Aquarius Full Moon

© 2016 ~ ML Monroe

We are in the influence of another remarkable Full Moon ~ this time in Aquarius accompanied by a penumbral eclipse. 

Aquarius is the sign of joined work and humanitarian efforts. It's about caring for others as well as the creative impulse to rally for what we believe in ~ all done in a convivial, playful way.

In this moment, we stand at the crossroads of a Leo Sun and an Aquarius Moon in a combined focus of ME and WE. Aquarius lifting us beyond the personal focus of Leo to the communal good.

.Aquarius creates the energy for the freedom to experiment with a variety of behaviors, expressions and lifestyles. It encourages us to extend those freedoms to others.

Uranus, which rules Aquarius, provides the necessary energy to break up the status quo and make way for transitioning to the new.

Our current transition to the Age of Aquarius reveals its shadow side as well ~ the unpredictable side that seeks to destroy without having a more innovative and positive solution in place.

Be aware of and awake to intuitive flashes and synchronicities showing up under the influence of Uranus and Aquarius. Practice allowing the thoughts their space and thinking/reacting in the world on the fly. Accept the inspirations as they arise and trust the right timing of them. That's what this Moon is all about!

Where do you have your focus so intent that you don't see the forest for the trees? Can you detach yourself from the outcome, even a little? What is your concept of a perfect world? How can you begin to implement even a little of that into your life? What intuitions have surfaced in your thoughts? Have you acted on them? What happened if you did? How did you feel with either choosing to act on them or to let them fly by?

Finding Freedom

Have you ever been so intimidated by your own fears, apprehensions and anxieties that you lost track of your goals, perhaps even your spirit or soul?

Many times in my life, I've opted for what might appear as the easy way out. I've let fear overtake my deeper desires and sense of self. It hasn't always been as clear or easy a choice as it may seem. I've struggled. Tossed and turned, whether asleep or awake, with the questions. Prayed over it. Rarely released it.

Then there have been those times when the decision to move forward, to move in the direction of the fear rather than away from it, was clearly the best choice. Wow! Tough options to feel my way through.

One of those decisions happened shortly after a cross-country move. I was married at the time of the move. My husband had many challenges in his life. He was depressed and an alcoholic-addict. These things weren't evident to my young adult self when we met, dated and married. They blossomed after we went through an emotionally traumatic year when his father was diagnosed with cancer, my father died suddenly of a heart attack, then his father died after a brief and brutal period with the cancer. I became stronger from the experiences. He, on the other hand, lost himself. So when we moved cross-country, away from our support systems, we intended to start afresh. That didn't work. The pain within him traveled cross-country with us. Before we had been there a year, I moved out and filed for divorce. It was not an easy decision. I knew he was in pain. I knew my strength could support him. I loved him dearly. I was afraid of the judgment others would pass on me for divorcing him. There was no single determining factor in my decision. I only knew, deep in my soul, that I could not carry him to wholeness. He had to do it on his own. Or not. Depending on me would not help him heal. My decision freed us both to move on to a new life.

Another decision stemmed from a co-worker suggesting that I go overseas to teach. He told me about his time teaching in Germany and said it was a great experience. At the time, I was single and he thought that would be a good move for me. Within a month of his suggestion, I was heading to an international schools hiring conference in New Orleans. By the end of the weekend, I had a contract to teach computer tech in Cairo, Egypt. I'd never taught computer tech before, but I convinced the interviewers that I could. I was going to live in Cairo! Doing that on my own, I was later to find, was the most wild and wonderful adventure I could ever have chosen. But what it meant in the short-term as I prepped to go was facing a lot of apprehensions and fears. What would I need to take? Where would I live? Would I be able to teach the full range of students? What support would the staff require? Where would I store the things I was leaving behind? How would I continue to pay my bills? The list went on and on. One by one, I faced them down and never looked back.

What decision points have you faced in your life? What part has fear or anxiety played in your decision? Have you discovered a place of freedom from your choice? Do you have any regrets? How do you deal with those?

New Moon in Capricorn 2016

Yesterday was the peak of the first New Moon of 2016: the January New Moon in Capricorn. This Earthy New Moon is about reaching for our dreams, bringing them forward into the new year, and grounding them. It also brings forward balance ~ like the Mountain Goat that Capricorn represents. The ability to walk upon the Earth in a steady manner will be important in the coming month and year. Be aware of, and honor, what creates structure in life: buildings, families, heritages, education, employment ~~ whatever aids by providing form and strength.

