, I have been influenced to always assess the true meaning of a situation and to think before I act, which balances out the outspoken attitude I have learned from my dad. I have watched her make countless businesses before my eyes over the years, and now I am convinced that it is not as hard as I once thought it was to create something out of nothing for yourself.

Embrace the fine art of shedding

Dear Daughter got me. I beam with pride. "Create something out of nothing for yourself" is the feminine aspect of meeting your intuition, trusting your gut instincts and taking action. DreamMaking. Moon meeting Saturn. Creativity in action. Shedding.

Death and rebirth..being a vessel of vision.

The goal is to make ourselves strong enough to be leaders, healers and teachers in our time. To create a strong central axis that each of us can stand her ground in the face of opposition, visible or invisible, that attempts to stop the expulsion of the possessing entity that has taking over the world.

A process of embodiment is taking place wherein women are called to become willing vessels of the vision. The women who perform this function are called Shakti women. Shakti meaning "to be able" refers to the power of the feminine force that is creative, instinctual and becoming. (Nobel, p. 240)

In these Cancer energies from June 21st through July 22 reflect on your own journey through periods, pregnancy and birth. Your Heart(h) energy represented by home and family. Where are you in the life cycle of death and rebirth, how do you embrace the fine art of shedding?

Like the Moon our body, mind and spirit mirrors these processes of letting go, going into the dark to birth the light; the creative process of building up and letting go. Holding the vision. The womb, our connection to place and space (home and work) and our intuition is our vessel to birth-new ideas, children, home, businesses. That is why the Moon is so important, her Light reflects our mystery and the nature of our earthly dance. From Full to dark to Full there is great leadership, power and spirit.

At this Capricorn Full Moon (check our April’s post) and the following New Moon in Cancer on July 14th check-in with your little girl, maiden, mother and crone.

An Altar creates your intent.

To me an Altar is a living SoulCollage in my home. We bring bits and pieces of our self, nature and spirit, together to set an intention, to claim and honor parts of our Soul. A process of HomeMaking and VisionKeeping that can be done at Home and Work. Each altar like a SoulCollage card has a Presence~it invokes the One, the Neter.

To work with the Cancer energy honor the Moon and your Vessel by setting up an Altar in your home/work area to meet that part of your fractured fairy tale, to embody your own Shakti Woman. I created a pdf with some journaling questions to take you deeper into the energies and to explain altar making in more detail.

What house is this new moon in? Where does 22 degrees of Cancer fall in your birth chart? That is where the action is.

24 hours before the New Moon contemplate on what you want to create in that area of your life. 24 hours after the new moon let your intentions go. Expect a shift by the Full Moon.

*President of Bailey-Lessirard Designs/MLDA- an interior design and architectural firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and BLD Purchasing- a contract purchasing of FF&E for hospitality services. During this time Michele achieved an outstanding reputation as a leader in the restaurant and hospitality markets through her marketing and design talents. Major accomplishments included 22 restaurants; flagship hotels for Holiday Inn and Hilton Hotel Chains and life care design for the elderly through Life Care Services, a specialist in retirement living facilities. Past President of the Broward County Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (Nawbo). Former member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), Institute of Business Designers (IBD) and the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS).

Today Michele is a well trained spiritual counselor who combines the visible elements with the invisible- the spiritual aspects of you that is mirrored through your day-to-day relationships with family, home and work. You and I are practical mystics. To read more journey on over to Shared Journeys.

Resources Cited:

Vicki Noble. 1991. Shakti Woman-feeling our fire, healing the world.
Nancy Alspaugh and Marilyn Kentz. Fearless Women- midlife portraits.

A big thanks to these women for their SoulCollages® at this Cancer New Moon:
Lena’s "Mother of the Universe" visit her at DropWithin
Brown Bear SoulCollage Card by Anne Marie Bennett-a trained SoulCollage® facilitator by Seena Frost, author of the book SoulCollage®. Visit her website KaliedoSoul.

Moms and Dads whose blogs I read :
Work it Mom
Visit Pam Slim’s Blog where she writes about escaping the corporate life.
E-Moms at home- the Unbearable lightness of being a mom and a dad
Success from the Nest has a great post on moving your dream forward.
Inside Fatherhood

Retrogrades-move backwards to go forward

Were you born between January and May of 1956? Then the transpersonal planets in your chart- Uranus in Cancer, Neptune in Libra and/or Pluto in Leo were retrograde at the time of your birth.* Any planet, when retrograde is operating against the normal tides of social trends. Plain and simple, you don’t fit in with the norm.

