New Moon Journal

Saturn in Virgo

At 9:49 am Sunday, September 2, 2007 Saturn enters earthy Virgo for the first time in 29 years and stays for two years. Over the next 10 days I will be discussing these Virgo energies in short posts every other day. My goal is to serve you with a series of constructive creative insights into how Saturn in Virgo may be working and learning you...especially as we approach the New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Virgo on September 11, 2007.

“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

Get Grounded. Honor what you know. Saturn represents the connection to all things of matter- earth, your 1st chakra, structure, the masculine principle, the Father. Tribal conditioning that may no longer serve you. The will to survive. Something is being birthed, you may not see it yet for it still sits on the spiritual realm ready for manifestation. But only if there is order and structure to give the energy form.

First lets look at your cast of characters and how the vibration of Virgo impacts your life:

1. Where is the sign Virgo in your chart? What house?
2. Are there any planets in that house?
3. Who are those mentors that serve as a Virgo mirror in your life’s journey?
4. Who are the important people born in the sign of Virgo [August 21 through September 22]?
5. Are these Virgo people a challenge or a joy to be around? Look to past relationships?
6. In those Virgo relationships what have you learned?
7. List significant events that occurred in your life around mid-August through mid-September.
8. Look at the last time Saturn was in Virgo. List significant events in your life from August 1978 through October 1980.
9. Look at the Pisces people in your life? Again where they a challenge or a joy to be around? What lessons did these Piscean people bring you?
10. List significant events in your life from February 1994 through April 1996.
11. I invite you to create a SoulCollage Community card to honor these significant people in you life. For more information read The Community Suit in the SoulCollage book by Seena Frost, pages 23-32.

I created a Virgo Journal PDF for use in this exercise. The task is to gather information about how Virgo/Pisces has impacted you life- both the negative and the positive.

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.

Working with clients for over ten years in the soul retrieval process I have met several people who get so fixated on their storyline that leaves no room for healing to occur. "How I was wounded" is the negative aspect of Virgo’s analytical quality gone astray.

The story’s constant repeat creates a vicious numbing cycle that can create additional soul loss in your life, in essence you missed the gift of the experience. But when we dance the story, breath the story, infuse it with meaning and magic the energy moves, transmutes and transforms.

What is true for you?

Can you voice that truth?

Can you keep your peace?

When we hold onto a belief, become inflexible, rigid and stubborn we create trauma/drama in our lives. There is so much misrepresentation of truth out in the world right now, so much mind chatter. What’s true for you may not be right for another. How do you embrace and embody the law of allowing?

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

Here is another article about Saturn in Virgo: http://www.astrodynamics.net/Articles/Saturn-Virgo.htm

Go to the Virgo Journal PDF

Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

Mercury retrograde-Febreze for your mind

A Mercury retrograde is like Febreze for your mind, and now’s a time to be INSPIRED. Wet blankets step aside.

Mercury’s moved through the waters of Cancer for the last 60 days, bringing up issues of survival, security and nurturance. Intense feelings. The connection between Cancer and water is vital to our creative juices. Just as the physical birth process involves the breaking of womb’s waters, so do our creative processes call for the breaking of the emotional waters within. In the last 60 days (May 30 - July 25) Mercury in Cancer has asked us all to breakdown to break through!

Here’s a pdf about 2007 Mercury Retrogrades

Emotions and feelings (the water) run deep when I take a risk, step out of the boundaries created by my family and culture to create new forms. While it is a scary place to be, it is the death of the old and birth of the new. After a Mercury retrograde it’s a time to feed your passion, not the fear. Take note of your inner urgings.

Where is Cancer in your chart? That area of your life was renovated the last 60 days.

Pre-retrograde period: People think Mercury starts on the day it goes retrograde. Nope. Two weeks prior we start down Mercury’s yellow brick road, we find ourselves in the thick of things. That period started May 30th-June 16th. What was happening for you during that time?

