Sue Moon’s Blog

As I sit here this evening I’m pondering on events that give meaning to our lives. Today is one of those that has been lost in our country to most, The Winter Solstice. Solstices mark transitions. Now we transit from the long dark into the renewal of spring……ck out this site for great info on the history of the winter solstice: http://www.brownielocks.com/wintersolstice.html

Now is the time to look back over 2011 and see where you have come. What has left your life to make room for the new? Prepare to welcome in the new and potentially brighter year with fresh opportunity for anything you want in your life. It is a very powerful time to perform a meaningful ritual. I have had some of the most powerful spiritual experiences practicing ritual at the solstices.

I’ve just completed a great one. I wrote down on two separate pieces of paper what I want to let go of in 2012 and what I want to come in. I went out into the woods behind my house, breathed in that crisp air, burned the pages, breathed in relief and hope and fresh air and felt completely renewed! I kept a copy and put it in my astro ephemeris for 2012. It’s good to look back and see what you have accomplished. And amazing how accurate these little letting goes and inviting ins are!

May your 2012 be more than you hoped for and may the energies flow through you peacefully with grace and ease.

Namaste to all Jai Bhagwan Shalom Peace Que todas as bênçãos da terra te iluminem Om Shanti

Winter Blessings of Peaceful Stillness
“Each nation has a soul of its own that is as real as the soul within every human being.” -Myss

I’ve been caught up in the daily grind and trying to figure out where to go from here. I love the celebratory feel and expression from Thanksgiving thru New Years, but I always get a little lost in the activities and planning. As I perused my early morning web sites I found this tidbit  perfect for what I needed to ground this morning. Thank you Robert Wilkinson for a wonderful website of wisdom: www.aquariuspapers.com

1. All forms pass away.

So don’t get too uptight at the changes. Don’t get too attached to suffering the difficulties, and don’t get too attached to the enjoyment of pleasures. Both the problems and the enjoyments will pass, so chill out and don’t take any of it too personally. Live life to the fullest while not getting stuck by clinging to habits in thought, feeling, or action that lead to suffering.

2. The Golden Rule works.

Also known as, “What goes around, comes around.” Even though we may not see the larger workings of the eternal law of cause and effect, it’s there if you take a wide enough point of view. A logical corollary of this truth is that as one acts, feels, thinks, and aspires, one creates the tendencies for these to manifest in the future.

We just usually have such short attention spans that we don’t see the bigger picture of the cause-and-effect cycles of our lives. Still, the Law works in mysterious ways whether we perceive it or not, and if this second Truth actually works for all of us, then it is easy to see that the third Truth is…

3. Love is the way.

Since Truth number one is inevitable in our dualistic impermanent system, and Truth number two is an expression of the “karmic law” governing the field of sensory manifestation and creating patterns that persist through space and time, then this third Truth, to embrace, learn, and BE Love, is the only sane way to live.

No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.  -Phillips Brooks

I’m somewhat of a loner. My friends go out to plays, museums and the long list of activities people go to for enjoyment. And then there are the gatherings for meditation, classes on the occult, retreats etc where people talk about what is going on and what it all means. I lead many of those classes/retreats, but I’m not usually a participant listening to someone’s idea of the universe and airy new age dialogue that is not founded in practical application. I am a practical person and I don’t like conjecture and someone seeking ego power from “knowing” something that others don’t. I think it’s just their ego seeking power, lilke egos do.
So, I don’t go out much, but it does get a little lonely. So, today I am going to gather with others for a little meditation on 11.11.11. I don’t know, given our calendar, if this is 11.11.11, but I do wish to be of service in any way that I can to bring peace and healing to our beautiful planet.
And this from Robert:
“As for most New Age approaches, I tend not to take very seriously much of what is asserted in our world about other dimensions, evil aliens, glorious pronouncements and messages from “ascended masters,” paradigm shifts, and personal “ascensions,” to name but a few. I find a lot of it highly speculative, usually exclusive rather than inclusive, and not based in depth knowledge of the requirements of human evolution across centuries and millennia. I am particularly wary if it seems like it’s a) threatening, b) cheerleading, or c) assuring us that we don’t have to take responsibility for being here and to whatever degree is possible, selflessly contribute to a better world while freeing ourselves from glamor and the causes of suffering. Basically, I feel that if it doesn’t apply to Biafra or Bangladesh, it’s probably more local than global and needs further examination before being proclaimed as a universal fact or Truth.

