The winter solstice is upon us. Like no other time in the year, we’re called to source our light from within. And in so doing, we burn through the veils of illusion that lock our perception in a world of separation.
And there’s really no way around it. We have to burn through the endless chatter of this suffering mind in order to receive with crystal clarity the healing melody of our heart’s song. Calming the deafening explosion of dissonant thoughts, we heed the guidance and harmonic pulse of our soul’s rhythm. Listen. Let that pulse guide you.
With the new moon in Capricorn on December 24, and Jupiter finishing it’s retrograde cycle and starting fresh at 0 degrees Taurus on December 25, we find ourselves with an extraordinary opportunity to restructure our lives in accordance with the harmonic pulse of our soul’s purpose on this planet. If that sounds like kind of a big deal, it is.
Like never before in my observation of astrological cycles, it appears that all the challenges and traumas we’ve endured can be transmuted into whatever we consciously choose in the year ahead. The operative word being “consciously.” How can we discern our conscious choices from our unconscious? Easy. Look back at the last year of your life. What choices did you make out of habit? Out of reaction? What were the results? With 20/20 hindsight, reflecting on the effects of your choices, what will you do differently when similar circumstances present themselves? And they will. Only this time, you’ll meet them not from your fear-based patterns of reaction, but instead with responsive awareness centered on the truth and wisdom you’ve gleaned from all that led you to this moment.
The key with Saturn’s transit through Libra (going retrograde from Feb 7, 2012 - June 24, 2012) is to relate - with everyone and everything - without getting pulled off center. Take responsibility for your feelings, instead of letting them spin you out into the spectrum of outdated reactions. And recognize that you’re not responsible for the feelings of anyone else. They’re going to feel how they’re going to feel. By staying in, or enabling another to remain in, our unconscious patterns (codependence, for example), we perpetuate karmic repercussions we can no longer afford. The imbalance in the world is a direct correlate of every individual’s commitment (or lack thereof) to living in alignment with our truth. And if you’re living in your truth, with genuine kindness and compassion, the universe will bestow many blessings upon your path in the year ahead. That’s Jupiter finally moving forward in Taurus. Big abundance and creative output awaits all who follow their bliss, and remain devoted to their truth.
It’s been a year. Not all bad. Not all good. But all perfect. We’re alive to tell the tale. Only now we can narrate the story moving forward, as opposed to pulling it up from the past. See the year to come as though it were already manifest. Put to rest your orientation to a now that’s built on the faulty construct of a dissociative past. Those days are over. Let them die as the year expires. Give birth instead to what dreams may come.
Few can argue the epoch of our human existence is shifting. Into what? Well... that’s subject to what you believe in. And in all matters of belief we cannot escape from subjective opinion. Absent concrete evidence to support my claims, I share the following knowing full well that the constructs of religious indoctrination will illicit a reaction, or better stated, a denial from most. Like the GOP pundits and their propaganda machine (FOX News, etc) that surreptitiously deny human activity contributes to climate change, I too recognize you can never underestimate the power of denial. Did you know that over half the populace of America, thanks in part to the aforementioned propaganda machine (and a healthy dose of denial-based ignorance), now believes that the rising CO2 put out by our growing industrial world has NO effect on climate change? To this I simply say... wow.
But I digress. The POINT I was getting at, is the shifting of the human epoch. I have a bent towards examining the correlation between science and spirituality. Some lean towards one or the other. Recognizing there is no separation (original theme of this post), I like to think we’re shifting from Homo sapien to Homo illuminous. That we’re more than just our physical body. That a light source exists within us, and that light is surfacing in profound and beautiful way. And in conjunction with that shift, we’re shifting from the Information Age to the Age of Intuition. What does that mean...?
It’s like cloud computing. A mobile application (the human mind) processes data and software stored in remote servers (the universal mind) and delivered through the internet (collective consciousness). Incalculable bits of information are traveling through the internet (the spontaneous gamma oscillations of human consciousness) and retrieved by our individual web browser (intuition) and downloaded accordingly.
I’m still working on that one, but I put it out simply to illustrate that the mechanism of our intuition has a mirror in our technological innovation. We have access to energy and information like never before. That's no accident.
And all this is to say.... We have A LOT available in 2012. The winter solstice still represents a time of going inward, a hibernation of sorts. We have access to A LOT right now. Tune in. Solidify your connection to the light. Receive your guidance from within. Create alchemy with all you’ve accumulated. And come spring, the seeds of your deepest intentions will take root like never before. Plant them in the fertile soil of an emptied mind. Remain aware that past habituations and patterns (ego-based emotions and fears) will arise from time to time in an attempt to distract us. Identify with nothing and remember your aim. With Jupiter in Taurus on your side, you can clear those distractions without effort and focus into completion the manifestation of your dreams. Dream big.
In gratitude to all for your contribution to our collective awakening.
Stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
An added bonus... A passage from T.S Elliot’s masterstroke Four Quartets that beautifully illustrates through graceful prose the soft darkness of this winter solstice...
O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,
The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,
The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,
Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,
Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark,
And dark the Sun and Moon, and the Almanach de Gotha
And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of
Directors,
And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.
And we all go forth with them, into the silent funeral,
Nobody’s funeral, for there is no one to bury.
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness
on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away--
Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long
between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness
deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious
of nothing--
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without
love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought;
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the
dancing.
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.
The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,
The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy
Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony
Of death and birth
You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are
not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
and what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The Eclipse is Coming!
The eclipse is coming! The eclipse is coming!
The significance of this eclipse, while ranking a few decibels below the urgency that fueled Henny Penny’s misaligned pronouncement that the sky is falling, the sky is falling, is none-the-less enormous.
Now I admit, I think all full moons are significant. So much so I’m either locked in my office and tapping the creative wave bequeathed by the moon’s reflection of the sun, or I make a pilgrimage to some remote location to bask in the unencumbered lunar glow. This month, oddly, I completely forgot to look ahead at the astrology and invited my parents to fly out and visit me on what appeared to be a good “non-holiday weekend” to share some quality time with the two who came together to form the one (me).
How did this happen? How did I blindly surrender my rigid maintenance of writing during not just a full moon, but a LUNAR ECLIPSE?! I’ll tell you how, and then I’ll elucidate why I couldn’t have planned this any better. And I suspect your personal narrative will relate in some way to what I see.
How this eclipse slipped my mind is easy. Mercury’s retrograde. The planet that impels our thinking mind, or lower mind, is doing it’s thrice annual electric slide backwards in the sky that takes our mind down memory lane, and gives us all kinds of discombobulated reviews of oft intense feelings. Some not so pretty. Others not so ugly.
*Here’s a retrograde moment... my sister just called, and we had a lovely conversation that our busy schedules seldom afford, while I was writing about our parents. This strikes me as a perfect example of Einstein’s "spooky action at a distance,” later termed quantum entanglement, where two related or entangled particles, separated at vast distances, continue to directly influence the other. All too similar to everyone's inextricable connection to the sun and the moon, reflected genetically through our parents.
The fundamentals of quantum entanglement segue nicely with why I overlooked this full moon. Because I’m not in control, that’s why. A force beyond my control-hungry ego set this up. And that’s the power of this eclipse. The power to unite above with below. Within and without. And the opportunity to bow at the sacrificial altar, have the courage to LET GO, and surrender the ego-based idea that I’m in control.
The new moon solar eclipse in Sagittarius on 11/24, and the upcoming full moon lunar eclipse in Gemini on Saturday, 12/10 at 6:36AM (PST), both occur during Mercury’s retrograde transit. This is no small potatoes. It’s not every day the dynamic core of our issues (our mind) exposes itself on a level so vividly clear one moment and precipitously truculent the next. It’s as though we’re dancing the tango with the erratic complexities of our inner-world, and then all of a sudden we become the floor upon which those erratic complexities seem to be relentlessly stomping a Texas two-step (steel-toed boots included). Sound familiar?
A couple of quick caveats... My personal exploration of healing, be it physical, energetic, emotional and/or psychological unavoidably influences what I’m about to share regarding this eclipse. The enormity of this opportunity, regardless of whether you resonate with my pithy anecdotes, is universal. Also... while multiple planetary transits and their mutual interactions are at the root of what I share, I’m inclined to focus this message on the qualitative nature of this eclipse and what’s to follow. Email me if you want quantifiable planetary aspects.
Allow me to continue with exactly what’s available, in quantum proportions, during and beyond this eclipse. We have an incredible opportunity to heal the noxious feeling of separation that plagues our perception. On one side we have our linear mind, and its unconscious fixation on past traumas that function to contract around all the uncomfortable energy that’s arising. And on the other side we have our intuitive mind, inspired to expand and create with the intensity being generated in our solar system right now. First we have to get up close and personal with our unconscious analytical mind, and the survival-based patterns of control it designed. Like yin and yang, the the two hemispheres of the brain are at the same time separate and interdependent, which means they cannot function without the other. If we avoid making conscious our unconscious, if we ignore the value of remembering the wholeness of who we really are, the melody of our heart’s song is inescapably orchestrated through a thinking mind that dooms us to replicating our past.
“What you think about, you bring about.” - Napolean Hill
The Sun and Mercury are both in the sign of Sagittarius, the devout explorer of truth and expansion into our higher mind. Because this time of year gives us the least amount of sunshine, we’re each called to draw forth more light from within. This light can weave through our memories, and transform them into the batter with which we consciously create. The full moon is in Gemini, which represents the lower mind, and the opposing Sun is in Sagittarius, the higher mind. Let this opposition expose the misaligned beliefs and negative emotions that generate the unconscious patterns conditioned by your past. Do they allow the light to move freely through you? If not, let them go. And by let them go, I don’t mean forget they exist. I’m saying let them be free. Allow that energetic charge to fuel the heart’s fire to create the life you came here to live. What was once limitation is now an even greater expression.
Did we really come here to perpetuate the unconscious imprints of our childhood? Or to repeat those handed down from our ancestors? We had plenty of positive experiences too, and we received conscious attributes of incalculable value from those same ancestors. Now’s the time to integrate it all. This planet needs us to shine our light, yet so often when we do, the shadow of the mind rises up to blind us. As Earth orbits directly between the solar and lunar bodies, the full eclipse will project our planetary shadow onto the surface of the moon. And that shadow will finally be exposed as the fraudulent denying mechanism of the ego. Thy will be done as the alchemy of the Self rises up to show us the light beyond our separate self.
