LunarMusings

New Moon in Aries 2009

New Moon in Aries today at 9:06 AM PDT.

Energetics:  Aries Moon is a potent one.  Aries is the first sign and of the element of fire.  The first one out the gate so to speak.  Its initiating, identifying, renewing.  Its about the lust for life that propels you forward into new frontiers and adventures.  It is also about the identifications you give yourself.  The key phrase for Aries is "I Am".

This New Moon cycle in Aries is the dawning morning of the long dark night of Winter.  This is the Lunar beginning of Spring.  And the fire of Aries is the igniter that lifts us up and gives us the push we need to begin a new day. 

LunarMusings:  After my Spring Equinox Tarot reading earlier this week, it feels like this New Moon cycle is exactly what I need to help give me the push I need.  I want to let this energy be the propellant I need to cast off the heavy shroud of Winters hibernation and move forward with intention and with ownership of my personal power.  The reading for me was challenging, making me look at how my tendency to be lazy is a ploy to avoid risking forward movement.  And I need to be vigilant about how I proceed from here so as not to get snagged in those habits anymore.

I think that most of us are naturally already initiating new steps in our lives as we swim with the celestial energies around us.  This day, this energetic moment in time is an aid in amping up your drive.  Its a vibration to use and jump off from with intention.  And for me, looking at the energies that want to blossom in my life this next season, I know that I need to set very specific intentions for moving forward.

Specificity is key.  I'm learning this more and more.  Its not about the broad strokes, its about the specific incremental steps that must be taken to arrive at the larger destiny of our lives. 

Lunar Intention:  What are you intending to launch in your life?  How are you beginning anew?  And what adventures are you setting forth on this month and this Season? 

Wellness Wednesday: Be Gentle

Hello.  I want to thank all of you for your well wishes last week! It meant so much to me and they each served as wonderful reminders to just take things easy.

I had planned on writing about essential oils today, but I feel like I need to go back through the last two weeks.  When I came back from Las Vegas I was so happy with myself for having taken sufficient care of myself to not get sick upon return.  But then... Jon got sick.  Very very sick, and rather then sleep in another room while he sniffled, sneezed and suffered for three nights, I slept with him and allowed his germies to invade my body.

I was so bummed out and miserable.  And admittedly I felt quite humbled.  I had been so proud of myself for not getting sick, that when I did, I proceeded to beat up on myself for being incapable of staying healthy!  Oi... the lessons...  It was as if somehow, because I had gotten sick, all the conscious self care that I did administer was somehow invalid and wrong.

It took quite a few days for me to snap out of this.  Somewhere in the middle of my negativity, I knew something was off, and it wasn't my self caring regimen.  Finally, when I had gotten sufficient distance, and perhaps enough rest, I thought, "Holy shit girl!  Give yourself a break!"

The deeper I go in uncovering places and patterns of self loathing, the more shocking it becomes for me, which I suppose is a good thing.  Stepping back and looking at it all with some healthy detachment I recognize that my black and white thinking is the root of many a problem for me.

My self care while in Vegas was awesome!  And yes, the following week I caught a cold.  And that gave me an opportunity to continue practicing self care and refining my inner Listening.  Thats all.  It wasn't failure or punishment, or something I deserved for not getting my self care right.  Good grief, I'm exhausted just writing all this!

I'm not alone here.  I know I'm not, because there are quite a few of my Sisters in bloglandia and in the day to day that I have helped talk back from the proverbial ledge.  Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?  It so saddens me. 

Yesterday, Jon and I drove both cars down the mountain to take the jeep in for a little fixin.  On the way back up the mountain we stopped for a quick visit with my two sweet friends.  This one (pictured above), whose name I don't know yet, came immediately up to me and began to sniff, lick and nudge his face close to mine.  So sweet, and so gentle.  I can't explain it, but it always brings tears to my eyes, because the tenderness is so palpable I feel it in the deepest crevice of my chest.  It pierces my heart.  I reached out and held his face as we gazed into each others eyes, and I felt the depth of tenderness and love that I was capable of giving and receiving... and that I must now learn to give to myself.  Always...

