ECLIPSE HOROSCOPES

With this post I thought I would just launch into my take on the events which are about to transpire. Here's a little mini- horoscope, a cliff notes version of each sign. Read for your rising sign if you know it..If you do not know your rising sign ,your Sun should work just fine too but the interpretation will affect you more generally. And here you go, your October 8th Eclipse Guide:

Aries: Well, it's not surprising that the eclipse will affect you more intensely than most. That's because this eclipse is in your sign and in the area of the chart that rules your body, head, appearance and generally your auric field as a whole. With Uranus conjunct this Eclipse be on alert for surprising events involving you as the lead role. You will probably feel impatient, energized, enlivened at this lunation because this is what Uranus does. You may feel like something is emerging , a breakthrough, an event of sorts. Which comes out of the blue.

Taurus: Dear Taurus, this eclipse falls in your 12th house, or house of what is hidden. What this means is that this eclipse is more likely to affect you internally, deep within your subconscious. You could have great inner emotional movements, shifts, which you can't quite put your finger on. You may make a trip to a hospital to visit someone, or hear about a secret. This is also a great time to do something creative, and which utilizes your imagination. Because I feel like this is what you are desperately craving right now. Have a moment with your self and create something which inspires you.

Gemini: Gemini, you will certainly feel compelled to socialize at this full moon.Your friends may be having some get together and you have a sense of apprehension or total excitement about it.You may feeling unmotivated to attend some event or chat to some person, or respond to that email. But you know you need to in order to get things moving. The focus however is on your clique. What's going on? You are feeling all the energy of the moon, and it's eclipse. Is there something you need to get off your chest regarding some friend? Are you thinking about de-friending?

Cancer: Dear Cancer, This eclipse takes place in your career and reputation arena. You could hear big news involving a position you hoped to get, a promotion and to be recognized for your role in a big project. You could get some kind of award, and doing so affirm your decisions since April. You made good choices, trust them . Also focus could be around your father figure, perhaps a big birthday celebration, reunion, confrontation or concern.

Leo: Leo, Your vision has finally started to show fruit! Youv'e been researching, studying or writing something. Dedicating yourself to the pursuit of a goal which involves your mind and maybe even your spirit. You have broadened your scope somehow in the last little while. It's something which makes you feel like you've achieved a vision you had. Be proud of yourself! You've just about made it. Have you been more involved with your religion? Feeling connected? This Eclipse helps you do this more easily by providing a bright frame of mind.

Virgo: Dear Virgo, I know you've been searching deep within yourself for truth recently, and you sought to de-clutter your psyche and transform certain parts of yourself, maybe your relationship with money, perhaps you had to let the old you go in favour of a new role. Maybe you let yourself be vulnerable again, or maybe you've been in counselling and healing your soul. Know that you are on the right track and that the universe always has perfect timing, and knows everything you go through. Keep smiling! A new you is emerging.

Libra: Hello Libra, Your partner and you, or you yourself and ...you  have been doing some emotional work lately, or perhaps something intense has been simmering and is now coming out, coming up to be looked at. You've been having an epic dialogue and the truth us now coming out. This is good for your soul,  as it helps you learn more lessons about relating and sharing ourselves.  The sense of balance may be distant right now, but know that sometimes one must "Lose balance" to regain it. It's all about contrast.

Scorpio: Your body is your temple dear Scorpio. You may feel like you are under alot of strain right now, and this is due to the ridiculous amount of work you've been forcing yourself to do lately. And there may be little appreciation for this work.  But this is more about you than the world. You needed this to know that you could do it. For the sake of doing it. You thrive when making chaos into order under this moon. Perhaps your perception of "hard work" has changed? You are so good at making sense of things, and devoting your self to the truth and the work that goes with upholding it.