With the other forces bubbling up at this time, balance is a big watchword in play. Where do we need to relax our freedom? Where do we need to grasp that free choice and step into our power? When do we need to leave our power in low gear? What clues us in to the timing?

The New Moon in Capricorn encourages behaviors that follow the structure of life and the universe ~ including duties, rights, virtues ~ all choices made by determining what is needed in the moment and what best fits the structure of the situation as well as personal internal resources. Within that structure also lie consistency and constancy, necessary to keep the structure solid and grounded.

This is also the time to do reality checks and face any issues and out-of-balance places in relationships, monetary situations, integrity and values. It is about creating solid, whole foundations for moving forward into the year ~ and into life.

What foundations are in need of repair in your life? What are you willing to do to repair them? How will you balance the variety of choices in your life? What dream are you hoping to manifest this year? How will you form the foundation to sustain it?

Your Story Heals

Here's a thought:
My story, your story, heals us and others.

I already knew ~ and totally understood ~ that telling my story could, or would, heal me. Simply speaking the story, putting it out to the Universe, provides the opportunity for me to hear how it sounds. Am I whiny? Am I angry? Am I making some of it up? exaggerating? Am I hiding something? Am I afraid? Happy? Sad? Grieving? The recognition of all of those are important for my personal healing. Telling my story brings it all to light.

What I have put into the equation when I tell my story is the impact it can have on another person's healing. What I feel, or felt, about my experience can shine a healing light into the darkness of another's wounds. My story can add a new perspective to the story of another person. If she or he has experienced something similar, the other's mind can compare the two events and see how they are related. Sharing my story encourages the other to share hers or his. So many ways to aid in the healing process!

Probably the most significant and promising healing of sharing stories is in the sharing of them in the first place. It becomes the moment of connection ~ and connections are the basis of health and healing. Connections with others on that deep soul-story sharing level reminds us that we are not alone. It reconnects us with life and breath in its most basic form. I am grateful for every moment of those kinds of connections. They are the cords that form the netting beneath me, that catch me when I fall.

When do you tell your stories to others? Are they stories of joy? sorrow? success? failure? Do some of your stories scare you? Have you risked telling those? If you haven't, why not?

Freedom

Wisdom of the House of Night, Colette Baron Reid

Letting go. What a wonderful image of all the flying things ~ butterflies, moths, dragonflies ~ as they rise from what could be captivity. Yet letting go doesn't apply only to things with wings. Ha! Much of the time for me it applies to emotions and concepts even more than to people ~ or butterflies.

There's a saying: If you love something set it free. Letting go applies to those we love as well as to the thoughts and fears we bear within us. This image is a reminder that freedom itself is important.

What happens when I let go of the concepts I have about others? That frees me to be able to see them as they truly are ~ in that moment. What I need to remember is that it frees me. Other people aren't bound by my concepts, I am. They usually don't know, or perhaps even care, what I think.

What happens when I let go of my notions of myself? my own descriptions of who I am? or of who I am not? I free myself to express facets that I may not have expressed before. I can care or love or act in whatever manner is most genuine in that moment.

What happens when I simply let go? when I breathe deeply and release all the fear, anxiety and grief? when I recognize that everyone in my life is his or her own person? I sleep better. My shoulders go down. I laugh more. Energy and love fill me. Letting go improves my life.

What about you? What do you carry around that would be better let go? How does freedom feel to you? Who and/or what benefits the most from your letting go?

Morning Light

©2014 Mary-Lynne Monroe

Early one Sunday morning, I went for a walk down a deserted road and saw the light and shadow playing games with each other across the hills. The bright, crisp sky and the early light brought more than a smile to my lips. I felt like dancing.... even did pick up the pace of my step a bit to accommodate the feeling I had deep down in my gut. That wonderful feeling of a day of freedom.

morning light
shimmering
gleaming
creating shadows
pulling from the depths
of the dark night
the dew
and shadow
and freedom
growing as it moves
across the land
deepening
beckoning
coaxing all it touches
to sing

What time of day do you like? How do you feel about the morning light?

