Saturday, December 29, 2007

CLAIM YOUR GIFT AND COME HOME

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D.

Human life is rich, complex and elegant.
Within each of us are all the powers and the wisdom of the universe.
We are each God's highest experiment of being "ME"
Each of our lives is about initiating the small "me" into the consciousness of the
expanded "ME"- gracefully expanding from our personality into our Soul.
Our human journey is a lifetime process called self-initiation.
Self-initiation is a series of tests whereby we learn to unravel the mysteries of life.
Our foremost task is to align our body, mind and emotions with the universal
vibration of peace and love.

For the Universe rewards us according to our internal state of affairs.
When we are aligned and vibrate in unison with the Universe, the cosmos
easily and effortlessly hears our prayers and computes our requests.
Connected to Source, we are supported and propelled forward on our destiny path.
The secret is to delight in being who we are-to celebrate the ecstasy of our soul each step of the way.
The key is to want what we already have.
The formula is to open ourselves up to receive what is already ours.

Our touchstone is our willingness to live the destiny written on our forehead.
Now is the time. Each precious moment is an opening
to let go of our pain and struggle

to joyfully reconnect with our soul
to rejoice in the company of other divine beings and
to return home once again.
We ask, how do we find our way home? The answers resonate within our hearts.
Clear the way for your soul's journey on your destiny path
by renouncing your fears and frivolous preoccupations
by abandoning entanglements that cause emotional pain and chaos
by releasing your resistance to the expression of your own perfection.
Allow your body and all our chakras to freely vibrate with the symphony of the
cosmos.

Choose to follow the path of your heart in every thought, communication and
action.
In your heart feel the presence of Divine love and with honor you will return to your true home. Gently allow yourself to open your heart to consciously reconnect with the Divine Mother
to match your vibration with the vibration of Her universal love
to go deeply within and free yourself from all external attachments
to attach yourself only to the Name of the Divine and the reality of your soul

Anchor in these feelings by using nature and the precious gifts of life as your touchstones.
As the ocean cleanses the beach
let the silent sound of the infinite quiet your inner turmoil.
As the lullaby calms the baby
invite the gentle caress of the Divine Mother
to bring harmony to your emotions.

As a pillar supports a palace
feel the energy in your spine
be the primal pillar of your body-the temple of your soul.
As a lamp gives light to darkness
feel the warm sun
fill your heart with joy and contentment.

As the stars decorate the sky
allow the beauty of your spirit
to be the glowing ornament in your aura.

By focusing totally on yourself, your energy, your feelings, and your heart,
gather and claim the special gifts that only you can give.
Load your gifts on your vehicle called "MY LIFE."
In your mind's eye, see yourself
setting out with other seekers on your path
gracefully sharing your gifts along the way
blessing and being blessed by everyone you meet.

Your face is radiating love for all to see.
Your soul is glowing at the divine portal.
Rare are those persons who engage in the trade of their own precious gifts.
It is in sharing your gifts
that you receive your rewards.
It is in offering your gifts
that you obtain grace.
It is in living your gifts
that you partake in the celebration of life.
It is in gratitude for your gifts
that you find your way home.
It is in realizing that your gift is the gift of SELF
that your self-initiation is complete
that the destiny on your forehead is recorded forever.

May the long time sun shine upon you.
All love surround you.
And the pure light within you, guide your way home.

(Inspired by a reading from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib)

poem 463 Copyright May 1, 1997 and April 17, 1998 by Guru Rattana, Ph.D.

Coronado, CA

Monday, October 22, 2007

The Journey

The journey,
The pathway,
The road
Is filled
with blocks
and rubble...
The accumulated
mind
of many lifetimes.
We must
clear the path
To walk again
Through clear,
uncluttered dimensions.
Leave the pretensions and
The masks to fade away.
Shine the light in the darkness
So you can see the way
Remove the weights
of your burdened heart
And know the part you play.
Walk, walk life's highest way.
Naome 2005

Breezes at Dawn

Finding
her rhythm
had been a long
and dangerous journey.
She travelled...
beyond the streets of oppression,
the valley of inauthenticity,
the forest of despair, the river of regret
and the desert of self judgment.
She crossed the sea of change,
the mountains of transformation
and finally, she arrived!
In the meadow of possibility
she claimed her life song...
Shiloh Sophia McCloud 2004

Thursday, September 20, 2007

ONLINE ASTROLOGY COURSE (WEEK OF OCTOBER 8TH-WEEK OF JANUARY 21ST)

I am filling spaces for a 12 week level one online Astrology course. This course will introduce Astrology basics and Astrology vocabulary. You will learn how to look at a natal chart and interpret the basic meanings of the angles, aspects and planetary placements. Each week I will present a complete lecture for you to read; we will meet online or by phone (conference call) later in the week to discuss and answer questions. The final project will be an interpretation of your natal chart with corrections. See below for the full course description. Spread the word to anyone who might be interested!

In this course we will learn:
*meaning of the houses
*meaning of the archetypes of the signs
*meaning of the angles
*meaning of the aspects
*meaning of the ascendant, midheaven, IC and descendant
*meaning of the placement of the planets in the signs
*meaning of the placement of the planets in the signs in the houses
*interpretation of angular relationships
*meaning of retrograde planets
*meaning of the nodes in karma and dharma
*how to integrate the energies of the chart to describe a complex personality
*how to determine life path
*how to determine relationship path
*and much more

Dates:
Lesson one: week of October 8th
Lesson two: week of October 15th
Lesson three: week of October 22nd
Lesson four: week of October 29th
Lesson five: week of November 5th
Lesson six: week of November 12th
Lesson seven: week of November 19th
Thanksgiving break: week of November 26th
Lesson eight: week of December 3rd
Lesson nine: week of December 10th
Holiday Break: December 17th-January 7th
Lesson ten: week of January 7th
Lesson eleven: week of January 14th
Lesson twelve: week of January 21st

Cost:
$300.00 for 12 weeks or $25.00 per week

Contact me:
Helen McGrath
(514) 845-3686
kaliheart@gmail.com
http://evolutionaryastrology.blogspot.com/


COURSE DESCRIPTION:

ASTROLOGY I
Our Astrological birth chart is a snapshot of the location of the heavenly bodies directly overhead at the moment of our birth. It is our Sacred contract between ourselves and the Divine for the path we have agreed to walk on our journey back to the light. The birth chart is a psychological map. Studying its symbolism reveals karmic patterns, relationship strategy and our potential for manifestation. It reveals our deepest longings, our illusions and how the personality compensates for the grand illusion. As the enneagram describes a specific energy pattern we are working with in this incarnation, the birth chart reveals specifically how we are doing it day to day.

Renowned Jungian Analyst and Astrologer Liz Green has written that during the Piscean Age (the previous 2000 years), the Shadow (Capricorn) was found in the house of the Other (11th house). In relationship, this translates as the energy of projection and the necessity for an enemy. In the Aquarian Age (approximately 1970-4000AD or 2060-4000 depending on the source), the Shadow has moved to the cusp of the 12th house of our personal and collective unconscious. Thus, the work of the New Age is to bring the Shadow home to ourselves. With the blessing of heaven, as columnist Rob Breszny inspires us, "The Universe is conspiring for our happiness." I would add the Universe is conspiring for our freedom, for in owning our Shadow, we outgrow the confines and limitations of our personality as defined by the birth chart and eliminate the need for enemies.

In this course we will introduce the Archetypes represented by the planets and signs of the Zodiac, the meaning of the houses, interpretation of the placement of the planets by house and sign and integration of the energies by aspect. We will explore the energy and importance of the angles and the weight of planetary aspects in the interpretation of the life path. We will use our personal birth charts as a case study.

References:
Alan Oken's Complete Astrology-The Classic Guide to Modern Astrology, Alan Oken
Twelve Houses , Howard Sasportas
Relating - An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet, Liz Greene
The Development of the Personality: Seminars in Psychological Astrology, Vol. I, Liz Greene & Howard Sasportas
The Outer Planets and Their Cycles, Liz Green
Saturn, A New Look at an Old Devil, Liz Green
The Luminaries, Liz Green and Howard Sasportas
Neptune - The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption , Liz Green
The Astrology of Transformation, Dane Rudhyar
Holistic Astrology: The Analysis of Inner and Outer Environments, Noel Jan Tyl
Soul-Centered Astrology - A Key to Your Expanding Self, Alan Oken
CHIRON, Rainbow Bridge between the Inner and Outer Planets, Barbara Hand Clow
Planets in Aspect: Understanding your Inner Drama , Robert Hand
Aspects in Astrology: A Guide To Understanding Planetary Relationships in the Horoscope, Sue Tompkins
Astrological Aspects, Jeanne Avery
Planets in Transit - Life Cycles for Living, Robert Hand
Healing Pluto Problems, Donna Cunningham
Lunar Nodes: Keys to Emotions and Life Experience, Diane Ronngren
Planets in Synastry , E.W. Neville

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

New Moon In Virgo/Solar Eclipse, Monday, September 11th, 2007, 8:31-8:44 EST: BODY AND MIND ALIGN WITH NATURAL FLOW

Summary Full Moon in Pisces/Total Lunar Eclipse
On August 28th we experienced a full moon in Pisces and total Lunar Eclipse. 'This full moon/lunar eclipse was potent with potentialities eager to be birthed.' (1) During this period, both Venus and Pluto went direct (see below), awakening within us the desire to release our attachment to beliefs that reinforce scarcity and suffering; to turn it all around within us-to open to our true hearts desires-to open our hearts to the life that reflects our true desires, and to create new beliefs that more accurately reflect these desires...our true love dream for our lives. We must make a clean break with old limiting thinking that causes suffering to ourselves and others! Happiness is our natural flow. It is up to us to purify our bodies and minds of negativity and limiting beliefs.