Sagittarius: You may be gearing up for some fun, Dear Sag. And this is totally deserved. You needed to let loose a little bit, for this is like a pressure valve which lets your subconscious mind know that all is well in your world. You may also be connecting with little kids, babysitting? Or maybe seeing friends for a night on the town, a flirtatious date, a games night? or maybe to put on a show. Whatever it is, fun and joy are the name of the game. The attention will be on you in some way or form. Your self is in the spotlight, and you enjoy this.

Capricorn: Dearest Capricorn, you may be planning to hide out this Eclipse, things have been mighty unstable of late, and you crave some time at home, with family or just by yourself doing something that fills a need. It could be something involving your unique perspective of life, like painting, listening to or composing music, writing. What this comes down to is that you are in desperate need to connect with the core of your being so you can feel alive again. If you are planning to move, the emotional aspect of moving my now come up for review. You do so dislike being and feeling uprooted. It takes work to build a home. You may have a sit down with your mom, and chat, or it could be a time of just general family bonding time. Who is your family?

Aquarius: Has your inbox been filling up more quickly in the last week, expecting some important message from that important place? This Eclipse is about wrapping up communications. Stopping an old dialogue and starting a new one. You may get a message from a long last friend, whom you've been thinking about or not at all. Either way it will be a surprise. Be careful while driving, do all your checks, and follow the rules, avoid traffic if you can. The commute may make your stress levels climb on the day of this lunar event. Your mind may be feeling extremely active! In fact it may be hard to shut it off. Ideas may be streaming in after a block. Write it all down, there could be gold in what's being presented.

Pisces: Dearest Pisces, your mind has been on your finances more so than in a while. What this means, is that you are asking for support. Remember that the support you need comes exactly when you need it, when you trust the universe. You also need to learn to trust your own skills and follow your intuitive hunches. Ideas that you have been working on may come about  to answer your need for support. On a different note, you may be craving unusual foods and may even sample them on this full moon. Just make sure that if it's spicy, that you can handle it! Check the expiry dates on foods, and prepare meals with love.

Who are you now?

So it's been a while right? So much happens in life, so fast. Must be the quickening of time the Mayans foretold.

Right now we are all going through deep change.(When aren't we?) Change is now more of a constant as you will now realize. Our idea of life has become much more adaptable, and we move with the current. Don't get me wrong. We still have issues to work on and karma to deal with but there just seems to be a mixed bag of events happening all around us now.

 I've been calling myself a spiritual person for such a long time, but the truth is that was way to broad a definition. I now go by terms like ally, healer, partner, witch, starseed. I tacked more labels on for easy reference.

When you sew a label onto something which you like, you tack it on lightly so it can be easily removed later on. That's what we do in life as well. Or rather, that's what most of us are doing now since the awakening. We are not so cut and dry, attached to our definitions of self. We understand that to get too attached is what is 'wrong' with the world. Be more ephemeral, more loose, more light, more open, more flexible. We all seem to be in a sort of identity crisis. And for the first time, we are actually ok with that.

We don't need to be so specific in order to experience life. We want life to inspire, surprise, nurture and sustain us. We can't do so when we are stuck to something solid like a self belief, a prejudice, dogma, rules, things we don't believe we can do, say or be.

Be like a piece of seaweed on the ocean. Be manipulated by the current of life with an attitude of trust and surrender...

Crystal Healing: Are they just a bunch of rocks?

I have encountered a few sceptics since becoming more vocal about my spiritual and metaphysical leanings. So today I thought I would try and explore and break it down a little about crystals in particular. What’s  special about crystals? Why get into crystals at all?

Jupiter Images 

Well, to start off they are quite pretty to look at.  There is something pleasant about staring restively into shimmering, clear, smoky, clouded and colourful crystals which are abundant on our planet.  Just imagine all that mathematical perfection, many years in the making, among soil, sand and dirt.That, in and of itself, seems like such a miracle. That it’s just there, gleaming underneath our feet or inside a mountain, cave or under the sea.