Imagine what it would be like, what we each would be like in our inner worlds and outer worlds if we cherished ourselves enough to tread softly, gently and with the deepest of loving kindness.  Imagine stumbling along while learning a new skill, and when the fumbles happened, reaching out and caressing your own face with compassion, love and sweetness.  Imagine waking up and knowing that today you would be learning new steps, not knowing how you would look, or perform while doing it, and feeling the deepest sense of faith and encouragement for your learning process.

Imagine if we loved ourselves completely, with no signs of self loathing, self criticism or gremlins waiting for that misstep.

Lets practice this...

 

The Blossoming of Spring

First day of Spring!  I admit that I am still surprised by it even though I have been feeling little twinges of it on my skin, in the air, the scent of melting snow.  This Winter has been a long and transformative one.  It has been marked by huge transitions and quite a lot of time spent indoors meditating, writing and revising the stories.

And now here I am.  I have to admit that in the last few months very little thought has been paid to true blossoming, and I suppose that given the season that was normal.  But now, today, looking around me, reading other blogs and talking to friends... Blossoming...  How will I be blossoming this Spring Season after the work of this Winter past?

I'm scared to say I don't fully know. 

So much seems up in the air, and my faith in choosing which direction I will go in seems a bit weak these days.  I do know that I have been deep in the Earth for long enough and I need to break out.  I need to be out and in the sun, exposed and unfurled.  Unfurled...

So for right now, for today, I am going to make some choices about what will blossom for me in this season.  My intention is to unfurl into these choices and so much more.

~Step out and create a Sacred Sister Circle up here in Idyllwild for myself.
~Finish writing my first issue of a journal and put it out into the world
~Spend at least 3 days a week hiking around this mountain
~Get back on track with and experiment with my 365 Days Project

~Continue working on Sacred Pregnancy project (more on this and the image above soon!)

~Manifest financial abundance on a regular and perpetual basis. 

~Build my savings net for traveling

~Continue diving deeper into my Lakshmi Sadhana

I think that is it for now.  This weekend I will be carving out some time to do a Tarot reading for myself for this Spring Season and sharing with you at Inner Revealings Tarot.  I'm really wanting some clarity for myself with this sense of unknowing I have.

Have a wonderful evening, and thank you all for you warm wishes for health and recovery!  It has meant a lot to me.  I am still a bit behind, but should be caught up with emails by the end of the weekend.

Blessings to you all! 

Wellness Wednesday: Sickie Sick

So after getting back from Vegas and feeling triumphant over the fact that I had managed to care for myself in such a way as not to get sick, Jon got so so so sick!  Bad head cold that knocked him off his feet for a good 3 solid days.  I continued to do my own self care regimen, but alas... sleeping in bed with your very sick Beloved is not a smart move at all!

I'm not a happy girl.  My head is fuzzy, I feel weak, and hot and my throat is on fire. 

So for today I'm taking a bit of a break.  I can't really thing straight or stay focused very long.  I'm bummed too, because there was quite a bit I wanted to write about.  But next week... I promise.

Be Well everyone!

Spring Equinox Tarot Readings

After the deep earth incubation of Winter, where we hibernate and dream in our most cracked open and raw places, we come to the light... finally that moment where the Sun is in the sky shining just as much as we have night.  Those dream seeds that we went underground with at Winter Solstice are wanting to push through into tender seedlings, pushing out from underground into the glorious light of day.  For many of us, this has seemed like an especially potent Winter, where much came to our attention, many things required letting go, and our self facing left us often times weary to the bone.

We live in rhythm with the cycles of the Moon, the Sun and the Seasonal fluctuation we experience, no matter where we live.  All of it is a metaphor for the journeys of growth our souls take. As we approach the Spring Equinox, we are being faced with the last hooks of resistance within us to shed our old skins and come up to the surface renewed, and intentioned.  There are seeds that we planted intentionally, and seeds that we are just discovering within that want to see the light of day.  This is a delicate time.  These new baby seedlings that want to grow and take deep roots in our lives need nurturing, attention, and protection.

This reading answers the questions:

~ What wants to come to life in your soul and in your life this Spring?
~What last hooks of resistance must you face and work through to let go of in order for these seedlings to blossom in your life?
~What can these seedlings become in your life if you nourish and nurture them?
~How can you nurture these seedlings?