Like a moonbeam of divine fuel, let the elixir of the soma rain pour down through the chakra of your crown. Align the hemispheres of the brain, quiet the chaos of the mind, and orchestrate the symphony of your heart’s song. The wattage of how much light we can shine is expanding exponentially to balance the darker aspects that are surfacing in our dualistic world. Like the dance of the lower mind with the higher mind, we're at choice to where we put our conscious attention.
Fortunately my higher mind pulled the veil over my eyes and prevented my conscious attention from identifying with my lower mind's resistance to compromising my alone time with the full moon. In that, we can always trust that wakefulness will triumph over sleep. And the triumph of higher mind has coordinated an opportunity to share this eclipse with my mother and father, the two people who represent the origins of my feminine (lunar) and masculine (solar) energy. This is blessing beyond proportion. A cosmic Mastercard commercial with the “priceless” tagline. And a moment to remember and appreciate that I'm not in control, and the universe has my back. The more I get out of the way, the more it guides me in service to the light.
"The fates lead him who will. Him who won't, they drag." Seneca wisdom
I wish you all blessings of light as the nights continue to grow longer and the days shorter. May we always remember our light inside the darkness.
Thank you for your contribution to our collective awakening.
Stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
ps The forecast moving forward... Mercury goes direct 12/13, and Jupiter goes direct 12/25, at zero degrees Taurus. We can give tangible form to our conscious expansion, and reign in the prosperity and abundance that is our birthright. Help us transform our world in 2012. And do so with all your heart.
The significance of this eclipse, while ranking a few decibels below the urgency that fueled Henny Penny’s misaligned pronouncement that the sky is falling, the sky is falling, is none-the-less enormous.
Now I admit, I think all full moons are significant. So much so I’m either locked in my office and tapping the creative wave bequeathed by the moon’s reflection of the sun, or I make a pilgrimage to some remote location to bask in the unencumbered lunar glow. This month, oddly, I completely forgot to look ahead at the astrology and invited my parents to fly out and visit me on what appeared to be a good “non-holiday weekend” to share some quality time with the two who came together to form the one (me).
How did this happen? How did I blindly surrender my rigid maintenance of writing during not just a full moon, but a LUNAR ECLIPSE?! I’ll tell you how, and then I’ll elucidate why I couldn’t have planned this any better. And I suspect your personal narrative will relate in some way to what I see.
How this eclipse slipped my mind is easy. Mercury’s retrograde. The planet that impels our thinking mind, or lower mind, is doing it’s thrice annual electric slide backwards in the sky that takes our mind down memory lane, and gives us all kinds of discombobulated reviews of oft intense feelings. Some not so pretty. Others not so ugly.
*Here’s a retrograde moment... my sister just called, and we had a lovely conversation that our busy schedules seldom afford, while I was writing about our parents. This strikes me as a perfect example of Einstein’s "spooky action at a distance,” later termed quantum entanglement, where two related or entangled particles, separated at vast distances, continue to directly influence the other. All too similar to everyone's inextricable connection to the sun and the moon, reflected genetically through our parents.
The fundamentals of quantum entanglement segue nicely with why I overlooked this full moon. Because I’m not in control, that’s why. A force beyond my control-hungry ego set this up. And that’s the power of this eclipse. The power to unite above with below. Within and without. And the opportunity to bow at the sacrificial altar, have the courage to LET GO, and surrender the ego-based idea that I’m in control.
The new moon solar eclipse in Sagittarius on 11/24, and the upcoming full moon lunar eclipse in Gemini on Saturday, 12/10 at 6:36AM (PST), both occur during Mercury’s retrograde transit. This is no small potatoes. It’s not every day the dynamic core of our issues (our mind) exposes itself on a level so vividly clear one moment and precipitously truculent the next. It’s as though we’re dancing the tango with the erratic complexities of our inner-world, and then all of a sudden we become the floor upon which those erratic complexities seem to be relentlessly stomping a Texas two-step (steel-toed boots included). Sound familiar?
A couple of quick caveats... My personal exploration of healing, be it physical, energetic, emotional and/or psychological unavoidably influences what I’m about to share regarding this eclipse. The enormity of this opportunity, regardless of whether you resonate with my pithy anecdotes, is universal. Also... while multiple planetary transits and their mutual interactions are at the root of what I share, I’m inclined to focus this message on the qualitative nature of this eclipse and what’s to follow. Email me if you want quantifiable planetary aspects.
Allow me to continue with exactly what’s available, in quantum proportions, during and beyond this eclipse. We have an incredible opportunity to heal the noxious feeling of separation that plagues our perception. On one side we have our linear mind, and its unconscious fixation on past traumas that function to contract around all the uncomfortable energy that’s arising. And on the other side we have our intuitive mind, inspired to expand and create with the intensity being generated in our solar system right now. First we have to get up close and personal with our unconscious analytical mind, and the survival-based patterns of control it designed. Like yin and yang, the the two hemispheres of the brain are at the same time separate and interdependent, which means they cannot function without the other. If we avoid making conscious our unconscious, if we ignore the value of remembering the wholeness of who we really are, the melody of our heart’s song is inescapably orchestrated through a thinking mind that dooms us to replicating our past.
“What you think about, you bring about.” - Napolean Hill
The Sun and Mercury are both in the sign of Sagittarius, the devout explorer of truth and expansion into our higher mind. Because this time of year gives us the least amount of sunshine, we’re each called to draw forth more light from within. This light can weave through our memories, and transform them into the batter with which we consciously create. The full moon is in Gemini, which represents the lower mind, and the opposing Sun is in Sagittarius, the higher mind. Let this opposition expose the misaligned beliefs and negative emotions that generate the unconscious patterns conditioned by your past. Do they allow the light to move freely through you? If not, let them go. And by let them go, I don’t mean forget they exist. I’m saying let them be free. Allow that energetic charge to fuel the heart’s fire to create the life you came here to live. What was once limitation is now an even greater expression.
Did we really come here to perpetuate the unconscious imprints of our childhood? Or to repeat those handed down from our ancestors? We had plenty of positive experiences too, and we received conscious attributes of incalculable value from those same ancestors. Now’s the time to integrate it all. This planet needs us to shine our light, yet so often when we do, the shadow of the mind rises up to blind us. As Earth orbits directly between the solar and lunar bodies, the full eclipse will project our planetary shadow onto the surface of the moon. And that shadow will finally be exposed as the fraudulent denying mechanism of the ego. Thy will be done as the alchemy of the Self rises up to show us the light beyond our separate self.
Like a moonbeam of divine fuel, let the elixir of the soma rain pour down through the chakra of your crown. Align the hemispheres of the brain, quiet the chaos of the mind, and orchestrate the symphony of your heart’s song. The wattage of how much light we can shine is expanding exponentially to balance the darker aspects that are surfacing in our dualistic world. Like the dance of the lower mind with the higher mind, we're at choice to where we put our conscious attention.
Fortunately my higher mind pulled the veil over my eyes and prevented my conscious attention from identifying with my lower mind's resistance to compromising my alone time with the full moon. In that, we can always trust that wakefulness will triumph over sleep. And the triumph of higher mind has coordinated an opportunity to share this eclipse with my mother and father, the two people who represent the origins of my feminine (lunar) and masculine (solar) energy. This is blessing beyond proportion. A cosmic Mastercard commercial with the “priceless” tagline. And a moment to remember and appreciate that I'm not in control, and the universe has my back. The more I get out of the way, the more it guides me in service to the light.
"The fates lead him who will. Him who won't, they drag." Seneca wisdom
I wish you all blessings of light as the nights continue to grow longer and the days shorter. May we always remember our light inside the darkness.
Thank you for your contribution to our collective awakening.
Stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
ps The forecast moving forward... Mercury goes direct 12/13, and Jupiter goes direct 12/25, at zero degrees Taurus. We can give tangible form to our conscious expansion, and reign in the prosperity and abundance that is our birthright. Help us transform our world in 2012. And do so with all your heart.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Becoming the Phoenix
If your ego has been worked this year, you're not alone. In fact, if your ego hasn't been worked this year, you are alone. Which is to say that everyone I know has gotten worked this year. It was in the stars. It still is, but to a much lesser extent as we finish out 2011.
With Mars in a trine (harmonious) aspect to both Jupiter and Pluto, a beautiful window exists to transform our unconscious masculine residue - and all the consumptive capitalistic impulses conditioned into us by our patriarchal society - into the expansion of our light in creation and service.
These three masculine planets forged their way through some relatively difficult transits with Saturn this year. This exposed many a useful awareness, if we paid attention. Ask yourself the following questions; Where did (do) I forcefully hold on to habituated patterns that throw me off balance? Where did (do) I give my power away, again and again? How much did (do) my limiting thoughts prevent me from celebrating my life?
Mars demands that we create and express with our unique fire. Jupiter pushes us to expand beyond the limitations of our mind. Saturn forces us to take responsibility for all aspects of our unconscious. And Pluto requires us to transform all that is not light.
In honor of 11.11.11, and my Scorpio roots, I offer a passage from Normandi Ellis' Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead that sums up this time in human evolution far better than any of my planetary musings.
Becoming the Phoenix
I flew out of heaven, a mad bird full of secrets. I came into being as I came into being. I grew as I grew. I changed as I change. My mind is fire, my soul fire. The cobra wakes and spits fire in my eyes. I rise through ochre smoke into black air enclosed in a shower of stars. I am what I have made. I am the seed of every god, beautiful as evening, hard as light. I am the last four days of yesterday, four screams from the edges of earth--beauty, terror, truth, madness--the phoenix on his pyre.
In a willow I made my nest of flowers and snakes, sandalwood and myrrh. I am waiting for eternity. I'm waiting for four hundred years to pass before I dance on flame, turn this desert to ash, before I rise, waking from gold and purple dreams into the season of god. I will live forever in the fire spun from my own wings. I'll suffer burns that burn to heal. I destroy and create myself like the sun that rises burning in the east and dies burning in the west. To know the fire, I become the fire. I am power. I am light. I am forever. On earth and in heaven I am. This is my body, my work. This is my deliverance.
The heat of transformation is unbearable, yet change is necessary. It burns up the useless, the diseased. Time is a cool liquid; it flows away like a river. We shall see no end of it.
Generation after generation, I create myself. It is never easy. Long nights I waited, lost in myself, considering the stars. I wage a battle against darkness, against my own ignorance, my resistance to change, my sentimental love of my own folly. Perfection is a difficult task. I lose and find my way over again. One task done gives rise to others. There is no end to the work left to do. That is harsh beauty. There is no end to becoming. I live forever striving for perfection. I praise the moment I die in fire for the veils of illusion burn with me. I see how hard we strive for truth, and once attained, how easily we forget it. I hold the fire as long as I can. My nose fills with the smell of seared flesh, the acrid smoke of death, so that years from now I might look upon that scar and remember how it was to hold the light, how it was to die and come again radiant as light walking on sand.