• Cancer represents feelings, security, roots, motherhood.
• Libra is about partnering, relationship and balance.
• Leo represents our ability to take a risk, live your passion and creativity- you may be asking yourself what has heart and meaning for me now?

At the moment Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are all retrograde!

Yesterday Robert’s post over at Aquarius Papers caught my eye "With all three outer transpersonal planets retrograde [Uranus, Neptune and Pluto], we’re reviewing "spiritual" forces at work since March that have us at threshold states of doing and being... Due to the Solar Eclipses of the past 7 months square Pluto [squares offer up a challenge] while the Lunar Eclipses conjuncted or opposed Uranus, we’re in a future oriented tide of evolution that is closing life chapters and opening new ones where we can become inspired, enjoy ourselves more, and light up our world in ways everyone can appreciate."

Retrogrades move us all backward in order to go forward.

It’s a do-over, a time of reflection, a time to make changes. I was born in March of 1956- Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto together with the Nodes were retrograde. Whew!! Joanne Wickenburg writes in her book Your Hidden Powers-intercepted signs and retrograde planets:

"retrograde periods intensify the energies, and because these planetary forces are so close to the Earth it creates confusion for the person [child. Those born into these Transpersonal retrograde energies] are called to meet the challenge and view life from a larger than ego perspective. To define how you make a difference in the world and how or if you are contributing to social and global evolution and survival." (Wickenburg, p. 185)

Time of renovation.

That just nails it for me. It’s been a year of transformation for me personally and professionally, although I don’t see where exactly I am going as yet, I know it intuitively. In January of 2006 my Helping Spirits shared that by June ’06 I would stop seeing clients. At the time I questioned it all, but by June I found it was time to devote myself to home and family. For a year I have gone inward getting ready, allowing myself to just be a Mom, grieve the change, get our home in order.

And I have been contemplating what is my next step? As a goal oriented woman, it’s been both confusing and interesting for me personally and professionally. I am grateful for my awareness and know I am just where I need to be. In less than 30 days Dear Daughter graduated from high school and left for college. Bam! My role as a mother changed overnight. I knew this was coming, but wow.

Time to transition back to Me. The Sun is now moving through Cancer highlighting my issues with roots, feelings and security; the Sun is getting ready to meet up with my retrograde Uranus in Cancer at 29 degrees. Expect an awakening. Suddenly I am thrown into “Where do I belong?” "What do I want to do now that gives me joy?" It’s cool and scary at the same time. And I know from reading other women’s blogs that they are experiencing something simular. I wrote about these Cancer energies at the Full Moon in January:

"Where do I belong" is a major theme where Cancer is in your chart. . .the challenge is to develop security by nurturing experiences rather than clinging to, depending on the strength of others. Cancer needs to say; “I feel.” - I feel secure. I feel safe. I feel content. I feel at home with myself. “In order to release Cancer’s creativity, we must first cut the umbilical cord which binds us to family karma; leave the safe womb of the home and choose our own direction in life.” (Burt, p. 113)

Now the Sun is in Cancer, there will be a New Moon in Cancer on July 14th. Jupiter conjuncts Pluto at 27 degrees of Leo at the mid-heaven of my chart. Saturn will be there in the next two weeks and stay until September. And that is what I love about astrology..it’s all about cycles and right timing. I have a roadmap of what is happening and a clue how to work with these energies intentionally.

The 10th house represents career, Saturn in Leo is asking me to restructure my professional self. Public image. Reputation. How I respond. My standing in community. Power and strength of my goals. Legacy to mankind. Now with this shift I expect more will be revealed to me over the next year. My task is to focus on what does give me joy- writing, SoulCollaging, art, building.

Opposite the 10th house is the 4th house...Fourth house represents the hearth-home, roots, ancestors. The task is to dance between Home and Career, seek the middle way. Saturn represents the structure, Leo rules heart energy-passion, children and creativity. Saturn in Leo is passing over this mark for the first time since 1977/78 asking me to look back and review the "Michele of 77/78" and Michele of 2007. Did I abandon any soul essence back then? What do I want to create now in my life’s work? What are my goals, now my role as a Mom has shifted?

What is happening for you?