New Moon In Virgo/Solar Eclipse
Today we experience both a New Moon in Virgo and a Solar eclipse. 'Solar eclipses inaugurate major endings, beginnings and dramatic shifts that catapult us to the next level.' (1) The potential that was birthed with the full moon/lunar eclipse provides the energy to shift us to the next level of manifesting our desires. During this period Saturn also ended its 2 1/2 year journey through Leo and entered Virgo, providing the grounded energy we need to manifest our dreams into reality. The Universe is truly conspiring for our happiness!

The opportunities here require our full participation. Both Virgo and Saturn require grounding our dreams, creating structures that support and contain our visions. We must harness our energy, focus it and direct it towards our goals. When we are aligned in this way, our happiness flows. The opportunity of this New Moon/Lunar Eclipse is to commit to our dreams. Believe that the time is now! Take the action steps that will ground your dreams: consolidate your debts; register for that dance class; start that training for your new career or start that business; commit to a plan of action for your health or material abundance or relationship or play; commit to meditating on your right to live your dreams and make a home for that dream in your body/mind/spirit.

Release all negativity around your dreams intentionally, through meditation for the mind, attention to health care, body movement to release negative accumulations in the tissues and karmic negativity. If you do find that you have negative attachments, commit to a plan of action to do the work to release them. That is a worthwhile dream; Virgo provides service to the world through her commitment to purification of body, mind, spirit. She meets the other pure; she knows herself deeply and interacts with the other from a fully conscious place within herself. Lay down your arms with the negativity by focusing on the pleasure of your dreams coming true. You can have what you want now. Now act as if...just do it...just say yes to it...the old will melt away as you focus your attention on what you truly desire. Of course, as you pay attention to your dreams and your desires, you will meet any lingering doubts and negativity, and now is the time to release attachment to it with love and consciousness. This is truly an opportunity to have free will through conscious understanding that our beliefs create our reality.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury and Chiron (esoteric). So, honest communication with ourselves/others and alignment with spirit is the fast track to working with the energy. The Aries Full Moon on September 27th is the birth of the Child within us around these dreams. From now until the Full Moon we are asked to consciously devote ourselves to honest exploration of the above themes.

WORKING WITH VIRGO ENERGY
Each one of us has Virgo somewhere in the chart. Even if there are no planets in Virgo in your chart, it tenants a house and its lessons will be learned through the focus of that house. Even if you don't know where your Virgo is, meditate on how evolving Virgo in your life will serve your dreams:

The following is taken from New Millenium Being (1) #138 By Guru Rattana, Ph.D. http://www.yogatech .com/nmb/

'VIRGO'S EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY
IMMATURE-> MATURE (needs to learn)

Ritualism-> Real
Servitude-> Service
Deep sadness-> Deep understanding
Resistance-> Manifestation
Curses-> Alchemy
Self-criticism-> Birthing our potential
Doubts-> Faith
Need to control-> Able to surrender and let go
Nervous-> Attuned to natural rhythms
Impatient-> Patient
Bogged down-> Aware of the moment
Critical-> Perceptive
Picky->Discriminating
Annoyed-> Realistic

EARTH MOTHER VIRGO
Virgo is represented by a young Maiden/Virgin. She is often depicted sitting in a boat holding a flame in one hand and a chaff of grain in the other. She is gently and effortlessly moving with the flow of the evolving and manifesting current. The Virgo archetype represents the principle of universal justice, which happens when natural laws are obeyed. When they are not obeyed, adjustments are made to re-establish natural order. Often we don't like the consequences of these adjustments.

Virgo embodies and represents the intrinsic orderliness and the fertility of nature. She understands and honors the value, appropriateness and way of life of every natural form - including, plants, animals, human beings and Mother Earth herself.

Virgo is attuned to the reality that nature's way is unfolded in the seasons, life and death, the waxing and waning of the Moon, and the yearly and daily progression of the Sun and the Planets.

Virgo is both saddened and disgusted by the disorder, destruction, chaos, and wastefulness of time and resources. Virgo does not have any sympathy for those who squander precious resources and make a mess of things.

Mother Nature is a stern punisher of crime. There is no cheating, bribery or leniency in her court of natural law and karma. The same goes for Saturn. Virgo's vision is a life where natural order is restored and respected and natural justice rightfully reigns.

CONNECTING WITH NATURE
Virgo's path is to connect with the natural order of nature, the universe and our body. To live in harmony with natural forces, Virgo must develop an intimate relationship with the body, the Earth and the cycles of nature.

Virgo feels most comfortable when she can connect with the Earth. She loves to experience the energies of nature, which are pure, honest and fertile. Her anxiety stems from being out of sync with her personal and Earth's natural flow and dynamic energies. Her healing happens when she can reconnect with the vital forces of nature and the rhythms in her body. Then she can tap into her power, which is possible when she is guided by her instincts, intuition and natural rhythms.

UPGRADING HOW WE USE OUR MIND
Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the planet representing our mind and intellect. How we use our mind determines our ability to become conscious of our body/mind connection. Virgo's critical mind can devolve into negative criticism instead of useful discrimination. In our analytical mind, we easily forget to tune into our body. Virgo is supposed to use the mind (1) to pay attention to our body so that we can monitor its well-being, (2) to listen to our instincts so we can be guided by our innate knowing, (3) to be aware of natural forces so we can be guided by a higher power and (4) to be able to let go and turn everything over to the Infinite, after all possible human effort has been done.

One of Virgo's biggest challenges is to eliminate negativity and self-criticism. Another is to CLEAR THE CLUTTER in the mind. Virgo can access its powers only if it is consciously connected to Spirit and natures rhythms. Authentic connection requires reducing mind games and neurotic thought patterns that grab our attention and block the mind/body connection. Operating free of attachments and renouncing our critical habits is a challenge, but one that we must accept to move into our power.

TOUCHSTONE FOR ECLIPSES
We may experience some dramatic shifts and breakthroughs in our lives at this time. The following touchstone may be relevant. "It is better to make a clean break with a bad habit than to make an abrupt break in a personal relationship. " *(3)

KUNDALINI YOGA TO CONNECT WITH NATURAL RHYTHMS
Our Kundalini yoga and meditation practice this month focuses on connecting with the natural rhythms in our body, letting go of control, and reducing the conflict of the critical mind so we can use our mind to be more attuned to our body and its messages.

The Kundalini yoga set that I suggest to practice this month is the "Relaxation Series to Remove Negativity and Tension" on page 38 in Relax and Renew. *(2) This set, done mostly lying down on the back and stomach, raising the legs, hips, head and torso, strengthens the first chakra and allows us to tune into our body rhythms and connect with Mother Earth.

It is an integral part of the set to relax and let go between every exercise. When we let go, we can experience our natural rhythms and learn to trust them. We want to experience that we can let go and still be alive. In other words, we can let go of control and know in both our body and mind that there is a force deep within us that keeps us alive and breathing.

This set features long deep breathing. Really get into the breath. At the beginning of the set, you will have to be very attentive to consciously breathe long and deep. Follow the inhale all the way to the end and the exhale all the way to the end. Stay with the breath. Over time the breath begins to breathe itself. We become one with our breath in our body.

MEDITATION TO DEAL WITH IMPATIENCE AND CONFLICT
Here is a meditation to do while the Sun and Saturn are in Virgo or any time you need help reflecting on and resolving your internal contradictions and conflicts.

DIRECTIONS
POSITION - Easy pose. Arms to the sides, elbows bent, palms facing forward. Jupiter and Saturn fingers up. Thumbs holding on to the other two fingers.

BREATH - Begin by breathing long and deep. If you have done the above or another Kundalini yoga kriya, you will be very connected to your breath. Be very attentive to consciously breathing long and deep. Follow the inhale all the way to the end and the exhale all the way to the end. Stay totally present to your breath. Over time the breath begins to breathe itself.

MANTRA - As you breathe, silently repeat, SAT NAM followed by an affirmation of your choice. Choose one that comes to you intuitively, one that will respond to or resolve your conflict. Possible affirmations are "It is fine. Everything is perfect. It is all working out. I can relax. Let go. Life is good.

The formula is "Sat Nam. It is fine."

Say this over the mental chatter and in response to worries and concerns.

Stay conscious of your breath in your body during the whole time.

Coordinate the mantra with your breath.

Don't pay attention to or be annoyed by your surroundings or thoughts.

Allow, don't resist, whatever is happening in your mind (including thoughts) and outside yourself. Simply bring your attention back to your breath, SAT NAM and your affirmation.

Count if you find this useful to focus your mind. Sat Nam. One. Sat Nam. Two. Focus on the mantra, counting and the breath. Stay conscious.