I change and change again, generation after generation. I find anguish then peace.
I am satisfied with my birth and the fate to which it led me. I do not regret the discomforts and terrors of my mortality any more than I regret the company of angels. I have entered fire. I become invisible, yet I breathe in the flow of sun, in the eyes of children, in the light that animates the white cliffs at dawn. I am the god in the world in everything, even in darkness. If you have not seen me there, you have not looked. I am the fire that burns you, that burns in you. To live is die a thousand deaths, but there is only one fire, one eternity.
A great teacher once shared with me the following truth... "You do not have to be perfect to know how to fly." We're all learning how to fly, again. Dying to that which holds us back. Rebirthing anew that which sets us free. Strengthen your wings as we progress deeper into the second half of the astrological year. Recognize you have everything you need to take flight. And the world needs us to fly, now more than ever...
Thank you all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening.
Stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
With Mars in a trine (harmonious) aspect to both Jupiter and Pluto, a beautiful window exists to transform our unconscious masculine residue - and all the consumptive capitalistic impulses conditioned into us by our patriarchal society - into the expansion of our light in creation and service.
These three masculine planets forged their way through some relatively difficult transits with Saturn this year. This exposed many a useful awareness, if we paid attention. Ask yourself the following questions; Where did (do) I forcefully hold on to habituated patterns that throw me off balance? Where did (do) I give my power away, again and again? How much did (do) my limiting thoughts prevent me from celebrating my life?
Mars demands that we create and express with our unique fire. Jupiter pushes us to expand beyond the limitations of our mind. Saturn forces us to take responsibility for all aspects of our unconscious. And Pluto requires us to transform all that is not light.
In honor of 11.11.11, and my Scorpio roots, I offer a passage from Normandi Ellis' Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead that sums up this time in human evolution far better than any of my planetary musings.
Becoming the Phoenix
I flew out of heaven, a mad bird full of secrets. I came into being as I came into being. I grew as I grew. I changed as I change. My mind is fire, my soul fire. The cobra wakes and spits fire in my eyes. I rise through ochre smoke into black air enclosed in a shower of stars. I am what I have made. I am the seed of every god, beautiful as evening, hard as light. I am the last four days of yesterday, four screams from the edges of earth--beauty, terror, truth, madness--the phoenix on his pyre.
In a willow I made my nest of flowers and snakes, sandalwood and myrrh. I am waiting for eternity. I'm waiting for four hundred years to pass before I dance on flame, turn this desert to ash, before I rise, waking from gold and purple dreams into the season of god. I will live forever in the fire spun from my own wings. I'll suffer burns that burn to heal. I destroy and create myself like the sun that rises burning in the east and dies burning in the west. To know the fire, I become the fire. I am power. I am light. I am forever. On earth and in heaven I am. This is my body, my work. This is my deliverance.
The heat of transformation is unbearable, yet change is necessary. It burns up the useless, the diseased. Time is a cool liquid; it flows away like a river. We shall see no end of it.
Generation after generation, I create myself. It is never easy. Long nights I waited, lost in myself, considering the stars. I wage a battle against darkness, against my own ignorance, my resistance to change, my sentimental love of my own folly. Perfection is a difficult task. I lose and find my way over again. One task done gives rise to others. There is no end to the work left to do. That is harsh beauty. There is no end to becoming. I live forever striving for perfection. I praise the moment I die in fire for the veils of illusion burn with me. I see how hard we strive for truth, and once attained, how easily we forget it. I hold the fire as long as I can. My nose fills with the smell of seared flesh, the acrid smoke of death, so that years from now I might look upon that scar and remember how it was to hold the light, how it was to die and come again radiant as light walking on sand.
I change and change again, generation after generation. I find anguish then peace.
I am satisfied with my birth and the fate to which it led me. I do not regret the discomforts and terrors of my mortality any more than I regret the company of angels. I have entered fire. I become invisible, yet I breathe in the flow of sun, in the eyes of children, in the light that animates the white cliffs at dawn. I am the god in the world in everything, even in darkness. If you have not seen me there, you have not looked. I am the fire that burns you, that burns in you. To live is die a thousand deaths, but there is only one fire, one eternity.
A great teacher once shared with me the following truth... "You do not have to be perfect to know how to fly." We're all learning how to fly, again. Dying to that which holds us back. Rebirthing anew that which sets us free. Strengthen your wings as we progress deeper into the second half of the astrological year. Recognize you have everything you need to take flight. And the world needs us to fly, now more than ever...
Thank you all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening.
Stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
Friday, October 14, 2011
Love
The emotions illumined by the past full moon, especially as it moved from Aries to Taurus became all the more amplified as it went past Jupiter in Taurus. This rained over the seeds we all have in us that drive us to go beyond the known to the unknown. This has given rise to a host of feelings about what we're really up to in our lives. And if it's not inspired by your surrender to what you naturally feel called to do, the way of your dhama, it's a time of reckoning.
Meanwhile our personal fire, the Sun, that which drives and motivates us is in Libra, alongside our ever present awareness of limitation, Saturn. Here we taste the bitter sweet karma inherent in a world built on duality. Bitter is the effect, when actions stem from ego. Sweet is the result, when we act from our true nature. And the balance of the two is what we're here to embody.
These two transits, in a nutshell, mean we’re feeling a lot and we want like hell to expand further into the goodness or out of the feeling of suffering. The difficulties and challenges we feel are being augmented by a host of doubtful or denying thoughts from our ego. Like salt on a wound, this is sparked by the Sun Saturn conjunction, generating the peculiar paradox of limiting the natural expression of our boundless inner fire.
The question this transit asks of us: What do I do when the perpetual failure that results from my best efforts serves only to trigger my deeply unconscious fear of inadequacy?
Let's start with the patterns of the brain. When I shift my focus away from the emotions of my limbic brain, and into the cognitive faculty of my neocortex, I recognize this fear to be both irrational and untrue. Sure, I might forget this twenty times a day, but still I know this unconscious fear to be false. But the limbic (emotional) patterns don't go away overnight. This essential revision takes time, and support. And action behind the awareness of the assorted imbalances. Meditation. Yoga. Therapy. Breathwork. Bodywork. Free-form writing. Positive affirmations. Take your pick. Do them all. Do whatever it takes to work with and reconcile what's coming up at this time. The fruits are many.
Returning to the origin of my very first limbic pattern, I discover the unavoidable experience of separateness that occurred the moment I was born. In this moment, the original seed of doubt - that I am unworthy of love - was planted in my consciousness. I was cast out. Then I was held once again by my mother, and the vibration of love returned. Then I was left alone, and the vibration I’ve associated with love had forsaken me once again. As this cycle continues, my nervous system programed itself to protect me from experiencing the trauma of this ongoing separation from love. And thus I developed conditions on my love, and the love I open myself to receive from others, for fear that it will go away. And my limbic patterning developed accordingly.
We all experience this cycle, and the powerlessness of its perpetuity. Or do we? Is it really us experiencing the impermanence, the separateness, the suffering, or is it that slippery little subversive otherwise known as our ego?
From Albert Einstein... "A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature."
Let’s bring this back to astrology. The planet associated with love and compassion is Venus. And just three weeks ago Venus was up close and personal with Saturn as it transited through Libra. I know many, myself included, who felt the onslaught of this karmic challenge. I endeavored, which is to say life circumstance forced me, into an agonizing exploration of the myriad ways I relate from unconscious patterns and conditions developed out of the basic mis-understanding that love is impermanent, and I am therefore unworthy of it. Astrologically speaking... Saturn transiting through Libra is bringing all kinds of karmic issues around love, relationship, balance and worthiness to the surface. And buyer beware, the ego side of Libra will manipulate to get what it wants and to maintain a sense of balance built on illusion.
Here's where we can seize the blessing inherent in our ego-based relatedness. Venus is in Scorpio (with the aforementioned conjunctions of the Moon and Jupiter in Taurus, and the Sun and Saturn in Libra). Venus, what we love and how we attraction, rules Libra and Taurus. Her current transit through Scorpio holds the key to using these planetary positions to heal the illusions of ego, the unconscious identifications, that are surfacing like a geyser. It will serve us to take stock in all that we’ve attracted into our lives, and really check in with how we relate. Ask yourself... How do I relate to myself and others from an imbalanced place? Do I regress into old patterns that reinforce a feeling of separateness? Am I willing to do the work to transform how I relate with the polarities of light and dark? Now's the time to view your self objectively and be honest. What am I letting go of? What am I making room for?
With Mars keeping the flame burning strong in Leo, this Venus transit through Scorpio - currently opposing Jupiter - can work magic in transforming how we unconsciously relate and expanding more deeply into what we consciously attract. As one of my teachers said to me recently; “If you want to be comfortable, first you have to let yourself be uncomfortable.” And that means getting up close and personal with all your ego has created. It is the ego that fundamentally inhibits our feeling and expression of unconditional love, and inclines us toward what Ram Das calls Need-based, emotional or romantic love.
There are countless teachings and dissertations on what the ego is and how it functions. With Venus as the key we're playing with in this letter, I think it best to share pg. 86-89 of Tibetan Rinpoche, Choyam Trungpa's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%B6gyam_Trungpa, book: The Myth of Freedom to explore love, and the ego's relationship to it. Here it is...
LOVE
“There is a vast store of energy which is not centered, which is not ego’s energy at all. It is this energy which is the centerless phenomena, the universe interpenetrating and making love to itself. It has two characteristics: a fire quality of warmth and a tendency to flow in a particular pattern, in the same way in which fire contains a spark as well as the air which directs the spark. And this energy is always on-going, whether or not it is seen through the confused filter of ego. It cannot be destroyed or interrupted at all. It is like the ever-burning sun. It consumes everything to the point where it allows no room for doubt or manipulation.
But when this heat is filtered through ego, it becomes stagnant, because we ignore the basic ground, refuse to see the vast space in which this energy occurs. Then the energy cannot flow freely in the open space shared with the object of passion. Instead it is solidified, narrowed and directed by the central headquarters of ego to move outward in order to draw the object of passion into its territory. This captive energy extends out to its object and then returns to be programmed again. We extend our tentacles and try to fix our relationship. This attempt to cling to the situation makes the communication process superficial. We just touch another person’s surface and get stuck there, never experiencing their whole being. We are blinded by our clinging. The object of passion, instead of being bathed in the intense warmth of free passion feels oppressed by the stifling heat of neurotic passion.
