New Moon Journal

Saturn and Uranus Opposition

This is a time of grand expansion, a opportunity to reconnect with the fragmented self and perform your own soul retrieval. Call back your power. Saturn entered Virgo in September 2007 and dances in opposition to Uranus in Pisces over the next year. This could be fun! (hey my Sun in Pisces is getting direct hits from this energy...)

We have one more New Moon in Virgo September 18th, 2009, next year at this time Saturn leaves and doesn’t return again until 2038.

Connect the dots and embody the Practical Mystic within, especially during the 2009-2010 New/Full Moons in Virgo, Sagittarius, Gemini and Pisces. Take the teachings deeper as Saturn finishes up the journey through Virgo...expect aha’s and shape-shifting.

Pisces New Moon-Dust off the Vision Board

Today we greet the New Moon at 7 degrees of Pisces, yesterday Mercury met up with Jupiter for his third and final meeting since going retrograde at Christmas. Dust off that vision board and the New Year's resolutions you created at the New Year and do some tweaking. What has been revealed over the last 60 days? What are you still stuck in? At this new moon before the Spring Equinox on March 20th revamp that vision board for the spring planting. Get the seeds ready to plant.

The 3rd and Final Mercury/Jupiter Meet-up:
Mercury moved out of retrograde on February 1st and mets up again with Jupiter in Aquarius on February 23rd at 12º Aquarius. The Sabian Symbol for this degree PEOPLE ON A VAST STAIRCASE GRADUATED UPWARD.

We are all operating at different levels of understanding, but we have come a long way these past two years. Over the last 60 days what has been revealed to you. Planning is done, now the laser like focus of Aquarius is ready to transform.

Pisces connects us to water's vapor or fog, the unseen forces, dream time, our connection to the Muse, the 12th house, our hidden fears behind the veil.

There is a spiritual quest to know "Am I supported by Spirit, or am I making this stuff up and really going at this alone?" In Pisces energy we see the split between head and heart.

At this Pisces New Moon
I am the One who
enters into dream time
walks through the fog
Crossing the bridge
Meets with her Helping Allies
Trusts the Journey
silences her skeptic
Strengthens her vision
Sets the intent
Embraces this Power Period
while facing her fears
and doubts
and still
Knows and Trusts enough
to take the risk
to walk
through the door
to greet the Spring Equinox
and plant my
Heart Seeds.

If Jupiter takes 12 years to circle your birth chart, now is the time to clearly state what your intentions are. Jupiter in Aquarius is like the energy of an 11th house new moon power period. Where do you want to be in five years? The Call? Birthing innovative solutions to existing problems with laser like focus…

Let’s talk about the Moon, water and storytelling. In astrology and your chart there are three water signs, Cancer the sign of mother, and nurturer. Cancer represents the energy of the Oceans, home, roots, and family. She's big, she's wide and she's loving.

The archetypal energy of Scorpio represents the toxic polluted waters of the planet, the place of transformation, within the body Scorpio represents your emotional body, all the places you are holding onto life's emotional pain. Scorpio's dark, deep and most times painful.

Here you'll want to curl up into the fetal position and just be. Stay too long in this place and things come to a standstill. It's a highly creative, transformative energy, but the emotional waters need to be moving, released.

"I am not going to feel [this negative emotion...anger, sadness, grief, etc.,]" which leads you deeper into Scorpio's darkness until finally you surrender and let go. Get angry, have a good cry, go to a therapist, start to work on 'those issues'.

Once the emotional body is clear and the emotional waters start to move, you begin to take on the greater message of your woundedness, which can lead to forgiveness and acceptance. You become the wounded healer bringing tools to heal others.

Pisces represents that connection to Spirit, dream time, dream work.The best time to create a treasure map/collage/vision board for the year is between the New moon in Pisces and the New Moon in Aries. Mercury/Jupiter's dance this last 60 days cleared the slate of emotional trash that no longer serves you. If you are still wallowing in it, talking endlessly about it with friends, cut the crap loose or you'll miss the opportunity the Universe is offering. What seeds do you want to plant this spring? Plant crap and in the fall you'll be harvesting crap!

What do you want to create?

Pisces and Virgo work in together to create a balance within, Earthy Virgo provides ground to watery Pisces who doesn't want to touch the earth. Saturn is still moving through Virgo giving you a new structure and foundation to create with. Neptune the ruler of Pisces is moving through Aquarius.

Neptune represents the soul force within you that wants expression, connection. At the time of the new moon Neptune is in conjunction with Chiron. Chiron represents the wound you carry in this life, and Neptune asks you to take it to a new level of understanding.

Neptune rules Pisces, the mystic or the addict. The television show Intervention speaks to this unhealed Piscean energy within a person, they are lost in their own fog. Pisces represents the 12th house, the 12th Step.