Observe your impatience, and any other form of conflict or stress.

Deal with it through the patient rhythmic breath, SAT NAM, and the intention/affirmati on.

RESULTS
With practice you will find that your internal stress and impatience begins to dissipate. The meditation becomes a soothing exercise. You begin to automatically call upon the breath, mantra and affirmation when you go into stress mode. Practice every day and get into a rhythm that makes you look forward to these moments with yourself.

You will find that 3-11 minutes before starting your day will take the edge off your emotional state. It will be easier to keep your focus during the day. You will increase the chances of things turning out in a satisfactory manner. And you will be more relaxed as you move through life. Things often do not happen as we expect or think we want. But "It is all fine." Sat Nam!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astrology students:
the following exerpts from NMB #138 will be helpful:

* SKY EVENTS
* VENUS AND PLUTO GO DIRECT - PAY ATTENTION
*
WHERE IS MY VIRGO?
*
SUN AND SATURN IN VIRGO
*
ECLIPSES AND GRAND CROSS - HOW TO DEAL


SKY EVENTS
AUGUST 23RD - The SUN entered VIRGO at 5:08 AM PDT (12:08 PM GMT) and will remain until the Sun moves into Libra September 23 at 2:52 AM PDT (9:52 AM GMT)
AUGUST 28TH -- The PISCES FULL MOON/LUNAR ECLIPSE at 3:35 AM PDT (10:35 AM GMT) at 4 degrees Pisces and Virgo.
SEPTEMBER 11TH - The VIRGO NEW MOON/SOLAR ECLIPSE at 5:45 AM PDT (12:45 PM GMT) at 18 degrees Virgo.
SEPTEMBER 2ND - SATURN leaves Leo and goes into VIRGO.
SEPTEMBER 6TH - PLUTO GOES DIRECT September 6th at 26 degrees Sagittarius. Pluto went retrograde March 31st
SEPTEMBER 7TH -VENUS GOES DIRECT at 9:13 AM PDT at 17 degrees Leo.
Venus went retrograde July 27 at 3 degrees Leo at 10:27 AM.
URANUS went RETROGRADE June 23rd at 7:23 AM PDT (2:43 PM GMT) and remains retrograde through November 24th.*
NEPTUNE went retrograde May 24th (at 22 degrees Aquarius) and remains in reverse drive through October 31.*
*Retrograde planets provide internal focus with the energies of these planets: ie, freedom, revolutionary ideas, dissolution of ego, clear or fuzzy connection to spirit. HM

VENUS AND PLUTO GO DIRECT - PAY ATTENTION
When planets go direct or retrograde, something shifts in our psyche. Direct motion puts us in forward gear. Retrograde shifts us to an inner, introspection space. Pay attention around September 6 and 7.

VENUS GOES DIRECT September 7th at 9:13 AM PDT. Venus went retrograde July 27. Are you more aware of what you want, ready to let go of what doesn't work, and go for what your heart desires? Do you love yourself a little bit more?

PLUTO GOES DIRECT September 6th. Pluto went retrograde March 31. Pluto in retrograde can bring up deep seated issues. We become more aware of what our subconscious is doing. When Pluto goes direct we are less apt to let old programs control us and more able to consciously participate in making choices about our lives.

WHERE IS MY VIRGO?
Like all the signs, not everyone has planets in Virgo. But the Virgo archetype, the soul desire to connect with nature and universal forces in the body, is a vital instinct in every human being. There are several ways to identify where and how the Virgo impulse plays out in our lives.

(1) The sixth house is the territory ruled associated with Virgo. Any planets in our 6th house are driven by Virgo energy. The sign on the cusp of the 6th house indicates HOW we pursue our path of service and manifesting our potentials.

(2) Locating the house or houses that contain planets in Virgo or have Virgo on the cusp helps us identify the arenas in life where we confront our Virgo issues and display our Virgo traits.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury. Unlike other planets associated with a sign, the sign and house placement of our Mercury does not give us essential information about our Virgo issues. Versatile Mercury expresses its sign and many other energies of our chart.

Those with Virgo rising (Virgo on the cusp of the first house,) a Virgo moon, several planets in Virgo or several planets in the sixth house will strongly identify with Virgo issues and path.

SUN AND SATURN IN VIRGO
As we delve into the meaning and lessons of the sixth zodiac archetype, it is important to remember that each sign has its own path to fulfillment, wholeness and enlightenment. Each sign is also part of everyone's developmental process. If our Sun, Moon, Ascendant or several planets are in one sign, the lessons of that archetype will be major focal points of our lives. If the lessons are not in our face, we nevertheless recognize the importance of learning these self-empowering lessons.

Once a year the Sun shines in each of the twelve zodiac signs. During approximately 30 days, we get a chance to take a closer look at the lessons of that archetype. Also when the various planets transit through a sign, we get to examine the archetype from the perspective of that planet. SATURN enters Virgo on September 2 for nearly two years. (Saturn will be in Virgo through July 21, 2010, except from October 29, 2009-April 7, 2010 when it is in Libra.) Wherever Virgo falls in our chart, we will be confronted with Virgo AND Saturn issues, including health, work, service/seva or servitude.

Saturn lessons are similar to those of Virgo. Saturn is a masculine archetype represented as a wise taskmaster. Virgo is a feminine archetype, who symbolizes Mother Nature and the Earth Mother. Both represent KARMA. Both Saturn and Virgo focus on

* HOW TO DEAL with material reality,
* living in harmony with natural laws,
* including the universal law of cause and effect or karma.

Saturn confronts us with survival issues and the limits of existence on the physical plane. However restrictive and serious Saturn many seem, learning our Saturn lessons moves us to the next level of maturity and makes it possible to manifest our dreams. While the Sun is in Virgo is a good time to understand what we will be dealing with over the next two years.

ECLIPSES AND GRAND CROSS - HOW TO DEAL
The whole month of Virgo is dominated by the effects of the mutable *(1) grand cross and the lunar and solar eclipses. In NMB #137 we discussed the Pisces/Virgo lunar eclipse (August 28), the Virgo solar eclipse (September 11) and the mutable grand cross that are impacting us in the next few weeks. In this issue, we will discuss HOW to deal with this energy. What is up for examination is making choices about HOW TO DEAL with our life challenges.

The grand cross, which is directly impacting us at both eclipses, is formed by the mutable signs (Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius and Virgo). Thus the mutable signs define how to best align with cosmic energies at this time. The modus operandi of the mutable signs is to (1) adjust (2) adapt (3) allow (4) don't resist, (5) let go of control, (6) go with the flow, and (7) be conscious in the moment.

If we choose to resist the evolutionary flow in our life, the confrontational nature of the interactions between these four forces will create change anyway. In a grand cross, the four energies relate to each other in squares and oppositions, which require transformation and initiate endings and beginnings. Change will happen. We either participate gracefully or reluctantly.

If we choose to embrace our Saturn/Virgo issues in a non-resistant way, we can release some victim and martyr programs, and some stress and anxiety. In the process we can (1) further our personal empowerment, (2) enhance our ability to act like adults, and (3) increase our capacity to manifest and prosper!

REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES
Austin, Stephanie, "Pisces Lunar Eclipse," and "Virgo Solar Eclipse," The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #134, August/September 2007, p. 104-6.

Bogart, Gregory C., Astrology and Spiritual Awakening, Dawn Mountain Press, Berkeley, 1994.

Burt, Kathleen, Archetypes of the Zodiac, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, 2002.

Greene, Liz, The Astrology of Fate, Samuel Weiser, Inc., York Beach, Maine, 1984.

1. See NMB#122VirgoPath, page 10, for a discussion of the three modalities.

2. available at www.yogatech. com

3. Burt, p. 219.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

This work of Wom(men)

An Invitation to Incorporate the Divine Feminine Into Your Life Path

Yes. It is time for a revolution in wom(men) and path, wom(men) and money, wom(men) and business, wom(men) and art, wom(men) and marketplace. We do not choose to give our works of any kind away for nothing. We are not starving or frivolous artists. We are creators whose creations save lives, heal the world, heal wounds. This work of wom(men), priestesses (priests) and practitioners of every kind is Visionary Work.

Your work is vial, essential, needed. This work of wom(men) must include creating livelihood. This is not easy, quick, fun nor likely. This can be easy, quick, fun and likely when all parts of us are on board * This is not accepted or encouraged. This must be accepted and encouraged by you first, before it is accepted and encouraged by the culture.* And this is what we must do:

*Create an abundance revolution
*We must create our own path
*We must create our own money
*We must create art
*We must be compensated

We are creating our own mystical cosmic luminous overflowing BANK. A bank that does not cause, contribute or condone the suffering of others for profit. A bank that creates possiblilities for empowerment and right relationship to resources between and among all beings and the planet.* A wom(men)'s bank. Believe it. Create it. Deposit into it. Draw from it. Invite other wom(men) to it. Enter the income stream in your golden boat of dreams and dream and work and pray and play and do not stop. Keep going. It will almost always seem impossible. But we will make miracles. Miracles are organizing themselves around our dreams, our work, right now.