Free passion is radiation without the radiator, a fluid, pervasive warmth that flows effortlessly. It is not destructive because it is a balanced state of being and highly intelligent. Self-consciousness inhibits this intelligent, balanced state of being. By opening, by dropping our self-conscious grasping, we see not only the surface of an object, but we see the whole way through. We appreciate not in terms of sensational qualities alone, but we see in terms of whole qualities, which are pure gold. We are not overwhelmed by the exterior, but seeing the exterior simultaneously puts us through to the interior. So we reach the heart of the situation and, if this is a meeting of two people, the relationship is very inspiring because we do not see the other person purely in terms of physical attraction or habitual patterns, we see the inside as well as the outside.
This whole-way-through communication might produce a problem. Suppose you see right through someone and that person does not want you to see right through and becomes horrified with you and runs away. Then what to do? You have made your communication completely and thoroughly. If that person runs away from you, that is his way of communicating with you. You would not investigate further. If you did pursue and chase him, then sooner or later you would become a demon from that person’s point of view. You see right through his body and he has juicy fat and meat that you would like to eat up, so you seem like a vampire to him. And the more you try to pursue the other person, the more you fail. Perhaps you looked through too sharply with your desire, perhaps you were too penetrating. Possessing beautiful keen eyes, penetrating passion and intelligence, you abused your talent, played with it. It is quite natural with people, if they possess some particular power or gifted energy, to abuse that quality, to misuse it by trying to penetrate every corner. Something quite obviously is lacking in such an approach -- a sense of humor. If you try to push things too far, it means you do not feel the area properly; you only feel your relationship to the area. What is wrong is that you do not see all sides of the situation and therefore miss the humorous and ironical aspect.
Sometimes people run away from you because they want to play a game with you. They do not want a straight, honest and serious involvement with you, they want to play. But if they have a sense of humor and you do not, you become demonic. This is where lalita, the dance, comes in. You dance with reality, dance with apparent phenomena. When you want something very badly you do not extend your eye and hand automatically; you just admire. Instead of impulsively making a move from your side, you allow a move from the other side, which is learning to dance with the situation. You do not have to create the whole situation; you just watch it, work with it and learn to dance with it. So then it does not become your creation, but rather a mutual dance. No one is self-conscious, because it is a mutual experience.
When there is a fundamental openness in a relationship, being faithful, in the sense of real trust, happens automatically; it is a natural sensation. Because the communication is so real and so beautiful and flowing, you cannot communicate in the same way with someone else, so automatically you are drawn together. But if any doubt presents itself, if you begin to feel threatened by some abstract possibility, although your communication is going beautifully at the time, then you are sowing the seed of paranoia and regarding the communication purely as ego entertainment.
If you sow a seed of doubt, it may make you rigid and terrified, afraid of losing the communication which is so good and real. And at some stage you will begin to be bewildered as to whether the communication is loving or aggressive. This bewilderment brings a certain loss of distance, and in this way neurosis begins. Once you lose the right perspective, the right distance in the communication process, then love becomes hate. The natural thing with hatred, just as with love, is that you want to make physical communication with the person; that is, you want to kill or injure them. In any relationship in which the ego is involved, a love relationship or any other, there is always the danger of turning against your partner. As long as there is the notion of threat or insecurity of any kind, then a love relationship could turn into its opposite.”
This last sentence warrants extrapolation from an astrological point of view. Trungpa Rinpoche elucidates the very real lynchpin of duality, or the dynamic tension of the polarities within our earthly experience. The recent full moon in Aries directly opposed the Sun / Saturn conjunction in Libra, serving to illuminate the ways in which the ego incessantly plants a feeling of doubt or opposition that pull us off balance. Instead of remaining a balanced vessel of Free Passion, the ego filters the vast centerless phenomena of the universe interpenetrating and making love to itself - and flips it into Neurotic Passion. As soon as there is a notion of threat or insecurity, abstract or otherwise, the triumphant joy of conscious unconditional love quickly shifts into the horrible beauty of emotion-based conditional love.
And that, in a nutshell, is what we get to reconcile as we progress into fall and winter. Imagine freeing up all that filters this vast centerless energy; the phenomena of the universe interpenetrating and making love to itself...
All that inhibits this phenomena has been surfacing in preparation for the Sun’s progression into Scorpio, where we have the opportunity to bring all these outdated patterns to a ceremonious death, return the ego to his rightful position as an ally and a servant to our true nature, and be reborn in the spring. The astrological year is only half over. We're at the midpoint of the four seasons. This is the time where we shift our perception from subjective to objective. Where we see the projection of the ego, and our reactive nature, and integrate this awareness. When we respond to what is, as opposed to reacting to what isn't, and remain free of attachment and connected to our center, we experience what Trungpa Rinpoche called "seeing the whole of another person or situation." When we dance with what is, in a mutual exchange, we reclaim authority in our lives, instead of authoritatively clinging to controlling our lives.
The next six months call forth reconciliation and integration. If we endeavor to transform all the old, unconscious structures, we will better be suited to thrive in the death and rebirth of our various structures forecast to occur when Saturn enters Scorpio in October, 2012. As the structures we once relied upon transform before our eyes, we will have the resolute connection to our center that will allow us to integrate fully our conscious awareness of the centerless non-dual current of unconditional love. Imagine creating a new foundation from this place.
Back to the question of this transit "What do I do when the perpetual failure that results from my best efforts serves only to trigger my deeply unconscious fear of inadequacy?"
The answer: Don't believe the hype. It's all in your mind. You can't do anything wrong. And thus, what might feel like failure on one level, is really success on another level. They coexist to design our journey through duality. Again and again, we fail in order to succeed. Where this all falls on the time line of your life is completely irrelevant, when the attachment of the ego is surrendered.
A major key offered by Trungpa Rinpoche is the importance of maintaining a sense of humor in all that is unfolding. Life is, after all, a giant cosmic joke. When we look in witness at our lives, we see the ego did nothing more than set us up with exactly what we need to awaken. Once we accept that it couldn’t be any other way, that it’s simply thus and so, we can remember and surrender to our inherent grace. And grace trumps karma... and ego... every time.
In gratitude to all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
Meanwhile our personal fire, the Sun, that which drives and motivates us is in Libra, alongside our ever present awareness of limitation, Saturn. Here we taste the bitter sweet karma inherent in a world built on duality. Bitter is the effect, when actions stem from ego. Sweet is the result, when we act from our true nature. And the balance of the two is what we're here to embody.
These two transits, in a nutshell, mean we’re feeling a lot and we want like hell to expand further into the goodness or out of the feeling of suffering. The difficulties and challenges we feel are being augmented by a host of doubtful or denying thoughts from our ego. Like salt on a wound, this is sparked by the Sun Saturn conjunction, generating the peculiar paradox of limiting the natural expression of our boundless inner fire.
The question this transit asks of us: What do I do when the perpetual failure that results from my best efforts serves only to trigger my deeply unconscious fear of inadequacy?
Let's start with the patterns of the brain. When I shift my focus away from the emotions of my limbic brain, and into the cognitive faculty of my neocortex, I recognize this fear to be both irrational and untrue. Sure, I might forget this twenty times a day, but still I know this unconscious fear to be false. But the limbic (emotional) patterns don't go away overnight. This essential revision takes time, and support. And action behind the awareness of the assorted imbalances. Meditation. Yoga. Therapy. Breathwork. Bodywork. Free-form writing. Positive affirmations. Take your pick. Do them all. Do whatever it takes to work with and reconcile what's coming up at this time. The fruits are many.
Returning to the origin of my very first limbic pattern, I discover the unavoidable experience of separateness that occurred the moment I was born. In this moment, the original seed of doubt - that I am unworthy of love - was planted in my consciousness. I was cast out. Then I was held once again by my mother, and the vibration of love returned. Then I was left alone, and the vibration I’ve associated with love had forsaken me once again. As this cycle continues, my nervous system programed itself to protect me from experiencing the trauma of this ongoing separation from love. And thus I developed conditions on my love, and the love I open myself to receive from others, for fear that it will go away. And my limbic patterning developed accordingly.
We all experience this cycle, and the powerlessness of its perpetuity. Or do we? Is it really us experiencing the impermanence, the separateness, the suffering, or is it that slippery little subversive otherwise known as our ego?
From Albert Einstein... "A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature."
Let’s bring this back to astrology. The planet associated with love and compassion is Venus. And just three weeks ago Venus was up close and personal with Saturn as it transited through Libra. I know many, myself included, who felt the onslaught of this karmic challenge. I endeavored, which is to say life circumstance forced me, into an agonizing exploration of the myriad ways I relate from unconscious patterns and conditions developed out of the basic mis-understanding that love is impermanent, and I am therefore unworthy of it. Astrologically speaking... Saturn transiting through Libra is bringing all kinds of karmic issues around love, relationship, balance and worthiness to the surface. And buyer beware, the ego side of Libra will manipulate to get what it wants and to maintain a sense of balance built on illusion.
Here's where we can seize the blessing inherent in our ego-based relatedness. Venus is in Scorpio (with the aforementioned conjunctions of the Moon and Jupiter in Taurus, and the Sun and Saturn in Libra). Venus, what we love and how we attraction, rules Libra and Taurus. Her current transit through Scorpio holds the key to using these planetary positions to heal the illusions of ego, the unconscious identifications, that are surfacing like a geyser. It will serve us to take stock in all that we’ve attracted into our lives, and really check in with how we relate. Ask yourself... How do I relate to myself and others from an imbalanced place? Do I regress into old patterns that reinforce a feeling of separateness? Am I willing to do the work to transform how I relate with the polarities of light and dark? Now's the time to view your self objectively and be honest. What am I letting go of? What am I making room for?
With Mars keeping the flame burning strong in Leo, this Venus transit through Scorpio - currently opposing Jupiter - can work magic in transforming how we unconsciously relate and expanding more deeply into what we consciously attract. As one of my teachers said to me recently; “If you want to be comfortable, first you have to let yourself be uncomfortable.” And that means getting up close and personal with all your ego has created. It is the ego that fundamentally inhibits our feeling and expression of unconditional love, and inclines us toward what Ram Das calls Need-based, emotional or romantic love.
There are countless teachings and dissertations on what the ego is and how it functions. With Venus as the key we're playing with in this letter, I think it best to share pg. 86-89 of Tibetan Rinpoche, Choyam Trungpa's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%B6gyam_Trungpa, book: The Myth of Freedom to explore love, and the ego's relationship to it. Here it is...