Un-Becoming

This is one of those uncredited or anonymous quotes that free floats on Facebook and Pinterest. It's also one of my current favorites.

I've spent many days, weeks, months looking at what I needed to become or how I needed to be in the world. How do I improve my ability to..... [fill in the blank: be in relationship, be a friend, work better, make money, live more easily in the world, etc. etc. etc.] I'm sure these ponderings, workshops, classes, meditations were all helpful in their own ways. I returned over and over again to doing something in order to become, well, honestly, I'm not sure what, only that whatever 'it' was, I'd be better being or doing 'it.'

Then I read this quote. The world went TILT and I went with it. 'Un-becoming' was a totally new concept to me. Not changing or improving or even letting go. More of an unraveling of what I learned and what I've been. It felt like a mulligan, the chance to re-do my beingness in the world. What freedom! Yet ~ as I said ~ everything shuddered as it shifted.

In every group setting in my adult life where we've discussed how to be in the world, the comparison to child-like trust and understanding is always mentioned. Every one. Yet not one of them suggested that perhaps we needed to un-become. Not only to unlearn or let go of things that no longer serve us, but to shift our being to that more innocent, loving, trusting phase of our lives. And in that process, to recognize that we were truly meant to be (something) in the first place. Something/Someone important. The original blessing of our life on Planet Earth, right here, right now. Something I am extremely grateful to recognize in this moment.

What do you believe about your life? What would un-becoming look like for you? How does it feel to think about un-becoming?

Easter Sunday ~ Lent is Done

From Seasons of Celebration by Thomas Merton:
"Lent has summoned us to change our hearts, to effect in ourselves the Christian metanoia. But at the same time Lent has reminded us perhaps all too clearly of our own powerlessness to change our lives in any way. .... Is there nothing more than this?
.... Easter is the hour of our own deliverance - from what? Precisely from Lent and from its hard Law which accuses and judges our infirmity. ... here is the "grace" of Easter which we fail to lay hands on because we are afraid to understand its full meaning. To understand Easter and live it, we must renounce our dread of newness and of freedom!"

One of the lessons of Practicing Lent is that changing my life ~ giving things up ~ choosing what to give up and what to change ~ is not easy. It also requires me to accept my own weaknesses and shortcomings as well as acknowledge my own power and strength. Practicing Lent this year has been not only a different experience but a change of attitude and vision for me. Lent is about change and awareness ~ and, as Merton says, it's about the Law.

Now. Today. Easter. Resurrection. The grace to move forward bearing the gifts from Practicing Lent. I like the final line from Thomas Merton: "...we must renounce our dread of newness and freedom!" Change is a good thing. As I give up on some things, some habits, some fears, I replace them with more of what is good and holy. I feel a sense of renewal that is moving me toward a greater access of freedom, a fuller awareness of the blessings in my life.

What about you? What practices bring you to that place of newness? renewal? freedom? How will you move forward and onward in the light of this new day?

Coyote's Message

http://www.kcet.org/news/the_back_forty/assets_c/2012/01/Frank_Tellez-thumb-597x397-22759.jpg

Late last night, I decided to drive the 'back road' to get home. I turned the corner onto a street I've taken many times at that same time of night. This time, I saw a figure in the road ~ a coyote. It stood in the middle of the road for the space of a heartbeat as my headlights neared it. Then it turned tail and ran back into the field out of which it had come. My personal belief is that animals appear in our lives like that ~ cross our paths, show themselves to us ~ for a reason. As a result, when I arrived at home, I looked up information on Coyote. I knew that in some Native American traditions, Coyote is the Trickster.

In the Animal Wisdom Tarot deck booklet it says: "Divine fool and free-spirited trickster, Coyote reminds us that life is a grand adventure." The advice is to trust oneself ~ to not take life so seriously.

Me? Take life seriously? Ha! Lighten up, trust and be open to change repeatedly appear as themes at this time. Yes, I often take like and myself waaaay too seriously. When I let go of that seriousness, the release allows for laughter, true delight, and a freedom deep within my soul.

Since I'd been out dancing and laughing, I thought I'd done my work around that release. Seeing Coyote reminds me to go deeper into the adventure, to dive into the trust of the process no matter how much resistance my mind presents.

What stops you from adventure? How seriously do you take yourself? What makes you laugh?