THANK YOU!

With Jupiter and the Moon and Venus and Chiron (healer) in Aries right now, it's time to be unabashedly grateful! So I say: Thanks for being in my life. I'm thrilled that we have met in this lifetime. Thanks for waking up to who you are, and sharing yourself with me and with the world. And thanks for reading my posts, and for understanding these ideas.

My gratitude and appreciation for all the work you've done to accept your unique qualities and your intense history. You are brave to have lived all that and still be here smiling, open, creative. Thanks for your vulnerability and honesty, and for all the healing that has happened for you. Thanks for your presence and your wisdom. Thanks for consistently showing up in relationships with me and each other, and for the authentic generosity in your service. Thanks for letting me get to know you. Thanks for your help, and for letting me offer help and support to you. Thank you for your outrageous brilliance, and your humor, and your empathy and your strength. Thanks for being the unique expression of this divine universe that you are.

In the forest each tree thanks the other trees, for without them it would not be a forest. In the field each blade of grass thanks the other blades of grass. And in the sky the stars are grateful for their companions out there in the vast space.

BEYOND WORDS

 BEYOND WORDS

     It's beyond words. This life, this reality, is very different than the words you might use to describe it. And yet we try. We write blog posts, we talk, we send greeting cards. Whole libraries and bookstores are filled with the attempt to describe the indescribable.

     My mind knows how to write. I am articulate and reasonably intelligent. In school I could do well in essay tests and english composition. And sometimes these Facebook posts almost write themselves. But, when I take a few deep breaths and go into the silence of my heart, and let my soul speak, a real voice is heard. Only the simplest words can express the purity and directness of this real voice. It seems to be the voice of everyone.

     You have your stories to tell. You have your unique experience of being you, your unique place and role in relationship and community. You have an identity and a purpose. And yet, like me,
your deepest inner voice is beyond words. And when your real voice speaks itself and reveals itself in action, only the simplest words are heard. Words like I love you. Words like I understand. Words like the silent song of your smile. And the silent light that shines in your eyes. Silent words. Words like releasing a breath in the sound "ah". Words like a kiss or a hug. Words that say "I am here with you".

     Embrace the ineffable. What more can I say?

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

(FULL MOON GEMINI-SAGITTARIUS)

Ever stop to think of all you’ve learned in your life so far?Thousands, millions of insights, understandings, conclusions, maybe billions of them. You learned to walk, to talk, to think, to do math, you learned history, geography. You learned about yourself and still are learning to know yourself. You learned to set goals, and strategies to reach those goals. You learned about limits, how much wine is too much, how much to say, how much you can do in a day. You learned some basic principles to live by, how good it feels to be kind, you learned how to listen, how to empathize, how to put yourself in another’s shoes. Maybe you learned how to communicate well, how to say what you mean and mean what you say.

You learned to trust, and you learned how to set boundaries with those who you cannot trust. You learned how to apologize, how to admit mistakes, how to meet fear with love. How to be patient. You may still be learning these things.

You might have learned to draw or paint or play the drums or saxophone, or to sing or act or write a poem or a play or a scientific paper. You have learned whole fields of knowledge, science or law, or or counseling or theater or advertising or astrology or real estate or financial management. And then you share what you've learned, and you learn how to teach others, to help them learn for themselves.

And then, here's a big one- with some luck and perseverance, you have learned who you are, and to respect and accept your individual flaws and your talents and skills. You might have learned how you want to participate in this world, and clarified the contribution you want to make, which could be called your purpose. You have learned that you are especially good at certain things, and that it is valuable to share those things with the world. Have you also learned that you are part of a larger whole? That you are intimately connected to the universe? That what you are is the same as what we all are? That you are one with life, and that life moves and speaks and acts through you? Life has been your teacher, the greatest, most generous, most abundantly patient teacher of all, teaching with every breath you take. Personally, during this Full Moon of Gemini-Sagittarius, I am infinitely grateful to be a student in this endlessly profound curriculum.

LET'S TALK

Sun is moving into Gemini, as it does every year May 20 or 21 to June 20 or 21. The sign Gemini is a celebration of the miracle of human communication, the amazing ability to have perceptions, to form thoughts in your mind, and to express your experience in language. Gemini is the mental clarity that gives names to awareness, and compares and analyzes, and looks at how each thing is related. Gemini wants to make connections, between concepts, and between people. Gemini is the network of conversations and agreements that is the fabric of community. And Gemini is the energy of Facebook, all social media, and the Internet itself.