Two weeks prior to any Mercury retrograde the call is to become aware of what is tweaking you, that is where the learning is. It’s a time to de-clutter your toxic thoughts. This transformation of thought is what The Secret and The Law of Attraction speaks to. A Mercury retrograde offers us both a challenge and an opportunity to slow down, figure out the internal chatter- is it serving or diminishing my life plan and make the necessary changes to get back on track.

Mercury the alchemical change agent asks how do I digest the information I take in? Mercury retrograde gives us a do-over period, it’s the Universe’s way to say stop the car and look at the map- am I heading in the right direction. While Mercury is retrograding our conscious mind is out to lunch and collectively we are not operating at full steam- it’s a time of "introspection and investigation." (Wickenburg, p. 123) There’s a reason why you don’t start projects or sign contracts. And why it gets a bit chaotic, everyone’s unconsciously checking their road map.

Color me brilliant!

We are now in the post retrograde period: People think once Mercury goes direct, it’s done. Wrong. Two weeks after the insights and inspirations really start kicking in (July 9-July 25th). Stay aware, grab your journal.

We come full circle back to the starting point. We are not out of the mercurial waters yet because there was a Cancer New Moon on July 14 that lasts for 29 days. Insights may be surfacing especially at the full moon in Aquarius on July 29th.

What measures do I have in place now to nurture/mother my critical thinking that leads to greater forms of creativity? With Saturn in Leo and Mercury in Cancer it’s time to create. Inspiration is the keyword:

"Allow your mind to open, to be inspired by Spirit. Look around you, are you living the life you want? Become inspired to make positive, creative changes. Ask for new direction and be open to new ideas. This is the time let go of the past. Divine assistance is clearly trying to guide you in new directions. Follow your inner promptings. The Universal energies are there for the taking. Ask for help from the other dimensions. Let spirit move through you, guide you and protect you. Inspire freedom of choice in yourself and mirror this for others."- Universal Cards: Angelically Inspired

After a Mercury retrograde there is a clean slate and room for new inspirations, it is a highly creative time that can offer up breakthroughs to chronic long standing problems. Mercury retrograde is like the Febreze for your mind. You’ve cleared the air!

1. What challenges have you faced since May 31st?
2. What did you let go?
3. Today what is inspiring you? Pay attention to those new ideas.
4. It’s time to move forward, and be creative.

Thanks to Diane and Chandra for joining in the New Moon SoulCollage process.
Universal Cards: Angelically Inspired created by Juliet Hubbs and Nora Monaco.

Fire the Grid-be defined

"What if one hour of human time can empower Humanity?" You may have noticed the countdown clock to the left about the world event Fire the Grid on July 17th. Back in 1997, after my first soul retrieval, I was gifted the same swirling symbol to use in my healing work. Now Fire the Grid uses the same swirling symbol in their logo, so I really paid attention when I found the website a couple of months ago. **smile**

In this post I present a video from Shelley Yates, a very common woman with an uncommon story to share. This is part 1 of 7 parts, and it was amazing for me to watch this down-to-earth woman share her story. What is asked of her and what unfolded from her willingness. It’s a story of resurrection.

Transfiguration is the key, going to light, living your joy, being and holding your joy for one hour. If you want to read more about the process of transfiguration read Sandra Ingerman’s book Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins.

Be Defined...what’s the astrology for Fire the Grid:

Leo is rising- it’s about heart energy. The fixed signs are in play- fixed signs represent the foundation, think of cornerstones that hold up a building. These signs can also reflect stuck energy in our psyche- where we become stubborn- holding up, holding back, holding on because of our dramas/traumas. The key is a willingness to surrender and heal the pain.

The transpersonal planets-Neptune, Uranus and Pluto are in retrograde motion (for more information read this post). Chiron is retrograding in Aquarius as well.

Neptune in Aquarius (new thought, new order) at 22 degrees opposes Saturn in Leo (creativity, heart and soul) at 25 degrees. It’s a releasing energy much like a full Moon- between spirit (Neptune) and matter-the current structure (Saturn rules structure). In the body think of your 1st chakra (Saturn) and your 7/8 chakras (spirit). The center point is the heart (Venus). Both planetary energies (Neptune and Saturn) square the phantom point of the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction in Taurus back in May 2000.

