2010:
THE YEAR TO DECIDE
Welcome
to 2010 and the opportunity to be strong and courageous as you express
a fresh sense of identity! You might agree that 2009 was hard work.
Birth is like that. Keep in mind that within the global energy of that
birth your life is showing you what you are here to express.
Whatever
transpired in 2009, take a moment right now and honor your walk around
the Wheel. Connect with the part of yourself that you gave birth to
and then turn to face the coming 13 moons. As you start this walk it's
useful to remember that hanging out along the perimeter of the Wheel
of Life really doesn't help anything. You are being asked to find your
way into the Center.
In
the Center of the Wheel you find the ability to endure whatever life
brings. This year you have the chance to align with that deep inner
space and to then express the awareness found there.
In order to obtain and maintain balance, 2010 requires that you have
a basic understanding of intent, intuition or a 'gut feeling' about
situations. Throughout this year, self-esteem will be the indicator
for the direction you need to take. Notice what is asked of you as you
feel your capacity to endure. Stamina and fortitude are going to show
you what you're made of and what can be accomplished.
Stay
on course with what you have invested in over the last two years. It's
timely now to be flexible yet strong. With the balance that has been
forged you can advance in areas that the third year of this current
nine-year (2008-2016) cycle offers.
In
2010 you have 12 months/13 moons to focus upon some brilliant archetypal
forces led by the energy of the Empress, #3 in the tarot. Here are some
of the key points that James Wanless gives us in his Voyager
Tarot: The Empress, symbolizing the law of preservation, is the
guardian of life. Standing before the earth, she represents your charge
to protect it and all that lives.
Carol
Bridges, in her Medicine
Woman Tarot, calls this third archetype the Bountiful Earth Mother
and offers an affirmation that you may find helpful throughout the year:
"I am the fertile ground of possibility. My talents, abilities,
and experiences now combine and compel me toward my highest expression.
As I allow myself to be nurtured, I am confident that I will flower."
And
here's a bit of Walt
Whitman to share as a 'way in' to the year ahead:
O I could sing
such grandeurs and glories about you!
You have not known what you are,
you have slumber'd upon yourself all your life,
Your eyelids have been the same as closed most of the time...
Whoever you are! claim your own at any hazard!
These shows of the East and West are tame compared to you,
These immense meadows, these interminable rivers, you are immense
and interminable as they...
There
is a poetic component to all that will unfold this year. Whether we
deem the experience as favorable or unfavorable, there is action needed.
The quality of the year requires your participation. It's a good time
to apply the adage of 'this ain't no dress rehearsal' to every moment
and to all that you get involved in.
The
spotlight this year is on the solar plexus chakra, the third of the
seven major energy centers in the body. In the Eastern tradition, this
area is referred to as the balance point or center of balance. It lies
behind the umbilicus, and placing your attention there is a reminder
that you are always connected to the Eternal Mother. As you integrate
the masculine/yang of 2008 with the feminine/yin of 2009, you become
capable of being balanced, expressive, creative and poetic in 2010.
In
2009 I wrote: "Having the courage to trust our ability to do what
we love and to have a relationship with who we love while making enough
money to thrive can surely feel like walking a razor's edge. ... While
we're doing our best to create fulfilling lives that add to the whole
the mass media has kept us on a steady diet of fear. And as we all know
much of the fear concerns and involves finances. This fits since in
2008 the downside of the energy was connected to safety and security
issues. If you are carrying a burden in this area don't despair."
2010
is building off of what has been learned during the preceding 24 months.
It is wise to recognize that no matter what you've been through, no
matter what the world at large has weathered during that time, you are
still here and the 12 months ahead are favored as a period of flowering.
Annual flowers perish after one season. Perennials grow stronger and
flourish year upon year. Take your pick.
On
a personal note, I've been 'walking the wheel' as a working artist since
1975. For this wonderfully rich and challenging life I thank many amazing
friends, teachers and tools. I am deeply indebted to the poetic wisdom
teachings of the Tao
Te Ching, and I will provide quotes from different translations
throughout this year. I was given a small paperback copy of the TAO
when I was 19 years old. It was just weeks after the severe violence
that ultimately became the defining experience for the empowerment of
this life.
Reading
and contemplating the Tao gave me a view point that 'made no sense'
and because of that it taught me to start to think differently. It rattled
my ordinary way of interpreting situations and circumstances. It helped
me adopt a broader perspective regarding every aspect and area of life.
On its heels came the study of Hatha Yoga followed by Raja Yoga. Intertwined
and ever present were the intuitive needs to garden, draw, paint and
journal.
Take
a moment now and review the touchstones that have occurred in this precious
experience called your life. See how trials and challenges have
helped you learn to endure and as a result have worked to forge your
current sense of identity. Utilize the wisdom teaching of your personal
mentors, heroes or guides. During 2010, you are offered the chance to
strengthen your ability to endure. As you do, you naturally become more
powerfully self-expressive. To assist this process, it's good to consciously
connect to where you've come from. Honor those who have helped you before
you look ahead.
A
NEW INDENTITY
Collectively,
2010 asks us all to consider what we are made of and what we are willing
to show or demonstrate to those near and far. What a great chance it
is to value our place within the larger community as we actively express
what we've been tending over a lifetime and, specifically, over the
last two years.
I
imagine the third turn of the nine-year cycle as similar to being an
active reaching, searching, exploring child. A 'good mother' is mandatory,
and with that, movement and discovery continuously happen. Joy is natural.
Curiosity makes every encounter dazzle. Emotions are felt and then soon
forgotten. Time stretches out and flows effortlessly. Play with any
of these concepts. Practice being childlike and expressive; speak up,
experiment, explore and invent. Use simple symbols and materials at
hand.
Example:
This
year research and explore the triangle and you'll gain an enormous amount
of insight and information to apply to your experiences. Open Awakening
in Time by Jacquelyn Small and review her contribution. She speaks
of the 'Triangle of the Self' and brings to this concept 'The Three
Arms of Creativity' made up of the three points of the anti-self (or
shadow); the positive self; and the Higher Self. Small states that as
we "art ourselves" we integrate. I love that! You may find
delving into this aspect of her work a juicy addition to your year.
The
quality of 2010 presents itself as a year of social engagement, involvement.
Think of a fast-paced sprint. Therefore be aware of the direction in
which you feel drawn. As you engage in expressing what the last 24 months
have brought, you'll simultaneously be investing in the preparation
of the foundation that will be laid down during 2011. The Wheel just
keeps on turning. Stay in the Center.
The
Universal Year (UY) for the previous twelve months (2009) brought the
energy of 11/2. It was about relaxing into the process of giving birth.
That birth has led to a new sense of direction. If you gained a true
impression of your ability to allow things to unfold in their own natural
time frame and if you are currently feeling compelled to express
your new sense of identity to the world… then welcome in 2010!
It's a take action year …and this ever-changing and
newly developing world needs you!
In
addition to identity and the need to endure, what we face in the context
of the 2010/3 level of energy also delivers a joyful, playful vibe that
says lighten up and express! express! express!
Without
judging the means by which some have and some have not,
you can simply imagine how you might enjoy living, so as to enhance
the environment in which you dwell as you experiment all year with creative
self-expression. Remember to join in, participate, have fun, recreate,
play games, socialize; engage in re-creating your interface with the
world!
In
2010 you will continue to learn much about the need to balance the forces
of light and dark. This past year most certainly helped you give birth
to new additional tools.