When Gemini is highlighted in our astrology charts as it is this month, the invitation is to sit down and talk. And the challenge is to really communicate, to speak what's in your heart, and to open up a dialogue where both you and I are learning something about each other. We don't want to keep having the same conversations over and over, or pontificate or lecture. We can go to the creative edge of our language and find new words, new thoughts to describe what we're seeing, feeling, knowing.

The art of Gemini comes from the ability to ask the right questions, both in conversations and in your own private inquiries. What do you want to know? What are the most passionate questions you want to ask of life, or of those closest to you? What ideas of yours will make the greatest contribution to your community?
In the spiritual practice of self-inquiry you ask "Who am I?", and ponder who is it that is asking this question and observing the answers that come. These are questions that take you deeper into yourself. In relationship counseling, powerful questions are "tell me what's bothering you", or "how do you feel about me?". Walking in nature you might say to a tree "how does it feel to be a tree?" In prayer or meditation we might inquire "God, are you really there, and if you are, do you have a message for me?" The sacred dance of Gemini is to ask your questions with your whole heart. And then to listen, deeply, fully, with every fiber of your Being.

FULL MOON REPORT MAY 6 2020

FULL MOON REPORT

If I were writing sincerely and openly about this full moon I would have to say we are in deep shit. We are suffering. The formulas for healing are too complex, and contradictory. Save lives and lose jobs. Return to work and increase deaths. And, there’s an election coming up.

We’re in the dark, you’ve heard of the dark night of the soul. The time when it seems hopeless, seriously screwed up. And you give up, and then the light begins to dawn. Maybe you have to exhaust hope before real hope arises.

There’s a passion, an emotional intensity somewhere between agony, frustration, dread and a glimmer of something new and fresh and clean. A longing, not to go back to how it was, but for a state of clarity, stripped down,
free of distractions and excuses and schemes. A longing to get real. A determination and commitment to actually get real. A willingness to let the answers go and really live in the questions. 

What is life like when we are not kidding ourselves? Who are we really, and what are we doing with our lives? And if we have learned anything during these unbelievably challenging months, can we share what we have learned and teach each other and our children how we can live together in peace.

ROAD CONSTRUCTION: A METAPHOR

ROAD CONSTRUCTION ON THE HIGHWAY OF LIFE

You've got a beautiful, wonderful destination that you've been planning for a long time. But horrendous amounts of road construction have rerouted everything. Even GPS can't figure it out, and sends you on false turns that lead nowhere. The Department of Transportation is understaffed and instructions are coming from an obsolete 1970's computer. Signage is confusing, pointing you in directions that don't exist. Your maps are useless. And you may be  running very low on gas.
If you are driving at night the way is even more impenetrable.
So maybe you look to the stars for some navigational perspective. You see that Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn are beginning a retrograde movement, usually felt as a time to
slow down, re-assess direction, revise plans, reconsider your expectations, sort out disruptions in the flow of events. You realize that the journey may be longer than you imagined.
The highway and the summer road construction are a vivid metaphor for life now. But it's important to remember that you are not a car, and that the great journey is not actually a road, and besides, you are already here!

TAKE THE WHEEL

TAKE THE WHEEL
Saturn , the planet of purpose, focus, commitment and responsibility, has been retrograde since the end of April this year. Tomorrow Saturn turns direct, a time to grab hold of the steering wheel and drive your life.  What is your purpose and what is your plan for expressing it, and how clear are you about your commitment? And what problems must you solve to get there?
Saturn is the executive function of your psyche, the chooser, the agenda setter, the prioritizer, the manager of the project of You. With Saturn, you make the rules, you clarify the expectations and set the terms and limits. Or, if you don't, somebody else does- your parents long ago, your spouse, your boss, your newspaper advice column, (your astrologer!), your doctor. You are invited to own your authority now. You are encouraged to respect your own expertise, and to appreciate your competence. And to go step by step, forward into your life and your world, even when it's hard or painful or frightening (like now), and to do your best.

ANOTHER FULL MOON

We have these once a month right?

We get steamed up, psyched up, revved up, stirred up.

Overwhelmed, stoked, jazzed…strangely excited.

Good excited: joyous, euphoric, manic, filled with love.

Bad excited: freaked out, anxious, oppressed, obsessed.