Were you born with any of the Transpersonal planets- Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, in retrograde? (*see note below). What houses are affected? Look at the Zodiac Cheat Sheet and read the description of each house? Can you see the story?

Were you confused as a child about the adults and the energies around you? If you share these retrograde energies with me, you have a unique gift to share and be in service...how are you standing apart from the norm? Did you suddenly wake up in your 40’s? Did your life shift? If you have these retrograde conditions at the time of your birth, it’s a clue to deeper insights. Did you abandon yourself back in 77/78? It’s time to bring yourself up to date. Create a new story and intention. Can you make sense of it all now? Forgive and forget? If not why not?

See the bigger picture. You are a Transformer!

References Cited:

Joanne Wickenburg. Your Hidden Powers . 1992.
Kathleen A. Burt. Archetypes Of The Zodiac. 1988.
Robert Wilkinson. Aquarius Papers. Article- Spiritual Astrology in July-August 2007 Pt. 1 - Uranus, Neptune, Pluto Retrograde Coming In From the Unknown

* I am looking at these times in the late 50’s because we have reached (or are about to reach) the age of our Chiron return (50 year cycle). Here are some times when all the transpersonal planets were retrograde:

• Feb-May 1955
• Mar-May 1956
• Mar-May 1957
• March- May 1958
• March-May 1959

For exact days you may want to consult an astrologer or look in an ephemeris at your birthday.

When does Mercury retrograde in 2007?

Mark your 2007 calendars because here are the Mercury Retrograde Periods for 2007:

• February 13- March 7 2007 Mercury retrograde begins at 11 degrees of Pisces.
• June 15-July 9 2007 Mercury retrograde begins at 12 degrees of Cancer.
• October 11- November 1, 2007 Mercury retrograde begins at 10 degrees of Scorpio.

Notice that these retrograde periods in 2007 all occur in water signs. The element of water in astrology relates to emotions- the emotional body. Mercury is an air sign. Water and air. Mercury is the mediator. One good solution for a Mercury retrograde is to download and watch this video The Secred-to you. I wonder...

Cancer Full Moon- setting up your sacred place to create

This is late in coming to you because our 14 year old golden retriever took ill over the weekend and I needed to manage her care (she’s on a few meds and mending). It’s time for us to set up our sacred creative space for the year. To support that creative fire here is a resource sheet for the New Moon SoulCollage process. Note it is also the pdf text version of this post along with some other goodies. Let me know what you think either in the comment section below or via email michele at newmoon dot com.

We have a Full Moon in Cancer on January 3rd, 2007 at 8:57 AM est at 13 degrees. These energies are at play until the New Moon in Capricorn on January 18th.

Time to respond (Capricorn). . .to trust your gut instincts (Cancer). You may be contemplating “Where do I belong?” which is a major theme where Cancer is in your chart. . .the challenge is to develop security by nurturing experiences rather than clinging to, depending on the strength of others. Cancer needs to say; “I feel.” - I feel secure.  I feel safe.  I feel content.  I feel at home with myself.  How are you feeling at the start of this very new year?

“In order to release Cancer’s creativity, we must first cut the umbilical cord which binds us to family karma; leave the safe womb of the home and choose our own direction in life.” (Burt, p. 113)

Mercury Retrograde- come on baby light my fire!

On July 4, 2006 at 3:34 pm Mercury goes retrograde at 2 degrees of Leo. Fireworks to boot! These are the times to laugh and dance your way through. If you have been working on something, like a project, and it’s been in the works now before June 18th, please don’t fret. Go ahead with your plans…go with the flow. If you started the project/process after June 18th, then go slow, check out the facts.

During this time you’ll “discover the truth of a situation and be able to act accordingly.” (Hill, 2002). Mercury goes retrograde every 115 days. The Universe asks all of us slow down and stop a moment- relax, renew, restore. Mercury rules all forms of communication- it’s your day to day mind chatter that you either create through or get distracted by. Re-think. Re-focus. For those who have a chart in hand, you’ll want to see where 2 degrees of Leo to 21 degrees of Cancer is- that’s Mercury Retrograde’s territory for the next 30 days. Keep in mind you don’t see the bigger picture until the full moon in Aquarius on August 9th.

Mercury rules the ‘RE’ factor in all of our lives. This Mercury retrograde (July 4- July 30) period starts in fiery Leo and then moves into watery Cancer. Fire and water don’t mix. You may find yourself mad and/or passionate and then emotional about the whole experience. Have a good cry reminding yourself “if I can’t laugh at it, it isn’t healed.”