LOVE
“There is a vast store of energy which is not centered, which is not ego’s energy at all. It is this energy which is the centerless phenomena, the universe interpenetrating and making love to itself. It has two characteristics: a fire quality of warmth and a tendency to flow in a particular pattern, in the same way in which fire contains a spark as well as the air which directs the spark. And this energy is always on-going, whether or not it is seen through the confused filter of ego. It cannot be destroyed or interrupted at all. It is like the ever-burning sun. It consumes everything to the point where it allows no room for doubt or manipulation.
But when this heat is filtered through ego, it becomes stagnant, because we ignore the basic ground, refuse to see the vast space in which this energy occurs. Then the energy cannot flow freely in the open space shared with the object of passion. Instead it is solidified, narrowed and directed by the central headquarters of ego to move outward in order to draw the object of passion into its territory. This captive energy extends out to its object and then returns to be programmed again. We extend our tentacles and try to fix our relationship. This attempt to cling to the situation makes the communication process superficial. We just touch another person’s surface and get stuck there, never experiencing their whole being. We are blinded by our clinging. The object of passion, instead of being bathed in the intense warmth of free passion feels oppressed by the stifling heat of neurotic passion.
Free passion is radiation without the radiator, a fluid, pervasive warmth that flows effortlessly. It is not destructive because it is a balanced state of being and highly intelligent. Self-consciousness inhibits this intelligent, balanced state of being. By opening, by dropping our self-conscious grasping, we see not only the surface of an object, but we see the whole way through. We appreciate not in terms of sensational qualities alone, but we see in terms of whole qualities, which are pure gold. We are not overwhelmed by the exterior, but seeing the exterior simultaneously puts us through to the interior. So we reach the heart of the situation and, if this is a meeting of two people, the relationship is very inspiring because we do not see the other person purely in terms of physical attraction or habitual patterns, we see the inside as well as the outside.
This whole-way-through communication might produce a problem. Suppose you see right through someone and that person does not want you to see right through and becomes horrified with you and runs away. Then what to do? You have made your communication completely and thoroughly. If that person runs away from you, that is his way of communicating with you. You would not investigate further. If you did pursue and chase him, then sooner or later you would become a demon from that person’s point of view. You see right through his body and he has juicy fat and meat that you would like to eat up, so you seem like a vampire to him. And the more you try to pursue the other person, the more you fail. Perhaps you looked through too sharply with your desire, perhaps you were too penetrating. Possessing beautiful keen eyes, penetrating passion and intelligence, you abused your talent, played with it. It is quite natural with people, if they possess some particular power or gifted energy, to abuse that quality, to misuse it by trying to penetrate every corner. Something quite obviously is lacking in such an approach -- a sense of humor. If you try to push things too far, it means you do not feel the area properly; you only feel your relationship to the area. What is wrong is that you do not see all sides of the situation and therefore miss the humorous and ironical aspect.
Sometimes people run away from you because they want to play a game with you. They do not want a straight, honest and serious involvement with you, they want to play. But if they have a sense of humor and you do not, you become demonic. This is where lalita, the dance, comes in. You dance with reality, dance with apparent phenomena. When you want something very badly you do not extend your eye and hand automatically; you just admire. Instead of impulsively making a move from your side, you allow a move from the other side, which is learning to dance with the situation. You do not have to create the whole situation; you just watch it, work with it and learn to dance with it. So then it does not become your creation, but rather a mutual dance. No one is self-conscious, because it is a mutual experience.
When there is a fundamental openness in a relationship, being faithful, in the sense of real trust, happens automatically; it is a natural sensation. Because the communication is so real and so beautiful and flowing, you cannot communicate in the same way with someone else, so automatically you are drawn together. But if any doubt presents itself, if you begin to feel threatened by some abstract possibility, although your communication is going beautifully at the time, then you are sowing the seed of paranoia and regarding the communication purely as ego entertainment.
If you sow a seed of doubt, it may make you rigid and terrified, afraid of losing the communication which is so good and real. And at some stage you will begin to be bewildered as to whether the communication is loving or aggressive. This bewilderment brings a certain loss of distance, and in this way neurosis begins. Once you lose the right perspective, the right distance in the communication process, then love becomes hate. The natural thing with hatred, just as with love, is that you want to make physical communication with the person; that is, you want to kill or injure them. In any relationship in which the ego is involved, a love relationship or any other, there is always the danger of turning against your partner. As long as there is the notion of threat or insecurity of any kind, then a love relationship could turn into its opposite.”
This last sentence warrants extrapolation from an astrological point of view. Trungpa Rinpoche elucidates the very real lynchpin of duality, or the dynamic tension of the polarities within our earthly experience. The recent full moon in Aries directly opposed the Sun / Saturn conjunction in Libra, serving to illuminate the ways in which the ego incessantly plants a feeling of doubt or opposition that pull us off balance. Instead of remaining a balanced vessel of Free Passion, the ego filters the vast centerless phenomena of the universe interpenetrating and making love to itself - and flips it into Neurotic Passion. As soon as there is a notion of threat or insecurity, abstract or otherwise, the triumphant joy of conscious unconditional love quickly shifts into the horrible beauty of emotion-based conditional love.
And that, in a nutshell, is what we get to reconcile as we progress into fall and winter. Imagine freeing up all that filters this vast centerless energy; the phenomena of the universe interpenetrating and making love to itself...
All that inhibits this phenomena has been surfacing in preparation for the Sun’s progression into Scorpio, where we have the opportunity to bring all these outdated patterns to a ceremonious death, return the ego to his rightful position as an ally and a servant to our true nature, and be reborn in the spring. The astrological year is only half over. We're at the midpoint of the four seasons. This is the time where we shift our perception from subjective to objective. Where we see the projection of the ego, and our reactive nature, and integrate this awareness. When we respond to what is, as opposed to reacting to what isn't, and remain free of attachment and connected to our center, we experience what Trungpa Rinpoche called "seeing the whole of another person or situation." When we dance with what is, in a mutual exchange, we reclaim authority in our lives, instead of authoritatively clinging to controlling our lives.
The next six months call forth reconciliation and integration. If we endeavor to transform all the old, unconscious structures, we will better be suited to thrive in the death and rebirth of our various structures forecast to occur when Saturn enters Scorpio in October, 2012. As the structures we once relied upon transform before our eyes, we will have the resolute connection to our center that will allow us to integrate fully our conscious awareness of the centerless non-dual current of unconditional love. Imagine creating a new foundation from this place.
Back to the question of this transit "What do I do when the perpetual failure that results from my best efforts serves only to trigger my deeply unconscious fear of inadequacy?"
The answer: Don't believe the hype. It's all in your mind. You can't do anything wrong. And thus, what might feel like failure on one level, is really success on another level. They coexist to design our journey through duality. Again and again, we fail in order to succeed. Where this all falls on the time line of your life is completely irrelevant, when the attachment of the ego is surrendered.
A major key offered by Trungpa Rinpoche is the importance of maintaining a sense of humor in all that is unfolding. Life is, after all, a giant cosmic joke. When we look in witness at our lives, we see the ego did nothing more than set us up with exactly what we need to awaken. Once we accept that it couldn’t be any other way, that it’s simply thus and so, we can remember and surrender to our inherent grace. And grace trumps karma... and ego... every time.
In gratitude to all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
Sunday, August 28, 2011
New moon in Virgo
If you're reading this, you survived Mercury's most recent retrograde (it went direct August 26... cue collective sigh of relief). To better offer context to the recent transit of the planet that rules communication, it serves to recognize that Mercury impels our thoughts, our cognition, our attention and our comprehension from one moment to the next. When this planet goes retrograde, we're given the opportunity to explore this aspect of our psyche, shine light on our outdated behaviors or false identifications, as well as remember our optimal patterning and ideal focus. Fragments of the Mercury retrograde review will continue into September, but we've got some stellar support to assimilate the expanded awareness these little bumps in the road tend to bring about.
With the new moon in Virgo (at 8:03pm Sunday, August 28), we have a magical opportunity to heal all that has arisen the last three weeks, as well as the last three months, and do a quick inventory. What did you see that you're complete with? What did you recognize that you're proud of? What direction are you called to follow? What truth(s) can you embody in a good way, for your self, your loved ones, and your contribution to the world at large? In Virgo's highest form, we're encouraged to embrace the answer to the one question that guarantees happiness over all others... How can I be in service?
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve." ~ Albert Schweitzer
This summer has been fueled by a series of aspects, both painful and blissful, that have accelerated you into a deeper knowing of the spiritual dimension often referred to as I AM. The term I AM refers to the essence part of you that transcends all labels, identifications and the myriad distractions of a culture that blinds you from the truth... that you are the one. But, you're not the only one. Like every other organism on this planet, you are a manifestation of divine energy. Before we fully grasp the truth of who we are, we navigate again and again the shadowy waters of who we're not. And now, with a stellar KITE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_aspect) optimizing this new moon, we have a beautiful window to let IT be. IT as I'm referring to IT in this post, is the ego. This is what we're being called to pay attention to, and to no longer allow ourselves to fall asleep to. It's that part of you that wants to disassociate your focus to anywhere but here; to anything but what's right in front of you, right now. The part of you that wants to stop reading this post. The part of you that makes excuses for not doing the things you recognize will bring you to the fulfillment of every task you aspire to complete. IT's the part of you that wants to feel security and certainty in a world where the only guarantee is change.
So let's play with change for a moment, and more specifically, let's look at Gandhi's encouragement to be the change we wish to see in the world. With this particular new moon, the seeds of your deepest intentions can be planted in a way that serves the healing of your voice. With Mercury trekking backwards through Leo, we got to see up close and personal how fear-based reactions perpetuate our sense of separation, and reenforce the fallacy that we are victims. Let's face it... there are forces in this world, in this universe, in ourselves, that we are unavoidably influenced by in ways we cannot control. How we're influenced, however, this is where the I AM in all of us can rise up in response. Where IT reacts when we go unconscious, I AM has the power to remember to stay awake, and respond from our center, in a good way, with compassion.
Virgo knows that life is a dance best navigated with order and discernment. Ruled by Mercury, we have a window throughout this Lunar cycle to access the Venus, Jupiter, Pluto trine (harmonious aspect) to transform our lower mind's (IT's) controlling ways into the higher mind's (I AM) creative expansion. Like a feng shui master, Virgo sees the highest order of what will provide the most harmonious flow. With the Sun's transit through Virgo, conjunct Venus, we can see beyond the self (IT) to the Self (I AM) to which we are all connected.