Astrologers and other poetic and intuitive souls work the full moon,

as a marker of cycles: of creation, expansion, manifestation, fulfillment, dissemination and dispersal.

Full Moon is the cycle has come ripe and is ready to flower.

What in you has been growing, and what in you is ready to flower, or has already flowered, but will open even more?

What beauty, what sweetness, what breathless wordless consciousness has overflowed you and now surrounds you and illuminates you like the Sun’s light fully caressing the Moon’s face?

What dark fear, what doubt, what shame, what hesitation is ready to be wiped out in the flood of consciousness when the Sun fully confronts the Moon?

What glory, what radiance, what sheer mysterious energy, what emotional abundance will you and I celebrate at the coming Full Moon on Tuesday July 16?

FULL MOON ECLIPSE: DEATH AND REBIRTH

     We must not be too afraid of death, our friend and constant companion in these lives of ours. In a few days the earth comes between the light of the Sun and the round surface of the Moon, eclipsing her. A great poet has died yesterday, Mary Oliver, who wrote about the mystery of life and who mused on the mystery of death. Her death is a summons to the poetry in us, to arise, emerge and be shared. To speak the amazement of our lives, while we are alive.
     Writing a post today: Write the energy as it speaks to you, your own unique and heartfelt and mysterious musings, not so dramatic or black and white as the news. You want to share something important, a pulse of meaning, a nugget of caring, a stream of kindness and goodwill, a ray of subtle bright colors. Only when I let the words tumble out onto the table and stack them with care, only then does it feel right. Or toss them onto the page like tarot cards, to be read by some reader wiser than myself.

SCORPIO NEW MOON: DESTINY

SCORPIO NEW MOON ON WEDNESDAY
New Moon of Destiny.
My prayer: Clear-eyed in the face of possible destruction, we have a reunion with our destiny. Fearsome and furious and ferocious, we affirm life. With fierce commitment, devotion, and courage we serve at the pleasure of The Truth. Marching in the army of a power greater than ourselves. Aspiring to graze in greener pastures. Beating our drums, crashing our cymbals, flashing our symbols, broadcasting our vision. Firm in our passion, not needing to be right- but righteous in our sincerity, truly wanting to learn from these conflicts, learning how to heal discord, to harmonize diversity, learning to reach across oppositions to find unity. To come home to peace.

Unusually dramatic and emotional words from me, inspired by the passionate Scorpio New Moon coming soon, as well as obvious current events.

EQUILIBRIUM

The quiet calm of Lake Superior in September, as summer melts into autumn. Breathe in the sparkling crispness, looking into the deep clear wide water, and letting go of some of the steamy drama of emotional, philosophical and political conflicts. Come into the balance of Libra on this Equinox weekend. Find the powerful stillness at the center point between right and wrong, good and bad, the extremes of judgement that the mind loves to use to feel in control. You can rest in deep receptivity, the inner lake of your own being.

FULL MOON MESSAGE

MESSENGERS
Full moon eclipse conjunct Mars 7/28/18. What’s the message? What does it mean?
Big emotion, powerful energy, got to speak up.
What is your message? Looking back over your life, what have you always been trying to say? Find your voice, your unique voice. Deliver your message with sincerity, courage, humility, creativity and passion. Let it rip!
You ARE your message, and when you are here in your truth, the world listens and responds. 
No more complaining about the news, bring us YOUR news.
My message, my news, is that peace prevails inside us all, even in this tumultuous world, even in this cultural crisis. My message might sound like an opinion or a philosophical belief, but actually it’s the voice of my true self, my inner nature.
So, what is your message, what is your true self?
I celebrate your message, and I honor your true self.

I SALUTE YOU

I SALUTE YOU

I salute fellow spiritual guides and teachers worldwide. That includes everyone I know, whether you call yourself that or not. Our energy and the space of clarity that we are creating is strong today. And we continue to evolve.
Merging into one steady energy, our ongoing awareness holds the space for healing.
We have all been humbly learning our lessons, and we share the collective abundance of our experience. 
All that we have learned through our efforts to make sense of this life, through ruthless honesty with ourselves, through joyful discovery of the beauty and preciousness of human consciousness, and simple respectful acceptance of our natural goodness, we offer and share with our planet, our communities, our relationships, and with Life Itself.

TRANSFORMATION

We change, we evolve, and yet we stay the same. We are who we are, and we unfold and emerge in the flow of time.