Believe it.
by Shiloh Sophia McCloud 2005
*I have added statements in italics and within brackets-kaliheart

Thursday, August 30, 2007

LUNAR AND SOLAR ECLIPSES: TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE

By Guru Rattana, Ph.D.
http://www.yogatech .com/nmb/
August 26, 2007

Dear Friends,

The Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse in Pisces/Virgo is Tuesday August 28th at 3:35 AM PDT (10:35 AM GMT). We are experiencing both a powerful Lunar and Solar eclipse in the next two weeks. I am sure you are feeling the impact in subtle and not so subtle ways. I am sending you this short NMB (New Millenium Being) highlighting only the Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse in Pisces/Virgo and the Virgo New Moon/Solar Eclipse September 11 at 5:45 AM PDT (12:45 PM GMT). I am writing the NMB on Virgo, which I will send out soon.

ECLIPSES SIGNAL CHANGE
This full moon/lunar eclipse is potent with potentialities eager to be birthed. It is important not to let your mind get distracted by your own or externally provoked negativity. Take time to be alone and to meditate. (1) Strengthen your Divine connection. (2) Experience your oneness with the Infinite. (3) Renew your faith in Spirit. Do not let yourself be traumatized, undermined or sabotaged by events and challenges, which serve to rearrange your life at this time. Lunar and Solar eclipses bring both endings and new beginnings.

The lunar and solar eclipses in Virgo and Pisces can bring an end to some suffering in your life, if you are willing and able to stay connected to the Divine. (Staying attuned to the Divine is the only way to permanently end pain and suffering.) Be quiet so that you are able to receive the fruition of your efforts and move to the next level of your journey. Stay clear of distractions that divert you from your experience of a higher power. Victory is sweet. So is Divine Connection!

PISCES FULL MOON AUGUST 28
Every six months the full moon is also a lunar eclipse. Two weeks later the new moon is a solar eclipse. The lunar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon align causing the shadow from the Earth to intercept the light of the Sun which is normally reflected by the Moon. Both lunar and solar eclipses create dramatic shifts in our lives. Transformation is the overall theme. It is a time to be aware and to respond with as much consciousness as we can muster.

The Sun in Virgo illuminates where we need to discern what is important and what is essentially a waste of our time. The mental and physical energies of Virgo will help us focus and be realistic. The Moon is Pisces reminds us to have faith in and surrender to the magic of Spirit. Virgo teaches us the importance of keeping our body healthy and our mind clear so that body/mind integration is possible. The more our body/mind is aligned with Spirit, the more we can direct our lives from intuitive/instinctu al knowing. The Pisces/Virgo polarity emphasizes the need to make the connection between matter/body and spirit/non-physical realities conscious. Expanding our awareness of the interconnection between finite and infinite is our goal.

Other heavenly interactions add to the potency of this eclipse. Mercury opposing Uranus can help us wake up and expand the reaches of our consciousness. Mars in Gemini is approaching a square with Uranus in Pisces (exact of September 3). The same day the Sun in Virgo will square Jupiter in Sagittarius. The Sun, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars together form a grand cross. A GRAND CROSS is made up of four planets which are in the same modality. They form squares and oppositions with each other. Squares and oppositions force change and signal endings and new beginnings.

Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo and Pisces are mutable signs, which mean that they organize, adjust, and go with the flow. They specialize in change and transformation. When they are aligned with the cosmic flow and operate according to universal laws, things go fairly smoothly and evolution unfolds over time. However control trips, resistance, stuck energy and rigid belief systems create problems that prevent necessary change. That is where the energy of squares and oppositions are 'helpful.' Their energy breaks up the barriers that we create in our minds and eliminate the blockades we construct in our lives.

This Full Moon/lunar eclipse can be disruptive in areas of our lives that require change. The more we tune into what should be obvious, the better we will be able to flow with the inevitable evolutionary winds.

SATURN moves out of Leo and enters VIRGO on September 2. Saturn will be in Virgo through July 21, 2010 (except from October 29, 2009-April 7, 2010 when it is in Libra.) Wherever Virgo falls in our chart, we will be confronted with Virgo issues. Health, work, service or servitude.

VIRGO NEW MOON/SOLAR ECLIPSE - SEPTEMBER 11
A solar eclipse happens when the Moon blocks the Sun, preventing 'the powerful flows of gamma, ultraviolet, infrared and other solar emissions' from impacting the Earth. During this brief moment, energetic patterns are balanced, karma can be dissolved and energetic matrices can be reconfigured. *(1) Solar eclipses inaugurate major endings, beginnings and dramatic shifts that catapult us to the next level.

Several other celestial occurrences add to the potency of this solar eclipse. Two planets are ending their retrograde phase, intensifying the transformative forces and our desire to move forward. PLUTO goes direct at 26 degrees Sagittarius September 7. (Pluto has been retrograde since March 31.) While planets are retrograde we review, release, and realign. SA 106

VENUS completes its bi-annual retrograde phase September 8. (Venus went retrograde July 27th) When Venus is retrograde, we feel the need to reassess our lives and align our external life with our internal values. We are also motivated to complete unfinished business, re-evaluate relationships and make sure we are following our heart.

The mutable signs are still in their square and opposition positions forming a grand cross. Pluto squares the Sun on September 19th and opposes Mars on September 21st. Uranus is opposite the Sun and Moon. Jupiter in Sagittarius squares Uranus and the Sun and the Moon. (and widely opposes Mars.)

There are many catalysts provoking change and transformation at this time. The mutable signs change through adaptation and integration. Our touchstones for this time can be (1) get clear, truthful information, (2) focus on what we want, (3) pursue our course of action with discipline, (4) act impeccably, (5) be open minded, (6) trust and follow our intuition and instincts, and (7) connect with and trust the Infinite.

It is time to be very honest with ourselves and build our lives on the foundation of our own truth. We must listen to our heart and follow it. These eclipses can best serve us if we are proactive. If we protest, we will provoke uncomfortable reactions. Instead of complaining, we need to evaluate. Instead of letting our subconscious sabotage us one more time, we need to be consciously aware of how our actions and thoughts create our reality.

MEDITATION - CLEAR THE CLUTTER
Any meditation that enhances your experience of the Infinite is perfect. All Kundalini meditations work. Silent breathing meditations will allow you the space to focus on the qualities of the Infinite. If you are practicing a mantra meditation at this time, be sure to sit quietly at the end and listen to the silence. Clear the clutter in your mind and focus on the qualities of peace, stillness, silence, vastness and the stability in your neutral mind. This is not a time to control. It is a time to be attentive and to let go. The only thing you need to control now is the focus of your mind.

REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES
Austin, Stephanie, "Pisces Lunar Eclipse," and "Virgo Solar Eclipse," The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #134, August/September 2007, p. 104-6.

1. Austin, p. 106

2. Austin, p. 106

NEW MILLENNIUM BEING
#137 LUNAR AND SOLAR ECLIPSES
TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE
http://www.yogatech .com/nmb/

Monday, August 27, 2007

Full Moon in Pisces/Total Lunar Eclipse: August 28th, 2007; 6:35-37am EST

Just a short one this month; I'm just back from vacation...but here's the gist of it:

We are in the Leo moon cycle (new Moon In Leo, Aug. 12th, 7:02pm EST). The WeMoon calander entitles this cycle : Work Focus and I'm not sure where that fits into my understanding of the energy except that we have just moved into Virgo Sun energy: The work of unveiling our true selves? Virgo as vocation? Virgo as the light of Christ consciousness?

Leo energy is the energy of self love. Immature Leo energy seeks approval for its specialness in ways that cause separateness...like ego superiority. But it's not always superiority that fuels Leo, it could just as well be it's inverse...inferiority. And usually if we're playing with this polarity, we swing back and forth with a bias for one side or the other. It's important to remember they represent the same energetic polarity.

So, our job this month is to identify where, in ourselves, we have identified with ego separateness...and how this identification limits the true expression of our light. Mature Leo is radiant self love.

With the total lunar eclipse we're asked to allow the veil of consciousness to become absorbed from within...then rise up with our inner muse and follow her...whatever that means for each of us...around this ego identification thing. Maybe we can let go of this brutal limiting reality we're attached to in the Leo cycle...and allow our true Muse to guide us out of it to our unique light path (radiant self love).

The total Lunar eclipse happens during a full moon in Pisces. Maybe we'll be aware of how this limiting vision of ourselves is rooted in a certain vision of reality...attachment to Maya...the limitations and pain and suffering of the world...that the world tells us is real. We can reach beyond those limiting visions to our real, true dream...each one of us has a special dream, uniquely true for each one of us...and following our bliss raises the vibration of love and light in the world....can we find our Muse and follow her even if it makes no sense in Maya?

What does your Muse say?

Saturday, July 14, 2007

New Moon In Cancer, Saturday, July 14th, 2007, 8:04am EST. Oh Mother We are Calling!


Summary of the Gemini/Capricorn Moon Cycle (June 14th-July13th)
No doubt, the Gemini moon cycle brought deep realizations about limiting beliefs and the opportunity to align the mind/thinking with our higher selves. It has been an opportunity to examine communication styles and to ask ourselves if they serve our evolving selves’ heart’s desires. We had the opportunity to reflect on the relative harmony (or conflict) between the way we communicate and our heart’s desires; to awaken the skill of listening to ourselves and our thoughts.