The feminine energies-Venus and the Moon are meeting up at 1 degree of Virgo in the first house. Venus goes retrograde on July 27 and moves back into Leo to meet up with Saturn, Mercury, Venus and the Sun all in Leo the week of August 13th 2007.

The Sun sits at 25 degrees of Cancer. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is:

A WILL-FULL MAN IS OVERSHADOWED BY A DESCENT OF SUPERIOR POWER.

Dane Rudhyar in his book An Astrological Mandala speaks of this symbol "We are dealing here with a man who uses his will and positive imagination in facing his life problems. To him comes a Pentecostal descent of power. He receives the mantel of power, the grace (baraka in Sufi philosophy) which can make him a true leader in his culture...It is not merely external success (as given by society to its prima donnas) but a spiritual response, a sing of inner strength and uncommon ENDOWMENT." (p. 127)

Lynda Hill writes of this symbol in her book 360 Degrees of Wisdom: A LEADER OF MEN WRAPPED IN AN INVISIBLE CLOAK OF POWER~ There comes a time when we have to rise to the occasion as someone in charge or as a decision maker. It is almost as though this has been thrust upon you but you have placed yourself in this position. You need to both understand and accept the consequences. We are called to accept the cloak or mantel and respond with responsibility and acceptance.

"Great hearts steadily
send forth the secret forces that
incessantly draw great events."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Will you join in a one hour Global Meditation?

Fire the Grid
July 17, 2007
11:11 GMT
7:11 AM Eastern Standard Time
For your time zone check here.

Please share this with others in your community.

More about the Shelley’s accident Fire Fighters Water Rescue News
see posting dated 11-30-2002

Becoming Fearless- 12 steps to let go at this New Moon in Scorpio

After reading the New Moon in Scorpio journal one reader asked “Your article is heavy duty but informative- how does one deal with the fears of letting go?”

 

…the Scorpio time of year is about letting go. This Scorpio energy is with us until the next New Moon in Sagittarius on December 20th. Nature shows us- leaves drop, the seeds are harvested for next springs planting. It’s part of the cycle of death and rebirth.

 

Fear is energy that needs our attention and love. Shadow issues lock us up in cages. Blocked emotions= Scorpio energy. Scorpio rules the muddy toxic waters within our body…emotions we haven’t been able to express- anger, sadness, guilt, loneliness. Essential pain that separates us from our Essential Self. Separates us from others. This energy and emotion comes in service– telling me something within is out of whack. My thinking needs to shift. Expect a shift.

 

This energy may be sitting in my 1^st chakra, tribal conditioning that no longer serves me. It may be in my 3rd chakra because I lost power. It’s up and it’s good because it is time to let the fear go.  This is an ongoing journey…many times a client will say I’ve been here before “why is this up again?” Our blessed wound just keeps on giving. It’s priceless. Here are some suggestions for letting go at this Scorpio New Moon:

1. Become open to receiving. Get a bowl of water. Sit in meditation with the bowl of water on your lap. Connect with the spirits of the water. Feed the water. Pour your fears into the bowl from your belly button and fill your body up with light…fill yourself back up with Love.
   
   Afterwards each session give the water back to the earth as sustenance. Do this for two weeks- until the full moon. Notice what omens show up around you as you pour the water into the earth, what birds are flying, what sounds do you hear as you pour out the water. Journal about the experience.
   
2. Name the fear. What is the nature of this energy?  Sometimes just in the naming of what we resist also brings us the answers and a solution. One time I sat down and named all of my fears…it took 26 lines of a yellow pad. Wow…didn’t know that was in me. Now I had a road map to work with and I started to…
   
3. Acknowledge the energy…you don’t have to ‘do’ anything with it. Just play with the fear.  I am going to give the fear form by dancing it, drawing it.
   