Gaze
out at the blank slate of the 12 months/13 moons before you and ask,
Am
I capable of the courage and endurance required to convey my Real
Self ?
Do I express my true nature?
Do I enjoy being who I am?
Do I communicate my vision?
Do I allow time for beauty?
Most
importantly this year: do I leave time for play? Maybe. Maybe not. And
certainly no one is at 100%. Yet in asking these questions you can calm
down, moon by moon. You can look toward a deeper spirit of 'we're all
in this together'. You can open your mind to the present moment.
This
practice of playing and noticing the beauty is admirable, provided that
in your intention to focus upon self-expression you don't ignore or
deny the shadowy parts of yourself ever calling to be illuminated. During
this past year, many discovered or uncovered aspects of the fear-filled
dark side. All people have monsters, dragons and strange beliefs that
are found lurking and hidden in the physical/mental, emotional or spiritual
zones. These collective shadows and forces of nature continue to escalate
in their dance on the world stage.
These
next twelve months will offer the global population the greatest chance
within the context of this nine-year pattern, to express and articulate
with eloquence a new, joyful world view. To manage that task will often
require the skill of rising above appearances.
2001
was the last time this energetic quality came to call. It was a different
world prior to 9/11. Any one of us could have gotten stuck in the politics
and terror of that year. Pay attention to what you felt in your gut
as the possibility before the fear blanket spread over the nation
and the world. Where were you then? What were your experiences? What
did you want?
This
is a good time to quietly look back to your own journal before you reflect
upon world
conditions in 2001. Take a few minutes and reconnect to the manner
in which you moved through that time period.
Keep
in mind that this Lifecycle Forecast is representative of the Universal
Energy system that acts like an umbrella over the globe. Realize that
whatever you were learning to accept nine years ago is energetically
matured now. It really is time to evolve, whatever that means to you.
2010
is the year to practice getting the hang of 'Let the Sun Shine'. Here's
some of the lyric from The Fifth Dimension to help you along:
When
the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
The
poetic idea expressed in these lyrics can be reassuring. You too can
practice looking at the bright side. You too can find the silver lining.
You too can be the poet and express yourself with the awareness that
you get what you ask for, whether you want it or not. If you gave birth
consciously last year, then act prepared and cultivate
the endurance required for this next level. Write your
song, script or screenplay. Whatever you title it, realize that the
subtitle is 'The Thing called My Life'. Do this as a gift to yourself.
Get to really know who you are right now.
If
you are less than satisfied with what you gave birth to in 2009, then
this is the time to get over yourself. Make a decision to get
on with it. Express as best you can between January through September.
Create the lyrics to express what you know is possible. In the third
year of a cycle you are asked to endure your ego death (as a new mother
must die to her old sense of self) in order to give voice to inner rhythms.
You will see what the surrender brings by September 2010.
All
over the globe there will be a hearty exhale as we collectively write,
dance, sculpt, paint, craft in whatever fashion this next step to accomplishing
our collective goals. Now we can get involved in evolution (and an inner
revolution) of a most healthy and outgoing kind. As global citizens
we can each discover ways in which to risk and recognize the endurance
required to evolve.
IT'S
ALL IN THE NUMBERS
Using numerology, the reading of vibrational energy fields, as a window
into the year ahead we find this to be a Universal Year # 3. The universal
quality of any given year points in the direction of how best to align
with the role of Planetary Citizen. The UY also lets us see, sense and
feel when we miss the mark.
In
her book, Behind
Numerology, Shirley Blackwell Lawrence states "Man is a threefold
creature having spirit, mind and body. Likewise every system has a first,
middle and last part; so three was considered the first perfect number...
three is the Creative Principle ... the number of self-expression, the
artist and entertainer."
ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEAK YOUR MIND?
This
is a revolutionizing and evolution-izing year. Benefit can come
by being wild (as in genuine) and expressionistic (as in free). A fabulous
mantra for now is: 'Night: howl at moon / Morning: let sun shine'.
Recognize
the aliveness of a natural instinctive child. Think 'Free Spirit'. This
year has the capacity to set you on a decisive course of action by expressing
your true nature. Nature is an operative word.
When
you are out of alignment with her influence, you may experience contempt,
control, envy, intolerance, jealousy, paranoia, prejudice, and so on.
Rather than being a healing presence, you then act as a poison within
the environment and contaminate everything you come into contact with.
This is not where you want to be making your energetic deposits this
year.
Some
keywords that can encourage you throughout 2010: abundance, animals,
artist, beauty, birds, bounty, child-like, craft, creative, design,
dance, endure, endurance, expressive, fecund, feminine, flowers, garden,
goddess, goodness, grace, heroes, imagination, innocence, intent, lyricist,
Mother Earth, natural, nature, nurture, play, poetry, rhymester, scribe,
self esteem, three, triad, triangle, writer
Some
keywords that may discourage you throughout 2010: addicted, bully,
broken, depressed, destructive, envy, hurtful, inconsiderate, inflexible,
intolerant, jealous, manipulative, out-dated, old world, scattered,
superficial, terror, tight, war, whining,
Take
any of these words or phrases and look them up in the dictionary or
thesaurus. Do the same with the words listed in the individual monthly
moon listings below. Ask for insight and guidance to tell you about
the way in which each quality lives through you. You may find it helpful
to journal, draw, paint, dance, craft your responses to gain awareness
as to how to move forward expressing genuine, joyful, unaffected self-expression.
EXPRESS,
PLAY AND SOCIALIZE
Homework
for the year ahead:
- get
involved and be creative
- actively
express your passion
- engage
with grace and beauty
- decide
to change your mind
- be
with people that lift your spirits
- hang
out with healthy, joyful children
- cultivate
imagination
- walk
in beauty
- be
spontaneous
- dance
- make
space for intuitive play
- trust
your gut
These
can be spontaneous/active indicators that may also inspire those whose
lives you touch. You could teach a class on any of these. You could
begin to design it today.
I've
chosen a story from the Osho Neo Tarot (© Osho International
Foundation) to help us align with 2010's Universal Year energy.
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|
WORTH
Don't try to prove your worth and reduce yourself to a commodity.
Remember, the greatest experience of life comes not through what
you do, but through love, through meditation.
Lao
Tzu was traveling with his disciples and they came to a forest
where hundreds of woodcutters were cutting the trees. The whole
forest had almost been cut except for one big tree with thousands
of branches. It was so big that ten thousand persons could sit
in its shade.
Lao Tzu asked his disciples to go and inquire why this tree
had not been cut. They went and asked the woodcutters and they
said, "This tree is absolutely useless. You cannot make
anything out of it because every branch has so many knots in
it - nothing is straight. You cannot use it as fuel because
the smoke is dangerous to the eyes. This tree is absolutely
useless, that's why we haven't cut it."
The disciples came back and told Lao Tzu. He laughed and he
said, "Be like this tree. If you are useful you will be
cut and you will become furniture in somebody's house. If you
are beautiful you will be sold in the market, you will become
a commodity. Be like this tree, absolutely useless, and then
you will grow big and vast, and thousands of people will find
shade under you."
Lao
Tzu has a logic altogether different from yours. He says: Be the
last. Move in the world as if you are not. Don't be competitive,
don't try to prove your worth - there is no need. Remain useless
and enjoy.