We’ve had the opportunity to direct our intention, through commitment and dedication, towards aligning the mind/communication style with our evolving self. And this challenging cycle brought valuable information about our vulnerability (Cancer Sun); it may have brought insight into the origin of limiting beliefs, as we had the opportunity with the Capricorn Full Moon to grow up a part of ourselves, to become independent of limiting beliefs. The child’s mind makes many decisions about the meaning of life which may or may not accurately reflect ‘reality’. If a child has the experience that when she smiles, Mommy and Daddy stop fighting, she may grow up believing she must hide her authentic self behind a seductive smile. During this cycle, that grown up child may have felt the desire to connect to others in more authentic, satisfying ways which challenged her immature beliefs, bringing her vulnerability to consciousness, as she took steps to do herself differently. With the Capricorn full moon, the cycle demanded hard work and the creation of structures to support new visions. The grown up little girl may have consciously chosen to invite experiences where she felt supported to express herself authentically. Alternatively, she may have found herself communicating in ways that challenged her desire for authenticity. In both cases, she has brought consciousness to the process; she has awakened the Gemini trait of higher mind ‘listening’ to her process. (1)

Cancer Moon Cycle (July 14-August 12) Oh Mother We Are Calling!
The hard work of the Gemini moon cycle is met by the nurturing arms of the Cancer New Moon. With this new moon, we bridge the mind (Gemini) with the feeling nature. (2) Cancer is a richly complex sign. She is many things at once: the Moon-the seat of ancestral emotions; She is our ancestral roots; Cancer represents our dependent self-the self which looks for tribal approval; it is our emotional sensitivity and dependence-therefore emotional vulnerability. Cancer looks for emotional nurturing: reflection of and caring for deep emotions. She is the compassionate, nurturing Mother, Kuan Yin. Mature Cancer provides emotional nurturing and deep compassion.

CANCER'S EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY

IMMATURE -> MATURE (needs to learn)
Over protective -> Protects according to need
Avoids or denies feelings -> Honors and feels feelings in the body
Insecure -> Secure within self
Insatiable -> Satisfied within one self
Hides to feel safe -> Feels safe inside own shell
Accumulates things -> Able to let go of what is no longer useful
Needy -> Can nurture self
Fearful -> Able to trust self and Divine connection
Need to control environments -> Controls one's own reactions to situations
Sacrifices self and own needs -> Can give without losing connection with self
Over sensitive -> Able to protect one's self and honor sensitivity
Confused by unconscious emotions -> Stays with feelings until can interpret messages
Feels vulnerable -> Creates own safe haven and energetic boundaries
Uncertain about own powers/strengths -> Connects within to power of tenacity and focus
Moody -> Flows with shifts in emotions
Can be emotionally manipulated -> Flexible and adaptable in own flow
Co-dependent -> Appropriately gives and receives

Reflect on these keywords and your relationship to the nurturing principle to gain insight into your personal opportunities for growth of your evolving self during this moon cycle.

Firing the Grid
This moon cycle asks us to bring our focus to our Earth Mother, Gaia. She is Mother to ALL Life on this planet. When we meditate on mother energy, in general, we find that it has been very ill for a long time, reflected both in human relationship, human culture and in the health of our Mother Earth. Take a moment to reflect on mother, within yourself, with your own mother, with the Earth. What is your feeling about nurturing? Is it balanced? Is it unbalanced? Is it heart based? Is it fear based? Your meditation will give you clues as to what the opportunity for healing is this moon cycle. Debased, Mother is sick and dying. Where She once had unlimited energy to nurture her children, she is now gasping for Life. This is NOT to say that she is not infinitely abundant; Her aura is simply severely depleted. The principles of Holistic health tell us that all living systems, under conditions of health, will resolve themselves to health.

The Goddess, the Divine Feminine, has been working Her way into our hearts, minds, lives with a strength that defies logic, given Her health. There is a force for Life that is stronger than the depletion we have experienced in Mother energy. It is our Desire for Life. It is Love. It is Compassion. It is our Joy, what makes us feel light and happy.

Many of us have been circulating information about July 17, 2007 at 11:11GMT (7:11 EST). (Fire the Grid and Shelly Yates on Youtube) What I’m understanding is that we’re invited to take one hour on that day to sit in meditation of joy, what brings our heart joy and vitality, to reflect on our commitment to connect with our joy…as a way to bring healthy vitality to the Earth grid and to act as a bridge between the loving energy of the universe and our depleted Earth Mother, Gaia…to awaken our own Mother natures to ourselves and to Her and to trust that we will find a way to heal the relationship to Her and between ourselves, so that we develop structures to support life and abundance for all beings on this planet. Do it! Breathe it! Pray it with your deep emotion! Let your deep emotion flow through your body to feed yourself and Her!

Aquarius Full Moon
If we feel and respond to our feeling nature, we will have a beautiful opportunity this moon cycle to expand the compassionate, nurturing aspect of ourselves. We begin the cycle under a Cancer Sun, intensifying the emotional nature. On the 22nd, we shift to Leo Sun and our focus also shifts to the fire of inspiration of ‘the flourishing individual creative spirit’. Leo represents the journey from immature self (ego) which asks for recognition for its uniqueness-to the mature Self, the individuated ego and recognition that each individual has something unique to offer the whole. Mature Leo knows himself and his gifts and looks for a way to contribute these gifts. Aquarius Full Moon will shed light on the health of the evolving ‘self’. Our emotional vulnerability and nurturing natures awakened, we have the opportunity to shift our focus from ‘self’ aggrandizement to contribution of ‘self’. Awakening compassion to the mother nature and our vulnerable selves will allow us to grow ourselves up in places where we may have once looked outside for attention and recognition to feel powerful, safe, cared for, desired. Whole, we create from a joyful, satisfied place in ourselves. Whole, we are a healthy cell and contribute health to the organism of Gaia, Us.

Peace, love, blessings, joy,

Helen

(1) New Millennium Being (to be published shortly)

(2) This New Moon


Sunday, July 08, 2007

The Possible Human

from: A Mythic Life by Jean Houston

Consider my fantasy of the possible human, a once and future person, who may be both what we were and what we may yet become. (She describes a female for simplicity):

The first thing that you notice about her is that she enjoys being in her body. A fullness of being inhabits the body, with its flexible joints and muscles, its movements fluid and full of grace. One senses an ebullience in the bones, an appetite for delight. She is given to long pleasures and short pains, in contrast to most of us, who experience long pains and short pleasures. And if her natural zippiness and boundless curiosity entice her into situations where she gets physically hurt, she is able to control any bleeding and accelerate her own healing.

Like the yogi adepts in the Himalayas, she can voluntarily control involuntary physical processes and stay warm in cold weather and cool in hot. (This is true in emotional climates as well as physical ones.) She can also self-regulate skin temperature, blood flow, heart and pulse rate, gastric secretion, and brain waves. Indeed, she can consciously enter into alpha and theta brain wave states for meditation and creative reverie, drop into delta whenever she wants to go to sleep, and call upon beta waves when she needs to be alert and active. Scanning her body, she self-corrects any function that needs improving.

The new Eve celebrates acute senses, which are not limited to five, for she enjoys synesthesia or cross-sensing, the capacity to hear color and touch the textures of music, capture with her nose the smell of words, and taste the subtlest of feelings. Since her sensory palette is so colorful and wide ranging, she engages and is engaged by the world as artist and mystic, seeing infinity in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower. The splendor of her sensory life graces her with an accomanying gift, an excellent memory, for she is so present to the perceptual richness of everyday life that little is lost or disregarded and all is stored in her memory banks for later review and delectation. She can time travel into these memories, walk around in them as if they were happening now-talking to this friend, realizing that moment of joy, even holding the hand of a long ago loved one. Thus, she need never feel lonely, for the past is as present as the present.

And wherever in the past wounding occurred, she can visit that time in her mind as the wiser version of her former self and bring understanding, compassion and wisdom to the occasion. This practice can free capacities that may have been frozen in the painful past and yield frutiful consequences for her present and future development. She is thus a time player, able to speed up subjective time when she needs it to go faster or slow it down so as to savor lovely moments or have more time to rehearse skills or review projects.

The possible human can think in inward images and experience subjective realities as strikingly as she can know objective ones. She listens to inward music as complex as any symphony, in fact often richer, for instruments and sounds are added that are unknown or too expensive for any formal orchestra. She views new movies on her inner screen whenever she wishes, for she knows that it is the nature of the brain to provide stories, well wrought novels for her Inward Television Station. She uses these images to entertain herself as well as to provide the materials of creativity and invention. She is already an adventurer into a vast reservoir of virtual realities and needs no machine to assist her. She knows that self-creating works of art are always budding out of the fields of her mind, and she can capture and rework them as she wishes.

Consciousness for her is a vast landscape, a continuous landscape, and she travels its length and breadth at will. She enters a state of meditation here, a region of deep trance there, finding shortcuts into the realms of fantasy and imagination, spelunking her way into the caves of creativity. She continues to discover the many cultures of her psyche and has matriculated in the Innerversity, studying all manner of knowledge and wisdom that these cultures within provide.