We make choices, we express ourselves, we take action and we respond to each others' actions. We love, we avoid pain, we are afraid, we are courageous, we deal with what needs to be dealt with. We experience joy and truth. We transform.

EXTRACTION

     In the oral surgeon’s chair this morning, he says what do you do? I say astrological counselor. Him: wow, that’s unusual. When I was at Hennepin Medical Center they used to say that all kinds of crazy things show up in the emergency ward during a full moon. How does astrology explain that? And I say I have no idea, no idea how astrology works, why it works, but for thirty years now I know it works for me, and it helps people navigate their lives, especially in times of change, like now!
     At this wild and crazy full moon plus eclipse, my prayer for you is that you know what works for you, in your life, in your chosen calling. You know what works, and you don’t have to justify it or explain it or apologize to anybody. At this full moon, may you DO YOUR THING. And collectively we will do our thing, which is to help bring peace, compassion and wisdom to our beloved planet.

30 YEARS

30 YEARS

Thirty years ago something fine, a gift, came to me. An idea, an understanding. Searching for a form to express awareness and help, compassion and insight. My hobby was astrology, and I asked my charts for guidance. And one day deep in study it came loud and clear, do this, do this for others, be an astrologer. 

For 30 years the universe has brought a community of incredible people into my life, and I have been privileged to share the guidance of the universe with them. And oh how we have moved together through changes and transformations, loves and losses, awakenings and challenges, triumphs and tragedies. You who I have met in my work, I honor you today. Many of you have become dearest friends, soul friends. Others, we touched once or twice, and moved on our separate paths. 

It is a joy to do work you love, and a sacred gift to be able to do it for thirty years. But no gold watch for me, no retirement party. This is what I do, and what I will do as long as I’m alive and functioning. To use this ancient system of counsel, to validate and ground us, to connect us to our evolving lives, to make sense of things.

FREEDOM

     Uranus turned retrograde this morning. Liberation turns inward and I detach from the hideous noise of the news industry, purveyor of fear, distrust and unease. The culture of weird ego dramatization. Returning to the nurturing wisdom that is here now, the wisdom of being present. Consciousness expands. Emerging awakening feeling of peaceful spacious living, you can feel it right? You can feel the awakening right in the swirling mists of bullshit and fear. You can know that this deeper truth is always here, as the sages have written. 
     I awake in the middle of the night to write this. The newspapers describe a culture deluded and hostile and afraid, a world of suffering. And yet we are free together, on this deeper level, as we have always been, what incredible good fortune to know it!
In spite of external ego terrors, imaginary demons, archetypes of despair, icons of cruelty, fascination with death, strange metaphors for disappointment. 
     In spite of all this chaos, I have an underlying faith in life and an ever expanding experience of healing! The enduring values of dignity and respect, those qualities that sustain us. Ego is fading, dying into solemn serenity and the experience of peace. Incredible confusion breaks open and yields to deepening connection to reality. Such spiritual wisdom as we find when we quit trying to name and analyze the problem, and we fall in love with the solution, that reality is already complete.

FEELINGS

     Feelings are the fuel for the soul’s fire. New Moon in the sign Cancer. Sun Moon Mercury and Mars all in Cancer. Hunger in the belly, seeking fullness of emotional expression. Can you satisfy your need to share, to nurture, to feel connected? Fear, desire, hope, longing, joy...let your feelings power you over the edge of restraint, into the juicy raw beauty of your life. In sharing deeply we are one. And the deepest feeling is LOVE.

SUMMER SOLSTICE: PEAK LIGHT

     Can you feel the radiance all around you? And the light within you, beaming from your heart and your solar plexus? The seeds of life planted in in an earlier time are luxurious now, in full flower. The throbbing richness of relationships and ideas and passions. The gut power of engagement, the dramatic tension of oppositions, conflicts, differences of belief and opinion, reaching for resolution.     The light is at full power, which means the shadows are cast in boldest relief. Our consciousness shines into the darkest places, revealing painful challenges, realities hard to accept. Ride the light into that rich and fertile darkness, and illuminate the truth that you see. Welcoming the light, embracing the gorgeous beauty and the sickening pain, letting the light grow in you until, like a ripe tomato, you are full and you radiate with life's abundance.