4. Take an inventory of what you are really good at. When I made my fear list I was so focused on what wasn’t working in my life at the time I couldn’t see all the skills I brought to the table. I worked the flip side and did an inventory of positives. Do the opposite.
   
5. Break the fear down. If I am facing a big fear, break the energy down into manageable pieces. I feel afraid because of _______ rather than doing this _____[drinking, eating, smoking] I’ll go for a walk. I’ll draw what I am feeling rather than stuffing it. I’ll call a friend and share. I call my therapist or coach-I may need a refresher session.
   
   I had a huge fear of public speaking as a teenager, as an adult I deliberately put myself into an organization where I had to get up to the lectern to speak. While scary, the fear eventually dissolved.
   
6. Listen to music… music brings my emotions up and out. Allows me to see what I am running from and what I want to head too. Music that inspires me…allows me to step into the Bigger Me. Find someone to rebirth you or go to a breath work session with a trained facilitator.
   
   There was a time I was in a deep dark place. For weeks each morning I danced to Michael Jackson’s song from the movie Free Willy. The angelic chorus just gets to me and I would literally fill up my body with that song. There is something about the vibrational energy of  music that allows me to connect to my higher self– Essential Self and my angels.
   
7. Call on your helping angels- your power animal or teachers. To transmute fear we have to raise the vibration of it- “We rise by kneeling, we conquer by surrendering, we gain by giving up.”… and as a child that may not have been a skill you were taught. I suggest to clients that they ask for spiritual help before they go to sleep. Fill yourself with light. Expect spiritual support and healing in your dream state. Journal about your dreams– they come to serve you.
   
8. Fill yourself with light, and follow where the dark resides. This energy may be at home in my stomach- what feelings do I eat? Is it in my throat- what words have I had to swallow? Is it in my back– what am I supporting that isn’t working?
   
9. Go gentle. This isn’t a “do it right away” type process. But in our hurry up and want it now, once we address a fear we usually don’t give ourselves much time to process. We want to push it out of the way for more ‘spiritual’ pursuits.
   
10. Play. Play. Play. Fear wants to constrict, hold in, hold back, hold up. Expect magic. There is more than meets the eye.  Name your fear and go play with your dog or cat. Name your fear and go sit in a wonderful bath of water. Sit and soak. Name the fear and go to the gym. Sing your fear. Just playing with it is part of letting it go.
    
11. Build an altar to what you want to have manifest. Name your fear and build an altar to your courage. Who inspires you. Who has been there to support you. Go out in nature…gather up things and objects that represent the opposite of your fear. A feather…a rock.
    
12. Start a gratitude journal. Look for the little blessings. Acknowledge both sides– yes I have this fear, but it has made me aware of what is stopping me. I feel grateful and proud that I finally know what is holding me back.

 A wonderful book for working with the energy of fear: The dark side of the light chasers by Debbie Ford.  Maybe you have some tools that have worked for you..care to share just comment below. 

 

Card image from the Angelic Messenger Cards Deck

Finding a spiritual teacher

Opps. Sorry I clicked the wrong button this was supposed to posted over at practical mystics 101…

Today is not a good day to work...

“Part of it has to do with change - I keep changing and growing and what I'm about has to reflect that.” – Jennifer Louden

After catching flack from a disappointed client I felt the need to post this here and on the web site. My year is winding down, sounds strange doesn’t it? Each year I take a sabbatical in the summer to recharge and renew, create and play. One could say summer is the equivalent for winter here in Florida, plants die back from the heat, the hurricanes are like blizzards, the tourist/snow birds leave- there is a winding down and going inward. Ironic isn’t it?

The sabbatical date is earlier this year-May 1st through August 23rd (the New Moon in Virgo)– because of school calendar changes, getting home repairs done and ready for hurricane season, and my travel schedule in May. During the summer I do not schedule teaching sessions or client appointments. The New Moon Journal is published throughout the summer months.

Expose yourself at this Libra Full Moon- Part 1.