Every method of communication influences the tapestry of our inner-and outer world. Our thoughts, our words, our actions carry a precise vibration. Science has provided myriad evidence to support what great sages, or Rishis, have taught through time immemorial; There exists an inner-connectedness of all things, and we are all influenced by the thoughts, words and actions of everyone else. And, rather than blame those who perpetuate IT's influence in the world, we can use that mirror to remind us who I AM, and heal the split that's destroying humanity. It takes each and every one of us to step up and own our truth. Leo shined the light on IT. Now Virgo demands that we put IT in its rightful place... as nothing more than a servant to your truth. We can't kill the ego, but we can enlist its service. And that's what Albert Schweitzer meant, in my humble opinion, in his encouragement to ask the question; How can I be in service? To put my mind around that question, suddenly my desires have no place to slip in and undermine how I can show up for a fellow brother or sister. And beware the ego's English on the ball that gives in order to get. Can you give, just for the sake of giving, without need for recompense, and trust the universal law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction? If you can do that, there's no doubt happiness will soothe your every breath.
This reminds me of a quote I once heard from Ram Das, when asked "Is this the Armageddon, or is this the new age?" His reply: "When I was younger I imagine I would have had an opinion about this, but now, as I think about it, if this is the Armageddon, and I'm going to die, then the best thing for me to do is quiet my mind, open my heart and deal with the suffering in front of me. And if this is the new age, then the best thing for me to do is quiet my mind, open my heart and deal with the suffering in front of me. And when I think about it that way, it really doesn't matter, so I don't care."
This new moon opens a window to reorder and restructure who we are, in relationship to what's happening during this planetary shift. A lot of fear (IT) will continue to come up, as the structures we have long taken for granted show increasing signs of impermanence. So too, a lot of faith (I AM) can rise above IT. We're in the last month of summer, and the fruits are many. We can build our dreams right now with the force of the seeds we plant this week. The next full moon (September 12 at 2:26AM pst) will be in Pisces, the sign of the dreamer, and the part of us that links our human endeavors with our highest spiritual ideals. So if you're inclined to dream, now's the time to dream big. Plant your seeds with your authentic voice. No one, not even IT, can limit what you're capable of right now. The best route to bring these dreams into reality is to set your intentions from the unconditional love inside your heart. The I AM in you that puts the highest good of all concerned at the root of your every endeavor, will water those intentions with every thought, every word, every action you put forth. And when you conjure up a doubt or denying thought, know that you're not in denial, but IT is. And then you take this energy from your ego and transmute it into creating that to which you are committed. It's all energy. And it's time to play with it. There's no better time than right now to release the old, and give ourselves over to the larger cosmological flow that supports and guides us in all moments.
"The fates lead him who will. Him who won't, they drag." Seneca teaching
Thank you all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening...
With love and stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
namaste
With the new moon in Virgo (at 8:03pm Sunday, August 28), we have a magical opportunity to heal all that has arisen the last three weeks, as well as the last three months, and do a quick inventory. What did you see that you're complete with? What did you recognize that you're proud of? What direction are you called to follow? What truth(s) can you embody in a good way, for your self, your loved ones, and your contribution to the world at large? In Virgo's highest form, we're encouraged to embrace the answer to the one question that guarantees happiness over all others... How can I be in service?
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve." ~ Albert Schweitzer
This summer has been fueled by a series of aspects, both painful and blissful, that have accelerated you into a deeper knowing of the spiritual dimension often referred to as I AM. The term I AM refers to the essence part of you that transcends all labels, identifications and the myriad distractions of a culture that blinds you from the truth... that you are the one. But, you're not the only one. Like every other organism on this planet, you are a manifestation of divine energy. Before we fully grasp the truth of who we are, we navigate again and again the shadowy waters of who we're not. And now, with a stellar KITE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_aspect) optimizing this new moon, we have a beautiful window to let IT be. IT as I'm referring to IT in this post, is the ego. This is what we're being called to pay attention to, and to no longer allow ourselves to fall asleep to. It's that part of you that wants to disassociate your focus to anywhere but here; to anything but what's right in front of you, right now. The part of you that wants to stop reading this post. The part of you that makes excuses for not doing the things you recognize will bring you to the fulfillment of every task you aspire to complete. IT's the part of you that wants to feel security and certainty in a world where the only guarantee is change.
So let's play with change for a moment, and more specifically, let's look at Gandhi's encouragement to be the change we wish to see in the world. With this particular new moon, the seeds of your deepest intentions can be planted in a way that serves the healing of your voice. With Mercury trekking backwards through Leo, we got to see up close and personal how fear-based reactions perpetuate our sense of separation, and reenforce the fallacy that we are victims. Let's face it... there are forces in this world, in this universe, in ourselves, that we are unavoidably influenced by in ways we cannot control. How we're influenced, however, this is where the I AM in all of us can rise up in response. Where IT reacts when we go unconscious, I AM has the power to remember to stay awake, and respond from our center, in a good way, with compassion.
Virgo knows that life is a dance best navigated with order and discernment. Ruled by Mercury, we have a window throughout this Lunar cycle to access the Venus, Jupiter, Pluto trine (harmonious aspect) to transform our lower mind's (IT's) controlling ways into the higher mind's (I AM) creative expansion. Like a feng shui master, Virgo sees the highest order of what will provide the most harmonious flow. With the Sun's transit through Virgo, conjunct Venus, we can see beyond the self (IT) to the Self (I AM) to which we are all connected.
Every method of communication influences the tapestry of our inner-and outer world. Our thoughts, our words, our actions carry a precise vibration. Science has provided myriad evidence to support what great sages, or Rishis, have taught through time immemorial; There exists an inner-connectedness of all things, and we are all influenced by the thoughts, words and actions of everyone else. And, rather than blame those who perpetuate IT's influence in the world, we can use that mirror to remind us who I AM, and heal the split that's destroying humanity. It takes each and every one of us to step up and own our truth. Leo shined the light on IT. Now Virgo demands that we put IT in its rightful place... as nothing more than a servant to your truth. We can't kill the ego, but we can enlist its service. And that's what Albert Schweitzer meant, in my humble opinion, in his encouragement to ask the question; How can I be in service? To put my mind around that question, suddenly my desires have no place to slip in and undermine how I can show up for a fellow brother or sister. And beware the ego's English on the ball that gives in order to get. Can you give, just for the sake of giving, without need for recompense, and trust the universal law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction? If you can do that, there's no doubt happiness will soothe your every breath.
This reminds me of a quote I once heard from Ram Das, when asked "Is this the Armageddon, or is this the new age?" His reply: "When I was younger I imagine I would have had an opinion about this, but now, as I think about it, if this is the Armageddon, and I'm going to die, then the best thing for me to do is quiet my mind, open my heart and deal with the suffering in front of me. And if this is the new age, then the best thing for me to do is quiet my mind, open my heart and deal with the suffering in front of me. And when I think about it that way, it really doesn't matter, so I don't care."
This new moon opens a window to reorder and restructure who we are, in relationship to what's happening during this planetary shift. A lot of fear (IT) will continue to come up, as the structures we have long taken for granted show increasing signs of impermanence. So too, a lot of faith (I AM) can rise above IT. We're in the last month of summer, and the fruits are many. We can build our dreams right now with the force of the seeds we plant this week. The next full moon (September 12 at 2:26AM pst) will be in Pisces, the sign of the dreamer, and the part of us that links our human endeavors with our highest spiritual ideals. So if you're inclined to dream, now's the time to dream big. Plant your seeds with your authentic voice. No one, not even IT, can limit what you're capable of right now. The best route to bring these dreams into reality is to set your intentions from the unconditional love inside your heart. The I AM in you that puts the highest good of all concerned at the root of your every endeavor, will water those intentions with every thought, every word, every action you put forth. And when you conjure up a doubt or denying thought, know that you're not in denial, but IT is. And then you take this energy from your ego and transmute it into creating that to which you are committed. It's all energy. And it's time to play with it. There's no better time than right now to release the old, and give ourselves over to the larger cosmological flow that supports and guides us in all moments.
"The fates lead him who will. Him who won't, they drag." Seneca teaching
Thank you all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening...
With love and stellar blessings,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
namaste
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Becoming the Craftsman
I extend heartfelt gratitude to Normandi Ellis for her masterful translation of The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Below is passage 44. from Awakening Osiris, which I feel best illuminates what I attempted to express about the last full moon in Capricorn, and the potent opportunity each and every one of us can seize amidst the increasing chaos of this time on Earth...
Becoming the Craftsman...
"I eat the bread I baked. I drink the beer I brewed. I drape myself in white linen woven by my own hands. Making. Making. Making. My spirit lifts on the wings of a golden hawk. I am the cackle of joy in the throat of the wild goose. I am a child in awe of my own power, filled with wonder, bewildered, awake. I am one of the wonders of earth, full of blood and breath and singing. Even as I dance toward the mountain, even as I dance toward death, I celebrate my marvelous being. I dance with great ones who writhe and chant, who conjure spirit, the light in the darkness.
Truth lies on the hearts and tongues of men. Speak and live. You are creator and creation. You life is craft, your supple body molded by word, sculpted by desire, fired by deed. You poise yourself between life and fate, the will of men and the will of gods. In the beat of a heart, the suck of breath, you are the universe. Making. Making. Making.
I have heard lies, yet have not believed them. No mater the pain, I shattered illusions. I sought the crack in every cup. The thinks said of me in anger or in praise I have not made my own. It is for my conscience to guide my hand, my deed to create myself. I am myself perceiving myself, making, making, making.
In those moments of silence when desire and will are stilled, I know the purpose gods know. My body is nourished by the things of earth, my spirit by the things of the heart. Under flowering almond trees I eat the fruit of love. I watch boughs dance in the wind, hear wavering music in dreams. I am making, making, making. I offer what I have made - my bread, my peace, myself. I wrap my skin in the blue robe of heaven. I sit in the garden listening to birds. I do what my heart tells me. My thoughts leap visible as light. I am what I know, what I feel, what I make. I am myself, the ether of the instant, breathing. I gather and build my life. The earth is a small globe created by thoughts, mine and those of others. I walk among houses, the fields, flowers and rocks, even the poison of snakes, the sting of bees are mine. All existence is the measure between light and dark, bees and serpents, wind and fire. I love the scorpion, yet I know its poisonous sting. To live in harmony is a beginning.
What can be named can be known, what can not be named must be lived, believed. I speak of the creator and the creation, the ordinary life lived extraordinarily. I work for the sake of working. The joy of creating is the joy of forgetting everything else. I lean into life. My tongue is fire; my breath is wind. The spirit spits from my mouth. I speak of a chain of events where making leads to making, action to action, love to love, where the beginning began so long ago we find ourselves always in the midst of it.