Neptune is foggy- the stupor of an addictive process- yours, your parents, your partner's, your children's. There is a boundless quality to this spiritual energy, because it's intangible, we question it, doubt it. Negotiate it.

Neptune dissolves habits, structures and forms- including addictions once they have lost their power. It is a place of unconditional love within you and around you. Can you truly feel that connection to Spirit if old emotional trash is in the way. See it's a dance between Scorpio and Pisces.

At this New Moon in Pisces where are you? Build a bridge to Spirit.

Pisces New Moon SoulCollage® challenge- create a card that represents the energy of Pisces. It may be related to an addiction, to a new understanding of how Spirit, the Muse, manifests in your life. Who do you pray to? Create a SoulCollage® card for this relationship. In some way give the Pisces energy a voice, express it.... Here are some Pisces I AM THE ONE statements:

• I am the One who dreams in partnership with Spirit.
• I am the One who Imagines. I am a Visionary. I create and build things from these imaginings.
• I am the One who lives in a state of confusion and chaos. At this new moon I embrace my ability to edit and sort through the confusion.
• I am the One who brings Inner Happiness- bliss, ecstasy, universal love. Psychic sensitivity- gentleness, mystical states the ability to escape life.
• I am the Inner Muse, who you trust- surrender and channel your spiritual power in service to others. Spiritual healing-meditation-inner peace, angelic assistance
• I am the One who is Compassionate-I know my wound, and honor it in my life, but I no longer live from it. I forgive, I understand, there is peace, acceptance and charity.

Shadow Pisces:

• I am the One who comes from water’s foggy mist, steam, vapor.
• I am the One who fears the Unknown, I bring you hidden strengths, from the subconscious. Dance with me now.
• I am the One who is helpless- I am still a victim of life, I procrastinate. My fear may manifest as a panic attack, an addiction, pain in my body.
• I am the One who is held prisoner by ____. Pisces represents places of confinement- monastery, mental institutions, jail, hospitals.
• I am the One who is in Exile. I look for secret enemies, hidden dangers, clandestine affairs.

In the body Pisces rules the spinal column, nerve fibers, feet, pineal gland, telepathic functions, white corpuscles of the blood, kinesthetic functions.

Pisces connects us to water's vapor or fog, the unseen forces, dream time, our connection to the muse, the 12 house, messages from behind the veil. Listen to Elizabeth Gilbert on Humans and the Creative Mystery- the connection to Spirit. You're Creative Genius.

24 hours after the New Moon release your intentions for this lunar cycle. Expect to see movement and deeper understanding by the Full Moon in Virgo on March 10th. Tune-up your vision board. Ole to you!

Again, there is a spiritual quest to know "Am I supported by Spirit, or am I just making this up and really going at this alone?" At this New Moon what do you know for sure about the Pisces energy within you? Around you?

Becoming a shaman- vet your spirit guides

The phone rings, “Hello is this Michele? I need to talk with a shaman* and found your name on the Internet and you live close to where I live. I am having weird things happening to me, I know I am supposed to do something but I don’t know what it is I am seeing things and communicating with my spirit guides I went to a healing circle in Texas and a shaman looked directly at me and said I have a message for you but then I left before he could tell me the message. I have the gift of prophecy and want to make a difference I see things…..

Yes it is a verbal stream of consciousness from someone I don’t know, who doesn’t know me. It happens. I take a deep breath and center myself, sadly there’s no joy in her voice when I ask: “What is your question, what do you need from me?”

She doesn’t hear me and goes on again with what is happening to her, within her…

“Mother Earth is failing apart, the rich are getting richer, there’s enough wealth…and there’s a lot that needs to be done and I am so upset by it all. It’s time for me to do something about it I need to talk with a shaman and I am having weird things happening to me, I know I am supposed to do something but I don’t know what it is I am seeing things and communicating with my spirit guides, Merlin's shown up, so has the Dali Lama, and a lot of other entities that want to speak through me, telling me information.”

At this point the conversation reminds me of a bad Verizon network- everyone's on the line and speaking at the same time. It just doesn’t make much sense.

What’s a person to do? Get some skills to deal with the energies. Born with a Pisces Sun, Neptune in Libra at 29 degrees at the 12th house doorway, Uranus sits in the 8th house at 28 degrees and the Pluto/Jupiter conjuncts at the mid-heaven at 29 degrees in Leo??? the best advice a gifted healer once shared- "Michele get your boundaries with the other side in order."

The difference between a shaman and a psychotic is the shaman knows who to talk to in non-ordinary reality [NOR]. I am aware of all this as the woman shares her story. This is real for her, it’s a wake up call. People are getting charged for the change [Pluto in Capricorn] and while I honor the path of direct knowing, I know after two decades of entering the mystical waters of the 12th house that there are certain rules one needs to follow in order to stay safe while navigating psyche’s channel.