Glamor, Illusion, and Maya (the Sanskrit Maya, not the people) are serious traps for any truth seeking Soul. I truly believe it’s best to develop our “glamor dispelling mechanism” so we can see things without that world problem intruding on our perception and understanding.” www.aquariuspapers.com

I was sitting down to write this article about what a lovely Full Moon we have today and thinking about the pleasureable energy of Taurus when my mind wandered into all that is going on in the world and for each person. Evolution=Revolution, we are seeing it everywhere. This Full Moon is a little like a rest stop on our fast track to change, so enjoy it. Take time to take time for all the little things that make your life worth living. Indulge a bit and relax a lot, call old friends and tell them how much you love them. Surprise yourself with time and attention. It’s really important in the midst of all this upheaval to pull back and relax and smile and just enjoy. Today we can do that.
And a bit more on the times we are in and the spiritual evolvement we are going through by my old friend Robert:
“There’s a great deal of glamor, illusion, and Maya surrounding our current transitional period, with lots of rumors and speculation. Regardless of our current belief systems, there is a greater evolutionary reality going on that’s beyond our perceptual interpretations conditioned by our limitations.

So today we’re going to re-examine the nature of time, perception, and how our minds work. By understanding how these work, we can keep some things in mind as we move through experience and adapt to what is, and what’s coming.

Time is a funny thing. It is a one-way street, and is the means by which we measure movement in perceptual experience through the 3 denser dimensions. Time is also infinitely fluid, and as such has no beginning or end.

As someone recently pointed out, an odometer is a good metaphor for how we have come to measure space and time as functions of each other’s movement. Rolling ever forward, every end is followed naturally by a new beginning showing the next phase of an unending process. If the dimension of time is never-ending, then though calendars end, consciousness is forever.

Humanity, barely understanding a few of the principles of the 3 dense dimensions of human reality, usually do make stuff up to explain time and how it relates to experience. Mostly these are attempts to find metaphors to classify what hasn’t been confirmed within conventional means. I believe that’s why a lot of what is asserted these days does seem disconnected, or weaves together highly speculative assertions that require us to accept a lot on faith. The human imagination does wonderful things to cover up holes in its incomplete understanding.

While I’m big on faith when it is needed, it has no place in any serious study where thorough scholarship is needed. Devotion is good, but it’s an entirely different field of energy than Knowledge. It’s somewhat like trying to use cooked spaghetti to hammer a nail. Both are perfectly fine in their realms, but ultimately have different purposes, methods, and outcomes.

Many sites offer speculations about the current and coming transitions, and try to tie them to the Mayan calendar, the Great Pyramid timeline, the prophesies of Nostradamus or the Book of Revelations. I have found they require us to assume quite a few things, some plausible, some wildly implausible. Much of it seems like a game of “Telephone,” where each successive retelling becomes more and more elaborate, usually for the purpose of convincing people to suspend reason and join, surrender, or repent something.

All interpretations of prophesies make assumptions. We all make assumptions. That includes you and me, as well as the Mayan, Nostradamus, and Pyramid timeline scholars. In fact all groups studying anything, including the fields of art, science, philosophy and religions, make assumptions. We can extend this to all societies and cultures, since humanity has been trying to classify reality and experience since its infancy 3 million years ago.

Even when certain assumptions are “proved true,” they are usually within local conditions and may not be an absolute. For example, we assume gravity to affect everything that has mass and density. However, countless Eastern Yogis have demonstrated that sometimes gravity does not affect the human body when certain levels of consciousness are achieved.

In terms of the larger “paradigm shift,” right now, due to a lack of true scholarship in the field of metaphysics and the Ageless Wisdom accumulated through many civilizations over millennia, collectively we are somewhat like the proverbial 7 blind men trying to describe the elephant. So many see the parts and assume them to be the whole, or that somehow the trunk is “more important” than the leg. Mostly people have fallen under the delusion that forms have permanence and that getting attached to those forms is sustainable.

We do have an accumulation of wisdom of the ages available if we research it. Then we can relate the many derived, more recent local forms of that knowledge to the source material. There’s a lot of speculation about the New Era, but most newer “experts” on the subject never studied the older larger and smaller eras preceding this one to get context or a sense of the continuity of what each successive age represented in terms of the spiritual evolution of humanity. One must study to know, know to understand, and understand to judge. Critical thinking skills are essential if we are to transcend superstitions and half-truths based in limitations of perception.

This all serves the evolution of the race across larger sweeps of time. Each successive sub-race within the larger Root Race contributes to a new understanding of “God,” which serves the needs of that space-time continuum. This requires new metaphors, new approaches, new ways of regarding what IS. However, evolution is a continuity and usually builds upon itself, with occasional mutations.

I tend to doubt the veracity of new material when it tries to negate the established spiritual principles of accumulated human wisdom. Legitimate newer forms of understanding never negate the sum total of the accumulated Truth, Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence of the larger evolutionary trajectory. They do, however, add to the total understanding of All-That-Is, and usually offer hope for the inherent freedom of the Soul to come forth. Evolution is inherently inclusive and liberating.

In part 2 we’ll continue exploring the nature of the Soul, false dualities that lead us into confusion, the problem of fear-based thinking, New Age cheerleading, Root Races and sub-races, and what we’ve been told by oracles past about 2012 and the nature of the coming Aquarian Age.”

© Copyright 2008, 2011 Robert Wilkinson

I’ve been thinking and planning and saving for a future that I am unsure of. Today when I checked my favorite astrology site, this piece jumped out at me and I thought I would share it with you:

Life In The 21st Century – An Age in Transition
by Robert Wilkinson

We have entered a period of living on the edge of change like few other generations in history. There are global forces in motion affecting us all that will alter the course of destiny on every continent in ways unimaginable to our grandparents. By the time this transitional period is done, we will confront a new world, a new way of viewing matter and energy, and a new sense of the interrelatedness of life.

Due to a number of factors, both physical and metaphysical, it is evident that we’re in the heart of a 22 year rendezvous with making the history of the future as we sort through the creation, preservation, and transformation of our assumptions about matter, time, space, electricity, magnetism, life, our planet, and each other. The good news is that everything points to a much better world in the future, despite the many current vectors showing us the need to learn, adapt, and become skilled in new ways to move safely through the difficult times ahead as the old systems crumble and die.

Very often in our world, surviving is less determined by who is “the fittest” than by who is learning to “think in the future.” We may be doing well in the present, but time and conditions always change, and much that we assume today will be irrelevant in the future.

It is through our ability to anticipate changes that we move toward models of sustainability that will endure despite the radical events going on around us. Collectively, this will bring forth the environmental, economic, and political solutions we so desperately need to correct the on-going wreckage of the obsolete models of war, harsh competition, and wasteful pollution that poisons our land, air and water and threatens the very existence of entire nations.

There are on-going breakthroughs in every field of study in the world. Old ideas about the environment, economics, religion, health, government, and what constitutes social sustainability are being discarded as never before. New ideas never imagined present themselves every month, sometimes as solutions to our pressing problems, sometimes a new ways of valuing things, and sometimes just the spur of necessity showing us we must adapt or face dire consequences.

While some of these ideas are “bridge forms,” and not meant to endure past this transitional era, others are “seed forms” that will form the basis of things to come. Over time, many apparently separate systems will be seen in the light of synergistic, holistic understanding, and assist the development of more integrated ways of approaching the material creation.

Thanks to such things as the Internet, Quantum Mechanics, mind-body medical breakthroughs, and an ever-increasing global knowledge base showing us we are interconnected in astonishing ways, the inevitable conclusion is that millions are embracing the power found in community and shared knowledge and skills as antidotes to the avarice and separateness of the old era. Utilizing the principles of economy of energy, magnetic attraction, and synthesis, the cooperation of various beings coming together in the next decade will create a radically transformed Earth and humanity.

Now is the only time there is. Now is the only time to learn, to know, to dare, to embrace, and to break free of the inertia of the past. Now is the time to prepare for what is, and what is coming.

By moving beyond old assumptions and limitations, we can recognize and accept a greater wisdom, intelligence, and effectiveness, and find our community within which we can live well and contribute our gifts to our world. As we move through this heart of “the Winter of the 21st Century,” this is the joyous challenge.

We only have about 2500 days to go before it will be evident that we’re all living a radically transformed reality that is the beginning of a 2100 year era where we will remember more about the nature of the electromagnetic creation than we can currently imagine. Enjoy the ride!!

© Copyright 2007, 2011 Robert Wilkinson

The Halloweens I remember so fondly were in the 1950′s. We always made our own costumes as the ones you could buy in the dime stores were lame and the masks were hard plastic and never fit right. I remember being a cat very often as I had this long black tail from some dancing costume. Black eyeliner made whiskers on my face and little black ears were cut from cardboard, painted and tied on with string under the chin. It was easy to find a black shirt and slacks. Our goodie bags were old pillow cases, and you needed a bag that big for all the homemade goodies you would receive. Popcorn balls were the best, made from scratch just like the hand dipped caramel apples. Old Mrs. Hubbard would bake her famous sugar cookies and we would eat those still warm beauties before we ever got home. You knew everyone who’s house you knocked on and delighted in fooling them about who you were. There was much laughter and mystery and memories made.

In the center of town the teenagers would always find an outhouse in the country and bring it to town and lock somebody inside of it. Toilet paper streamers danced in the air from the tall trees and you expected to see ghosts at any minute and often, of course, you did. The smell of hot apple cider wafted from doorways and many times you were warmed by someone’s generosity on a cold night.

I feel blessed to have lived my youth in the then small town (500) of Ralston, Nebraska. The memories are a rich journey into my past at times of the year like Halloween.

Happy Halloween everyone, may you be safe, but still in awe of the mysteries of life and death and the celebrations we share.

Time flys……………..and here we are at the end of a beautiful October and it is the New Moon. I love rituals that you can do during a New Moon. Just thinking about what you might like to have a little different in your life and then watching the options flow in. Creativity takes off and all of a sudden life is a little more exciting! Scorpio is one of my favorite signs (oh, alright, they all are!) because of it’s intense appreciation of living passionately. Everything is a bit richer in the sign of Scorpio. And so, this New Moon allows us to feel our emotions and our lives in a deeper fashion. It can be a positive or negative experience depending on what you make of it. Today, this Scorpio New Moon is in my ninth house of foreign travel/spirituality and I am dreaming of a bigger life. Many ideas are coming in about how to do that and they are all positive. Scorpio likes creativity, it’s up to you how that manifests.
If you would like to know where this Moon/Scorpio energy is affecting you, email me and I’ll tell you a bit about it.

Full Moon’s can be emotional and Aries can be aggressive, so caution against ego disputes with others. But it can also be a time that is super energized for change and moving in new directions.
ARIES-Take all this power and do something productive. Don’t be hard on your partner, they are struggling too.
TAURUS-You may need to get away and meditate or quietly re-think your next move. Work can be challenging now filled with responsibilities that you cannot ignore.
GEMINI-Do something social with friends, you need to enjoy yourself more. Relax and be more creative in everything you do.
CANCER-Your career is highlighted, but your home is calling you. Seek out balance in both without stressing yourself out so much.
LEO-Distant lands and dreams calling…..and every day life seems full of responsibilities. If you can’t get away, at least go to the zoo.
VIRGO-The mysteries of life and death are highlighted with this Moon. You are also challenged to figure out the money thing better.
LIBRA-Committed relationships are your focus, but your challenge will be how are you taking care of yourself?
SCORPIO-You are taking care of everything in your own style, but are you taking time for your spiritual growth?
SAGITTARIUS-Creative play is important now and don’t forget old friends. Reconnect and see a show, you need it.
CAPRICORN-Home and family are important now, make sure everything is in order. Your achievements are many and are getting the recognition you deserve.
AQUARIUS-Emotional responses may be a little exaggerated now, keep a rein on your ego. You may need to expand your views and be more tolerable.
PISCES-Unexpected money could be coming in, or perhaps you will discover a hidden talent to make more money with. Either way, change is in the air for you.

Read your Sun sign and Rising sign, if you don’t know what they are, ask me!

I had the privilege of hearing Wangari Maathai at the Benedictine Monastery in Kansas a few years ago.  When she entered the room it was like the sun came out from behind a cloud.  She was brilliant and her message passionate.  I am sorry the world has lost this bright light…………………..Sue

Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011)
It is with great sadness that the family of Professor Wangari Maathai announces her passing away on 25th September, 2011, at the Nairobi Hospital, after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer. Her loved ones were with her at the time.

Professor Maathai’s departure is untimely and a very great loss to all who knew her—as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine; or who admired her determination to make the world a more peaceful, healthier, and better place.

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/

Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai started the Green Belt Movement in 1977, working with women to improve their livelihoods by increasing their access to resources like firewood for cooking and clean water. She became a great advocate for better management of natural resources and for sustainability, equity, and justice. A synopsis of her life and work can be read here.

Prof. Maathai leaves her three children—Waweru, Wanjira, and Muta—and a granddaughter, Ruth Wangari. They are truly very grateful for all the prayers and support they have received.

Further information on how Prof’s life will be celebrated, where to share memories and condolences, and how to join us to build her legacy for generations to come will be provided shortly.

Read the tributes from world leaders to Professor Maathai here.

The Green Belt Movement has established a memorial fund to help the organization continue the amazing legacy Wangari Maathai.

Being a Libra, I feel the Moon stronger when it moves into my sun-sign. The New Moon offers us a time to reflect on what we would rather be doing/having/thinking/living and to plant some new seeds for whatever that is. Libra loves fellowship, harmony, balance, beauty, love, equality etc. Find what needs balancing in your life and begin to work in that direction, it will be easier with the New Moon’s help. Of course, this New Moon comes with a little “baggage” in the form of potential stress for some and harsh realizations for others. It really is a time to be questioning just what you are doing and what direction are you moving in, and is it for the highest good of all concerned?

“This New Moon at 4 Libra triggers the on-going Cardinal T-square in effect for the entire last half of September, and again forces us to examine our habits, how we want to feel as we move in our everyday lives, and what we do and do not care about. This involves the supply of future needs, and we are again at a point where we shall see wreckage of all that we cannot or should not bring with us into the new ideal that began late 2009, and took flight in new initiatives during the Spring of 2011.