MOON IS A MIRROR

       At full moon, the Moon faces the Sun full-on, reflecting all the Sun's light. It's a good hard look in the mirror, for your Soul. What do you see out there. What do you feel. How are the events in the world affecting you, and how are you expressing yourself in your relationships. 
     Sometimes I lose myself in you, and things get complicated. I am the world, and also I am not the world. Sun and Moon are separate and distinct, but sometimes they perfectly reflect each other. 
     This full Moon shines light on relationships. The Moon reflects your radiant Self, your Being, your sense of "I AM".
But the Sun confronts the inner feelings and subconscious images not usually seen. The inner and outer realities come into fuller awareness, to realize a deeper and more complete balance.
     You look in the mirror to get a clearer sense of yourself. You can see how beautiful you are. And you can also see what's troubling you, how you are getting older, or how eager you are for approval from the mirror. Of course you have to remember that the mirror is outside of you. How do you feel when your image is reflected in those you love, or in world events?
     You can be honest with what is revealed, Your fear, your ambitions and intentions, your wonderful qualities, reflected in a world of opportunities for loving creativity. And challenges that provoke your courage and your wisdom.

MAKE ROOM FOR MIRACLES

     Relax. Lighten up. Clear some space in your life so magic can happen. It will. Creative life-energy is so strong it can't wait to blossom everywhere, like wildflowers and weeds.
     Let go. Being in control often simply means repeating your habits, doing what you always do, doing what you learned to do when you were a small child. When you don't do what you always do you leave room for the other 99% of life's possibilities to occur. Instead of drawing on your stock repertoire of behaviors, you tap the entire realm of opportunity. 
     How can Santa fill your stocking if you don't put up a stocking? How can your stocking get filled if you don't believe in Santa? How can he come if you keep watching the chimney all the time? Are you afraid he will leave you something you don't like with no receipt so you can't exchange it?
     That you exist at all is a miracle. Let's face it. Could you have built yourself from scratch? Surely you would have left out something, or connected some of the wires wrong. What if every time you wanted to stand up you found yourself sitting down?
     A miracle usually includes a sense of unexpectedness. I didn't expect it, it's much better than I expected. It's better than I deserve. When you don't think you deserve good things, then to get something good seems like a miracle. 
     You make room for miracles when you stop trying to figure it all out. When you admit that you don't know what's going to happen, when you let go of the need for things to turn out the way they've always turned out, that is when you you start to notice all the other amazing things going on, some of which were there all along. 

GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS- FULL MOON SAGITTARIUS

     Facebook and internet blogs can be a powerful tool for raising consciousness and deepening awareness of each other. And they can be an escape, a distraction from being with each other. This is an unusual time in our culture, where the internet both brings us together and isolates us. The challenge and opportunity is to use facebook and blogs and websites with your whole heart, sharing as much of your real self as you can, not consuming information that others supply, or tripping out in endless distraction, but taking responsibility for full self-expression, and for real connection in community. 
     Our minds, our consciousness, and our lives are being transformed by the exchange of ideas, information, images, and passions that we share. We are more than ever aware that we participate in one great mind, one global consciousness. How to balance your personal life, your individual creative responsibility, with your global Self? The experience of union in the One Mind can be empowering and awesome, or it can be overwhelming and enslaving. The key is to know that your participation in global community requires your full Presence here, completely expressing your unique individual self. The blossoming of transformation of human consciousness that is happening now comes from the liberation of each of us to participate as we really are, honestly and generously, while also being aware that we are
united, that we are One.

HEALING WORDS

    Kindness falls like a gentle summer rain, nourishing the ground and bringing the bright sunshine that follows. Forgiveness flows
like the creek, full and fast after the rain. And love is here, in the rocks and trees and blue sky, and in your eyes and in your heart.            In your words, all the qualities of nature speak, all the spiritual qualities of kindness, understanding, encouragement, and commitment. The words you speak, and the conversations that follow, are creating a world between you and your loved ones. This world of talk, this world of words we share, is like another dimension of nature. We can make it sweet and flowing and bright,
or soothing and compassionate like the rain, or harsh and powerful like the thunder and lightning of a storm. Words can clear the air like the sunshine after rain. Or brings floods of hurt feelings, wounds like the broken branches from the howling winds of a summer deluge.
     You have some choice over the words you use, and the feelings and ideas behinds them. You are an artist of life, creating worlds of understanding, when you choose words that come from your heart,
when you speak truthfully, soulfully. When you speak from your deepest Being, you are a force of nature, and the words flow from you to those around you in harmony with the rocks, the creek, the sun, and the summer rain.

WE BREATHE THE SAME AIR

     We are connected. We breathe the same air. We think of each other constantly. We watch the same Moon slide down the mountain into the sea. We are active characters in each others' dreams. We may feel isolated sometimes, but we cannot escape our connection. We may have good boundaries, or foggy boundaries, or no boundaries, but we are connected in subtle intimate ways. We compare ourselves to each other, and try to imagine how each other feels, or what each other wants, or how we can make each other happy. We love or dislike or fear or are comfortable with each other, we learn about ourselves from our connection to each other.
We want to communicate, to have conversations, to get closer by telling the truth to each other. We take chances with honest sharing, and sometimes we shut down to avoid conflict or unpleasantness. Sometimes we pretend each other doesn't exist, when it's difficult to handle our differences. Sometimes we are so preoccupied with ourselves, so fascinated with the problem of Me, that we don't feel the connectedness that is always here. Then things get weird and sad. Life only makes sense when we are in touch with each other, and we feel the peace and wholeness of our togetherness.

YOUR LIGHT

     Today, the sun begins its month long journey in the sign Leo. There's a place in all of us that wants to shine, that is always shining, if only we will let the radiance come forth. Enough of modesty, enough of care-taking, enough of Minnesota nice. Leo is the energy of pure self-expression. I've got a story to tell and I want to share it with you. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I've got a voice that wants to be heard, a song that must be sung. I want you to know who I am.
     Leo is the act of expressing your real self. It is basic honesty, combined with the radiant energy of the sun in mid-summer.
Leo is when your ego is so strong that it becomes the vehicle for expressing and communicating your Soul. Sharing your light, bringing your light into the world, your are pure raw creativity. Your light, your voice warms the world, encourages good things to grow, and brings the uniqueness of your creative perspective into form. All of us have Leo somewhere in our astro chart, not only those with sunsign Leo, born July 22-Aug 21. Now, this whole month, all of you are invited to get past your inhibitions, your fears that you are too much for people, your embarrassment that you have so much to say, You are invited to go for it, to let 'er rip, to stand up on the stage of your life and let your light shine. Just be your natural radiant self.

FULL MOON: CANCER-CAPRICORN

     It's a mystery. How do we feel the whole world, and still live our lives? When the moon is full, feelings overflow. The cool inner light of the soul bathes the night with dreams. 
When the sun wakes up after a full moon night, it is groggy with feelings, and filled with the enduring love of the soulmate moon.
If you want to make sense of this full moon day, you'd better just feel it in your belly. And then let the meaning find its way up to your heart.

SOLSTICE SHIFT

     As the Sun moves from Gemini into Cancer, and the sunlight of the longest day dissolves the memories of the Minnesota winter, the abundant nurturing power of this emotional sign overflows its banks. Some notable folks born this month: The Dalai Lama lives the compassionate kindness of the sun sign Cancer. My gentle dad, my empathic sister Deb, my friend Steve working at Mayo to relieve suffering, my friend Sarah in Maine who supports all good causes for the planet, Patty in New York who sings the soul of theater, and Mark who feels everything so deeply and makes contributions to the delivery of healthcare beyond my understanding.
     As each of us makes our contribution to the wellbeing of our communities, our families, our world, let us unleash the full flow of our compassion. The celebration of Summer Solstice is the blossoming of kindness, caring and love. The sweetness of Solstice is the joining of the abundance of nature, the fullness of the light, and the gentleness of your human heart.

A NEW WORLD

    Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, about to turn retrograde in June. Can I be so open that I almost forget who I am? Surrendering notions of me and mine, entering and dissolving in the flow of life.
Losing myself, finding a deeper Self, again and again, like breathing out and breathing in.
     You are participating in a global cleansing, a vast spiritual detox program. Old fears, distrusts, doubts are being swept away in the Neptune-Chiron healing flow. Illusions of separateness and conflict and judgements of good and bad are dissolving. You can feel an empathy, a compassion, a transparency of ego, a deep underlying sense of peace. Even while news media foster ideas of conflict, tension, fear, oppositions!
     The healing and cleansing are felt inside you, in your consciousness, and in the understanding, acceptance, and peace that is emerging in your relationships. It is there for you when you feel safe in your body, and trust that you are in harmony with, and supported by, the whole universe. You can feel it in your work as a gentle effortlessness and joy that is there for you when you lose yourself in service. As you keep opening gently, subtly, gracefully,
you are allowing a whole new world of grace and peace to be born.