Know yourself. Do I know who I am? Do I have a strong egoic container? It’s all well and good to dip into the 12th house Mysteries, but don’t speak to every Tom, Dick and Harry on the other side (NOR).

People are psychically open right now, there’s a lot of glamour in it “Oh look at me I am so special-even though my life is falling apart let me tell you what my guides have to say about your problem.” No thanks.

About Spirit Guides and those messages you receive…Would you walk into the grocery store and let the produce guy be your best friend? If Produce Guy tells you to go to the cashier and ask for $50 would you do it?

No, of course not, you’d build a relationship (Libra) one day at a time, so a level of trust is established, you know him and he gets the honor to know you. Your relationship deepens over time.

Just because an entity has shown up in your psychic field doesn’t mean you are supposed to talk to them. Like Sarah Pallin and Joe Bidden they have to be ‘vetted’. That's the way one builds relationships with Spirit Helpers in the shamanic level of consciousness.

You connect as one Being of Light to another, connecting with a loving God/Goddess of your understanding- praying for guidance and understanding. Working one day at a time with one helping spirit (The GateKeeper) you test the waters:

Is this compassionate Helping Spirit (inner guidance/voice entity) making sense? Are the messages coming from a place of love and harmony or are the messages creating fear for you or others?

Fear messages usually mean you have tapped into the wrong energy/entity. If the messages are fear-based then look at the issue. Really observe the content (make a soulcollage card), it may be related to your own wounded heart. A shadow part of you is trying to teach you something.

Remember if you have crappy boundaries with people in this reality, then you have the potential to have crappy boundaries in non-ordinary reality as well. It’s all about your self-esteem issues [Taurus, 2nd house]:

• How am I suffering?
• How is that suffering contributing to my need to be of use?
• If I am psychic and have gifts to be of service to humanity how am I leading with my woundedness?
• What am I doing to heal myself, first?
• Is my day-to-day life meaningful and joyful? If you aren't laughing, then you haven't healed the 'issue".

Consider this, as an empath if you have connected with a Spirit that seems malicious, seems to create fear rather than joy then the energy may be an entity or 'suffering being'. Step away, embody your Light. This is how possessions occur, there is a wound within you and the 'suffering being' sees your Light, is attracted and then moves to fill that space/place within you up. Again commit to your personal healing work-there is no free pass.

Look for a practitioner, teacher who embodies joy on a daily basis, no matter what the conditions are. Know too that you are responsible for anchoring your own joy and light. The Piscean age of the Guru is done. It’s your responsibility to learn spiritual practices that fill you up with Spirit…do things that make your mental, emotional and physical life vibrant. Embody the light, be joyful.

Beam...this little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine.

Learning how to shamanic journey creates a safe container for your work/service. If you have questions about an experience with a Helping Spirit step away and go for a walk out in Nature. Pray for guidance and understanding, then watch for answers. Stop and rest. Gather yourself. If your life is in chaos- then take steps to ground yourself. Become real in this reality first!

It’s a partnership, and a healthy shamanic practitioner does not abdicate their judgment and reason (Taurus). One knows when to let go and walk away even in NOR.

It’s all about boundaries, becoming the best healer you can by staying grounded in this reality while surfing the waves of the 12th house in joy. You are a vibrant being- that’s why the path is called becoming a Practical Mystic. *smile*

*To learn more about shamanism go to Shamanic Teachers or The Foundation for Shamanic Studies.

Shamanic practitioners* work in the world behind our eyes; creating a sacred container through ritual and intention. Through shamanic journeying one changes their consciousness using the steady beat of a drum or rattle to access the shamanic level of consciousness; this moves you into non-ordinary reality or NOR. The journey-work creates a healthy container between this world and that.

One learns (without drugs) how to enter a shamanic state of consciousness for problem solving, healing and community building. It’s not a religion, it’s a spiritual practice that has been with us for thousands of years. One journeys with a question- coming and going with loving intention, there are boundaries.

Only the community you serve can designate a person a shaman.

I highly recommend the Shaman’s Heart Program by Byron Metcalf.

"True shamans see through their hearts, live a life of honor and respect, and have a light and joy shining through their eyes that Westerners long for. The Shaman’s Heart Program by Byron Metcalf (in collaboration with Monroe Products) teaches us how to embrace all these gifts. His work is brilliant and accessible to all. Those new to shamanism as well as experienced shamanic practitioners will receive great benefit from this program. I know I did!" – Sandra Ingerman, author of Soul Retrieval and The Shamanic Journey: A Beginner’s Guide

PS. Just because someone can build a website does not make them a good "go-to healer" or shaman. LOL

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.