This Lunation jumpstarts Libra energy wherever it falls in our chart. This period involves learning techniques of balancing perspectives in how to act, and whether we should be acting a certain way or not. Here we take a new look at our attainable ideals, and find new views of opportunities to fulfill them. While Libra is known for trying to find harmony and balance in situations, due to the Cardinal T-square this Lunation probably will be more dynamic and even frictional than harmonious.” -Wilkinson

Haven’t had much time to write lately, it’s a busy little Fall. I found this little prayer that sums up my feelings of the Autumn Equinox and the encroaching season:
Give me a candle of the Spirit, O God, as I go down into the deeps of my being. Show me the hidden things, the creatures of my dreams, the storehouse of forgotten memories and hurts. Take me down to the spring of my life, and tell me my nature and my name. Give me freedom to grow, so that I may become that self, the seed of which you planted in me at my making. Out of the deeps I cry to you, O God

From Prayer At Night by Jim Cotter

Uranus in Aries-Life in the fast lane! The trouble with life in the fast lane is that it doesn’t allow much interior growth, which is done through reflection and quiet times that allow deeper perspectives to surface.
And who isn’t in the fast lane? Is anyone spared that these days?
As I sat talking with a friend recently and I listened to how busy she is, how she helps everyone but herself. How strong she is, although now, is realizing that maybe she isn’t all that strong as her “crutches” are not supporting her real needs, I take another look at my own life.
Busy, busy, busy little bee.
Ok, I get it, I see the mirror.
I don’t want structures of any kind anymore that don’t feed my soul. What that means to me is catching everything that comes my way and saying, “Is this essential to my happiness? Or is this just another busy activity that looks good but leaves me tired?”
Does it ever end? No, get over that!
Relaxing into what I want, what I need, mmmmmmm doesn’t that sound lovely! Hope Uranus allows rest stops these coming years, we are all going to need process time for these amazing changes internally and externally.

The Sun has moved into the Great Earth Healer sign of Virgo and we have a Full Moon in Pisces creating some very unique environments for us all. Pretty unpredictable with fluid Pisces wanting romantic creativity and spiritually climaxing encounters. Practical Sun doesn’t quite know what to make of this Full Moon, but you do. Romance your own life, do something different that spiritually uplifts you. Pull out the paints and create your own Picasso/Rembrandt. Dream your dreams for a more expanded and happy future. Drop fears as Pisces ruled by Neptune can take you down some pretty confusing or dark corridors-your choice-keep the faith, stay grounded and focus on the highest now. You have days before and days after a Full Moon to take advantage of these impulses.

And this from the Great Wilkinson:  http://www.aquariuspapers.com/astrology/2011/09/the-full-moon-of-virgo-pisces-2011-pt-2-destiny-still-on-the-move-major-rewards-on-the-way.html

I hear it’s making a comeback. A part of me sighs in deep feelings of peace and remembrance of what that was like. Evenings, after supper and dishes we would gather outside for a walk or just to sit and enjoy the evening. Neighbors would come over or we would stand on the lawn…..sit in a chair and talk about the weather, family, and sometimes even deeper subjects. But it was the connection, the sharing of space that was important, not the words.

We connected with each other and stood by each other in the times that inevitably come into lives, births, deaths, accidents, tragedy, joys and so on. You never had to worry about who would feed the cat if you were gone, or having to cook a meal through the loss of a loved one. You could count on being supported and protected.

I think we have been like headstrong children without a firm hand to guide them in many of our choices. Too much TV, too many games, too many cars, too much ease. And what has that brought us but a feeling of separateness, unhappiness, little peace, a society so wrapped up in externals the internals are starving.

It feels like we are turning a corner now and recognizing the things that make our lives worth living. Those small things like connecting with a friend on the patio and just talking about lives and dreams briefly before the day begins. It opens the day up when you are opened by connections.

Thank God for the talented teachers. They are like milestones on our path. Remember the first one you loved? Remember the one you didn’t love but you learned so much from?

Anyone can be a teacher. It’s the gift of your knowing going into the fertile ground of one who is receptive/awake.

Reminds me of the parable about seeds falling on good soil or rocky soil;

Same seeds – same truth

Good soil – open mind

Rocky soil – no germination

Being in the teacher role for years I am very aware of the lessons that come my way through teachers of every kind. Family, friends, books, nature, spoken words, driving, shopping, chance encounters, my body, my thoughts ad infinitum.

Today I am fertile soil.

It’s a New Moon in Virgo, and you can let that bring you closer to God
“… to be able to remember the sunset, to be able to remember a beautiful conversation, a beautiful deed done where hope and faith were created, to remember the smile of a babe, the blush of a rose, the harmony of a song – a bird’s call; these are creative. For if they are a part of thyself, they bring you closer and closer to God.
-Edgar Cayce Reading 1431-1
We spend so much time looking outside for some form of beauty and ease from our toils. Spend a moment with eyes closed and call up a breathtaking moment from your life……..then bring up another, perhaps a time when you truly felt loved……..next, a time spent in nature where you felt the presence of God……look back through your years and recall the beauty……….let that be the guiding force this day.
Blessings from Sue
www.brightspiritcenter.com

http://www.hogueprophecy.com/2011/08/hurricane-irene-and-seven-temblors-of-september-2011/

Heads up people!

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.  He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither”.  Benjamin Franklin

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about everything; the world, our country, cities, farms, people, families etc.