Crystals, like flowers, are pleasing to the eye and, I feel, are the eyes equivalent to the sound of waves on a meditation track. Both flowers and crystals symbolize beauty, creation and peace in physical form. Flowers are pleasant to humans:  the smell, colour, texture and also the meanings we ascribe to them are psychologically beneficial.

To take it one step further, Crystals are said to hold certain powers, specific to each individual type of crystal. Wearing or holding any stone may create certain sensations within the individual’s energy system or aura.

This is the basic idea behind crystal healing. Crystals are reflections of perfection because of their intricate and varied structural compositions. Which is why all crystals encourage healing. This structural makeup creates a signature energy vibration (as all particles are vibrating at subtle levels) So wearing, holding or being near one has a healing effect on our personal energy system and this ripples out to those around us.

 

For instance, I find it interesting to compare smells and crystals. Certain smells are repulsive and some are even bad for you. Other smells make us feel calm, happy, and have healing properties. Aromatherapy does this, it actively uses specific essential oils, incenses and herbs and other remedies to bring about specific states of being.  Crystals operate in much the same way. Something pleasing to the eye, or with significant positive emotional connotations are far better for you, than something aesthetically unappealing and which holds bad vibes for you. 

A common and yet unconscious way we utilize this energy is our idea of having good luck charms. Something like a lucky bracelet, pair of underwear, jacket, tie, lipstick. Any item which we assign the quality of luck to, because of our positive experiences with those items. 

Crystals work in much the same way on all levels. Try it out for yourself and see how wonderful crystals really are. Right under our noses!

Uranus and the Inner Compass

Artist: Mario Duguay

Are you the type of person who listens to the counsel of others in all matters, or do you trust your own guidance and authority when it comes to making decisions?

Sometimes the inner authority runs counter to everyone around you and if that feeling is authentic and strong, you know you just have to follow its impulse.

Lately I’ve had this issue come up in my life in quite significant ways. And it got me thinking about the planet Uranus in Astrology. In mythology, Uranus is the rebel, the deviant, the one who breaks with tradition. I have noticed that wherever Uranus is in the Natal Chart is where we just cannot abide, cannot follow because we are not wired to.  It is where we make our own rules and break with the old. 

This is how Astrology interprets Uranus too. It can bring wisdom from the soul or the universe/which may or may not occur simultaneously with sudden outer changes.

This applies to transits too. So every place that Uranus touches in the chart is a place where change, shock, surprises and sudden insights are bound to occur within you, be caused by you, or likely to happen around you.

In a society that functions the way that it does, Uranus is not welcome. Sudden twists and turns which nobody could have foreseen do not fit into the standardized, mechanized, clockwork world we seem to live in.

Yet, I feel, that simply because it exists, it must and does have a very crucial role to play in our lives and in our evolution as people. For everything is connected infinitely and intricately, and whatever is within our experience is part of our experience. So we can’t dismiss it.

Uranus is in the early degrees of Aries at the moment and this signifies the start of something completely new in our lives. So for every single person on the planet, some part of their lives  is radically shifting. Something new is starting. This usually focused on the concerns of the house Uranus is moving through in the astrological birth chart.

In ways we are all confronting previously unquestioned beliefs, authorities and controlling people in our lives (Uranus doesn’t like limitation or being trapped). Uranus is an aspect of our psyche so it is that impulse within us which cannot tolerate feeling tied down, pressured, caged or even feeling confined within the limitations of a perceptual framework. Which is why Uranus is sometimes associated with the liberating process and state of enlightenment.

Ultimately it is our own heart which feels the pain of regret or the joy of fulfillment. Nobody else can feel that and I feel that this is why we must move forward beating our own drum. Listening to our own rhythm because it will never lead us astray. So locate the place within your life, where you feel the desire for freedom and meditate on it, for it will certainly hold truths about what to do. 

Just write.