Join the fishes- a call for Pisces SoulCollages®

I jet off this week to San Francisco attending the SoulCollage® Facilitators Training with Seena Frost. Last two times I registered we had hurricanes and a family illness, so this is a long time in the making, and I am so excited! Monday I was busy making SoulCollage® cards (7) from collected images (posted throughout this article and on the Flickr badge below). I am sure I’ll have more to write about at the Full Moon when I return.

Up next the call goes out for collages representing Pisces….the Pisces SoulCollages are due March 2, 2007. “I am the One who weaves my dream with Spirit.” The Sun moved into Pisces on Sunday February 18th. Mercury is retrograding in Pisces to Aquarius until March 7th. So what’s Pisces all about:

Here is where total commitment must be made to proceed with what, until now, has been only a vision, but what could eventually become a reality. In Pisces, you are encouraged to walk into the unknown even though there is not proof that what you seek could or ever will exist.

The experiences met in the house of Pisces are often considered karmic in the sense that you are confronted with your past. Pisces represents the power of positive thinking, psychic abilities, unselfish love and a willingness to help when help is needed even if personal sacrifices must sometimes be made. Idealistic, spiritual, sensitive, giving and compassion are all attributes of the sign. Escapism, wishy-washy, fearful, and unrealistic tendencies should be avoided. Faith should not be confused with escapism. ~ Brenda Brush

Where is Pisces in your chart? How are you called to express this energy? Your birth chart shows your own biorhythm. Astrology is an ancient symbolic language- the planetary movements (archetypal forces) are the time keepers for your life's journey. Working earthy Virgo area of one's life allows us to expand outward, because we are grounded and rooted to the earth. Then we can reach out and touch the stars (Pisces). In Pisces we learn to walk the razor’s edge being both human and divine. Pisces represents:

• Imagination, Confusion and Chaos, unconscious fears
• Inner Happiness- Bliss, Ecstasy, Universal Love
• Psychic Sensitivity- Gentleness, Mystical States, escapism
• Trust- Surrender- Channeling of Spiritual Power
• Spiritual Healing-Meditation-Inner Peace, Angelic Assistance
• Compassion-Forgiveness, Understanding, Tolerance, Acceptance
• Releasing Helplessness- characterized by. . .
• Victim Mentality, Procrastination, Panic Attacks, Addiction
• The spinal column, nerve fibers, feet, pineal gland, telepathic functions, white corpuscles of the blood, kinesthetic functions.
• Pisces represents the flow of life, the living waters.  When I follow my own flow, I know what I know and there is no need to defend. My walls are dropped, I am at peace. I am

Since this is the month of my birth, it’ll be fun to see how each of us takes the Pisces Mysteries deeper into our lives through story and art.

I am discovering too that some women need to start their first few new moon SoulCollages closer to the New Moon date, because the energy is more present to them. Once they 'see' the wisdom after making a couple of cards around the New Moon, they relax into the process and it starts to unfold. Why is this?

It’s a new form of creating (astrology and/or SoulCollage®)…your rational self just doesn’t grok it, and/or doesn’t want to let go. And that’s okay. We all have a part of our psyche that just wants to stay in control, and over think things (anti-Pisces). There are those who like to be looky-loos (Marge Simpson), they keep on observing and hesitate diving in (I’m not artistic, I don’t know how). The voice you hear may be your own fear around revealing too much, it’s not safe or a voice that screams “I just don’t know what to do!!” Maybe collage the fear voice (Pisces rules unconscious fears). Here are some good Pisces journaling questions:

1. How am I  staying cloaked, afraid to come out and express my inner talent?
2. How am I trying to do too much too soon?
3. How am I not moving out on my path?
4. How am I locked into the paths of others, rather than pursuing my own dreams?
5. How am I ignoring my own illuminations?

As the New Moon approaches you may find all that stuck energy flies out the window and you just start creating. Suddenly your SoulCollage® image is right on the money for what the energy is all about. Has that happened to you?

I have witnessed many on the Kaleidoscope Yahoo group unconsciously create collages celebrating the new moon (chakra, color, images and stories) without even knowing about moon energies. These women don’t know about the Moon or her energies, but the colors, stories and art are definitely reflecting the astrology of the moment. And that to me is so awesome!

Astrology is a sacred language of symbols and metaphor with an inherent mystery. SoulCollage® speaks to your own mystery… we may not understand but intuitively fall into the tapestry of it all… for all of us are re-membering and expressing our story within, in a very sacred way... That is a profound journey. No judgments, no deadlines. The deadline is only for those who’d like to take the opportunity to have their cards showcased at the New Moon.