I was thinking about cookies and pop and what an impact they have had on our society. Holidays are for treats, holidays and special occasions. Every summer when it gets really, really hot, there is nothing like a cold Pepsi over ice. I have one every year. During Christmas, what could be better than the old family recipes of fudge, divinity, Christmas cookies etc. I wait eagerly all year long for those treats.

Indulgences make the body soft and weak. Just like a country that gives up freedom for security. When the body gives up staples (whole grains, vegetables, fruits) for treats (sugar, fats, white flour) it cannot do the job required; a strong immune system, a happy mind, all parts in balance.

You could say our bodies are a reflection of our country. Too many treats and not enough staples.

That statement makes me a little spacey. And it brings up all kinds of questions about what is above?? Why are we below??

So I have to expand my consciousness to wrap around statements like that. Then I begin to feel the multi dimensional gravities of many planes of existence, this one being just that, a plane of existence. Consciousness desires to grow and evolve. Coming from infinity we have little choice about growing and evolving. Choice being our free will. However the compelling nature of change does not allow us to remain stuck for too long. And I am thankful for that.

As I journey thru my lessons like everyone else here I now cooperate a little better. I spent a great deal of time/energy/life force attempting to do it my way. And I doubt that I will give that up completely, but it does feel better to occasionally let the flow carry me along without having to struggle quite so hard.

“To me there is no difference between one person and another; I behold all as soul-reflections of the one God. I can’t think of anyone as a stranger, for I know that we are all part of the One Spirit.” -Paramahansa Yogananda

It was often said of my Grandfather that he never met a stranger. What a blessing it was to grow up around such a wise and jolly old sage. He showed me how to see the good in all and to respond to that in humor and connectedness to others.

Yogananda, my second Hindu Guru, reflected this on such a high level that oneness was perceived/achieved.

I love Full Moons most of the time and today feel that awesome surge I get when her bright face shines down from the sky!
It is a time when emotions run high and if you are having a positive time it really enhances that. However, quite the opposite comes thru when you are down. Remember, you are the transformer for all of these energies which are neutral without you.
So, today our beautiful silver moon shines brightest in humanitarian loving Aquarius. It’s really time to love yourself and the rest of humanity and start making your corner of the world exactly how you would like the whole world to be. Remember John Lennon in “Imagine”, and imagine all that you love and the peace that you desire.

Robert Wilkinson states in his long treatise on this full moon:  “We are all being moved into a newer, simpler, more enjoyable dedication of self in a greater service. This is where we find a larger “consecration,” and can “hurry on our errands of mercy” even as we open to sensing a more fortuitous connection between the visible and invisible worlds and our helpers in both. The “traffic jams” can help us all heal into our Higher Self, and prepare us for deciding what parts of our gardens we want to cultivate while seeing how Nature is rewarding us for past effort.

So expect a lot of weirdness, friction, ego crashes, and disappointments that will show us the way to let go of our lower self and embrace the fire of our Higher Self and its Truths. The difficulties may not necessarily manifest in our lives, and so may happen around us, showing us to an effective Soul expression. This is a time of rebalancing our Soul’s needs and expression freed of lower ego and its assumptions.

Follow your feelings into decisions and actions that help you integrate what need integrating, and then get more information and new ideas to come to a clear vision. Allow your information files to be updated, and follow the flow into new actions.

This is a very active and diverse time, with developments spanning all 12 signs. Take a larger view, stabilize what is valuable and beautiful, use your imagination, be gently and sweetly determined, keep it simple and straightforward, and move step by careful step into walking the way into a new life, while anticipating a freer, more playful life to come.” -www.aquariuspapers.com

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
When actions come from another section,
the feeling disappears. -Rumi
I have experienced a “river moving through me” often in life and especially right now.
We are experiencing a once in 500 year flood of the mighty Missouri River at this time too.
And that is how some of these powerful astrological energies are flowing through our world, like a river running, overflowing, out of control and very strong.
Some days it’s all I can do to sit and breathe and allow these rivers of energies to flow through me, other days I’m caught up in the flow and experience amazing creativity. I’ve just about transformed my Center and organized files that have been laying around for over 20 years. Thank you to Mercury retrograde, always good for cleaning up old stuff.
The bigger changes of Pluto, Uranus, Neptune are transforming all of us and I am finding it hard sometimes to connect to old friends. The energy is gone, we’ve changed, and we don’t match up anymore. Life times are speeding by and it is vital to remain flexible, open, free, non judgmental, compassionate and to stay out of any unhealthy ego patterns.  It’s all very exciting and I wonder what 10 years from now will look like and  who will be in my life then.

And this from Robert Wilkinson: 

“That’s right – we’re now in the heart of a few very volatile days. It began when Mars entered Cancer August 3, setting the square to Uranus and opposition to Pluto into motion. These are very challenging and dynamic aspects to two of the most powerful disruptive energies in creation.”