-
TAO, The Three Treasures, Vol. 1 -
|
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THE
UNIVERSAL YEAR: 2010 MOON-BY-MOON
Let's
look at how you might align your self-expression through each progression
of the moon cycles in the Universal Year # 3. Keep in mind that these
descriptions are referring to the umbrella-like energetic qualities
that affect all. Additionally there are personal fields of energy that
are unique to each. To receive your free gift of a personal 2010 energy
review,
First Lunation: Strength/Cleansing Moon
December 16, 2009 - January 14, 2010
The
First Lunation was covered in the 2009 Forecast . Here I'll start
with the Second Lunation, a Solar Eclipse on January 15. You may want
to visit that information first, and then...
Second
Lunation: The Cleansing/Renewal Moon
January 15 - February 12, 2010
The Tao is empty but inexhaustible, bottomless, the ancestor of it all.
Through
January 31, pay attention to the way that you express from the heart
as you also notice what has got to go. Continuing on from the first
two weeks of the month, it's appropriate to re-establish healthy boundaries
in the context of all of your relations.
It's
still Cleansing time. Don't give yourself away to outside influences.
Stay attuned to the value of 'keeping your own counsel' and pay particular
attention to what you are yearning to include in your life experience
as you listen to your heart.
I have
just returned from valuable time spent with my mentor of the last thirty
years. She has a PhD in nature-based nutrition and her counsel to me
when I described a recent mild depression: "Eat whole foods.
Take B- vitamins. Watch your micro-nutrients." During the time
I was with her, she used muscle testing to confirm my deficiencies and
nurtured me with an exceptional array of whole foods.
This
is the first year in this nine-year pattern where we are beginning the
process of expressing our new identity and sense of self, so make certain
that what you ingest is sufficient to your individual needs. Think of
feeding a small child the very best possible locally grown organic diet
and you will be on track.
As
we step into February, there is time for change and adventure both.
This begins the Renewal cycle. Use that opportunity well. Consider what
Renewal means to you in your own experience at this time. Be very honest.
Take a look at some area(s) of your day-to-day that could use a burst
of energy. Figuratively speaking, it's time to open the windows and
air things out. You have four concentrated weeks to accomplish this
and as you begin the process acknowledge the sense of adventure that
spurs you on.
There
is the text section in A
Course in Miracles that is titled A
New Beginning. You may find the layout of that approach to renewal
adaptable for your purposes.
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: borders, boundaries, building, containment,
discipline, fences, limits, limitations, restrictions AND adventure,
expansive, exploration, journey, venture, voyage
KEYWORDS that take energy away: arguing, controlling, disorder,
expectations, overly-protecting, projecting, AND fixed beliefs, archaic,
lethargic, tradition bound
HOMEWORK: Have the courage to look at the Keywords and use every
one of them in the most positively assertive way. Stretch. What would
it look like if you were to structure an adventure? How might
you place a limit or a limitation on your heart in order to succeed
in obtaining your vision for how life can look and feel? In what areas
of your life are you archaic and lethargic and tradition bound? This
approach may seem rather contradictory. Don't let that throw you; get
seriously playful about expressing what you want your life to look like.
The world is conspiring to force you to change, so make that your primary
goal.
Third
Lunation: The Renewal/Purity Moon
February 13 - March 14
Chinese
New Year: Year
of the Tiger
Between the earth and sky
the space is like a bellows,
empty yet unspent.
When moved its gift is copious.
Tao Te
Ching
R.B/
Blakney
With this cycle we start the Year of the Tiger. Emulating some of
the qualities of this majestic, elusive and highly endangered feline
may give you additional ways to work with this year's new (or renewed)
sense of identity. Do some research. Take note of any tiger characteristics
you might willingly adopt. Find 'tiger features' that you can apply
to yourself. Find your way to survive in a world that tries to 'kill
natural wildness'.
The
first 16 days of this moon cycle deepen the adventure started two weeks
ago. Have you sensed change? Transformation may come to find you in
interesting and unusual ways.
Here's
my odd little story: I was watching a program on moving houses. I don't
think I had ever thought about this topic and as I watched home owners
making the very big and extremely expensive choice to pick up a structure
and set it down someplace else I began to get enthralled. Soon I felt
the pure excitement and passion of the homeowners. There was a woman
moving a small cottage across a body of water to reach an island. There
was a guy having the farm house that his dad had lived in moved twenty
miles up the road so he'd live closer to the company he owned. As I
considered the level of commitment it took to actually move a house
I noticed my thinking shift from "this is really bizarre"
to starting a mantra for my life... "I need to move a house!"
It became an exciting idea to imagine what part of my life could act
as a metaphor for this phrase.
I
began to wonder what I could actually take on that would be as challenging
and impassioned as moving a house to a completely new location.
And
shortly after I began, lo and behold, I did indeed have an experience
that satisfies that desire... I sit here today seeing and feeling that
I did it! I 'moved a house' in my life and it feels thrilling and a
bit unsettling in a very good, positively assertive way.
So
stop right now. Take a deep breath. Look at what you've been doing.
Notice how you've been feeling. This kind of energy, when it visits,
is saying... free yourself up! Open yourself up! Ignite your passion
for your life! Try something new! Change something old! Be courageous
or outrageous! Allow an adventure! See, smell, taste, touch, hear life
as if for the first time. Open your intuitive third eye and BE sensuously
infused with the mystery of All That Is.
When
we open the mind and the heart and allow life to be permeated with a
sense of wonder and wander, suddenly "between the earth and
sky the space is like a bellows" and we can move and breathe
and explore that space anew.
March
1st the energy shifts. Now it's time to consciously take responsibility
for the way that you are involved in life: physically/mentally, emotionally
and spiritually. That doesn’t mean that you have to take on what
is not yours. In fact notice when you feel inclined to meddle in affairs
that don't concern you. If you are in a balanced state you'll know when
to engage. If you are not in a state of equanimity you may find the
'urge to merge' in ways that don't serve you or others.
Winter
is ending and with this cycle love is in the air. "Love is the
glue" my friend Joey likes to say and I smile. It does hold everything
together doesn't it? What do you need to join? Where can you 'show the
love'?
In
the context of energy work, which Lifecycle Luna-See is, love is not
an emotion used to harness another person to get your own needs met.
Love is a wave of union that brings us all together on Ol' Spaceship
Earth. Love reminds us that we're all in this together and that no one
gets out of here alive.
March
is a time to help, trust and be kind to one another. If that sounds
unrealistic, make space, because this energy is also about opening up
to an optimism that those who judge might term impractical and naive.
In
March of 2010 practice walking in a state of balance. Balance can't
happen if we're overly logical and cut off from our ability to visualize
a better way. Give balance a go. It can do no harm and may offer a shift
in circumstances allowing things to actually feel more natural.
Let's
add a brief walk around the circle of the year using the keywords for
each Moon/month just to keep them fresh. Keep in mind that this year
requires integrating two of the words within each cycle, giving us yet
another way to create identity in the blending.
January = Cleansing: release what is no longer of value
February = Renewal: allow it
March = Purity: explore what that means for you
April = Clarity: ask for some and it will arrive. This is the
beginning of the natural year/think spring and give birth to a fresh
vision of what's possible
May = Wisdom: imagine what you have gleaned from life thus
far
June = Illumination: summer begins, activity is high and the
sun shines equally upon All That Is
July = Growth: notice that... emulate the season
August = Trust: how grand to have a whole cycle in which to
practice
September = Love: love life and what you can share. September
22 is the wobble point between outer/spring summer and inner/autumn
winter. begin to quiet down
October = Experience: it's a thirty one day preview of what
the year ahead will offer
November = Introspection: time to symbolically die/turn within/time
for rebirth
December = Strength: gratitude is due for all that has come
and for all that will be. Winter Solstice signals a return to the
deep ember of light within, enough light to carry to spring.