This energy started officially on June 18th on Father’s day. Maybe our issues with Dad and Mum are at hand. Whose voice is driving you to distraction? The goal of this energy is to help you clean up the affairs of the past two years since the Venus retrograde (June 2004–February 2005).

I won’t bore you with the details of that Venus retrograde period, just suffice it to say you now have the opportunity to do some rich deep inner renovation work related to feeling secure that moves you out into the world in a new way. What you have been putting off is now here in your face wanting attention.

The caution according to Lynda Hill in her book The Sabian Symbols as an Oracle is that the stories (mind chatter) get out of control. This is not the time to gossip about others.

How is this energy manifesting in my life? Well after two intense hurricanes seasons Mr. and Mrs. Lessirard are tired of hauling out and bolting down the aluminum panels three and four times in a three month period; then living like moles in the darkness with each hurricane that threatens (Francis, Jeannie, Katrina, Wilma). The Lessirard Home is getting impact hurricane windows…windows rated for ‘large missile impact’. Think about that statement. We are ‘retro-fitting’- ‘re-ing’ the place. In writing this I am reminded it was two years ago when the Hurricanes began pummeling Florida in a fast and furious way. ***sigh***

Don’t blow this opportunity. No just kidding, I sense you have been working like a dog trying every which way to make things happen, when in essence there needs to be a level of trust that all is in divine order. That’s the relax part. Your pushing energy isn’t’ working at the present moment. That’s why I am asking you to relax, renew and restore. Mercury retrograde is a time to stop the pushing, stop the controlling and ruminating on why things just aren’t going your way. Not a time to whine, it’s just making others angry. Play…get outside instead of checking email. Get a massage, read a good book, sit in that chair and veg. That’s the renew part.

The cosmic clean up crew are doing double duty behind the scenes and by August 1st you’ll be in a much different space and place mentally, emotionally and physically.  That’s the restore part. Come on baby light my fire!

Some key ‘re’ words for a Mercury Retrograde:

recess, relax, reframe, restore, renovate, revoke, rebuild, rebuff,  restructure, restyle, review, reveal, remove, rethink, revise, remember, relinquish, relish, relapse, rejoice, reject, reinforce, relate, relent, relieve, reach, reap, receive, reciprocate…..

Care to add you own?

God bless Florida and those hanging chads!! The New Moon in Cancer

Today we welcome the New Moon in Cancer on June 25, 2006 at 12:05 pm est at 3 degrees of Cancer 58 minutes. You can print this New Moon Journal out via the pdf link. and I invite you to share your own thoughts in the comment area below. Have you seen the movie, how are you feeling at home within and without??? Curious minds [me] want to know. Have a wonderfilled day

Mercury goes retrograde at 1 degree of Leo on July 4th  and moves backward into the sign Cancer during this lunation. Mercury rules the mind and our mental chatter. What will be revealed? Mercury and the Moon are then highlighted at this New Moon in Cancer which rules:

• Home/Family- your internal frame of reference. Gut instincts.
• Safety- security, feelings of belonging, protection, tenacity and financial security.
• Processes such as training and practicing, early childhood conditioning, growth, nurturing new beginnings.
• Emotional closeness- the caring for others, empathy, vulnerability, intimacy.
• Feelings- the changing of moods, awareness of our own feelings, sensitivity to others’ feelings, tenderness and awareness of needs.
• Nurturance- being supportive and accepting support, food, Mother, close family relations, taking care of others, being taken care of by another.
• Excessive Self Protection including clinginess, feelings of insecurity, possessiveness, overly cautious behaviors, fears of rejection and lack of goals.
• Health of the body representing breasts and chest cavity, pancreas, stomach, stomach gas, ulcers and tumors.

The New Moon in Cancer stands for the Holy Order of Water. We are born from water, baptized in water and healed in water (emotions). All religions have a sacred relationship to water. Saturn moved into Cancer on June 3, 2003 for the first time in 29 years and left July 16th 2005 to move into Leo. Saturn moving through a sign has a definite beginning, middle and end. This lunation is the first New Moon in Cancer since Saturn left the sign, this lunation packs a deeper wallop of energy since it’s Saturn’s last hurrah. Mercury is there to add the mental punch and kick it up a notch. This cycle is calling each of us to task- have we ‘got it’ yet.