Tuesday, October 29, 2019

AstroCoaster Week


For anyone who hasn't noticed, this week is overflowing with powerful heavenly events! Sunday and Monday favored us with the New Moon in Scorpio. This New Moon is taking us deeper into ourselves ~ particularly our darker or shadow side. Though there's nothing wrong with that, it's not an easy trip. It will be well worth it if we remain aware and plant the seeds of our intentions deep.

This New Moon is setting us on a new course, revealing new information to us. Scorpio's influence is strong: what has been hidden in the dark is showing up in the light. First, in the light of the Dark Moon. Then, in the light of our lives.

We need to keep in mind that there is a broader perspective to all that is currently happening. If we do that, we can see the pattern unfolding ~ and within that pattern, the beauty. Scorpio draws our secrets and our shadow self into the light.

Dancing through its archetypes of Scorpion, Eagle and Phoenix, Scorpio is the sign of transformation, the embodiment of the cycles or life, death and rebirth. The veils between the cycles are thinnest at this time of year. We are in the holy season of death which is honored in various cultures as Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, All Souls Day, to name a few. This is also the time we reach beyond the seen world in order to connect with unseen ones. We experience all of the fragility and all of the empowerment of life.

As we progress through that transformation, we recognize ~ and accept ~ that the path to greater wisdom takes us through some scary places. We don't have to remain afraid there. Death can also refer to releasing the power of whatever is toxic in our lives: fears, addictions, etc. As we step away from the negative, we can face whatever comes and continue on into the light and to freedom. A new power is forming within us that will carry us into 2020. A sense of humor will help us concentrate on the Divine in the Universe.

The Sabian Symbol for the 5th degree of Scorpio is "a massive, rocky shore like a wild ocean crashing into a rock cliff shoreline, but it is actually more an intense awareness of one of the facts of existing." This degree is one of holding the stillness at the core of our being. In brief: holding stable in the midst of everything.

October 31st will bring with it not only Halloween, but also Mercury retrograde. Remember that Mercury rules over communication and proceed with caution since Scorpio will still be in influence as well. This might be a time to tone down any plan for craziness or pranks.

How are you feeling as you pass through these astral currents? What does the broader perspective for your life look like? How do you embody your power? Name your fears in order to better face them. Call in what you want to replace them. What in your life is being called to transformation?

Monday, October 21, 2019

Seven of Pentacles


Rider-Waite-Smith

Ever have one of those days when you wake up feeling both wonderful and stressed? Life's good ~ great even ~ yet there are momentary set-backs or thoughts or feelings whisking one away to the dark side. To offset these fluctuating emotions seemingly so at odds with each other, I renewed my practice of drawing an oracle card.

Today's card is the Seven of Pentacles. A very fitting draw. The Seven of Pentacles is about pausing for a moment and taking stock of where one is ~ in the world, financially, at work, in society in general. And it's a good place to be. In the Rider-Waite-Smith image, the pentacles/coins are flowering on a plant. They are still in the growth phase, recognizable as the fruit and looking good...yet not quite ready for the harvest. The farmer looks at them, checking out where they are in their growth. This is a card of patience for a coming reward.

Shapeshifter Tarot


In the Shapeshifter Tarot, the Seven of Pentacles is titled Growth. There is a sense of forward motion as well as a blossoming of flowers and fruit. The horses on this card have a feel of movement. The woman and horse in the center look forward to.....something just over the horizon. Again, there is is a sense of waiting, of watchfulness, of wariness. Amidst all the light and beauty this is a time to pause, a time for reflecting on the possibilities of what is coming next.

When I see the beauty and abundance around me, my first tendency is to jump into it, to run over to the nearest fig tree, grab the fruit and take a bite. My impatience has more than once led me to spit out the bitter, not-quite-ripe fruit. I have caught myself anxious for something ~ from a meal to a blog post to bright sunshine or a snowfall ~ wanting what is not quite done, incomplete to express itself fully. The challenge remains to continue to wait for the fullness of time.


What have you wanted to be ready before its time? Did you catch yourself before biting into it? How do you prepare yourself for the challenge of waiting? Do you take stock of what has led to this time and continued to wait? Or rushed forward before things are ripe?

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Full Moon in Aries 2019


In many ways, 2019 has been a challenging year. For me personally, there were health challenges and other crazy, chaotic moments. For one friend, it was a traumatic relationship. For another, the death of an intimate friend. For a third, one major household issue after another.

We have been in a crucible and are preparing to blow off the ashes and step into some significant shifts. This Aries Full Moon is set to guide our way from self-imposed limits to freedom, to bring us out from behind our masks.

Full Moons are about completion, fulfillment of a cycle. This one, called the Hunter's Moon, is no different, yet it also brings a sense of new beginnings with its energy in Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac. The change this Full Moon brings is drastic and transformative, revolutionary even. It's a time to take action, not sit by the sidelines waiting for someone else to take charge. This Moon is about our personal Independence and confidence adding our power into that of the collective. It fans our spark of competitiveness to defeat any monsters that may come our way.

This Full Moon is in a square to Pluto, demanding that we bring ourselves out from behind our guides and into the full light of our power. The Sun squaring Pluto the day after the Full Moon means that whatever hides in the deepest caverns of our psyched must be dealt with. We reach for our truest selves amidst any grief over the transformations the light forces us to take. We are heading toward our destinies.

This is all coming during Libra Season, our inspiration to transform what is out of balance. Libra is also a constant in holding us accountable and aware of the balance of justice. During this Aries Full Moon, it especially reminds us not to forsake ourselves. Even if the world attempts to cut us to shreds, we need to not add to the injustice by doing the same to ourselves.

What are you holding onto that is weighing you down and preventing you from shining more of your energy out into the world? What hidden elements are coming to light for you? How will you dust off the ash from the crucible of 2019 as we prepare to enter 2020?

Friday, October 11, 2019

Safe Comfort


Often attributed to George Eliot. The true author was Dinah Maria Murlock Craik.

The chaff and the grain grow together in my life. At times I feel like burning the whole lot down and starting over again. At times I cannot see clearly enough to separate the two. At times I mix them up and cling to the chaff while scattering the grain. Safe comfort is found with those standing beside me, holding me through my discernment process, providing a breeze to blow away what no longer serves.

My life has been remarkably blessed with the safe comfort of so very many friends. In general, it's been other women who have held me through thick and thin. Amazing numbers of women over time. In truth, not every woman I've met, or who's tried to stand with me, has fallen into that category of safe comfort. Some have betrayed my confidences. Others have moved just outside the circle because of their needs, their discomfort, their own reasons.

For whatever particular reason, I have found safe comfort more easily reached with women. It becomes, for me, all the more poignant in those instances when the safe comfort shows up in a man. I find it easier to describe what safe comfort is not than to list what it is.

It is not protection; I do not require protecting, even if I've been hurt. It is not a fix-it attitude; I do not require fixing, even if I seem broken. It is not discomfort with my tears, my frustrations, my cussing; I am human after all and these are deeply human expressions of deeply felt emotions. 

It is acceptance of the highs and pitfalls of life for all of us. It is allowing me to go through whatever I need to do to find my way forward. It is being available to listen without comment while I rant, to hold me when I wail, to challenge me to find my best self in the midst of any pain or joy.

What do you seek from a friend providing the safe comfort in the quote? With whom do you find that comfort? Do you find more of those providing that safe comfort fall into one camp or another? If so, how would you define the differences?

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Teabag Tarot: Constancy


It's been waaay too long since I've written in this blog. Much has happened. Nothing has happened. Everything has happened. The past year has been busy, overfull, quiet, reflective, healing, amazing. Time for another shift.

The trigger for this shift? This Teabag Tarot hangs from my cup of steeping tea. I smile. It touches my endless soul, nudging me back to writing. Yay! Whew! It's about time! Words are important. They have the power to create and to destroy.

The framing of this small statement pointed me toward creation. Not only is our soul constant, continuous and endless. So is the beauty of that soul. The assumption is obvious: belief not only in the existence of the soul, but also in its continuity.

My personal focus is on its constancy. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines constancy as steadfastness of mind under duress. That's the point. No matter what is going on. No matter the storms flinging themselves at our door. No matter the beauty or horror or tediousness in our lives. The beauty that lies at the core of our being is constant. *Sigh* What a concept! Something that we can rely on not because it reflects our outer world, but because it simply is that way.

Do you believe in your own soul? If not, what do you believe in? If so, how does it show you its existence? What beauty does your soul bring to the world? How does it provide constancy to and for you?