I
have 'followed the moon' applying these keywords since 1989. I send
out a thank you and a deep gratitude to Sun Bear, Adina Walker, Robert
'Buz' Myers and the growing community that shares a dedication to learning
to live simply and in balance with the cycles and the seasons.
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: balance, centered, charisma, choice,
exploration, quest, relaxed, sensual.
KEYWORDS
that take energy away: agitated, discouraged, edgy, fidgety, impatient,
over indulgent, pessimistic.
HOMEWORK: Love your life enough to 'move your house'... stretch
yourself to take on some project or idea that you're passionate about.
Be bold. Create a new level of relationship that honors your dream.
Take note of the keyword that applies to your birth month. Claim this
as your gift. Notice the keyword that sits half way round the circle,
six months away, claim that as your challenge... being curious and working
creatively with this polarity is where many opportunities for deepening
your identity will rise.
Fourth
Lunation: The Purity/Clarity Moon
March 15 - April 13
Spring
Equinox: March 20
The great way is very smooth and straight,
Yet people prefer uneven and winding
by-paths,
And thus go astray.
Tao Te
Ching
R.B/
Blakney
From March 15 through March 31 the pattern of relationship to the
new you continues to deepen. Begin this cycle by being 'wisely
selfish'. Make certain that you have a sense of balance and awareness
regarding the ways in which you relate. If you find yourself taking
the "uneven and winding by-paths" choose again and be willing
to 'go with the flow'. Also pay attention to your environment, think
Feng
Shui and create stability there. Make your home (inside and out)
a place that nurtures and supports you. Remind yourself that the year
is about refreshing your identity and this is the Purity cycle. What
does that mean to you as you walk the path of this year? Look inside
you and around you. Notice your connections to nature. Then take some
steps to refresh the way you create atmosphere.
Just
5 days into the cycle we experience the Spring Equinox. For a brief
moment perfect balance visits the planet. Breathe it in. Just for fun,
see if you can stand
an egg on its end on your kitchen counter and take in the spectacle
of alignment. Dance
with trees. Walk and imagine roots sinking deep into the earth beneath
you. Be the earth. Enjoy this new beginning. Revel in this miracle called
life.
During
March the spotlight was placed on balanced relating. Now, during the
Clarity cycle, extending throughout April, the focus turns toward inner
needs. These are met through solitude and meditative time in the studio.
Think of this as an opportunity to be consciously questing for the ability
to know when to move and when to be still. Of course we are all busy
in our outer lives, and this is a social year overall, yet this month
consider when to connect and when to seek silence. When silent time
is taken use it in order to hear, see, taste, touch, smell and intuit
direction, keeping in mind that the environment is rich with signs and
signals guiding you on your way. Antenna Up! Pay attention.
April
1 through 13 opens the Clarity cycle of the year. It's time to ask for
simplicity. Become unfussy. Row your boat gently down the stream. The
quality moving through this cycle is saying get quiet, slow down, become
introspective, listen to inner guidance, meditate.
Take
note of your senses. Notice how you relate to the life you live through
sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing and the sixth sense of intuition.
Allow time for inner travel. Allow space for the mystical inner vision
that gently guides your spirit life to be aligned with that which is
bigger and greater.
Clarity
can come by scrubbing away built up debris that clutters the senses.
- Clear
your vision
- Breathe
in the freshest air
- Taste
the freshest of foods, whole and natural
- Touch
life, be touched by life
- Hear
the beauty of the natural world and hear your words as you speak to
yourself
- Open
up to a clarity of intuitive guidance
Be
willing to gentle yourself through the cycle of Clarity and notice the
renewal that blossoms as a result.
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: aligned, balanced, clarity, dignified,
ease, feminine, grace, home, intuitive, masculine, mystical, nature,
natural, purify, quiet, sensual, simplicity, trust.
KEYWORDS
that take energy away: aloof, bossy, cold, depression, distrusting,
emotionally unbalanced, fearful, perfectionist, remote, secretive, superiority,
suspicious .
HOMEWORK: In March, clean your house inside and out either literally
or metaphorically. In April, imagine solitude and the opportunity to
turn inward... literally or metaphorically. Keep in mind that the creative
mind is working all the time and it will easily and effortlessly align
with balance when offered a vision of what that looks, sounds, tastes,
feels and sounds like.
Fifth
Lunation: The Clarity/Wisdom Moon
April
14 - May 12
Earth
Day: April 22
The Universe is deathless,
Is deathless because, having no finite
self,
it stays infinite.
A sound man by not advancing himself
Stays the further ahead of himself,
By
not confining himself to himself
Sustains himself outside himself:
By never being an end in himself
He endlessly becomes himself.
Tao Te
Ching
R.B/
Blakney
Be aware of obstacles but don't be stopped by them. Notice the manner
in which you persist as April continues to unfold. As mentioned last
cycle, stillness and solitude are essential. In this year of renewed
and new identity there will be opportunities presented now to gain clarity.
To help yourself be mindful of what you cleared and cleansed away.
Maintain
a clear pathway for meditation. Engage in the quiet, still, fertile
territory of the Mystery. Through this conscious connection intuition
can really sink in and take root.
The
year is expressing us. It is energetically offering us a deeper sense
of creative identity. Look to the earth if you are wondering where to
find your bearings. How fortunate we are to be on the planet at this
crucial time in humanities evolution. I have community of personal heroes
who remind me to cultivate my work in the world in such a way as to
leave a light track. One of my heroes is Richard
Louv. I hope that his message regarding nature deficient disorder
finds a true home in the world. You may choose to become familiar with
his wisdom as we turn the corner with the UN now designating April 22
as Mother
Earth Day following a 2009 resolution.
I
find it inspiring to walk in harmony with the energy that is infusing
the global family. We have an option here for being real, true and willing
to offer up what there is to share with one another by making space
for each of us to clear away the obstructions and barriers....the toxic
chemical dumps within each of us...if you will. I have needed to clear
away a lot of violence from my cellular memory. No one said it was easy
to be here. That's why we travel round and round the wheel year by year...advancing,
sustaining, never ending, endlessly becoming.
This
is where we remember to be still and meditate so that we train the brain
to know what to hear. When we are clear, when there is Clarity, then
and only then are we prepared to step into the advancing energy which
leads to...
May...
some months/moons are more challenging than others. May and the Wisdom
cycle often bring an attendant confusion, as though the very idea of
exploring the topic of wisdom renders us moronic. Yet by day's end there
is a profound and sublime discovery to be shared as we bond under the
umbrella of just a bit more awareness and optimism in our potential
to learn, advance, sustain, and endlessly become.
The
energy visiting us as we move through this May is that of standing in
one's power and feeling empowered. This is an inner quiet strength and
has nothing to do with bravado. The quality of power is innate, it's
inherited, and we claim it as a birthright and a responsibility. It
demands that we have the ambition to stand for what we are in truth
and to be all that we can be. It requires a sense of mastery around
money and finance and will test our ability to recognize that everything
that humans buy, sell and exploit can be sourced back to the earth that
sustains us. Wisdom can develop as we honor and tend to our planet home.