"When you finally expose yourself
and let yourself be known,
the sky does not fall.
Instead, things begin to unfold;
miracles happen."
—Suzanne Falter-Barns

Part 1– Coming out of hiding is a theme unfolding…as I get ready to write about the Full Moon in Libra, I am cleaning up my office and filling on this fine rainy day. I decided to listen to Susan Schanerman’s interview with Sandy Grason on her radio show EmpowerHourLive. Glad I did…it’s a wonderful way to take us into this Libra Full Moon energy on April 13th.

Click here to listen to Susan’s interview with Sandy Grason, author of the bestselling JOURNALUTION: Journaling to Awaken Your Inner Voice, Heal Your Life and Manifest Your Dreams.

We are all collectively coming out in some way during this cycle. I am hearing this theme (or struggle) in people’s comment’s and emails. I found this Coming Out of Hiding Candle…just the ticket for this new fiery Aries cycle. There’s a wonderful story on the web site…too long to share here. Suzanne Falter-Barns writes “It smells like freesia and mint and it gives me power… I burn it all day long at my computer as I write.” Aries is about pushing through from the dark into the light, Libra is about creating balance and cooperation in all our relationships to support this coming out process. Stay tuned for Part 2 “Expose Yourself” posted Tuesday afternoon.

Love,

How about you? Saturn in Leo goes direct.

Pluto Retrograde: The journey continues with Pluto insights- there was an email from a friend sharing how Pluto was working her this week. Pluto is an agent of transformation, the cosmic garbage collector, he takes away what no longer works. She sent me a link to an astrology site…curiosity got me. For those Pisceans out there here’s what this weekend brings:

This is an important weekend. It completes a process that has been going on for several months. It brings Venus a little further into your sign and allows you to start fulfilling an old promise. You have thought about a lot and you have talked about a lot. You have raised many questions and explored many possible answers. Now it is time to start taking action. You are about to go a long way in a short space of time. All you have to do is have faith... and choose carefully the direction in which you wish to head. click here to read your horoscope.

Long way in a short amount of time. Oh goody! Aries and this Aries new moon is about creating a new cycle, action steps are now more important than results. I gotta say Wednesday I woke up feeling energetically different– ready for action- such a relief. This insight came when I sat down on the sofa, contemplating and asking what happened? Oh, Saturn moved out of retrograde [since November] and went direct in Leo. Wow, I felt this on such a tangible level. So cool! Leo’s quest in your chart asks you to pursue what has heart and meaning for you. Saturn asks us all to respond in a new way- to be responsible. Saturn is in Leo creating the structure for your inner joy.

Living by the Moon- a personal calendar

I love reading April Kent's blog. Often as I read her blog I find myself saying-"I wish I said that." April is a creatrix, a writer, an astrologer and a web designer. She just designed another astrologer's site- Living by the Moon by Pam Ciampi.

I am plugging this because- it's well done and informative... by golly we all need to tap into our own rythym and timings. The Moon's so immediate. As Pam says "It's all in the timing! Living by the Moon is a unique calendar based on the ideas that:

The rhythms of the moon reflect and influence daily life on earth.
              "there is a time for every purpose under heaven."
Living by the Moon matches your monthly Lunar Rhythms to these areas of your life- personal, health and beauty, business and gardening..."

Friends you may want to check this out.

Spring Equinox- honor your intuitive self by building spiritual muscle

Spring is the time of new beginnings. “Our homes are living portrayals of everything you are and what is happening in your life.” - Karen Kingston, Creating sacred space.

I am so aware of the new beginnings this year thanks to Hurricane Wilma. Right after the Wilma the plants in our yard went into hyper drive and started blooming as a way to compensate for the wind damage. Now we are seeing the results of the trauma… trees and plants dying back from the shock, root damage that was hidden right after the storm can now be seen. In my own yard plants have been cut back so new growth can begin again.  I honor that dismembering. I see the new growth all around. We in South Florida are having two Springs!