Friday, January 19, 2007

New Moon In Capricorn, Thursday, January 18th, 2007, 11:01 EST, Say Yes to Your Life


Capricorn is the focused intention of mastery. It requires our conscious effort, so, not surprisingly, it represents the effort we put into something we really want. We have to want it so much that we are willing to learn patience and endurance, to become fearless and courageous. In our culture, we often acheive our goals by bracing against the work of it, contracting our bodies, minds and spirits. And there is another way: choosing to say YES to our goals enthusiastically while remaining soft in body, mind and spirit. What we choose to say YES to will be things we are ready to commit our life force energy towards acheiving. Saying YES will make these things a priority.

Capricorn, for these reasons, also represents sacrifice and limitations, because if you say yes to one thing, you're often saying no to another. We are choosing our priorities. Capricorn represents the ultimate truth of Earth school that you get out of it what you put into it. We choose one thing and give up another because Chronos, Saturn, Father Time...holds us on Earth in time and space. So Capricorn asks us about our relationship to time and space. We often think of this holding as an externally imposed limitation and indeed, the way time is measured in the world often seems to oppose our needs: 9-5, Monday thru Friday, play on Sunday, rake on Saturday, party on Friday night...where is the room for spontaneity? Or the awe and wonder of the child part of us?

But 'time' also holds us lovingly. It gives us the opportunity to choose where to put our energy in the container of a morning or a day or a season or our youth, middle or old age. The Saturn reality is that we have energy to expend and renew, so we have the choice of where to focus our attention and 'work' during our waking hours. In physics, Work is defined as the force necessary to displace an object and Force is defined as mass times acceleration. These two definitions help us to understand that 'Work' is really just focused energy moving around in time and space. If our 'Work' is not a conscious choice of how to use our own energy, there will surely be a 'NO' felt in our emotional bodies. A 'NO' can often be an invitation to change and is a very important part of knowing what we want to say 'YES' to. Often, 'No' is an invitation to start thinking about what we really want. Let's assume you're clear or inviting clarity about your NO's and YES'S and explore a bit more.

Time can be measured as the interval between changing focus. It asks us to focus our intention during a specific interval. For example, in the winter I choose to wake up early so I can experience more light in my day. The Saturn reality is that light is limited to the period between 7am and 4pm during the shortest winter days. The Capricorn choice is to focus my intention to experience more light by deciding to wake up early.

Capricorn is the grown up of the zodiac It has often gotten the bum rap of 'serious' or 'party pooper' because it asks us to tell the child in us that in order to continue playing, we must first come in and eat lunch. Or if we choose to play hide and seek, we won't be going swimming at the same time...today...or more precisely during that specific time interval. Aries or Gemini will rush forward in their enthusiasm; Capricorn's enthusiasm is slow, measured, patient and kind-it moves forward intentionally, measuring the best way to reach it's desires...the surest path...it doesn't take unecessary risks...it is far seeing..it's going for the sure thing because it wants it so much. This is very sexy to me-because it represents an enthusiastic, fully engaged life force...body and mind open and flowing, directed intentionally, ON PURPOSE, towards the goal. Capricorn says-these are the steps I need to take to acheive my goal and I enthusiastically commit my focus to them.

The reason many people don't ever want to grow up is because there is a nagging feeling that we will give up a sense of unlimited possibilities and the magic we experience as children. But what if it was possible to have everything our hearts desired? What if our 'fear our commitment' issues could be calmed once and for all by knowing that what we say YES to will manifest into reality in a way our childish games and childhood fantasies never could! What if this process of choosing and manifesting is the game?????!!!!!!