In
her book Faith:
Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, Sharon
Salzberg relates that when she complained about being inadequate
to her teacher Khenpo,
He
challenged me with "Why is your sense of aspiration so small,
so anemic? Why not aspire to be a liberated being, for the sake of
all beings? Why not?"
That's
a good question for all of us to ask ourselves during this time period.
Salzberg
also quotes her teacher as saying, "The price of gold goes up
and down, but the value of gold remains the same. Your experiences will
always change, will go up and down, but what is of innate value in you
lies in your awareness and love."
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: ambitious, analyst, alchemist, awareness,
bright, brilliant, collective consciousness, constant, exchange, firm,
investment, Shamanic, stable, unwavering.
KEYWORDS
that take energy away: angered, detached, depressed, distant, exasperated,
fear, infuriated, irritated, moody, under the influence, unfriendly.
HOMEWORK: Go into the studio and dance. Celebrate your connection
to Mother Earth. Consider gifts you can give to the community. Explore,
celebrate and be grateful for the manner in which your Clarity has turned
into Wisdom. Honor the brilliance accrued as you have walked the Wheel
of Life. Also... check your finances, balance your budget, pay attention
to your resources and how you invest and recycle your wealth.
Sixth
Lunation: The Wisdom/Illumination Moon
May 13 - June 11
The highest goodness, water-like,
Does good to everything...
Tao Te
Ching
R.B/
Blakney
Continuing
through to the close of May the emphasis remains on wisdom derived from
a quiet and persistent water-like strength. It can be helpful to visualize
the many different ways that water moves about on the planet. Think
about the leaky faucet or the waterfall. Imagine standing in a puddle
or paddling out into the ocean. Stand atop a beaver's dam or the Hoover
dam.
No
matter how we place ourselves in proximity to water we come into contact
with the most powerful and simultaneously soft element on earth. Yet
water can wear away stone and carve canyons. Water falls from the sky
in droplets that accumulate and nourish the land.
For
nineteen days focus upon the wisdom of living like water. It silently,
tirelessly, relentlessly moves back to the sea. Wisdom teachers remind
us that there is ultimately nowhere to get to and nothing to do. The
real wisdom teachings remind us again and again to simply BE. Nineteen
days to practice folding that level of return into the busy patterns
of your life could bring some 'highest goodness'. It's wonderful that
we can play with these energies and the information that they carry
realizing that to do so does no harm and can offer lessons in floating
merrily down the stream.
Look
at this, we're stepping into June, by month's end we're already half
way round the wheel! Again we experience the shift in energy. Now we
begin to work with the idea of Illumination in conjunction with being
very grown up.
Throughout
June align yourself with the arts in some way.
Recall
in the main article for the year when I refer to the work of Jacquelyn
Small and her book of balance titled Awakening
in Time. There you will find her concept of "art ourselves"
to integrate. There is research galore regarding the healing and
harmonizing effects of being creative. Explore that now. Volunteer as
a docent to help an organization that you admire. Invite friends to
attend plays, theatre productions, music, and dance. Take a class and
experience a new medium. For example, if you're a poet, attend a watercolor
workshop. If you paint in a controlled manner such as photo realism
then pop over to a dance studio and move your whole body in new ways,
work with clay? How about taking a quilting class, you get the idea.
This
is the year to explore a new, or renewed, sense of identity.
That doesn't mean be someone that you're not. It does require the courage
to play with new ideas and roles. This is the time for spontaneity and
just good plain fun. Really enjoy yourself until you get that unmistakable
feel of 'this is who I am'. What ideas occur to you when you think about
the healing that can come as you take action? We need you to be going
about that work/play and sending that enlivened vibe out into the world.
This
is also an excellent time to remind yourself of the archetypal energy
that corresponds and guides us through this third year of the nine year
cycle. That would be tuning into and tapping into the wisdom and the
illumination of The Empress. Pull out your favorite Tarot deck/book
and refresh your mind, to more deeply remember, the qualities and the
attributes of this energetic construct. See, sense and feel how you
might adopt and own those aspects that inspire you.
The
energy of this month is also asking us to bring something to completion.
Pay off the debt. Forgive the trespasses. Be the adult in each encounter,
while keeping an active sense of humor.
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: ambitious, arts, creative, determined,
docent, dynamic, endless, even keel, forgiveness, gentle, motivated,
persistent, regular, relentless, soft, steady, striving, volunteer.
KEYWORDS
that take energy away: aggressive, harsh, immature, lazy, loud,
manipulating, nervous, pushy, ruthless, shy, timid, uncompromising,
unmotivated.
HOMEWORK: Be like water and flow into areas that you see could
use assistance and support. Forgive the world. Be The Empress.
Seventh
Lunation: The Illumination/Growth Moon
June 12 - July 10
June
21 Summer Solstice
Do enough, without vying,
Be
living, not dying.
Tao Te
Ching
R.B/
Blakney
I find
great value in that little quote from the Tao Te Ching. It took a long
time for me to understand the whole truth and nothing but the truth
that each of us is enough just as we are. Naturally we can and must
continue to improve. Of course we can expand and grow into new awareness
and understanding. Yet inside, forever, from before we arrived and until
after we're gone, we are enough.
During this cycle we experience the opening of summer, the South Gate,
on the wheel (as of June 21). From that point summer brings the most
concentrated time for personal evolution. Evolving, opening out, and
unfolding within the context of 'Luna See' requires deep focus and commitment
to the 'Highest of Arts'...the healing arts and the fine arts. These
are the areas of humanities highest development, languages that require
clear communication. Clear communication is of paramount benefit
at this time.
During this Illumination/Growth' moon take a deeply meaningful action
in your world. On the Natural Wheel Summer Solstice marks the start
of the most outgoing (be involved) 90 days of the year. Notice what
wants to go onto your calendar for this time leading to Fall Equinox
on September 22.
This year is all about feeling things 'through the gut'. Remember how
last year we referred to Jacquelyn
Small and her work in Awakening
in Time? You may find her a helpful companion once again. The world
is cranked and we need, and deserve, a well organized tool kit.
Invest
in the next two weeks and make them work for you creatively. Stay focused
for this time period on the keyword: Illumination. Turn on the light.
Be light. Seek creative delight.
As
you continue through the month of June it's time to open your eyes and
'see the light'. It's time to notice what you avoid and how avoidance
victimizes you. In April we stepped onto this year's natural (think
spring) walk around the Wheel of Life. Hopefully the starting was done
with awareness. Take a moment. Sit quietly. Take a deep breath.
We now continue by setting our sights on a focus and direction. This
will be unique to each of us and it's useful to keep yours uppermost
in heart and mind.
The
energy level influencing all of June is attempting to bring about an
evolution on the planet. That's obviously a BIG energy. So stop a minute
and breathe that in. All reference to this quality refers to bringing
some part of your current experience to completion, a mastering of some
aspect of your life. Be wise and practice discernment. Take a little
time to reflect and journal and be with the current awareness that comes
to you.
As you continue to activate a fresh sense of identity ...(remember that
identity and self esteem are the focus points for 2010)... go deeper
into the cultivation of the primary keywords for the year. All year
the primary keywords are: EXPRESS and ACT. What do these words
mean to you? How do they apply to your creative life and what you bring
to the world at this time? Who are you? Why are you doing what you
do? Be courageous. Stand up for your work and your voice.
Take time during this moon/month to really focus on the ways in which
you can evolve within the context of your life. The energy of
each year connects and builds like a spiral winding us higher (or drilling
us down) collectively. How does your heart/mind add to the whole?