So whether you make the Pisces deadline or not, still cut, paste and create. Send me your SoulCollage® images and aha’s (now or six months from now); eventually you’ll establish your own rhythm to the New Moon SoulCollage® process. Because it is just that, you tapping into your own flow, creating healing stories that problem solve and empower you in your daily life. And that happens on nobody’s schedule but your own. ***smile***

Images in this post were created through the SoulCollage process by Michele Lessirard. Check out the rest of the images posted on Flickr.

www.flickr.com

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...

Part 3- SFC*- huff and puff and can't blow your house in

Michele’s To Do List:

• Garage Make-over like HGTV’s Garage Organization Tips
• Tackle project like pros on Mission Organization
• Get the house “Designed to Sell”
• Coordinate PGT Hurricane Window installation.
• Replace canvas window awnings destroyed by Hurricane Wilma.
• Clean and repair leaking roof.
• Select new color scheme for house exterior.
• Paint roof and house.

Read Part 1 *Michele's Summer Fun Camp here.
Read Part 2 here.

Some might be asking "why is she writing this when her blog is about the New Moon?" Well this New Moon in Virgo is about editing and sorting, organzing and getting day to day routines in place for work and health. And if I can tackle what seems to be an impossible project, maybe you too can break through the resistance and bust some clutter. Week Four: Wish I could've found my digital camera to take before pictures, but here’s a shot of one wall, the entrance everyone uses to go inside the house. Before paint-ugly isn’t it. First thing Monday morning I run back over to Plantation Building department to extend POD permit for another two weeks. Takes four hours, so many contractors and so few city employees- I count three working at various speeds. I notice many men send their wives with kids. Good news as I sit and wait I hear the city challenging contractors on their licenses and insurance. Good for us. Lines are not moving fast enough for me, it's a hurry up and wait....don't they know my puppy needs to be walked. No problem she didn’t soil crate. Roxy is settling in nicely. Now roof leaking in Family Room with all the rain, dripping down wood blinds on Dear Husband as he watches TV. Before roof can be repaired it needs to be cleaned. Arrange for Ultimate Power Wash to come and clean roof prior to roof repairs. Ultimate Wash guy wants tree branches off the roof. This guy shows up on time and I like his energy. (that’s how I know who to hire and who not too). I feel such gratitude now with people who do show up in these times of stress. Says he will be back Friday to do the work. I now have 24 hours to cut back 20 foot Crepe Myrtle tree hanging on roof. Dear Husband is out of town on a business trip. Standing on 8 foot ladder with pruning shears trimming the tree. Get most of it down and it looks pretty good. Call to tell Power Wash guy didn’t get all done, he’ll come back on Monday. Roofer called earlier in the week and promised to come by to look at problem. Painter calls and says he is coming next day to paint garage. I have less than 24 hours to get garage cleared of remaining items and ready. Still have to clean garage floors. Saturday Dear Husband and I finish trimming tree and DH spends day grinding up five foot pile of tree limbs. Roofer we love and trust (whose repaired and maintained our roof for over 14 years never shows up), doesn't call. Sad because I like the guy and trusted him. Now I need to find a new roofer. Call around town to find new roofer.

Woman asks “do you have your own roof tiles” “what???, No (what homeowner stocks their own roof tiles?? I silently think to myself.)” The woman replies “Roofers can’t get cement roof tiles and we are only taking jobs where homeowners already have their tile. I recommend that you call around and find a roofer who has cement tile.” There are no supplies of concrete roof tiles to be had in South Florida!! Didn’t know that. What’s a homeowner to do with a leaking white tile roof??? The traditional material of choice for tile roofs in South Florida. This is just crazy!! Dang. Can’t get building supplies or good workers. Painter’s man shows up to paint garage. Fails to prep certain areas. Spends a lot of time taking smoking break and talking to girlfriend on phone. Done by mid-afternoon. Notice next day he sprayed over area of peeling paint!! Painted cabinet doors closed so when I open them the door pulls paint off. I hate this, why can’t they do things right the first time. Now I have to call painter back to correct problems. Before I can make the call…Hurricane-a-coming. I wake up to find Hurricane Ernesto has changed course and is headed our way. Husband is both mad and disappointed because first college Gator game could be canceled due to Ernesto’s track through Gainesville. He heads out to fill up cars with gas and gas containers for generator. Proudly says my truck will get us out of the state if we need to leave and head back up to Kelly's. We are all remembering no water, no gas, no electric of last years storms (Katrina and Wilma). We just don’t know what is going to happen with the weather. Power washer guy calls to say he has to cancel Monday’s appointment due to hurricane Ernesto. He’s leaving for Europe on Wednesday. Roof cleaning pushed back two weeks. No problem. Washer guy will be back to do the work on September 11th. Schedule POD to be picked up. POD can’t be on site during Hurricane Watch. Advised by POD company it has to be emptied by 7 AM Monday morning. The woman on the phone tells me they’ll be here anytime after 7 AM and I better have it emptied and broom swept with no lock. Rich and I wait until dusk and start moving items from POD back into garage, we working into the night. Here’s a picture of the stuff in garage. 70% better than it was. I feel disappointed because everything in POD is put back into Garage wily nilly. Essential pain is I my critical inner voice always want to do things right, so right I end up beating myself up. Sometimes I end up not doing anything- dang you inner voice. Well that doesn't work either. Realize my initial sorting and labeling helps. I still have to go through stuff again to organize it. I envy people who have pristine garages, and wonder 'how' do they do that? My garage doesn't look like an episode of HGTV’s Mission Organization!!

Part 2 Michele's Summer Fun Camp-

Home repair backlog rises, and so do consumer complaints. Complaints about licensed and unlicensed contractors who don't show up or do shoddy work continue to pour into state and county agencies 10 months after Hurricane Wilma battered South Florida. The problem: Overwhelmed contractors who have taken on more work than they realistically complete, a shortage of construction labor and materials and vague state laws.- this mornings headlines by Robin Benedick South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted September 3 2006

Oh my! Week Two: Feels like I am finally getting nowhere. Why do I have such an aversion to making lists is the question of the week? Bought a calendar to schedule all of this and now can’t find where I put the calendar. Organizing makes me wishfully think of how to do things differently. As I clean out and sort the garage I realize I did not get everything out for bulk day. dang. Make new pile for September’s pick up. Now half way through with all that is in front of me I am wondering what I have gotten myself into. Inner voice says “Stay on track.” Sort through remaining garage items for loading into POD. Load POD in categories MG Car, Cleaning Supplies, Holiday, Tools...etc. Rich helps sort through his car gear. Progress is being made. Garage is finally clear! I can see the floor and I can see and walk to the back wall. Yeah!! Take down old storage racks, peg boards, remove nails from walls. Now need to scrub walls. Daughter starts school on Monday. Time to take care of last minute items for back to school. Back to Garage: Use floor stripper to chemically strip section of garage floor where old vinyl flooring was installed under washer and dryer. We pulled this up in 1992. Chemical starts to eat through black plastic catch basin under water heater. It's melting, it's melting. Oh well guess that goes too. Now have black goo on floor. It’s 95 degrees and humid, while wiping sweat off face I accidentally wipe toxic stripping chemical stuff on face and eyes with t-shirt. Know because face starts burning near my eyes. Oh my. Flood eyes and face with water. Thank god I am near the sink. Trip to emergency room averted!! Call several painters to get quote on painting garage. Hasn't been painted in 37 years. Hire Hart's Painting because he did such a good job painting the house. The man seems distracted when he shows up and a bit disappointed it is such a small job. He can’t stay to give me quote on house painting contract, has to go, it's Friday. At least he showed up. Tom says he can paint the garage in the next two weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed. Will he, won’t he, it’s a game South Florida Homeowners play.

Puppy Time: Ten hour car ride up to sister Kelly’s South Carolina 2 acre spread to puppy sit five adorable golden retriever pups and to pick up our 8.5 week old puppy named Roxy (named after Sting song Roxanne). I wanted to name her Trixie after "Trixie the whore" on HBO's Deadwood. Guess our family has a hooker theme going. Enjoy South Carolina's cool weather and nice people. Fun time with sister and parents. Daughter stops griping because it’s her last weekend before school starts and gets into whole scene. Ten hour car ride home. Fun family time. Puppy great in car. On return Roxy- proof family room to accommodate new dog. Everything is raised above four feet. Go to Vet’s for puppy shots. Start a new schedule -crate training and walking puppy every two hours. Many trips to pet store for chew toys. Playtime, work time. I am becoming more balanced. Letting dogs out can’t move sliding glass door in family room because sliding glass door track is shot. Each time I open it I am reminded to call the window company. Garage project temporarily put on hold for a week to take care of puppy. It’s like having a baby. I fall in love with new puppy named Roxy.

Part 1- Michele's Summer Fun Camp- Too Busy to Do What I Love

Michele's Fun Camp runs from August 1 through September ???. Wonder what it’s like to live in a Hurricane Alley? It means you have to put plans on hold and head in another direction at a moment’s notice. Many of you ask why I am not seeing clients at the present moment and the story that follows answers this question, it is a Virgo/Pisces experience. Pisces is the dream. Virgo gives one the structure and support to make the dream real. I dream of being organized and this is one story through the madness of clutter.

With Saturn in Leo (heart) opposition to Neptune in Aquarius this year we need to face our illusions, take ourselves out of the chaos we created, forge a new healthy structure to work within and from. They tell me the last time Saturn sat in opposition to Neptune was in 1971 (when I moved from New Jersey at 15 to sunny South Florida).

Astrologer Brenda Brush writes: “We need to face things and know the difference about what is real and what is not. Neptune dissolves walls, allowing you to see into your own life and deal with it. You will have to look at yourself and your life with a clear eye. Fix things in a healthy constructive way. With the coming eclipses you will be able to do so like never before.”

Home is a reflection of Self, I wrote my thesis on this for college in 2003. Our garage has not been painted since the house was built in 1969, the space is pretty bad and it’s bugged me for a very long time. Did I mention the Garage Karma…in September of 1992 when we moved into this house a week after Hurricane Andrew hit the garage is the place we forced the drug dealing tenant to move his stuff too as we closed on the house. The tenant was upset he was being forced to move from a house he hadn’t been paying rent on for the last six months, the property was about to go into fore closure!! A nasty scary man and a dishonest seller. The garage is where I stood my ground with the former tenant a month later when he failed to come back to move his furniture (after numerous phone calls and then giving him 24 hours to move his stuff or I’d call Faith Farm to haul junk away). Needless to say the Garage has not been cleared or cleaned properly since we moved in. Yet it’s the space family and guests walk through to enter the house. In Feng Shui our Garage is the area of Helpful People and after reading what I write, this story is about Helpful People or lack thereof. The Garage has been on my to-do list a very, very long time and this August I decided to tackle it. Let the organizing begin!

New Moon in Virgo~ common sense for chaotic times

“I am creatively expressing my soul’s purpose that benefits and serves others. Today I seek a clear understanding of my function and role in society.”- A Virgo affirmation from Alan Oken’s Soul Astrology

Worry-wart’s unite!!! Remember the year 1977!

As a Pisces I can’t say I am in love with this Virgo energy (although I do seem to come out of my shell at this time of year). I was a confirmed workaholic in my 20’s and 30’s. Virgo always seems like a critical voice saying ‘you should’ be doing this, you should be doing that! That leads to worry. Blah, blah, blah… I come from a long line of do-er’s . . Women who must stay working and busy to matter… who struggle with balance… and I admit I have not been “doing” much lately. On top of this my day-to-day routine (Virgo energy) has been whacked by our new lovable puppy (chaos). I am aware of what is and is not serving my highest good.

It’s a head and heart lunation. Head ~ thinking. Heart ~  joy. Work and health issues are kicked up a notch at this lunation…

Earthy Virgo of the New Moon
Wednesday August 23rd, 2006 at 3:10 PM
00 degrees Virgo 31 minutes

• Order, details, paperwork, punctuality
• Analysis, critical thinking, focus, discernment, workaholic, hysterical
• Well being, Health/diet/exercise, healers and healing
• Willingness to adapt, practical helpfulness, purity of intent
• Desire for perfection, processing, order out of chaos
• Worry, criticism, blame and judgment.
• Mentor-ship, Ancestors, Aunts and Uncles. Who are you mentoring?
• The Goddess Vesta and the house of ritual and magic.
• Health- bowels and intestines, constipation and diarrhea, digestion and assimilation, Solar plexus.

With the energy of Virgo at this new moon we are called to a common sense, practical approach to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This lunation is a turning point of sorts, at least for those of us who live in Florida. It is now the time of year when we see the energy of the wind takes on mystical proportions- Hurricane Andrew, Charley, Jeanne, Frances, Ivan, Katrina and Wilma in recent years. It is also the five year anniversary of 9/11/2001.

Every year since 1992, when Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, I noticed people’s energy would ratchet up around August 25th, they were so traumatized by the Andrew, yet unconscious about how it was still effecting them. In shamanic terms this is soul loss, psychologists call it PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

The reason I am writing about this is energy? You may see, feel, hear or just know that these cellular memories are activated in yourself, your family and/or clients. Just be aware.

Virgo asks you to embrace a common sense practical approach to life, your day-to-day routines infused with Spirit. Spirit and matter working in union brings transfiguration. More light and life rather than more drama/trauma. It’s a choice. Virgo is earthy and grounded. This New Moon is at 1 degree of Virgo:

Where is Virgo in your chart? What sits at the 6th house doorway/cusp?

At the Full Moon:  Where is Pisces? What sits at the 12th house doorway? This is where the action is this month with a new moon in Virgo and a full moon in Pisces. Pisces represents:

• Imagination, Confusion and Chaos
• Inner Happiness- Bliss, Ecstasy, Universal Love
• Psychic Sensitivity- Gentleness, Mystical States, escapism
• Trust- Surrender- Channeling of Spiritual Power
• Spiritual Healing-Meditation-Inner Peace, Angelic Assistance
• Compassion-Forgiveness, Understanding, Tolerance, Acceptance
• Releasing Helplessness- characterized by
• Victim Mentality, Procrastination, Panic Attacks, Addiction
• The spinal column, nerve fibers, feet, pineal gland, telepathic functions, white corpuscles of the blood, kinesthetic functions.

Pisces and Virgo work together to balance the mystical side of Pisces and the mundane world of Virgo. Holding the tension of the opposites we walk the razors edge in life.

Pisces is ruled by Neptune, a water element, fluid and boundless. For a person to work the Pisces area of their life and forget Virgo’s energy can bring a mystical union with the divine yet leave the person unable to function in their day to day world (chaos).

A strong Pisces personality needs to be grounded- two feet planted on the ground.

A strong analytical Virgo personality needs to be lifted. Balance these too extremes and the person is highly intuitive and grounded; one who is able to manifest their dreams in the material world, face their challenges and still laugh like a child. There is faith and trust in their ability to be present in their own lives. This month become Soul infused. . .

At this lunation Mercury, the communicator and ruler of Virgo is sitting at 22 degrees of Leo. The Sun which rules Leo is sitting in Virgo. Leo and Virgo are working in harmony as one. Leo represents what has heart and meaning for you, and Virgo provides you the day-to-day routines to make your dreams come true.

Do you focus on the mundane reality or dream a new dream? We practical mystics are disciples woven from fine spiritual threads of a Divinity long forgotten. The signs Gemini and Virgo are ruled by Mercury. Mercury is the messenger. In the sign Gemini the personality is strong, ego driven, ruled by thought. Thinking, thinking, thinking. The lower mind. Mercury in Virgo represents the grounding of Mercury into tangible forms- editing and sorting Spirit’s chaos into concrete forms.

Thus it is time to recognize what is feeding you in good ways, what nurtures you that gives you life. This lunation brings the urge to ‘fix’ things that aren’t working. Better yet. . . trust yourself and let the ‘stuff’ go.  If you are a highly creative person you may start things that then lose speed. You lost interest. Time to shed those old projects and habits. Move On.

Can’t figure this process out, or how to move on then just witness how and what you are doing without your inner critic. Become an observer of your life.

• Write in your journal or better yet do a collage by cutting out pictures that represent the energies you can’t seem to name.
• Does it have a color? Does it have a symbol? Whose in charge? Who’s speaking?
• If you feel really stuck then get help, ask for support.

Saturn in Leo: Saturn is moving through Leo for the first time in 28 years (1977/78). Reflect back on those years, especially the year 1977- what was happening for you then? How are the current conditions related to that time? Saturn rules responsibility and timing. Ever get caught up in being responsible and lose sight of what gives you joy? Saturn’s been working us for over a year in Leo, and there is another year of “Saturn in Leo” to go.  Oh my. Saturn is highlighting these issues, bringing them out of the dark closet you stuffed them into- back into the light.

Lately I realized that I am in a place of shifting and it has been a struggle to be okay with the transition. I find myself in a state of not knowing…asking myself hard questions…taking a different direction because I gave myself permission to go ‘unscheduled’ in May. My day-to-day routines have become more precious and meaningful. I am more conscious.

In my chart Leo and Virgo sit at the 10th and 11th house doorway. 10th house is Career related to work, 11th house is Service to community, so of course my work life is shape-shifting. Jupiter and Pluto conjunction in Leo in this 10th house at 27 degrees. Pluto always demands us to let go, take out the garbage, reclaim lost power. Jupiter is the planetary energy of expansion, taking a risk. When Jupiter is activated we are called to move out beyond our comfort zone.

Almost daily I find myself moving through feelings of guilt (because I am not responding to others) and elated (taking care of myself in a good ways). My workaholic self shouts “why aren’t you ‘doing’ something?” Exactly what is that something? Whose voice is in my head? I am grateful for this awareness. It’s helping me refocus and regroup before Saturn moves over Jupiter/Pluto. I have gone through times like this before, when I did a 90 degree turn and headed in different directions.

My pattern is to get so busy I lose connection to my spiritual self, and that is not a good thing. The essential pain is I can’t do everything and still be grounded/ connected to Spirit. The earned reward of “not knowing” is seeing both the challenge and the sweetness. I am integrating a deeper balance and harmony. Giving myself permission to live an ‘unscheduled’ life (at this moment) is creating a deeper connection to myself, my home and my family. This life chapter I am currently working may sound chaotic to a practical person, but hey I am a practical Pisces.

So at this New Moon in Virgo do some deep listening to your heart of hearts. Be fearless in letting go and moving on by taking a common sense, practical approach to what you want to create now. Fix things. Get a routine that supports your dreams. Wake up if you are asleep. As astrologer Caroline Casey shares “How are you are laying the groundwork for the reality train to follow these next 28 years?”

Let those worries go! Joyfully yours at this New Moon in Virgo!