There is no rest. The act is now. In your lives you will make children, make peace, make errors, you will make trouble, you will dance under the sun and the moon. As long as you live you will create life. You will rise and fall many times. It is like the making of a good loaf of bread. You will be nourished."
Becoming the Craftsman...
"I eat the bread I baked. I drink the beer I brewed. I drape myself in white linen woven by my own hands. Making. Making. Making. My spirit lifts on the wings of a golden hawk. I am the cackle of joy in the throat of the wild goose. I am a child in awe of my own power, filled with wonder, bewildered, awake. I am one of the wonders of earth, full of blood and breath and singing. Even as I dance toward the mountain, even as I dance toward death, I celebrate my marvelous being. I dance with great ones who writhe and chant, who conjure spirit, the light in the darkness.
Truth lies on the hearts and tongues of men. Speak and live. You are creator and creation. You life is craft, your supple body molded by word, sculpted by desire, fired by deed. You poise yourself between life and fate, the will of men and the will of gods. In the beat of a heart, the suck of breath, you are the universe. Making. Making. Making.
I have heard lies, yet have not believed them. No mater the pain, I shattered illusions. I sought the crack in every cup. The thinks said of me in anger or in praise I have not made my own. It is for my conscience to guide my hand, my deed to create myself. I am myself perceiving myself, making, making, making.
In those moments of silence when desire and will are stilled, I know the purpose gods know. My body is nourished by the things of earth, my spirit by the things of the heart. Under flowering almond trees I eat the fruit of love. I watch boughs dance in the wind, hear wavering music in dreams. I am making, making, making. I offer what I have made - my bread, my peace, myself. I wrap my skin in the blue robe of heaven. I sit in the garden listening to birds. I do what my heart tells me. My thoughts leap visible as light. I am what I know, what I feel, what I make. I am myself, the ether of the instant, breathing. I gather and build my life. The earth is a small globe created by thoughts, mine and those of others. I walk among houses, the fields, flowers and rocks, even the poison of snakes, the sting of bees are mine. All existence is the measure between light and dark, bees and serpents, wind and fire. I love the scorpion, yet I know its poisonous sting. To live in harmony is a beginning.
What can be named can be known, what can not be named must be lived, believed. I speak of the creator and the creation, the ordinary life lived extraordinarily. I work for the sake of working. The joy of creating is the joy of forgetting everything else. I lean into life. My tongue is fire; my breath is wind. The spirit spits from my mouth. I speak of a chain of events where making leads to making, action to action, love to love, where the beginning began so long ago we find ourselves always in the midst of it.
There is no rest. The act is now. In your lives you will make children, make peace, make errors, you will make trouble, you will dance under the sun and the moon. As long as you live you will create life. You will rise and fall many times. It is like the making of a good loaf of bread. You will be nourished."
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Full Moon Full On
This full moon in Capricorn (at 11:39 PM, Thursday 7/14) is a lot like a new sheriff in town. And this sheriff has some serious work to do. The unconscious criminals have been slipping in and out of our lives to perpetrate layer after layer of frustration, anger, and confusion. For some, the unconscious criminals are robbing us of our physical well-being. For others, they're stealing our sense of emotional stability, our financial security, and our creative expression. And this is ALL in service (believe it or not) to transforming the nature of how we relate. First with our selves, then with one another, and finally with Mother Earth.
The reason for this, in astrological terms, is the Moon's current transit through Capricorn conjuncts with Pluto today, building up some serious transformational mojo as it opposes Venus in Cancer (which has been opposed to Pluto for the past couple of weeks), en route to tomorrow nights opposition with the Sun, also in Cancer. And all of this in the midst of the aforementioned (previous blog post) cardinal grand-cross that has us all feeling like life is a never-ending pressure cooker, ready to explode if one more shock hits our already overly-traumatized nervous system.
You want movement, yet you feel stuck. Stuck in the habituated patterns of your mind. And you're holding on for dear life. Well, it's not really you holding on, it's your ego. But for the vast majority, there's no distinction between the two. Even for those who make the distinction, fewer still have the fortitude to step up and actually reconcile the ego's perpetual denial of any conscious choice that's inconsistent with the ego's habituated patterns of likes and dislikes, myths, attitudes, and gestalts that have been maintained to limit or diffuse the opportunity of love and bliss abundantly available in every moment. But alas we forget, again and again. And with the human mind preferring misery over change, it appears we're doomed to ride this wounded pony into the ground, and die a painful death at the hands of these unconscious criminals.
But wait. Like a good neighbor, the full moon in Capricorn is here, raining down the elixir of truth. Not the truth we want to believe about ourselves. Not the truth we've fantasized about ever since our egos developed around the age of 7. No, this is the truth we feel in the hearts, outside the madness and chaos of the egoistic mind. It isn't always pretty, and often it can feel downright ugly, but this truth is none-the-less ours. And it's what we came here to be. This truth is unique to the individual, translatable through your natal birth chart, and it's yours to contribute to the whole. Unique to no one is the power of this time to transform your life in accordance with what you feel called to contribute, in service to this world.
The moon in Capricorn offers us the ability, here and now, to take all the emotional "stuff" we've gone through in the past few weeks, and create a new structure, a new pattern with it. It requires, of course, that we heal the wounds we've been carrying for way too long. For some that can happen in an instant. For those who ascribe to the collective belief that we have to work for our healing, then now is the time to do the work. Whether it's yoga, bodywork, counseling, breathwork, qi gung, pilates, surfing, whatever helps you balance yourself and work this accelerating energy through your body, there's no room for further delay. If you're aware that Self-realization is what you came here for. That fulfillment of your purpose is the reason for playing this absurdly horrific and profoundly beautiful game of life. That unconditional love exists in equal measure to the combative nature of the conditioned mind.... then now's the time to let the new sheriff do his job and cease and desist the unscrupulous control of your unconscious ego. If we continue moving along like nothing is wrong, skipping over this requisite healing by numbing our consciousness with the myriad substances (television, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, sugar, etc) available in mass quantitiy, we will destroy this planet.
Regardless of your beliefs, or your unique approach to life, EARTH - the organism upon which all life relies for survival - is shifting. What it's shifting into is up to each and every one of us. It is shaking apart the old structures and forms because they have been built by our collective unconsciousness. The corruption running rampant throughout human culture and within nearly every structure, is identical to that which is destroying the fabric of our collective consciousness. As within, so without.
And this is what the full moon in Capricorn is here to expose, for those with eyes willing to see. To see our unconscious judgements, our fears of rejection and our false beliefs, we must pay close attention to the mechanism we are that keeps us asleep. And then, wake up.
Here's my advice this full moon. Look in the mirror. See it all. It is plain as day, and ripe for transformation. Pay attention to EVERYTHING you see, but don't identify with it as anything separate. A baby's unencumbered laughter. That's you. Murderous bombings in Mumbai. That's you, too. The bliss and the suffering go hand-in-hand. And if you remain in your center throughout, attached to neither, dis-identified yet embracing of both, you will see your Self in all and you will see God in all. And then, like magic, you will see that you are co-creating with the creator, because the two are not separate...i.e., you are not separate from God. The planet's have aligned to show us where our unconscious ego separates us again and again from the divine, the truth, the way I AM, and it's up to you and me to say Stop. No more. This takes great courage. Extraordinary strength. Endless integrity. And infinite love.
And what will we get in return? Great courage. Extraordinary strength. Endless integrity. And infinite love.
You get what you give.
In gratitude to all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
The reason for this, in astrological terms, is the Moon's current transit through Capricorn conjuncts with Pluto today, building up some serious transformational mojo as it opposes Venus in Cancer (which has been opposed to Pluto for the past couple of weeks), en route to tomorrow nights opposition with the Sun, also in Cancer. And all of this in the midst of the aforementioned (previous blog post) cardinal grand-cross that has us all feeling like life is a never-ending pressure cooker, ready to explode if one more shock hits our already overly-traumatized nervous system.
You want movement, yet you feel stuck. Stuck in the habituated patterns of your mind. And you're holding on for dear life. Well, it's not really you holding on, it's your ego. But for the vast majority, there's no distinction between the two. Even for those who make the distinction, fewer still have the fortitude to step up and actually reconcile the ego's perpetual denial of any conscious choice that's inconsistent with the ego's habituated patterns of likes and dislikes, myths, attitudes, and gestalts that have been maintained to limit or diffuse the opportunity of love and bliss abundantly available in every moment. But alas we forget, again and again. And with the human mind preferring misery over change, it appears we're doomed to ride this wounded pony into the ground, and die a painful death at the hands of these unconscious criminals.
But wait. Like a good neighbor, the full moon in Capricorn is here, raining down the elixir of truth. Not the truth we want to believe about ourselves. Not the truth we've fantasized about ever since our egos developed around the age of 7. No, this is the truth we feel in the hearts, outside the madness and chaos of the egoistic mind. It isn't always pretty, and often it can feel downright ugly, but this truth is none-the-less ours. And it's what we came here to be. This truth is unique to the individual, translatable through your natal birth chart, and it's yours to contribute to the whole. Unique to no one is the power of this time to transform your life in accordance with what you feel called to contribute, in service to this world.
The moon in Capricorn offers us the ability, here and now, to take all the emotional "stuff" we've gone through in the past few weeks, and create a new structure, a new pattern with it. It requires, of course, that we heal the wounds we've been carrying for way too long. For some that can happen in an instant. For those who ascribe to the collective belief that we have to work for our healing, then now is the time to do the work. Whether it's yoga, bodywork, counseling, breathwork, qi gung, pilates, surfing, whatever helps you balance yourself and work this accelerating energy through your body, there's no room for further delay. If you're aware that Self-realization is what you came here for. That fulfillment of your purpose is the reason for playing this absurdly horrific and profoundly beautiful game of life. That unconditional love exists in equal measure to the combative nature of the conditioned mind.... then now's the time to let the new sheriff do his job and cease and desist the unscrupulous control of your unconscious ego. If we continue moving along like nothing is wrong, skipping over this requisite healing by numbing our consciousness with the myriad substances (television, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, sugar, etc) available in mass quantitiy, we will destroy this planet.
Regardless of your beliefs, or your unique approach to life, EARTH - the organism upon which all life relies for survival - is shifting. What it's shifting into is up to each and every one of us. It is shaking apart the old structures and forms because they have been built by our collective unconsciousness. The corruption running rampant throughout human culture and within nearly every structure, is identical to that which is destroying the fabric of our collective consciousness. As within, so without.