Several years ago I wrote The Dailies on this Blog. Then I shifted into mostly astrology musings.
Tonight I’m back into the Dailes with something that has caused me angst, great angst, all day. I was listening to the radio news at either 91.5 or 90.7 (can’t remember which station now, as they are the only stations I listen to). The story was about Meth addiction and a man in Council Bluffs who had just killed a cat. But not before sexually abusing the cat and then throwing it out the window, where it died and someone reported him.
I have wrestled with this all day, and tears flow as I try to understand why.
Years ago I made one of my spiritual practices on Forgiveness about sexual perpretators. It was a hard discipline as I had very rigid judgements against anyone who could possibly sexually abuse a child. I was vigilant in my pursuit of real forgiveness……it took years before I came to that place. During that time I researched perpetrators and how they could harm such innocence. The essence I took away from that investigation was that all perps had been abused so severely at such an impressionable age that pleasure/pain/shame/sex etc was all rolled up into a very complex desire for love.
Today, I lost my work on forgiveness. Unfortunately, my mind won’t lose the image of the cat and how that whole scene had to play out. It took me to Africa, where women and so many very young girls are raped daily in a war I can’t understand.
And that brings me to a place that I have no understanding of and I wonder if I will ever be able to let go of humans abusing life.
I don’t want to hurt others in any way. But I do understand that through our deep emotional pain we seek relief. I do understand that sometimes our darkest shadows can emerge and perform acts that our waking consciousness would be horrified of.
My prayers are with the cat tonight. Maybe tomorrow I can pray for the man that fed his lowest cravings for love.

I’ve been writing so many classes and articles on Astrology I haven’t spent much time on the Blog lately. Missed commenting on the Blue Moon altogether, LOL……….oh well.
If you want a really great/simple take on how August will be affecting each sign go to: http://www.spiritofomaha.com/Metro-Magazine/August-2011/Horoscopes/ and also: http://www.expedoodle.com/blog/posts?cat=1405250
August will be full of opportunity to re-do many things in your life. There will be some gear grinding regarding the deeper issues in your life and it’s just a good idea to take long walks and maybe an appt with your therapist. The energies all month ask you to seek and be the deeper change you wish in the world.
Happy Dog Days of Summer, thank you Sirius, the dog star!!

When the Moon is full we tend to be a little more emotional. However, Capricorn is not emotional.  Capricorn is very responsible, disciplined and pretty much stays the course in whatever it is doing. Although sometimes the negative side will show through; then we experience a tendency to be rigid, opinionated and just plain hard to deal with. Which side will show through? Whichever one you focus on. It always depends on the state we ourselves are in as to how these things manifest.
Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, and Saturn wants everything to be in order with a solid foundation. The Moon is not concerned with that, rather the Moon wants our emotional needs to be met. How these two combine will lend a persistant, ambitious instinct to do the best one can and get ahead. It could come off a little ruthless with some. Should be a great time to get a lot of work done!
Happy Full Mooning!

Last night our Astrology Study Group met to take advantage of the powerful surge of energy at play in the heavens.  We could all feel, and had been feeling, the rushes of energy that are unleashed at this time.  Many of us are experiencing vast change in some area of our lives.  Many old patterns, friends, homes and ways of doing things are leaving to make room for newer, brighter and more evolved activities.  It’s about evolution baby!  And it has never moved this fast, except perhaps, during the 60′s.  Although I was much younger then and enjoyed the rapid changes in consciousness a lot more.  Now it seems I’m groaning at the seams as the shift happens. 

I was describing the Grand Cross experience from a past life image I have of ancient Rome,  a man has his arms and legs tied to 4 stallions and they charge in oppositie directions.  (Who thought that stuff up?!)  However, it is a pretty good description of how the Grand Cross is affecting some.  So what is the point ?  To break through our very rigid patterns which will allow the light of creativity to create something new and hopefully better in our lives.

This was a partial eclipse, and unless you were a penguin in Antactica and parts of the ocean there, no one actually saw it.  That doesn’t really lessen it’s power due to it being the 3rd eclipse in 4 weeks.  This one was in the sign of Cancer and closes down a series of Capricorn/Cancer eclipses of the past few years.  We get a chance to finish off and tie up loose ends and lay somethings to rest.  Maybe it can all just be “good enough” for now as destiny is swirling in for dramatic and long lasting regeneration thanks to Pluto in Capricorn till 2025.

We will all be experiencing the whirling dervish dance of 3 eclipses for many months to come.  You have time to sit and organize your thoughts, what would you like to have instead?  Who would you like to be with more? These energies want you to be your highest in all that you are.  It’s about you being you and being grounded in the moment and no longer living in denial or fear or anger or fill in the blank.  It really is a time for rejoicing and throwing off the chains of the past.  Allelujah!  Jai!

Cardinal Grand Cross involving Pluto (death/rebirth), Mercury (messenger of the gods), Saturn (foundations), and Uranus (unexpected) with Lilith (danger), creates a very interesting solstice for summer 2011.  Just look at the weather and then check your own internal weather to see how it’s going.

Many cultures celebrate various combinations of the winter and summer solstices, the equinoxes, and the midpoints between them, leading to various holidays arising around these events. For the winter solstice, Christmas is the most popular holiday to have arisen. In addition, Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Yule (see winter solstice for more) are also celebrated around this time. For the summer solstice, Christian Catholic cultures and Nordic Christian Protestant cultures celebrate the feast of St. John from June 23 to June 24 (see St. John’s Eve, Ivan Kupala Day, Midsummer), while the Wiccan culture observes Litha. For the vernal (spring) equinox, several spring-time festivals are celebrated, such as the observance in Judaism of Passover. The autumnal equinox has also given rise to various holidays, such as the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. At the midpoints between these four solar events, cross-quarter days are celebrated.

In most cultures the solstices and equinoxes also determine the midpoint of the seasons, which can be seen in the celebrations called midsummer and midwinter. Along this vein, the Japanese celebrate the start of each season with an occurrence known as Setsubun.

In Hinduism, the solstices are termed as Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. The former occurs around January 14th of each year, while the latter occurs around June 21st each year. According to the Vedic Calendar, Uttarayana is termed as auspicious while Dakshinayana is inauspicious for deaths and births, while for festivals the reverse stands true. The offerings to ancestors and the dead occurs in Dakshinayana.

This from www.aquariuspapers.com:
As a result of the recent Solar Eclipse, this Lunar Eclipse, and the coming Solar Eclipse a couple of weeks from now, we have entered a period where we are shutting down old Gemini energies and growing toward new Sagittarius energies. Let go of old ideas and interpretations, and be pulled into broader views, broader truths, broader understanding, and broader futures. When in doubt remember that a sense of humor solves many mental problems.

This very bright Total Lunar Eclipse will begin a several month “shut down” in the houses it occupies in our charts. Given that it happens during the period Saturn is going stationary direct, you can bet that your evolving archetypal role is on the move, so be kind, be understanding, and be willing to get beyond terms, language, and specific forms of ideas and see people for the human beings they are.

We had a prelude to what’s happening in this one in the Lunar Eclipse of December 2010, and began to release or demonstrate patterns directly associated with this one. The clearance we began then anticipated the bigger, longer-term endings set into motion at the Solar Eclipse in January 2011 that was boosted by the Solar Eclipse of 2 weeks ago.

So like most Lunar Eclipses, this one ushers in a transitional period of about 3 2/3 months that will clear things out of our lives, and especially our past (the Moon). The space created can attract circumstances and people through which we can develop skills helping us deal with the wild ride of The Grand Irrationality that’s in continuous motion during these months and years.

Those around the world who will definitely feel effects of this Full Moon are the places where it falls near the angles of the chart. Places where the Lunation is near the angles and activating energies powerfully are the west coast of North America, eastern South America, the UK and Western Europe, Iran, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.

We’ve all been challenged to choose wisely despite the general weirdness and hard edge to things. The recent New Moon Solar Eclipse stepped the energy up as it fell in the Gemini zone of the Grand Irrationality, and so many strange and “destiny-producing” events have quickened to warp speed, throwing us all in major new directions. The whole world is at a critical turning point where we must find compassionate ways to link with others to assist the whole to survive through a rough patch.

We can find illumination in being aware of how things are expanding and being communicated as we stand on the threshold of decisions that will reorient us all in different ways to stabilize recent beginnings. This can take shape through how and what we believe to be truth or a greater future, and how we use our imagination to play with skills that will become powers in the future, with the purpose of showing our world our ability to play with rhythms of activity as we keep our eyes on the prize.

Eclipses can show us that we are confronting a major fork in the road in some part of our life.  Something has to give when we make choices.  Letting go of what isn’t best for you might be a good start.  Today we have a lunar eclipse in philosophical Sagittarius asking us to delve deeper into the collective unconscious and heal the negativity that is rampant in the world. July 1st another solar eclipse, this time in nurturing Cancer. During this eclipse the planets are lining up to form a cardinal Grand Cross. Keven Burk describes this as, “The cardinal Grand Cross is essentially an identity crisis. The challenge with a Grand Cross is that whatever is triggered, all the planets want to take action at once, each going in their own direction. This can lead to individuals either feeling pulled apart and overextended, or else feeling a building sense of frustration because of an overwhelming need to take action.”
Just before the July 1st eclipse the Moon (emotions) will conjunct (sit next to) Pluto (power and transformation). This promises to be very powerful for all, start preparing for this by deepening your spiritual practice and practicing tolerance, compassion, forgiveness and anything else you could be a little bit better at…………….
Namaste
Jai Bhagwan
Om Shanti