Writing should be like breathing, it should consume your every fibre until you just become one teeming mass of text and caffeine.  I should have read every classic text and should know of every ‘great’ author, know all the theories, critics and publications that revolve around the profound yet pernickety craft. 

Creative Commons: Drew Coffman, Flickr

 

I don’t and never have believed in doing things just because we should do them. Oops!

For me, writing is like finding one-of-a-kind  pebbles or shells on the beach , and over an extended period of time that collection steadily grows . Then one day you look down at your hands and you see that you have acquired enough pebbles to make something with. Perhaps you can imagine an arty vase or the shower floor in a kind of organic mosaic pattern. 

We are always learning and growing, expanding and contracting, pausing and acting. So find what energy ‘phase’ you are in and connect with it for inspiration. Are you in an active phase or a regenerative/still phase?   

Go and tap into that. Tap into your own rhythm and don’t be so caught up in the rules.

Writing is something most people do in some way or form. It’s a functional thing. So when we think a thought like “I can’t write” over and over we are actually lying to ourselves.

  

At the most basic level we are still capable of writing things down whether it’s a list, directions or an itinerary. As simple as this sounds, do remember how long it took you to learn that skill as a child. Do remember whether you had to wear a pencil grip (like I did) or just remember the sensation of performing one of the basic human acts: that of physically forming words from the lead of a pencil. Also remember those who cannot write, remember those who have no arms, no sight and/or no education. So when you get down to it, saying “I can’t write” is firstly a lie and secondly it starts to sound ungrateful and unhealthily self-involved. So what we should be saying is “I know I can write, now I want to challenge myself and develop it as a kind of craft”. Or whatever mantra you feel comfortable using. 

It’s rare to find inspirational nuggets everywhere but there are certainly those writers who seem to be able to squeeze gold out of every moment. That is what we call ‘being on a roll’. Some ‘rolls’ last longer than others, some last about as long as a quarter pounder deluxe, some go on for years, others seem to stretch across lifetimes. 

A schism seems to exist when it comes to the writing process. It’s the notion that one should either ‘be’ all about writing where you live breathe, eat, and poop writing. The other category, which most people seem to fall under, is to pick up inspiration whenever it randomly strikes (like lightening on clear blue day...). Also remember we are more infinite than what we can do or what we own or make financially. 

 Some say write a paragraph every day. Some carry a notebook with them wherever they may go sketching insights to store for later. Others get others to write books about them. Others write with a co-author making the process a little easier. Others (like me) randomly decided to write for therapeutic purposes and to heal others as one of a myriad of tools in the field of ‘self healing’.  

I feel that your intention for writing is most important as that is when channels and openings occur, that is when experiences and ideas seize you. It happens when you define your purpose for doing it, whatever it may be. As long as it is something, something as simple as writing for the sake of writing even.

I have friends who probably feel inadequate when approaching a writing task. Even when sitting down to write for fun. It’s not because it’s true. It’s because it’s untrue. As cliché as this quote by Marianne Williamson may seem, it is still truthful and a great mantra for life and any creative task.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God [Goddess/Universe]. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.”

I would say never try and measure up to a standard. Focus on yourself and what you are doing. Decide that you will sit down, and spend an hour just getting something down. There is always something on our minds. Just write it. Just be in the moment. Don’t think, “Oh that sounds too much like that author or this author or that style or this theorist hates this”. Never mind those things. Remember your can always go back and take things out, cut things up, edit.

So for all my talented writer friends, who feel trepidation because of the mental standard immediately being conjured up in that moment – say “Go away! I banish thee like the fiend you are!” Negative thoughts are parasitic fiends who feed on light and creativity. Ban those thoughts and move on to the task at hand.

Do it. Decide that you like to write, and that is all you need.Treat it as sacred and the rest will come.  To follow your bliss is to put yourself on the right track. Forget about what you should or should not do. Forget the rules.

After all this is writing not driving, 

you won’t kill someone because of your writing.