Strawberry Solstice Full Moon

Today is the Solstice all over the world. In the Southern hemisphere, it is the Winter Solstice. In the Northern hemisphere, where I am, it is the Summer Solstice. The longest day.

The name Solstice come from the Latin solstitium, the sun stands still. It's the time when the sun stops at its northernmost point at the Tropic of Cancer and begins its southward journey again.

For the first time since 1967, the Summer of Love, the Full Moon false on the Solstice. This won't happen again until the June Solstice of 2035. The two falling on the same day deepens and intensifies the day.

This is the second Full Moon in Sagittarius in 2016, occurring at 29° ~ right on the edge, ready to slip over. This makes it a time of completion, a time to look at the broader picture, let go of whatever needs to goand,  begin whatever needs to come into being. It's a Moon filled with awareness, opportunity and possible breakthrough. It's a time to listen to your higher self, follow your moral compass, rely on your internal gyroscope. Trust those strong forces within you.

The cycle of influence from the deep Feminine continues as well. Venus walks with Black Moon Lilith in Scorpio, adding intuitive magic to the mix. It's a time to break away from the story of separation and remyth a new one of inclusion, understanding and compassion.

Where do you want your life to go? How do you envision your relationships with yourself and with others? What can you do to get it there? How can you best hold onto that vision?

Faith in One's Merits

Thirteen months ago, I wrote about feeling like a failure. The two blog posts that followed continued the journey back to balance.

Today, things were reversed. My Teabag Tarot tag this morning was "Have wisdom in your actions and faith in your merits." I felt the tug of the phrase throughout the day. By day's end, I was tumbling into the sense of self-imposed wrongness. Pausing to re-read this tag lifted my spirits like a jolt of caffiene.

"Have...faith in your merits" was the wave I rode back to the Light. Deciding to look up the word merit, I found "the quality of being particularly good or worthy, especially so as to deserve praise or reward." Was I worthy? Was I good? My wonderful internal gyroscope responded with a resounding YES.

What does it mean to have faith in my merits? The possibilities take my breath away! It means believing in myself, in my own worthiness as a person and in whatever situation I find myself. It all has to sstart wit me ~ or more precisely, within me. I have to believe in myself. If I don't, there is no reason anyone else should ~ and I won't believe them even if they say they do. My strength arises from those moments of doubt and struggle, yet continuing to recognize my own brighter self.

What are your merits? What gifts make you worthy of recognition, of praise, of reward? Do you have faith in your own merits? What do you do when your faith in yourself falters? How do you re-balance yourself?

Turning Life Sacred

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She's turning her life into something sacred: Each breath a new birth. Each moment, a new chance. She bows her head, gathers her dreams from a pure, deep stream and stretches her arms towards the sky.

~ Monique Duvall

It's time for me to once again focus my breath on fashioning the sacred moment into my life. In the eyes of some of the people around me, it's past time. In the opinion of some others, the sacred has never been out of focus. I know I've traveled the path between focus and fog when it comes to the holy and the sacredness of my path.

I am positive the Sacred has always had a hand on my life, irregardless the convergence of my vision or dream. It's a retreat to that internal gyroscope I mentioned several months past. I weave and wander, yet ever return to the Holy One who remains at the core of my being.

My dreams gather from every shore, from each pinpoint of starlight, from the core of the world. As they gather, I remember ~ truly putting my pieces together again ~ and breath in the pure, wild essence of them. I recognize that what I do for a living, how I am perceived by others, whether or not I am appreciated, matters little as I face the light exploding through those dreams. I want to let go the mundane ~ even as work begins anew ~ and let creativity soar. Perhaps I can do that. Perhaps not. I will be valiant and true in the attempt!

What do  you do with your dreams? How do you interact with the sacred? How will you move into your future?

Feeling Like a Failure

Have you ever had one of those days when no matter what you were doing, it felt wrong? I've had a couple of them recently, including today.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Instead of spending it working outdoors, I was doing paperwork. Holed up in my office ... finishing things that needed doing before my leave of absence ... feeling the pressure of a timeline.

This was just the latest. I felt a sense of failure at two different meetings in the past couple of weeks ~ as though I was on the 'hot seat' and incapable of doing anything right to shift the focus.

I found that I was emotionally beating myself up over these things. Thinking somehow I needed to be perfect or someone needed to rescue me or I was being picked on or I was simply the wrong person to be doing the job I'm doing.

When I begin to feel like that, everything spirals downward. It becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. And I become paranoid, thinking that of course everyone knows just how much of a failure I am.

When I saw this quote, my internal gyroscope straightened ever-so-slightly so that I could see the horizon a little bit better. I recognized that it's not about making mistakes or being perfect or even who sees or acknowledges the mistakes. It's about my own attitude toward them and whether I decide to let them define and defeat me or help move me on into the future.

What makes you feel like a failure? What do you do when you feel that way? How can you change your attitude? What would you change it to be?