In what direction do you see life on earth moving? How does your garden
grow?
During this cycle we experience the yearly growth and expansion point.
You may find it useful to take the time to challenge yourself to
soar toward your strengths and embrace the parts of you that can
consciously assist in addressing the needs that abound.
This is one of my favorite energy levels to study and learn through.
It is about being very grown up and willing to consider what it is
that you have to offer that will be of benefit and do no harm. Take
the time now to see where you excel and what you want to add to our
world.
Ask yourself: 'How might I hold a light for others to help them find
their way?' The answers are countless and continual and eternally
unfolding. See what energizes you and imagine the possibilities when
you share. Make everything you touch the better for your having been
involved ... an infusion of life force ... that's what the cycle
is offering. Think of, and then feel, the endless waves of that and
pay attention to the boost that follows.
This energy is about evolution. It impacts all of us. There is an
opportunity here for choosing the high road ... again and again.
Make every effort now to consider how you can help. Volunteer.
Step up to the plate. We all know that the human impact upon the world
is causing huge and ongoing problems. We also have the opportunity to
recognize, that collectively we can join together to create positive
change and healing. The stakes will be raised again and again requiring
our best individual creative focus and determination. Here's an appropriate
place to remember Margaret Mead's wisdom, "Never doubt that
a small group of thoughtful, committed [creative] citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Turning the corner into July brings us all to the point this year when
we receive an extra boost of vitality. Think of yourself as a
pioneer.
Let
the sense of 'Now New' enter your daily experience. Turn your sites
to the keyword for the July moon and see what kind of positive creative
Growth can take place as you engage in "Be living, not dying".
That's the way to grow into true, deep inner strength.
This well known and much loved Martha
Graham quote
describes the energy of this particular cycle very well:
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There
is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening
that is translated through you into action,
and because there is only one of you in all of time,
this expression is unique.
And if you block it,
it will never exist through any other medium
and it will be lost.
The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is
nor how valuable
nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours
clearly and directly,
to keep the channel open.
You do not even have to believe
in yourself or your work.
You have to keep yourself open and aware
to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open.
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The
Keywords that are included here continue to span a range of polarities.
Pick and choose the words that resonate for you. Look them up in the
dictionary and the thesaurus. Use these and others that relate in your
speaking and writing. Practice applying them to your daily life to help
to put yourself into alignment with what's offered in terms of forging
your current creative identity.
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: authentic, broad outlook, compassion,
dance, draw, generosity, fine arts, forgiveness, healing arts,
humanitarian, individuate, independent, inventory, joy, life, massage,
mature, mentoring, paint, philanthropy, service, theatre, volunteer,
willpower, write.
KEYWORDS
that take energy away: addictions, anxiety, conflicts, controlling,
demanding, ego, fear, frustrated, grudges, lazy, narrow, rigid, unfulfilled,
valueless, worry .
HOMEWORK: Since this is the year to foster a new sense of self
and to refresh your identity this moon cycle asks that you first finish
something and then create something that feels very new for you.
Be 'true to you' during each cycle. Notice where you can Illuminate
a dark corner of your mind and watch the Growth occur.
And
please remember...
Keep singing your healing song... we so need you!
Eighth
Lunation: The Growth/Trust Moon
July 11 Solar Eclipse - August 8
"Tao
does not do, but nothing is not done."
"That
sounds like a riddle," said Pooh.
"It
means that Tao doesn't force or interfere with things,
but lets them work out in their own way, to produce results naturally.
Then
whatever needs to be done is done."
"I
see," said Pooh.
The
Tao of Pooh
Benjamin
Hoff
The entire month of July is like an energy jump start.
Use
a healthy garden as your touchstone for that awareness. Ask yourself
what you've been working on creating since the Spring Equinox. During
the remainder of this month notice the way in which things come to you
in alignment with what you've been focusing on.
Here's
a bit of information to keep the year in context... it is condensed
from the main Lifecycle Forecast 2010 article:
Collectively
2010 asks us all to consider what we are made of. These twelve months
ask what are we willing to show or demonstrate to those near and far.
This entire walk 'round the wheel' of 2010 beckons us to value our
place within the larger community. It brings time and space for us
to actively express what we've been tending over a lifetime and specifically
over the last two years.
I
imagine the energy of the third turn of the nine year cycle, as 2010
is, being similar to an active reaching, searching, exploring child.
For a child to grow up well a 'good mother' (or good mother substitute)
is mandatory. With a safe nurturing 'soft place to fall', movement
and discovery continuously happen. Joy is natural. Curiosity makes
every encounter dazzle. Emotions are felt and then soon forgotten.
Time stretches out and flows effortlessly.
Play
with any of these concepts. Practice being childlike and expressive;
speak up, experiment, explore and invent. Use simple symbols and materials
at hand.
From
July 11 through July 31 we're given the chance to be pioneers, to begin
again....think 'art of the start'. Once your review back to March 20
is complete take a moment to honor where you've been and what has been
accomplished. Sometimes the best way to do that, as the Tao teaches,
is to let all things be just as they are. Feel the refreshment of that
concept. 'Do nothing and everything gets done.' Seems paradoxical yet
perhaps in this cycle that could be the revolutionary approach.
There's
so much going on and as artists we're often pulled in more directions
than we can keep track of... so let's insert another little reminder
from the main Lifecycle Forecast 2010 article:
"This
year you have the chance to align with that deep inner space and to
then express the awareness found there. In order to obtain, and maintain,
balance 2010 requires that you have a basic understanding of intent,
intuition or a 'gut feeling' about situations. Throughout this
year self esteem will be the indicator for the direction to take.
Notice, too, if you feel the capacity to endure what is required of
you. Endurance is going to show you what you're made of and what can
be accomplished
Stay
on course with what you have invested in over the last two years specifically.
It's time to be strong. With the balance that has been forged since
2008 you can advance in areas that the third year in a nine year cycle
offers."
There
are 21 days in July remaining as we step into this cycle and that is
a long enough period of time to relearn just about anything. You can
change a habit or introduce a new work pattern. Whatever you decide
to focus on let it feel like an expansion of your creative voice in
the world. Visualize walking into a large open landscape. Look around.
What do you see? Make certain that you are consciously choosing to be
there. This is your opportunity to extend out in the direction of your
deepest desire. Be adventurous like the intrepid explorer that you are.
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Each
moment is absolute, alive, and significant. The frog leaps,
the cricket sings, a dewdrop glitters on the lotus leaf,
a breeze passes through the pine branches and the moonlight
falls on the murmuring stream.
D.T.
Suzuki
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Growth
is the keyword for this cycle. Staying closer to home you might look
at your garden or walk in nature to see and feel your natural connection.
Each year during this moon cycle a door opens. Activity is at its height
and you have the opening to the way that your life is asking you to
Grow.
Keep
in mind the idea of being an explorer. Think like a detective. Imagine
that you just dropped into this place called Earth. What would you ascertain
if you were wandering around seeing it all for the first time? A fresh
view makes every relationship and even the mundane circumstances of
the day take on a richer hue. The idea here is to really reach for the
feeling of how amazing this experience called LIFE is as we move through
it being artists.
In
Tibetan Buddhism there is the story that tells of a blind sea turtle
swimming deep in the ocean for one hundred years. Coming up for air
far out in the roiling sea he rises to gulp a breath. It is told that
as his head breaks the surface it comes up through the center of a hole
in a floating log.
Imagine
this scene. The teaching says that it is as rare as this to be born
a human being. Play with that jewel of an awareness during the remainder
of this month.
No
matter what challenges face us we can take a moment to embrace this
time as a conversion point, an opportunity to forgive and regroup...
perhaps even create a sacred ceremony declaring the beauty of your authentic
being, the rarity of what you came to share.
As
we step into August the vibration shifts and brings with it a lightness,
a shining, and a chance to really practice being conscious of how
breathing helps to direct thoughts. Let's repeat that: the breath
directs the thought. Watch your thinking patterns and notice your conversation.
Pay attention to the way you use words. Let's repeat that too: really
notice the way you speak, describe, explain, depict, illustrate, express.
Does your language lift you and others up or drag relationships down?
During this cycle there is time and opportunity to make adjustments
as necessary.
August
each year carries the keyword TRUST. I very much look forward
to this time. Year after year I get reminders, lessons and tests to
help me see how well I actually am trusting my sweet art/life. I look
forward to this time so that I can review and embrace what comes along
to meet me on my path. See if for you there is an inner urge to express
your ideals, launch an invention (as in a new art form), align with
your highest inner directives, gain a clearer connection to your spiritual
vision.
When
I became a student of moon cycles much of our teaching incorporated
the polarities of the yearly wheel. Working with opposites is a tried
and true way to find your center. In Buddhist teachings we're advised
to recognize that as humans we bounce continuously between the 'Eight
Worldly Dharmas'; pleasure/pain, gain/loss, praise/blame, fame/disgrace.
We think that if we get pleasure, gain, praise and fame we'll be happy.
We run away from pain, loss, blame and disgrace and judge them failures.
The
energy this August is helping us learn to trust that no matter
what the experience we can observe our reaction and response with a
'wait and see' attitude. This helps us take a long view or an eagle's
eye view... either way the idea is to take this opportunity to learn
a higher level of diplomacy, one based upon an interest in general welfare,
a centered view and an awareness that we're all in this together.
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From
When
Things Fall Apart by Pema
Chodron:
The
irony is that we make up the eight worldly dharmas. We
make them up in reaction to what happens to us in this
world. They are nothing concrete in themselves…
In
meditation, we can notice how emotions and moods are connected
with having lost or gained something, having been praised
or blamed, and so forth. Gradually our practice evolves.
We start understanding that, just like us, other people
also keep getting hooked by hope and fear. Everywhere
we go, we see the misery that comes from buying into the
eight worldly dharmas.
…
[This is] the beginning of growing up… When we begin
just to try to accept ourselves, the ancient burden of
self-importance lightens up considerably…
Having
compassion starts and ends with having compassion for
all [the] unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections
that we don't even want to look at. Compassion isn't some
kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we're trying
to live up to.
There's
a slogan in the Mahayana teachings that says, 'Drive all
blames into oneself.' The essence of this slogan is, 'When
it hurts so bad, it's because I am hanging on so tight.'
What it implies is that pain comes from holding on so
tightly to having it our own way and that one of the main
exits we take when we find ourselves in an unwanted situation
or an unwanted place, is to blame.
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To
expand on this idea of noticing dualities let's look at the opposite
positions that compose the months on the circular calendar.
When
you do the Homework for this cycle, know that it will provide you with
creative insights that could only come through you.
Moon
by moon, year after year, the keyword for each month (beginning with
Spring) looks like this:
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April
May
June
July
August
September
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CLARITY
WISDOM
ILLUMINATION
GROWTH
TRUST
LOVE
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October
November
December
January
February
March
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EXPERIENCE
INTROSPECTION
STRENGTH
CLEANSING
RENEWAL
PURITY
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KEYWORDS
for balance: assert, authentic being, begin, confident, conversion
point, create, discipline, diplomatic, explorer, harmless, ideals, individuate,
intrepid, intuitive, leadership, life force, new, pioneering, proactive,
receptive, rich, spiritual vision, vitality.
KEYWORDS
that indicate out of balance: aggressive, discouraged, denial, foreclosure,
impracticality, impulsive, insecure, insincere, irritability, hoarding,
lazy, moody, rigid, self-centered, stubborn, tactless, timid, unstable.
HOMEWORK: Find your birth month and its keyword in the list above.
Next locate the keyword that sits half way around the year (located
in the column across). An example: I'm born in February (Renewal) and
my opposite month is August (Trust). Work with your words. One fits
with your birth... my gift is...renewal. The opposite, is your life
challenge...mine is trust. Look your words up in a dictionary and thesaurus.
Write poetry or an essay. Make a painting or a dance. Find a way to
express this tension zone so that you can make it part of your creative
identity this year.
There
are no rules for how your experiment will play out. Let your intuition
guide you. For me the game is about noticing what these words mean to
me. I choose to know what I'm ready to renew and I decide consciously
to trust my life and what it brings. Yet I also pay attention to how
these qualities change according to situations and circumstances.
In
the two decades that I've been 'playing this game' I've come to appreciate
how these qualities produce a creative tension within me. Like a tug
of war they prompt me to reach for what they offer individually. I can
imagine myself playing 'tug of war' holding my balance as I notice the
"dual-emma' that these polarities create in my life. I have received
profound intuitive insights. I value using the information that's gained
and I consider this pairing a vibrant and vital piece of my creative
toolkit.
I really
love working with these cycles because they point inward. It isn't something
telling me what I need to be doing or ought to be thinking it's a rhythm
that unfolds ceaselessly just as Summer follows Spring.
If
you keep in mind that this is the heightened active stage of the year
for how you show yourself as an artist you'll receive stunning insights
and direction.
Read
weekly 'Following
the Moon' updates each Monday.
Ninth
Lunation: The Trust/Love Moon
August 9 - September 7
Man at his best, like water,
Serves as he goes along:
like water seeks his own level,
The common level of life,
Loves living close to the earth,
Living clear down in his heart...
Tao
Te Ching
Let's step into this cycle with an awareness. This is a demanding time
to be living on this beautiful planet. You are a cell in Her body. Here
lies your task and your opening to attend to your needs in a balanced
and joyful manner.
The
first twenty three days of this cycle, August 9 - 31, supply a juncture
for learning deepening levels of Trust. This isn't necessarily
a strong suit for many of us. Using the Lifecycle 'Luna See' model you
can look forward to one whole month each year devoted to this lesson.
This
entire year is asking us, on a global level, to reboot our identity
in a way that does no harm. How many of us are considering this prospect?
This month says trust what is possible.
My
birthday is in February at the Renewal point. Trust is exactly
half way across the year's wheel. That places Trust in my challenge
position. (Note: See last month's entry on the Eighth
Lunation for the the list of months
and the way you can work with your birth keyword and its opposite).
Trust is the quality that represents the duality of my own nature.
My primary life test has been to learn that I can Trust life.
After being educated well regarding these phases I can clearly state
that I trust life and her endless gifts.
The
Book of Qualities by J.
Ruth Gendler adds a thoughtful commentary to our focus point for
August:
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Trust
Trust
is the daughter of Truth. She has an objective memory, neither
embellishing nor denying the past. She is an ideal confidante;
gracious, candid, and discreet. Trust talks to people who need
to hear her, she listens to those who need to be heard; she
sits quietly with those who are skeptical of words. Her presence
is subtle, simple, and undeniable.