There is a movie out there now called The Secret which explores the Law of Attraction. This Universal Law supposes that we are always choosing, often from unconscious parts of us who don't want to relive painful experiences from the past. Ironically, the Law of Attraction supposes, this kind of choice actually invites into our lives the very things we are trying to avoid because we are concentrating our focus onto them. But what if we turned each NO into a YES? Instead of saying I don't want to walk in the park tonight, I say...I want to walk down Main Street tonight. Doesn't that feel different? When I say I don't want to walk in the park tonight, the park feels negative...and I've tried it...when I say I don't want to walk in the park tonight...the next time I go near the park I feel a negative sensation in me...as if I said NO to the park itself. We can use this technique for everything in our lives, make a game of it, and in the process, learn about how to create the life we want and the abundance of the Universe. There is one caveat, though: you must have a space in you to receive what you are asking for. Many people assume the worst...and they get the worst, but they would never believe the opposite: that if they believed the best, they would get the best. In order for the Law of Attraction to work for us, it's necessary to work with the parts of us who haven't gotten what they've wanted...who may be still stuck in tantrum because they haven't gotten what they wanted...who may have been denied comfort and physical or emotional security. These parts of us might need counseling and healing before they will be ready to receive something different.

There is a simple exercise we did at NHC to feel our way through this place emotionally. In it, two students pair up. One is the person receiving and the other is the person who has something the first student desires. We play this game by holding our hands out in front of us; facing each other we take each others hands. The first person visualizes their desire, represented by the hands of the other person, and pulls it towards themself. There are two possible outcomes: in the first, the person reaching for their desire meets resistance; the partner resists allowing their hands to be pulled and forces the first student to pull them in hard. In the second outcome, the person reaching for their desire gets what they want easily; the partner allows the first student to take what they want by letting their hands flow easily to their partner.

It is a fascinating exercise because we meet our true emotions and beliefs about how hard or easily we get what we want. This is encoded in our template...how we know ourselves and experience ourselves in life. The miracle and magic is that we can change our experience by practicing this exercise with ourselves and making room for the easy receiving of our hearts desires...if we are ready to choose to say YES to ease.

For the Capricorn New Moon ritual, be prepared to bring both your No's and your Yes's to circle. Be prepared to play with your words and your intentions so that they reflect your true desires. Play with the giving and receiving exercise to concretize your relationship to your own readiness to give and receive easefully.

Peace, love, blessings, Helen

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Full Moon In Cancer, Wednesday, January 3, 2007, 8:57 EST, On Purpose


A blessed and happy New Year to everyone! This Sagittarius/Cancer Moon cycle bridges 2006-2007. We left the year with new moon seeds of optimism and faith. We begin the year in the fullness of the unconditional love of the Cancer Full Moon.

There are several themes weaving through this Full Moon for me. They are: Kwan Yin Bodhisattva; Legally Blond; Don Miguel Ruiz and "The Mastery of Love"; Capricorn/Saturn structure and time; belief systems, reality and the dream; We Moon calendar and On Purpose.

Let’s start with Kwan Yin Bodhisattva. This is a very sacred full moon. Cancer is ruled by the moon and she is represented by Kwan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion. This full moon, we may notice the unconditional love that is available if we are open to receive it. It may be an invitation to open to receive and surrender. At the new moon, we explored the archetype of Christ consciousness; this full moon, we are exploring the feminine side of the archetype with Kwan Yin. Her name means “She who hears the cries of the world”. She is particularly sensitive to emotional disturbances; she brings her unconditionally loving compassion to each being in distress. To read more about Kwan Yin, check out this link: Kwan Yin Mythology

Over the holiday I had the opportunity to watch the second “Legally Blonde 2-Red White and Blonde” movie. If you haven’t seen either movie, they’re about a young, perky, blond law student/ lawyer who is obsessed with fashion AND justice. Well, I noticed while watching this movie a few days ago, wait a second…she’s always loving (she never gets into power struggles with people, even when they betray her)…she’s devoted to beauty (ok, Versace and Gucci, but hey, she’s a caricature!)…she’s devoted to fairness (she fights for the oppressed)…she relies on a sisterhood for support (she can call on her sorority sisters in a second to back her up)…she does ritual to bring people together (snap cup to raise morale in the office). Of course, this is a Venus archetype, a Pink/Cancer/Goddess archetype in caricature. I feel very inspired that She’s shown up in the culture, even if it’s as a fluffy caricature. A few months ago during the Cancer/Capricorn moon cycle, I mentioned that I understand Cancer to be Pink in a Red culture. Well, you can’t get more Pink (in drag) than the character, Amber in this movie. It was very interesting to watch as people wanted to dismiss her as trivial or meaningless; certainly the ‘power’ figures didn’t take her seriously…until she won. Yes, in both movies, Pink wins! Everything! She gets her degree. She gets the boy, finally (I think she lost the first boy, but she still loved him-so Pink!). She wins the bill. She wins over the affections of her rival. The message is clear: Love and kindness will prevail over ANYTHING! Love and kindness can transform anything to beauty and justice. Now this may be just a fluffy movie...or is it TRUE? Does Love really win? I'm solidly on the side of Pink. If love doesn't really win (and I'm convinced that it does!!!!), I still choose love and Pink! It just feels better than the alternative. And Cancer is all about feeling.

We are experiencing the Pink nature of this Cancer Full Moon while the Sun is in Capricorn. It is the polarity of the homey, down to earth, emotional vulnerability and openness of Cancer. Ruled by Saturn, Capricorn’s function is to experience power through action. Not power in a ‘power over’ kind of way, although that’s where we often get confused with Capricorn, but in a ‘focused intention of mastery’ kind of way. Imagine what we could do with Pink with focused intention! Many man and women already are. With Venus (love), Mercury (communication) and Sun (ego) in Capricorn (1), Cancer’s unconditional Mother love nature is directed to bring this love down to earth in practical action. Capricorn and Saturn are concerned with structure (highest Earth). A question we might ask ourselves at this Full Moon is: Am I creating the structure that supports and grounds my love in the world? Depending on where we are in our process this could mean we are meant to find a practical action to direct our unconditional love towards ourselves, if we have not been doing that. Or if our hearts are already overflowing with Pink love, we may want to sit down and decide the best way to bring this love in service to the world.

The Cancer Full Moon during Capricorn Sun brings up another issue. Saturn represents the area of life where we learn first about ego separateness; it is often where we get stuck in our process for a long time (Saturn is Chronos and rules time). It is where we believe that we are not like other people and so feel the need to compensate for our ‘limitation’. For example, with Saturn in Gemini (communication), we may feel we are not able to communicate or think as well as other people. A person who feels this way will overcompensate…perhaps by getting a degree in Communications. It doesn’t matter how they do it, the point is that this person suffers everyday of their life thinking they are different and separate. There is often obsession about getting it right for years and years until compassion brings a shift in perception. By that time, this person is indeed an expert in this area of life and has alot to offer in service if they are not suffering in ego separateness. With the unconditional love of this full moon, we might want to ask ourselves where in our lives we are beating ourselves up for being different. Where are we contracted in judgment (Saturn) against ourselves and is that working for us? Does it allow us to use our gifts in service of love? What is clear at this Full Moon in Cancer during the Capricorn Sun is that Time is On Our Side and Love Conquers Time. We have all the Time we need…to heal, to learn how to love, to ‘get’ the lesson we came to learn, no matter how many mistakes we make, there is enough love and enough time.

Cancer is all about relationship. In “The Mastery of Love”, Don Miguel Ruiz shares the following wisdom: “To master a relationship is all about you. The first step is to become aware, to know that everyone dreams his own dream. Once you know this, you can be responsible for your half of the relationship, which is you…” The opportunity of these Full Moon energies is to identify structure in our lives; what is it that we are dreaming, believing-about ourselves, others and life-and how do we structure ourselves accordingly. Do we need to change the dream, the belief; do we need to bring compassionate comprehension to the belief (s)? Or are we ready to create a structure that will bring unconditional love to ourselves and the world?

The keywords for 2007 according the the WeMoon Calandar are “On Purpose”. This Full Moon provides a perfect launching pad for structuring our lives and love with focused intention.

The vision I want to close with is two beautiful women, one is the Goddess of Compassion and the other is Earth Mother. Together they hold us this Full Moon in our own love and mastery. Together they hold us in their love, wisdom and mastery.

Peace, love blessings, Helen

you'll find more information about The Cancer Path at this link.
1-Moon Messages