She has many friends and allies in the inward and imaginal worlds, the most important of whom may be the beloved of the soul, the spiritual friend who is her archetypal partner and the companion of her depth reality. And, whenever she feels ready, she journeys to the source places of her soul, where she partakes of the everlasting waters of life and spirit. She lives daily life as spiritual exercise, and her radiance affects all who meet her, for she is deeply empathic, knowing herself part of a seamless kinship with all living things. Being more, and using more of herself, she feels and cares more deeply about the decay and degradation in the social and moral order. In spite of evidence to the contrary, she recognizes others as God-in-hiding, and in whatever way she can, she calls them back to their own possible humanity. She is one about whom we might say, 'The human heart can go the lengths of God.'

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Full Moon In Capricorn, Saturday, June 30, 2007, 9:49am EST, Capricorn Committment

Capricorn Commitment


This full moon I am referring you to Lisa Dale Miller's column because I resonate with its description of the Capricorn moon. She discusses:

* the feeling of struggle we are experiencing with 6 planets retrograde (ow!) and the full moon in Capricorn
* the opportunity to explore our commitment and hard work towards realistic goals
* the opportunity to create structures which support our heart's desires
* the opportunity to honor our personal timing
* the opportunity to compassionately meet those places in ourselves which are wounded in love and do not respond from love as a first response; facing the reality of love lost or denied
* the opportunity to resolve fear vs love within ourselves!

I'd like to add some thoughts about the context of this Capricorn full moon in the Gemini Moon cycle. (see previous entry) I've written that Gemini New Moon under a Cancer Sun provides the opportunity to explore how lower mind is attached to ancestral imprinting...this means that the mind responds to all situations as if we are still 5 years old...it will tell us what it knows based on its experiences of 'reality'. Guru Rattana suggests training the lower mind with breath/kundalini yoga and mantras. What we're doing is teaching a mind with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) that the war is over. I remember a story about a Japanese soldier who hid in the jungle for many years after World War II was resolved. The lower mind is like that: it only knows itself in the context of the original imprinting. Even if the original imprinting was nourishing and pleasant, we will likely meet life with certain expectations and limitations. Perhaps it was nourishing and pleasant for a dependent 5 year old, but not for an ambitious 35 year old.

'Reality' is where Capricorn comes into the picture this moon cycle. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. Saturn in the chart describes the area of life where we have been defined as 'limited'. For example, someone with Saturn in Gemini will likely feel like they are not as smart as other people and will 'over-compensate' by studying until they are smarter than everyone else! That's because Saturn in Gemini slows down the mind...from the quick responsiveness of Gemini to a more slow, thorough examination of something. The final result is a mind that is very discerning! The lesson here is that hard work and commitment will help anyone to overcome anything. (Emotional maturity of Capricorn vs emotional dependence of Cancer : Independence from emotional attachment to tribal acceptance-and the ancestral/tribal imprinting-Capricorn IS the grownup! Capricorn decides where it will focus its attention.) Where we get lost with Saturn and Capricorn is believing that the 'limitation' makes us seperate from the rest of the world...does our hard work bring more fear and seperation or open us in love to interdependence?

In the context of the Gemini New Moon, this Capricorn Full Moon provides the opportunity to bring our desire for love and compassion to the lower mind: the parts of us who tell us why we are limited and will never get what we want, based in fear rather than love (see Lisa Dale Miller's column). With so many retrograde planets, it is an opportunity to look deeeeeeeeeply at our thought and life process. How do we stand in our own way? Can we awaken compassion for the power of imprinting in the mind and with hard work and committment train the mind to work for our true heart's desire, rather than it's limited outlook?

I have found that pranayama breath has really helped me this moon cycle when my mind was telling me how limited I was. The breath has helped to support the witness part of me and strengthen the higher mind-the mind connected to more expansive 'realities' and possibilities.

For the full moon and the rest of this moon cycle (Saturday, July 14th), celebrate your personal timing and honor any movement you've made from fear to love with lower to higher mind. Celebrate any movement to strengthen your commitment to your heart's desire, softness, compassion, emotional fluidity. (Capricorn Moon under a Cancer Sun) The next two weeks will likey feel easier as you integrate the 'work' you've done during this moon cycle. The opportunities still remain, with so many retrograde planets, to dive deeply to recover treasured peices of ourselves.

peace, love, blessings, Helen

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Gemini New Moon, June 14, 2007. 11:13pm EST

Gemini New Moon/Capricorn Full Moon
New Moon: June 14, 2007. 11:13pm EST

Greetings and Blessings! This newsletter is a return after a break of one moon cycle; I last wrote at the Aries New Moon of April 17th . Today I will recap the intervening Taurus/Sagittarius moon cycle (May 16-June 13) and introduce the present Gemini/Capricorn cycle (June 14-July 13).

Summary Taurus new moon/Sagittarius full moon (May 16-June 13)
Using a Nature analogy, Taurus is the energy of resourcefulness, the ability to use the abundant resources available for growth. The new plant opens to receive and use the energy of the sun, the rain and nutrients in the soil to grow the potential of their roots. For humans, it describes a relationship to abundance and the ability to provide or maintain conditions which allow the roots of our new self birthed at the Aries new moon (April 17th) to grow and flourish. It describes right livelihood, our relationship to ‘do’ right with resources to sustain life. This moon cycle has been a time to explore root chakra issues, to courageously explore what roots us on the Earth plane-abundance mentality or scarcity mentality, fear or love. What roots us will determine what resources we use to grow this part of ourself. If we’re rooted in abundance, then we have been exploring how to provide or use available resources to grow this part of ourself. And conversely, if we are attached to the experience of the pain of scarcity, we have had the opportunity to bring compassionate consciousness to how we attract more pain to our experience.

Taurus is the 1st Earth sign and describes this fundamental relationship of growth to natural resources. It has been an opportunity to courageously explore a sense of ‘worthiness’ or ‘unworthiness’ to take from and give to the Earth. As a human cell of Gaia, this moon cycle has been an opportunity to awaken consciousness about our relationship and responsibility to resources to sustain life. Composting, recycling, green building, gardening, diet and the body, home repair and comfort, and attention to finances and right livelihood are some themes which may have come up during this moon cycle.

The Sagittarius full moon (May 31st) was in opposition to the sun in Gemini. Sagittarius full moon in this cycle required that we develop a philosophical world view/universal view about abundance and resources that gives deep meaning to our life experience. Gemini fuel provided the ability to weigh complex, sometimes contradictory information with subjective discernment. This required that we find our center, right mind. The opportunity here has been to align our relationship to the root chakra, to take note and decide how we choose to be rooted on the Earth plane, in pleasure or pain, to explore the ‘right to have’ those life sustaining resources that will grow our roots…creating right livelihood, healthy diet, exercise and a physical home base, creating stability and harmony in our bodies and homes and with planet Earth. On a very deep level, this moon cycle has been an opportunity to evolve a Universal view that gives us permission to be a part of Earth, to realize we ARE a part of Earth and to develop an understanding and right relation to Her/Us.

In these last days of the waning moon cycle (until June 14th), we are provided with anopportunity to consciously release attachment to the weeds that weigh us down, which don’t sustain life in our attitudes, beliefs and actions.


Gemini New Moon/Capricorn Full Moon
Gemini New Moon June 14th, 2007, 11:13pm EST

We are what we think.
All that we are, arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakeable. How can a troubled mind understand the way?
Your worst enemy cannot harm you
as much as your own thoughts unguarded. But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or your mother. Buddha (from the Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byron) (2)

Guru Rattana has written an amazingly complete and detailed report of Gemini’s path, which I quote in this newsletter. To read the whole report of the Gemini path I refer you here: http://www.yogatech.com/nmb/backissues/nmb119.html

Gemini is the first air sign. It is subjective thought, intelligence, curiosity and communication. Ideally, Gemini provides the energy to weigh complex issues and arrive at subjective discernment-how to cooperate with the other to maintain and sustain life. This requires a strong center from which to discern. Since Gemini is mind, intelligence and communication, ‘right mind’ requires peace of mind and a strong root to ground the sometimes scattered energy Gemini invites with its attention to many points of view. ‘Our goal is create a mental structure that is appropriately stimulated, practically functional and at peace.’ (3) (see below for some exercises to train the mind)

‘Gemini energy is inherently dualistic and detached (mental and non-emotional.) This duality is a source of indecisiveness and chaotic impulses and undirected action. Detachment can lead to an inability to establish meaningful personal connections. Immature Gemini is prone to be disoriented, inattentive and unfocused. Gemini’s challenges are to learn how to find its internal center and to listen. As Gemini cultivates these talents, its nemeses become its strengths. The consciously evolved Gemini can dance with the ever-unfolding dynamic of polarities and thoroughly enjoy the cosmic play.’ (3)

On one level it is still primarily concerned with the emerging self; it is not altruistic-its cooperation is self serving, as it must be at this stage of the self’s evolution. This moon cycle provides the opportunity to fully engage and play with the emerging beliefs of the new self birthed at the Aries new moon (April 17th). It’s important to keep moving, let thoughts come and go without attachment and encourage adaptability and grounded peace of mind. On another level, we are engaging Higher Mind, our mind’s connection to the Divine aspect of our self and others and Life.