This reading is specific to the Equinox and is intended to be a guidepost for you personal soul journey this Season.  Inner Revealings Tarot Readings are intended for those who have an established practice of self facing and deep self inquiry.  It will provide you with insight and questions that want to be explored by your deepest self in your personal work. 

I will be doing seasonal readings as well as regular readings throughout the year.  You can find more information on Tarot here, as well as my bio and what other goodies are going with my Tarot Blog. 

For your reading, please include your name, date, time and place of birth and an email address I can send your PDF reading to. Also if you want to add anything or any questions to the above list of questions please do.  Any questions regarding how you are feeling at this seasonal change and the things going on in your life will serve to provide you with better details.   My turnaround time is currently 3 days and cost for this reading is $57.

You can click on the paypal link below, or go to Inner Revealings Tarot, and click on the buy now button in the sidebar.

Lunarmusings Turns 3!

I can't believe its been three years since I started this blog.  Its been an amazing journey, and one that has become very dear to me.  Blogging is a natural part of my life now, and I really can't remember life without it.  Sharing, writing, discovering and meeting some pretty amazing people has been a great blessing. 

Looking through my old posts, I came across one soon after I began blogging.  What I wrote was so relevant to where I find myself now, I had to copy and paste it here.  I have been spiraling deeper and around this and find that in the end, it has always been about writing. 

My entire life has been about writing...

"I am just now reconnecting with my dream to write.  To be a writer.  As in write and express myself as my work in the world.  I learned to write fairly early, and from that first Hello Kitty journal, I have never stopped.  My writing life has very much been this Anais Nin quote.

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."

Poetry and I have played together on and off through out the years, but it is the journal, the confessional, the explorational, the combing over of the internal details that has sustained me all these years.  I have never been a fictional story teller, and for a time in high school I wrote for the school newspaper. 

For a thousand reasons, all of them unknown to me at the time I pursued Social Work in college.  Some part of me forgot the simple vision of sitting at a desk and writing for ever, for life, for sustenance, and picked up the work of people.  But I have never stopped journaling.  Its like breathing.  I don't have to think about it, I don't have to schedule it.  It just happens.  And it has to happen.  It completes my experiences, it settles me down, it drains the storms that stir up and blesses the gifts that come to me each day.

Throughout the years I have compile a list of the books I would write.  A zine, a journey, a visual, a search.  All of them not possible if not for the last 34 years of life and experience.  All of it lead and informed by my call to human relationships, the human soul, the Feminine Divine, and the weaving that occurs when your heart shifts the very ground you walk on. 

I would write about beauty as a practice (wink and smile to Meg), I would write about loves journey, women's rituals, birth, the body's universe, the Ocean, Luna and Her pull on our lives.  I would write our blood, our blood lines, our blood secrets, and our blood truth.  I would write about touch, Yes, and the Inbetween Spaces we travel when uncovering ourselves, and the Mother.  I would write about Sisterhood, revolution, peace and freedom.  And of course, I would write about food.  Who would I be if I didn't write about food?

So much.  I love blogging.  Its my new practice and entry way into the old and safely kept part of myself.  I realize just how formless my writing has become, and how foreign a simple essay is!  I am finding my voice in a new way, as when I write I have you in mind.  I certainly couldn't give you the extremely free form stream of consciousness that occurs in my journals.  Although I do realize that I give you alot of that here as well!

I write.  I love words.  I love books.  I love the expressionings of the the soul.  It is one of the first things I have ever known about mySelf.  That knowing that is rooted in stone.  I don't question it, I don't think about it - it just is.  I am grateful to have this, and grateful to you who stops by for a spell and takes it in.  You bless me and honor my words, and I thank you!"

Happy birthday Lunarmusings!

Wellness Wednesday: Surviving Las Vegas, Nevada

So this terrible picture is the view Jon and I had from our room on the 25th floor of the New York, New York hotel on the Vegas Strip.  We spent 4 days in Vegas this week.  We were there for a family reunion in honor of Jon's Mother's 65th birthday.  Jon's brother is a manager at a hotel there and got us rooms and most meals free.  It was quite a treat.

I had come prepared with my essential oils, yoga mat and my journal, along with some writing I have been working on, so that I could duck into the hotel room for some quiet time and write when I needed it.  It felt good to plan ahead like this and give myself options for self care.  I knew that I wasn't going to be indulging to much in alcohol as we were on a tight budget for this trip, and although I had huge concerns about the eating because of my gluten intolerance and how heavy the foods tend to be there, I thought... eh!  I'll be fine!

Good grief!  Please know that when we have gone to Vegas, I have always had a great time.  The lights, the gambling, the music, the food, pools, friends and shows... its all fun 24 hours a day.  And I have always hit my limit of how much of that I can take at about 3 days, because it is incredibly overstimulating.  This time was the same but a bit more intense for me as I think I'm just paying more attention to my body these days. 

I know that in large part, coming from the quiet living I have been doing in the last 5 months had a lot to do with it.  But more then that it was the air.  The amount of cigarette smoke in every corner of every space we went was just horrible.  And even in our smoke free rooms, if i didn't have the air circulating in the room all the time, that stagnate toxic stench would settle on us like some gross blanket.  By the time our stay was done, the entire left side of my face (sinuses) were clogged and puffy and filled with mucus.  (sorry about the grossness)  I am amazed at how all the casino workers endure this day in and day out. 

This coupled with the fact that I was careful to be as gluten free as possible, but from the first meal I had until the very last, I was bloated, sluggish and at times super itchy.  Why is their gluten in EVERYTHING???  So needless to say, I am home and happy about having my own foods and very clean mountain air.   So Ok... complain time over!

I have done yoga for the last two mornings since I returned and noticed a considerable decline in stamina, but because of the water I have been drinking by the gallons, my sinuses are just about cleared up.  I am also staying home and cooking for the rest of the week.  Fresh vegetarian food made at home always beats out restaurant food for me, and I started to feel more nourished at the first meal I made for myself here at home.  So I think that just returning to my usual routine is what is needed for recovery.

What I really want to sit with and acknowledge for myself is the thought and attention that went into my self care for this trip and afterward.  For me this is a huge Act of Power and as I was sharing with Nita, the self acknowledgment is sometimes harder then the rest.  I can and do care for myself well.  Yes.

So because I'm feeling a bit of a List mood come on, these are the things I did to take care of myself while in Vegas:

~used essential oils for aid in grounding and for protection of my energy points so as not to be to over stimulated

~brought yoga mat to continue my practice while there

~lit insence to help clear the room as well as shift some of the stale smells in the room

~journaled

~continued my Sadhana practice each day that I was there

~made conscious choices to avoid eating wheat or gluten

~took an afternoon to dry brush and moisturize with coconut oil

~took a few naps when tired

~set quiet time aside to just be

It was good, and I'm recovering fairly quickly.  In the past I would have gotten home and quickly gotten sick.  That won't happen this time, and its evidence that I am attending to myself better.

Until next week, be well...

Full Moon in Virgo 2009

Full Moon in Virgo today at 7:38 PM PST. 

Energetics:  Virgo is an mutable earth sign ruled by the planet Mercury.  It is ruler of the 6th astrological house and has for its symbol the virgin.  Virgo is very much about health, healing, hygeine, perfectionism, organization, consistency, systems, and analysis.  Couple this with the Moon being in Her fullness and this energy is expanded, pulsing and fueling whatever is being propelled into the world manifest. 

With this Lunar cycle beginning with the New Moon in Pisces, the work started was geared towards the dream world, meditation, transcendence.  As that work has continued to unfold in our own personal process how does the build up become affected by this Full Moon in Virgo - this earth, health focused, consistent sign?

This Moon is about celebrating our bodies, looking at what its needs are and embarking on the task of meeting those needs in a celebratory way.  Taking responsibility for our health (virgo) through the act of meditating (pisces) can take on many forms.  A ritual perhaps where you paint a self portrait picture of your thriving healthy body and then spend some time meditating on it, setting up an altar with it as the focal point so that you can come to it each morning and set the intention for self care. Another great Full Moon ritual to embark can be found here.  Jamie's Full Moon Dreamboards are a fabulous idea and I am considering incorporating this into my own Lunar work as well.  Great way to keep your altar updated for each Lunar Cycle as well.

Its really about how your New Moon intentions will come into full bloom with the energetic pull of this Full Moon and its sign.  And so another way to work with this Full Moon in Virgo is to journal about where your body is right now.  Is their dis-ease?  Are you thriving in the way you know your body was meant to?  Where do you feel blockages, places of holding, and chronic challenges?  Then sit with the question:  How is my physical health a reflection of my spiritual health?  What is my body trying to reveal to me about my spiritual flow/connection/path?

For me, my meditation practice this cycle has been an incredible mirror for how I do and do not care for my body's health and how my lack of physical attention to my body is so rooted in self loathing.  Each day brings more clarity and relief from the heaviness of this loathing and I am celebrating.  Celebrating in big and small ways.  Its in the meal I made for myself this morning, the long bath and the session for dry brushing followed by a delicious layer of coconut oil all over my body, and the soft fabrics I have wrapped myself in while I go about my day.  I have embraced myself literally and while doing that, I reminded myself that I don't really loathe myself now.  What I am unraveling in this regard now is old imprints from a life many many many lifetimes ago.  And today, and each morning as I sit down to honor the Goddess within and without me, I bow to myself, give me a nod, and say yes... I am worthy of the utmost care on every level, body, mind, spirit.

Happy Full Moon lovelies!

Wellness Wednesday: Wellness Buddies and Acts of Power

 

A couple of months ago my Sister/Friend and I committed to being Wellness Buddies.  Each week we connect on the phone, state our intentions for wellness acts of power for the week and keep each other accountable to those intentions.

We had both expressed our frustrations with ourselves when trying to establish self care practices and be consistent with them.  So buddying up felt like a great way to support one another.  Nita suggested that we choose an Act of Power for each of three areas of our lives:  body, mind and spirit.  The words Act of Power, really resonate with me and give each area of goal setting a more potent value for me.   

Setting our intention to do something and then following through is so empowering.  It gives us a sense of completion, mini cycles of completion over and over again when the goals are weekly.  And getting to experience your own success over and over again, I think, helps reconfigure our ability to manifest change in our lives. 

Doing this for me has been an amazing experience.  There are some things like doing yoga on a regular basis that I have been able to incorporate and commit to fairly easily, but other things, like advocate for my dietary needs when dining out has still continued to be a challenge.  Knowing that I will be checking in each week with a buddy keeps my intentions up front and center for me, which helps me keep working on each goal. 

I am learning to be gentle with myself when I don't meet each goal, and learning to really acknowledge those changes or Acts of Power that I do carry out.  Both of which I have found to be challenging.  Isn't that amazing?  I have also had a bit of a sad revelation.  Many of us speak so much of the challenges we have in creating a consistent regimen of self care.  We are too busy, or we just can't sustain the commitment, or don't have the motivation.  And although I love getting a phone date each week with Nita, it floored me that I actually have to have a wellness buddy to help me actually take care of myself.

To me this speaks to a very basic foundation of self loathing.  And we all have it to some degree.  How is it that self care is so challenging to sustain?  That it takes a back seat to busy-ness, to others needs, to work, or even distractions like TV or just hanging out around the house.  Isn't it amazing how many books, articles and even commercials speak to how difficult it is for us to take care of ourselves?  Hello?  Wellness Wednesday!!!

Realizing this for me has been revolutionary.  Truly.  Because now when I think of the things that I need to do to continue nurturing my wellness, I recognized that I am also acknowledging my value as a person and honoring that within myself.  Its a spiritual act and practice. 

We all need support and if there are changes you want to make in your self caring, I highly suggest getting a buddy.  Support is wonderful and its a rich resource when moving through those things that have blocked you in the past from caring for yourself in the way that you need.

Blessings and Be Well.

Note:  If you have been a part of Wellness Wednesday in the past and would like to re-enlist, please follow the badge link below and leave me your comment and blog addy.  I will include you in the blogroll in the sidebar so that others may check out your Wellness Wednesday posts. 

Thank you, Connie!

I have to thank Connie for yesterday's amazing interview over at Blog Talk Radio.  We had so much fun, and the 45 minutes of talking seemed to fly by in seconds.  Connie airs an episode of Dirty Footprints Studio every Sunday.  I highly recommend making yourself a delicious tea and spending an hour each Sunday morning with her.  Each show is inspiring, and introduces all of us to amazing Blog writers. 

You can listen to our chat here.