Trust
rarely buys round-trip tickets because she is never sure how
long she will be gone and when she will return. Trust is at
home in the desert and the city, with dolphins and tigers, with
outlaws, lovers, saints. When Trust bought her house, she tore
out all the internal walls, strengthened the foundation, and
rebuilt the door. Trust is not fragile, but she has no need
to advertize her strength. She has a gambler's respect for the
interplay between luck and skill; she is the mother of Love.
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Distinguish
the places in your life where you could 'tear out some internal walls,
strengthen your foundation, and rebuild your door.' This is an excellent
preparation to invest in as 2011, all year, will bring energy for construction
and much of that building will concern your heart's work.
The
objective during this cycle of four weeks is to find refreshing ways
to shine your light and connect with your community through work that
you love. We are all born with an inner glow, call it soul or design
your own term, this becomes the beacon that carries you into the world;
unique and fertile with ideas and self expression. You're born to be
like no other being. This cycle asks that you embrace this notion while
keeping your heart open.
2010
is the time and August is the month to stay balanced as you 'look up'
for inspiration and revelation to support your art/life dream.
Surround
yourself with beauty, music, art and poetry. Connect with stimulating
minds. Relax and recognize that there is a star in you. You don't need
to convince anyone of its shine, the luster is natural. Open and enjoy
the innate beauty that comes through you.
How
might you benefit others through the sharing of your skills, gifts and
insights? Better yet how might you be a gift to the world just because
you are you?
It's
really very substantive that in the third year of a nine year cycle
you are asked to vibrantly trust your identity. In two years,
2012, you'll have the chance to look back and review what you're allowing
now, so honor your very precious being. Since you are part of a global
culture, take a second and consider that a good part of who you may
think you are comes from your current best idea, or the project you
feel most invested in, or perhaps even more so, by what you think others
think of you... yet are any of these views really you?
Pay
attention and notice if during this time you truly Trust and
Love yourself simply because you are you. Not because of what
you do.
As
you step into September you come to the point where the energy of the
year meets you in its concentrated form. This happens every year, in
the ninth month, and like a healthy and anticipated birth, it's worth
celebrating. This year the energy suggests that you practice an ancient
form of strengthening: give up something that you no longer feel
nourished by. This could be a person, place, thing, situation, pattern,
habit, or circumstance. When you release something at the start of September
you create room for regeneration to occur. Trust that restoration
can occur by the close of the month. This is a wonderfully timed exercise.
Trust that ;-)
Throughout
2010 you have been given time to communicate the vision that was planted
in 2008. Do you recall having an idea of something that you wanted to
reach for way back then? Check your journals. See if you can find a
pulse point for a what you could call your most cherished hopes, wishes
and dreams. Feel the way that you've progressed during the last 24 months.
These
original 'seed thoughts' would now have matured so that your new sense
of identity can be communicated...make space for that to happen in September.
Naturally it doesn't happen all at once, you're walking a circle that
actually spirals, see this as a focal point for some state of advance.
As
September arrives you're given the first seven days to simultaneously
close this current lunation cycle as you begin to focus on the next,
again think spiral, think continual advance.
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Focus
defined:
A
point at which rays of light or other radiation converge or
from which they appear to diverge, as after refraction or reflection
in an optical system: the focus of a lens. Also called focal
point.
The
distinctness or clarity of an image rendered by an optical system.
The
state of maximum distinctness or clarity of such an image: in
focus.
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The
keyword each September is Love. We are not speaking of the media's
definition here. Here we're connecting with Love as the energy
that holds everything together. Love is the Ultimate, the Source,
'the glue' as my friend Joey likes to say.
Every
year at this time you receive thirty days to focus on Love. Naturally
you don't neglect this dynamic bonding agent the remainder of the year,
it's simply that now you honor it and place it on your pillow and adore
that it is present and imagine it seeping into the recesses of your
consciousness as you go to sleep so that each morning you wake and feel
the Love flowing through the day.
There
may be a bit of melancholy attendant with this point on the calendar.
Look around and you will see endings in the natural world. You will
see leaves falling, birds are strengthening their wings in preparation
for migration. In Buddhism humans are referred to as those who migrate.
The migration takes place from birth to death and beyond. This awareness
can keep you passionate about what you can offer in the short time that
you're here.
In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is
more potent than love? ~ Igor
Stravinsky
Not
Love as emotion rather Love for life and what you came
to add to life to enhance it for others.
The
three months, 90 days, or quadrant (any of these designations can fit)
between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox are specified as areas
of 'Other'. That means that each year you have this time to develop,
express, extend, and broaden your connection with your community. That
connection might include your immediate family, your neighborhood, your
geographic area or the global community of the 21st century.
As
you push your project out into the light of day what you'll notice is
that you're more aware of your individual strength. You've remembered
that there is a village out there ready to support your progress. Your
venture and your expression of it shows how you make your difference.
You are adding your creative voice by sharing your Love.
This
year I'm bringing the Tao
te Ching into the forecast. I want to acknowledge the tremendous
impact the Tao has had on helping me to learn the art of balance and
peace. I've walked the path of recovering from traumatic violence since
age 19. It was then that I was gifted with a small paperback copy of
the Tao te Ching translated by Witter Bynner. I have lived with the
Tao continuously since that summer in 1968. I fold the Tao into my Love
for life and in this year of forging a new sense of identity it seemed
so lovely to share it through our months together here.
You
might find this verse fitting for the keywords of Trust and Love
for this four week lunation:
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Verse
Sixteen
Empty
yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches
their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way
of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being open hearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And although the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.
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Here's
another translation of the same verse. Enjoying the subtle variations
in translation, I collect the Tao in many interpretations:
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Become
totally empty.
Let your heart be at peace.
Amidst
the rush of worldly comings and goings,
observe how endings become beginnings.
Things
flourish, each by each,
only to return to the Source...
to what is and what is to be.
To
return to the root is to find peace.
To find peace is to fulfill one's destiny.
To fulfill one's destiny is to be constant.
To know the constant is called insight.
Not knowing this cycle
leads to disaster.
Knowing
the constant gives perspective.
This perspective is impartial.
Impartiality is the highest nobility;
the highest nobility is Divine.
Being
Divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
This way is everlasting
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I Trust that you will indentify new layers and levels of Love in your
precious human life as you walk through this cycle. Your artist eye's
are open, as is your heart, to the simultaneous endings and beginnings
natural to this time of year. Consider all the others who could benefit
from the sharing of your gifts and talents. May you shower us with the
magic of your Muse.
KEYWORDS
for attuning to this cycle: admiration, amaze, bright lessons, dedication,
devotion, dreamer, expansion, faith, goals, goodness, honor, idealist,
intent, intuition, invention, Love, mystic, revelation, reverence, surprise,
Trust, visionary.
KEYWORDS
that take energy away: aimless, high-strung, hurtful words, impractical,
intolerant, jealous, miserly, opinionated, purposeless, resentful, sarcastic,
shiftless, superficial, suspicious, useless, whining.
HOMEWORK: August 9-31 is for... deepening Trust.
In September's first week sing a Love song. Write one for yourself!
The 'Love' moon is referring to love of life. Focus on
a vocation to which you can be devoted. Be willing to identify your
ardor. Work and/or volunteer in the arena of your deepest passion and
greatest love.
Visit
'Following the
Moon' for a weekly tuneup on my Monday blog
post.
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Next
installment: September 8 - Tenth Lunation: The Love/Experience
Moon
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