‘The Gemini new moon supports us in being open to new ideas. It encourages us to think outside our habitual box and to let go of beliefs and attitudes that make this possible. It brings our attention to the mental aspect of our being and how everything in our mind – thoughts, beliefs, intentions and divine connection – determines the nature of our life experience. It is time to examine what is in our mind and how it is creating our reality. It is also time to acknowledge HOW our mind works and learn how to use this amazing masterpiece of consciousness in the most beneficial ways. The mind is our mechanism to access information about the most banal aspects of physical reality to the most elegant configurations of non-physical reality. Through our mind we acquire the knowledge that opens the doors to peace, power, wisdom and all the aspects of the Divine.’ (2)

Some keywords for the Gemini path:
IMMATURE ->MATURE (needs to learn)
Chatter box, too talkative ->Able to listen as well as communicate clearly
Scattered -> Focused
Distracted -> Can concentrate
Agitated -> Lively
Sarcastic -> Cosmic Humor
Tricks self -> Aware of consequences of own thoughts
Gullible -> Alert to ruse, able to discriminate
Irresponsible -> Responsible in the context of freedom
Perpetual adolescent -> Young at heart, childlike spontaneity
Glib -> Playful, cheerful
Too many activities -> Versatile lifestyle, explores many paths
Fluctuates -> Flexible
Restless -> Fluid
Cold, aloof -> Unattached, detached, objective
Ungrounded, fanciful ideas -> Experimental and innovative
Lost in thought -> Found in purposeful action
Suppresses feelings -> Listens to intuition
Future, perfection oriented -> Inventive and imaginative
Nervous system can burn out -> Takes care of body with exercise
Routines create boredom and depression -> New experiences keep life interesting and fun (3)

This moon cycle embraces the sun entering Cancer at the Summer Solstice June 21st. Life is busting out all over in glorious splendor! Ruled by the moon, Cancer provides fuel to explore the emotional attachment we carry for our ancestral past and tribal origins: tribal mentality (xenophobia), emotional dependence on tribal approval and extreme sensitivity and vulnerability of the personal self to collective tribal beliefs. It’s my sense that we are still working with root chakra issues through this moon cycle. The new self which emerged at the Aries new moon (April 17th) is still learning about itself and its new needs and is learning for the first time how to integrate its needs with the other. Energetically, this process bridges first and second chakras-the right to be and have and the right to be and have with the other.

Much can be gained this moon cycle by nurturing the airy detachment the Gemini new moon provides for the duration of the cycle around these issues. The Gemini/Capricorn moon cycle asks us to continue to explore our thinking about resources and abundance, weighing as many sides as we can, while we feel the emotional pull of our ancestral roots. At the Capricorn Full Moon (June 30th) we will have the opportunity to either nurture wholeness in the new self with the new found emotional independence Gemini subjectivity brings, or to work with any lingering emotional dependence on ancestral beliefs. Capricorn, as the highest Earth sign, represents Gaia Herself as well as emotional maturity and independence from tribal thinking. The Earth Goddess invites us this Gemini moon cycle to ground ourselves in right thinking about our relationship and interdependence as a worthy and necessary unique cell of Gaia.

peace, love and blessings, Helen

TRAINING THE MIND
It is imperative that we train our mind.

(1) THE BREATH AND THE MIND The easiest way to begin training our mind is to experience the relationship between the breath and the mind. When our breath is fast and shallow, our mind usually races and is out of control. We are prone to be more fearful, defensive and stressed. As our breath slows down, we start to relax, become more present and available to input without being overly reactive. When we slow our breath down to 4 or less breaths per minute, we begin to enter a meditative state. During the month of Gemini (and beyond), practice watching your breath and consciously slowing it down to 4 or less breaths per minute. Monitor your mental, emotional and physical states as your shift your breathing pattern. Train yourself to be more conscious of the relationship between your breathing and thinking. Power of the breath helps us get in touch with the power of the mind.

(2) FIND OUR INTERNAL CENTER When our breath is slow and deep, our mind is available to access our neutral channel. Follow your breath in your body until your body relaxes and you feel the rhythm of your breath in your chest. Then use your breath to open the space in your mind. Look and listen inside your head and continue to use your breath to open the space inside your head until you can comfortably connect with a clear, open space. This space is your haven -- your inner sanctuary. Take time to enjoy being in this neutral channel.

(3) STAYING IN NEUTRAL One of our biggest challenges is to learn to stay in our neutral channel. We can find it in meditation and then we lose it. Our next task is to investigate what specifically takes us out of the neutral channel. Three of the principle ways to revert back to our rational mind are the following: (a) Analyzing, rationalizing and explaining. (b) Dissatisfaction with what is and the desire as well as the attempts to change what cannot be changed. (c) Attachment and attention to something outside ourselves. Monitor the above activities in your mind and start training yourself to go back to neutral.

(4) STOPPING THOSE THOUGHTS To deal with information overload and to stop undesirable thoughts, we have the technology of sound. We each need to pick a mantra and have it handy to repeat it every time we have a thought that could take us a place we don’t want to go. Yogi Bhajan has given us dozens of authentic and powerful mantras. One great way to install a mantra in your mind is to listen to it continuously on a CD. There is a great selection on www.yogatech.com The sound bites are exceptionally recorded. I suggest allowing your intuition to guide you to several CDs and pick one that soothes your mind.

(5) MIND AND MOUTH All of the above help us investigate the relationship between our mind and mouth. One of our goals is to stop and think about what we say before we say it, first making a conscious decision about what we want to share with others and put out to the universe.

(1) Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology
(2) http://www.astrowisdom.com/thisnewmoon.htm
(3) http://www.yogatech.com/nmb/backissues/nmb119.html

Monday, April 23, 2007

Deep Ecology: The Great Turning towards a Life Sustaining Society

Earth Day, April 22, 2007

Deep Ecology: The Great Turning towards a Life Sustaining Society

Blessings to all beings today and everyday! Yesterday I was fortunate to experience the work of Joanna Macy http://www.joannamacy.net/index.html presented and facilitated by Rebekah Hart dancingpine@gmail.com here in Montreal at the Padua Center www.padua.ca. I would like to deeply integrate this work by writing and sharing it with all of you.

It’s so simple, really, the transformation we are living and pioneering, and at the same time, it is complicated and challenges deep personal and collective beliefs and structures. I’d like to summarize the work here and add my personal observations about the possibilities for healing from my shadow/emotional/bodywork orientation.

SUMMARY

1. Three great revolutions: Agricultural, Industrial and Ecological

2. Significant features of the Ecological Revolution: Holding Actions, New Structures and Institutions and Perceptual Shifts

3. The role of Com-passion: A model for processing deep change

4. Source of the orientation towards a world view of isolation of individual ‘things’ and people

5. Models of power which arise from different world views

6. A return to a world view of flow and inter-relationship of information, matter and all beings (Quantum orientation) and a new model of power

7. Systems and the expansion of the definition of ‘Self’

8. Personal observations: deconstructing inter-dependence-> from the personal “I” to the personal “We” to the collective “We” and back again to the personal “I”


1. Three Great Revolutions

Humans have experienced three paradigm revolutions since we began to record our stories. These revolutions brought different world views, perceptual shifts and structures to culture and society. In the first revolution, humans shifted their orientation from nomadic hunters and gatherers to settlers and farmers. As hunter/gatherers, the understanding was that Nature provided; there was enough and there was gratitude towards Nature. During the Agricultural Revolution, humans settled in one place and began a trend towards manipulating Nature for food. Regardless of what one believes about agriculture, we can say with certainty that this revolution evolved a world view of separation from and dominance over Nature. The Industrial Revolution evolved a world view of manipulation of resources (Nature!) for profit with a focus on exponential growth, meaning the rate of growth has to grow. In less than 150 years the world view of the Industrial Growth Society has sent the world suicidally spinning into destruction as it tries to maintain exponential growth even as the ‘resources’ of the Earth disappear or lose their integrity before our eyes. As we have seen in our life times, an Industrial Growth Society has a finite life span, dependent as it is on the resources of the Earth. This understanding has birthed the 3rd great revolution of humankind, the Ecological Revolution, or The Great Turning, as Joanna Macy calls it.


2. Significant features of the Ecological Revolution (Great Turning): Holding Actions, New Structures and Institutions and Perceptual Shifts

The Great Turning is a 180 degree shift from the death and destruction orientation of an Industrial Growth Society, to an orientation towards the life and growth focus of a Life Sustaining Society.

Rebekah talked about three features which define the orientation of the Life Sustaining Society at present: holding actions, new structures and institutions, and perceptual shifts. These features are inter-connected and mutually supportive. Each informs and grows the other. I find this a beautiful feature of the Life Sustaining Society…life will present itself in fractal nature no matter where you look in its structures.

Holding actions: These are actions taken in direct response to the destruction- personal, physical, mental, collective…of the Industrial Growth Society. They are actions which slow down and attempt to re-direct the destructive orientation towards a life focus. Holding actions were described as legal, lobbying actions, vigils, boycotting actions. Other actions I feel are holding actions include lifestyle re-orientation…reducing or re-orienting consumption habits, emotional healing work such as shadow work, ancestor work-our current drive to heal scarcity mentality at its roots in our beings; healing our relationship to animals and animal nature, food, consciousness raising through art, etc.