WHAT'S THE MESSAGE?

Sun in Gemini opposite Mars in Sagittarius. Intensified energy 
for communication. What are you trying to say? And what are you 
hearing from others in your life? 

The fabric of my experience is woven out of the conversations I have with the people in my life. My work is based on conversations. And the conversations going on inside my head, how I talk to myself, are crucial to how I feel and how I relate to the world. Ideas are not ethereal things, they are the backbone, the architectural plan, the map that we build our lives on. 
      Your life, your actions, your sense of who you are, are driven by the ideas that are most important to you, and by the resulting dialogues you have with your world. The clearer you can be about what you are trying to say in your life, the more effective and peaceful you will feel. Life will make more sense, for instance, if you know that today you want to get closer to someone, or have a conversation about building trust, or express tolerance and love. Or if your message today is that your have a lot of practical things to handle and you'll get back to us tomorrow, that clarifies things. Being more aware of what your messages are, gives purpose and consciousness to your day, and to your life. 
     So speak up, put it out there, talk it over. The Gemini Sun opposite Mars is about a month long conversation about who we are, what we want to do together, and how we're going to do it.

THE MYSTERY OF RELATIONSHIPS

     The most precious and most essential experiences in my life have been what is happening between me and you. I do not exist except in the context of my relationships.
     Relationships. You know yourself in the flow of your relationships. Words, ideas, messages and conversations describe the shape and energy of relationships. Agreements, commitments,
shared intentions, and expectations express the ongoing adventure of relationships. Honesty, trust, love and understanding are some of the qualities that you feel in good relationships. Relationships are about sharing: shared enthusiasm, shared purpose, shared consciousness.
    And let's admit it, in relationships we are confronted with our limitations, our fears, our delusions, and the parts of ourselves we have never faced. Relationships can be terrifying, frustrating, a challenge to our sense of who we are. A classroom in which you learn about yourself, if you are honest.
     Relationships are the great mystery. Who am I and who are you, and what are we doing here? What are we trying to do together? How are we connected, and how are we separate? Where do you begin and where do I end? A mystery, a great miracle, that in the depths of our aloneness we find each other. A mystery and a great learning adventure, how do we get past our fears and our egos, so that we may truly communicate and express the exquiste mystery of our love.

THE WAY

   From time to time I lose my way. Maybe for a minute or two of doubt, or in the middle of the night, maybe for a while after an upsetting conversation, where shame or care-taking have kicked in. It always feels bad, like I can't remember who I am, lost in a drama, needing to work through my shit one more time, all over again. Humbled, humiliated, scared and all the rest of the feelings of a little child who has lost his way.
     These are actually the greatest opportunities, when you lose your way and have to find your way back to yourself. You get to deal with stuff that was there all along. You get to use all your experience and your training to recover yourself, and you are able to connect even more deeply to your presence, your essential self.
You work through the judgements, the identity attachments, the ego trip you were on without realizing it. You work through all kinds of feelings, from despair to rage, from confusion to fear. You remember to feel your breathing, and to center yourself in your body. You climb back into your heart and you feel the love in there, and you let the love expand to fill all the space around you with your light.
     You and I lose our way and then find our way back home again, over and over. That actually is the nature of the way. This process plays out collectively in governments and societies. The people of the earth, as guests of this planet, have lost their way. Let us commit collectively to finding our way again.

EMOTION

     The great ocean of emotions. 
     Waves, rising and falling, crashing and gathering in the depths. We are in the flow, and sometimes we are drowning and sometimes we are released in the joyous foam of our lives.      Pisces month, purest empathy, deepest connectedness, the essential emotional flow we call love.

COMPASSION

COMPASSION

Pisces month begins tonight! 
Pisces is gentle, intuitive, inspired. (Also sometimes spaced-out and lost in imagination). Pisces is achingly compassionate, feeling the pain and the joy of the world. 
Confession: I am a Pisces Sun sign, with the wounds to prove it, and the joys that come with it too. 
And all of you have Pisces somewhere in your birth chart, somewhere in your psyche is the sensitive, empathic dreamer. Honor your inner Pisces this month. Pisces is the healer who heals by dissolving old wounds, with understanding, empathy, and acceptance. Embrace your compassionate Self, and surrender into wholeness, and peace.