And this is what the full moon in Capricorn is here to expose, for those with eyes willing to see. To see our unconscious judgements, our fears of rejection and our false beliefs, we must pay close attention to the mechanism we are that keeps us asleep. And then, wake up.
Here's my advice this full moon. Look in the mirror. See it all. It is plain as day, and ripe for transformation. Pay attention to EVERYTHING you see, but don't identify with it as anything separate. A baby's unencumbered laughter. That's you. Murderous bombings in Mumbai. That's you, too. The bliss and the suffering go hand-in-hand. And if you remain in your center throughout, attached to neither, dis-identified yet embracing of both, you will see your Self in all and you will see God in all. And then, like magic, you will see that you are co-creating with the creator, because the two are not separate...i.e., you are not separate from God. The planet's have aligned to show us where our unconscious ego separates us again and again from the divine, the truth, the way I AM, and it's up to you and me to say Stop. No more. This takes great courage. Extraordinary strength. Endless integrity. And infinite love.
And what will we get in return? Great courage. Extraordinary strength. Endless integrity. And infinite love.
You get what you give.
In gratitude to all for your unique contribution to our collective awakening,
Ryan
www.bodyworkastrology.com
Friday, July 1, 2011
Eclipse download
Okay my friends,
This marks the origination of a blog that started out as a monthly newsletter titled Lunar Monthly. Welcome to what's going on in the stars, from the uncommon perception of my Halloween eyes.
At 1:53 AM (PDT) on July 1 we have the third eclipse in a row, a solar eclipse in Cancer - smack dab in the tag-team corner of the cardinal Grand Cross that will be with us until the middle of July (Venus will slide in as the Sun moves out). Not exactly a recipe for fun if we take into account the common perception of what these planetary aspects do to one another, relative to the friction four planets at 90 degree angles (which also puts the Sun/Moon conjunction in opposition to Pluto, and Saturn in the last of a long series of oppositions with Uranus). With transits like these, many a cynical eye might perceive this time on Earth as all kinds of challenging with little hope for relief.
But rather than jump on that bandwagon, let's take into consideration that common perception is based on a paradigm of human consciousness unequivocally bound to the past. What if, and I know this sounds crazy, but what if we let go of the past? What if we relax, and trust that past lessons learned have been nicely woven into the tapestry of who we are in this moment? Maybe, just maybe, we can take a quantum leap into something so radical, yet essential to Earth's survival. And that something is living, breathing and relating not from our out-dated survival patterns, but from our heart-centered truth. Sounds too good to be true, right? Maybe, but I'm a dreamer. And there's never been a better time to wake up from the nightmares created by our collective unconscious.
Most of us have been dragged through the mud the past few months (if not years), and the amount of work we've done is irrelevant to the window of opportunity to shift A LOT during this transit. If you've somehow miraculously been immune to suffering in the past year, take a look at the news. What we're experiencing... Disneyland it ain't. With all these planetary aspects raising the frequencies here on Earth, we will be tempted to perceive everything with the "common perception" that relates to all of that's happening from the vantage point of a victim of some cruel joke, perpetrated by a cold and distant cosmic order.
Trying on something new, a more uncommon perception, gives us an opportunity to recognize that although challenging, these aspects bring an extraordinary opportunity to relate to this heightened energy from a place of Authority. Take authorship of your life and create with this energy. Sure the inner-rebel will rear it's ugly head and deny your Authority, that's the game it came here to play. That's the part of you that identifies with the negative polarity of your self in such a way to convince you it's you. It's slippery that way. But you came here to play a different game. One of relating with the increasing life-force energy in such a way that you channel it into the story you're writing now. Your story, not his-story. What kind of Author do you want to be? Sure you could pick a genre, romantic comedy, action-adventure, whatever. But let's go deeper, and make conscious the polarity you choose. Light or dark. Choose. Knowing that the dynamic tension of these opposites are required for this world of form to exist, we're called now to be a master of both Light and Dark, and find the balance between the two within ourselves. And then, even when the darkness rears it's ugly head, we can still choose light. Call it in. Bring it down. We really can transmute the darkness into more light, and with Saturn in Libra it's all about balancing the karmic dance of these two extreme opposites in every relationship we experience. Be it a lover, a brother, a mother or a friend, the key to harmony in all relationships is inner-balance. And when it comes to our relationship to the world, the real task is to remain in our center as the structures around us fall away. Easier said than done.
There's a lot of energy right now. And not the kind that necessarily energizes us. For many, this remains a time of going inside and resting amidst the increasing bandwidth our evolution. Sure it's summer, let's go out and play, and all that jazz. But the Crab (Cancer) can only be out for so long before it must go back into its shell and feel what it needs to feel. Allow yourself the time you need to feel your feelings, and take care not mistake the feelings of others as your own. Now is the time to be crystal clear about exactly what you're creating, and a lot can be created right now. These are fertile times. The alchemy of this eclipse is extraordinarily potent. Poten(t)cially difficult. Poten(t)cially liberating. It's all in how we reconcile and create with what is essentially pure energy.
Looking ahead, the Sun's transit into Leo, with Venus trailing close behind, will be the time to get out on life's stage and dance your dance. Certainly more so than this moment. For now, play all you want, but don't forget to meditate on all that you've seen and felt, and integrate the lessons learned so you can allow this highly-charged transit to burn away the old structures you're ready to let go of. These aspects are designed to clear the old, and make room for the new. Of one thing we can be certain... birth cannot exist without death.
Now is the time to die to the old forms of your common perception. Honor who you are by letting go of who you're not. The planets have aligned in such a way that we will be made painfully clear of the consequences of holding on to what must be transformed. The choice is ours. We will heal the planet when we transform our suffering and return to the true nature of our heart-centered intentions, planted in the fertile soil of an emptied mind.
And have fun. With all of it. This is, after all, a cosmic joke. It's only cruel if we relate to it that way.
In gratitude to all for your unique contribution to the whole,
Ryan
For more information about Bodywork Astrology, visit www.bodyworkastrology.com
This marks the origination of a blog that started out as a monthly newsletter titled Lunar Monthly. Welcome to what's going on in the stars, from the uncommon perception of my Halloween eyes.
At 1:53 AM (PDT) on July 1 we have the third eclipse in a row, a solar eclipse in Cancer - smack dab in the tag-team corner of the cardinal Grand Cross that will be with us until the middle of July (Venus will slide in as the Sun moves out). Not exactly a recipe for fun if we take into account the common perception of what these planetary aspects do to one another, relative to the friction four planets at 90 degree angles (which also puts the Sun/Moon conjunction in opposition to Pluto, and Saturn in the last of a long series of oppositions with Uranus). With transits like these, many a cynical eye might perceive this time on Earth as all kinds of challenging with little hope for relief.
But rather than jump on that bandwagon, let's take into consideration that common perception is based on a paradigm of human consciousness unequivocally bound to the past. What if, and I know this sounds crazy, but what if we let go of the past? What if we relax, and trust that past lessons learned have been nicely woven into the tapestry of who we are in this moment? Maybe, just maybe, we can take a quantum leap into something so radical, yet essential to Earth's survival. And that something is living, breathing and relating not from our out-dated survival patterns, but from our heart-centered truth. Sounds too good to be true, right? Maybe, but I'm a dreamer. And there's never been a better time to wake up from the nightmares created by our collective unconscious.
Most of us have been dragged through the mud the past few months (if not years), and the amount of work we've done is irrelevant to the window of opportunity to shift A LOT during this transit. If you've somehow miraculously been immune to suffering in the past year, take a look at the news. What we're experiencing... Disneyland it ain't. With all these planetary aspects raising the frequencies here on Earth, we will be tempted to perceive everything with the "common perception" that relates to all of that's happening from the vantage point of a victim of some cruel joke, perpetrated by a cold and distant cosmic order.
Trying on something new, a more uncommon perception, gives us an opportunity to recognize that although challenging, these aspects bring an extraordinary opportunity to relate to this heightened energy from a place of Authority. Take authorship of your life and create with this energy. Sure the inner-rebel will rear it's ugly head and deny your Authority, that's the game it came here to play. That's the part of you that identifies with the negative polarity of your self in such a way to convince you it's you. It's slippery that way. But you came here to play a different game. One of relating with the increasing life-force energy in such a way that you channel it into the story you're writing now. Your story, not his-story. What kind of Author do you want to be? Sure you could pick a genre, romantic comedy, action-adventure, whatever. But let's go deeper, and make conscious the polarity you choose. Light or dark. Choose. Knowing that the dynamic tension of these opposites are required for this world of form to exist, we're called now to be a master of both Light and Dark, and find the balance between the two within ourselves. And then, even when the darkness rears it's ugly head, we can still choose light. Call it in. Bring it down. We really can transmute the darkness into more light, and with Saturn in Libra it's all about balancing the karmic dance of these two extreme opposites in every relationship we experience. Be it a lover, a brother, a mother or a friend, the key to harmony in all relationships is inner-balance. And when it comes to our relationship to the world, the real task is to remain in our center as the structures around us fall away. Easier said than done.
There's a lot of energy right now. And not the kind that necessarily energizes us. For many, this remains a time of going inside and resting amidst the increasing bandwidth our evolution. Sure it's summer, let's go out and play, and all that jazz. But the Crab (Cancer) can only be out for so long before it must go back into its shell and feel what it needs to feel. Allow yourself the time you need to feel your feelings, and take care not mistake the feelings of others as your own. Now is the time to be crystal clear about exactly what you're creating, and a lot can be created right now. These are fertile times. The alchemy of this eclipse is extraordinarily potent. Poten(t)cially difficult. Poten(t)cially liberating. It's all in how we reconcile and create with what is essentially pure energy.
Looking ahead, the Sun's transit into Leo, with Venus trailing close behind, will be the time to get out on life's stage and dance your dance. Certainly more so than this moment. For now, play all you want, but don't forget to meditate on all that you've seen and felt, and integrate the lessons learned so you can allow this highly-charged transit to burn away the old structures you're ready to let go of. These aspects are designed to clear the old, and make room for the new. Of one thing we can be certain... birth cannot exist without death.
Now is the time to die to the old forms of your common perception. Honor who you are by letting go of who you're not. The planets have aligned in such a way that we will be made painfully clear of the consequences of holding on to what must be transformed. The choice is ours. We will heal the planet when we transform our suffering and return to the true nature of our heart-centered intentions, planted in the fertile soil of an emptied mind.
And have fun. With all of it. This is, after all, a cosmic joke. It's only cruel if we relate to it that way.
In gratitude to all for your unique contribution to the whole,
Ryan
For more information about Bodywork Astrology, visit www.bodyworkastrology.com
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