New Structures and Institutions: A Life Sustaining Society works towards inter-dependence, power-with, in non-hierarchical, consensus-based structures and institutions. These can include anything from new food systems, education, eco villages, bartering and exchange programs to personal changes in relationships, neighborhoods, communities.

Perceptual Shifts: These are simply the new ways we see ourselves and what we value in relation to the world as a result of our holding actions and new structures which support our perceptual shifts. Clearly, deep perceptual shifts will precede new structures and holding actions, and just as clearly, new structures and holding actions will produce deep perceptual shifts. For example, when we are brave enough to explore inter-dependence in relationships and other structures, we are filled with deep satisfaction and a sense of value for this type of interaction, as well as an understanding of the inherent interconnection of all beings with each other and this planet.

3. The role of Com-passion: A model for processing deep change

This part of our workshop was a huge-ly honoring acknowledgement for me that we must awaken to our pain if we are to find freedom from it. No matter which side of the fence we sit on at this moment of the Great Turning, we are struggling to make sense of what is happening in our own personal way. As Rebekah said, we are mid-wife-ing the birth of a new society, within ourselves, and the contractions are our confusion, resistance, sadness, anger, fear. Compassion means “to suffer with”. We are encouraged to stay present to and feel, to suffer with, our own pain. The act of compassion, of being with ourselves, is a transformative act that releases energy from the pain which can then be focused towards life sustaining thoughts and actions.

The model for transformation used to hold us in this workshop begins with grounding oneself in gratitude. When we were deeply grounded in our gratitude we then shifted to explore our pain and confusion in a safe, supported container. We then shifted our focus towards goals and resources…what we really want. We ended our day with our focus deeply rooted in gratitude for what we have and desire for what we really want.

4. Source of the world view of isolation of individual ‘things’ and people from one another:

Searching for the root cause of the suffering of humanity is often like searching for a needle in a haystack. On this site I have written a bit about Miasms-their origin and relationship to disease. During the deep ecology workshop we explored the probable origins of the philosophy of separation in Western thought, in particular, the fundamental difference in opinion between the 5th century philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides.

Heraclitus wrote about the nature of the ultimate substance, and claimed that the nature of everything is change itself. For Heraclitus everything is "in flux". Heraclitus is recognized as one of the earliest dialectical philosophers with his acknowledgment of the universality of change and development through internal contradictions, as in his statements:

"By cosmic rule, as day yields night, so winter summer, war peace, plenty famine. All things change. Air penetrates the lump of myrrh, until the joining bodies die and rise again in smoke called incense."

"Men do not know how that which is drawn in different directions harmonises with itself. The harmonious structure of the world depends upon opposite tension like that of the bow and the lyre." (1)

These statements reflect an identification with Eastern thought on the nature of existence (the Tao) and our present understanding of Quantum physics.

Parmenides, on the other hand, was an early exponent of the duality of appearance and reality. For him and his pupils the phenomena of movement and change are simply appearances of a static, eternal reality. Parmenides' considerable influence on the thinking of Plato is undeniable, and in this respect Parmenides has influenced the whole history of Western philosophy, and is often seen as its grandfather. (2) His influence set in motion a way of looking at ‘things’ as separate and isolated from each other’s influence.

We have come full circle with this thinking, as we experience our deep inter-connection and inter-dependence in the face of the Ecological crisis, supported by the re-emergence of Eastern thought in healing (Chinese Medicine and Holism) and the emergence and integration of Quantum Physics in our understanding of the nature of reality.

5. Models of power which arise from different world views

Based on the world view of Parmenides, ‘power’ would be defined as ‘cause and effect’ or the ability of one thing to effect change on another thing, or the ability to reduce the choices of another. It is a win/lose model of power. In Parmenides’ world view, there is an image of God as invulnerable, immovable. “Power’ is built on strong defenses and the ability to remain ‘unmoved’ by forces outside oneself. I was struck (I literally felt wounded) during this conversation by how one symptom of our suffering world is the inability to respond to the suffering of the other…being ‘unmoved’ by other’s suffering. In this model of ‘power’, emotional and physical armoring is seen as strength.

6. A return to a world view of flow and inter-relationship of information, matter and all beings (Quantum orientation) and new models of power

New models of power have been explored by many people in response to a desire for healing and inter-dependence as we experience the perceptual shifts which reveal our innate inter-connectedness. Three authors on this site who explore the topic are Riane Eisler and Starhawk, and to some extent, Ken Wilbur.


In the new models of power, we honor our innate inter connection (Systems Theory) and ask of the universe: “how does it work?” (verb) rather than “what is it made of?” (noun). We ask ourselves how we are affected by the other and how we affect the other, knowing that whether or not we ask the question, we have an effect on the other. Taking into account the flexible, changing, inter-dependent nature of reality, we are guided by a model of power that is based on cooperation, power with, power between people and nature and all beings and things. In this case ‘power’ becomes a win/win or a lose/lose situation. Either we all win or we all lose in this model. We ‘win’ when we experience positive flow and growth and hope. We ‘lose’ when we experience the pain of destructive, death oriented, empty culture, relationship and isolation. It is to our evolutionary advantage to cooperate. In order to survive, we must build bridges and work together. In order to survive and flourish, we are asked to dis-arm emotionally and physically, to build trust with each other where there has been suspicion. We are asked to develop faith in this new model of power by continuing to explore inter-dependence in relationships and structures of our lives.

7. Systems and the expansion of the definition of ‘Self’

Living systems are holistic in nature. This means that if energy flows under conditions of health (meaning life supporting), a living system will organize in a balanced state. Living systems also have emergent properties. This means it is impossible to predict the exact outcome when two energies interact with one another because a third, totally novel energy is created.

In the old view of ‘Self’, we are isolated and defended, un-moved and unaffected by anything that happens outside our walls. As we can now understand, this world view is inaccurate, dangerous and emotionally painful. But when we experience the perceptual shift that we are actually inter-connected, our definition of ‘Self’ becomes expanded to include everything else. We begin to have an understanding of our ‘Eco-Self’…an expanded definition of self which includes trees, water, climate, animal populations, neighbors, nations, etc. Our definition of “self interest’ also expands to include everything which we define as affecting self.

And, the emergent quality of systems tells us that it is impossible to predict what the exact nature of our new cooperation will look like, only that under conditions of health and flow, the systems will organize in a balanced way.

8. Personal observations: deconstructing inter-dependence-> from the personal “I” to the personal “We” to the collective “We” and back again to the personal “I”

As a Holistic practitioner and Astrologer, the nature of my personal and professional focus is the individuation (or integration to wholeness) of the personal “I”. Each one of us is a cell in the organism of Gaia and the health of Gaia is dependent of the health of each one of her cells.

As I integrated this workshop, I started to explore how I might integrate Rebekah and Joanna’s work into my own work and understanding of the nature of inter-dependence. How is it possible to heal myself and help other people heal from the painful isolation, defensiveness and aggression the previous paradigm demanded of them and their ancestors? How can we be encouraged to peacefully, easefully dis-arm and gain trust with each other?

First, I believe, the desire for inter-dependence must be birthed in the heart and consciousness of the individual “I”. This is a uniquely personal evolution from a death orientation to a life orientation. For many people, like myself, a huge amount of suffering is ended simply in that shift…from death to life orientation.

In my own personal work it has been very helpful to work with models of power and individual authority. It has been helpful to work with inherited belief systems about power and authority and class and survival issues. It has been very helpful to me to find a model of spirituality which incorporates the Divine Feminine and nature. It is very helpful to find support and positive structure for our confusing emotions and resistance to change, and our deeply confusing and dangerous alliance with the death culture. For many people, shadow work is necessary to uncover and support transformation of painful alliances equated with loyalty and love.

I see my own desire for inter-dependence as having 4 components:

*equality

*good will

*common ground

*good boundaries

Equality: “I” create this by claiming my personal power to create and meeting the other as a powerful creator. “I” find my inner authority. “I” find my power in what I choose to create.

Good Will: “I” create this by my intention to find common ground with others

Common Ground: This is where our individual interests meet; where “We” meet; where our concerns meet, where our life force meets.

Good Boundaries: personal response-ability. This is where we have uniquely personal interests, responses, response-abilities and goals.

My personal desire for life brings me to a desire for inter-dependence. Each of these four components asks me to remain awake and aware of where I am still armed, unmoved and unmove-able. My desire asks me to open to my vulnerability and fear of dis-arming. My desire brings me to an understanding of the power of vulnerability….the ability to be present compassionately with the deep fear of being un-armed with others. It allows me to let this previously stagnant energy (Scorpio-Pluto-the desire to control life and death) flow towards health and balance. It asks me to take my personal power and to use it to make life sustaining choices. My desire asks me to trust, to have faith in the emergent quality of a healthy system.

Then, inter-dependence arises from a personal shift from death to life orientation, from a personal place of equality, good will, common ground and good boundaries. Inter-dependent, we relate, support, encourage and build together: shared awareness, structures that support sustainability, a life sustaining society.

Peace, love, blessings, Helen

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides