Today, Saturday, December 10th, we enjoy a total lunar eclipse with the Full Cold Midwinter Moon. This fat & full Gemini moon loves to party…and gabb! Gemini is the sign of the twins, quick and lively, and is ruled by the planet Mercury (communication) so this moon is known for speaking it’s mind. Because full moons are celebratory events with lots of energy available – this full moon encourages rituals, wishes and altars involving communication, writing, and travel. Let your evening be fun & lively, while at the same time being MINDFUL and generous in your communication and listening.

• Be social, visit your friends, have the neighbors over for drinks! (Don’t stay home alone!)
• Hang wishes on slips of colored paper on your tree or bough for Solstice
• Get crafty with a group of friends! Let loose with the art supplies and have some fun.
• Be conscious about what you want to celebrate this year, and align your actions with that

TIP + Winter Altar - The Winter Solstice this year is on December 21st. This holiday, also known as Yule, is the longest night of the year and is a time to celebrate the rebirth of the sun & the Winter King. It is a time for quietude and firelight, when we naturally want to enter our cave and sink into the season of dreaming. Get started on your winter altar. This year, my family is celebrating the Winter King as “Old Santa” on our Winter Mantel.

The planet Mercury is still retrograde until December 13/14th, so you may want to take a chill-pill on anything requiring forward movement until the wind settles down a little. Just a thought…

Love,
+ heather

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Since mid-October, I’ve spent every spare second I have, many long three-day weekends, at my mother’s getting her house ready to sell. Sorting through closets, drawers, garages, trunks, rummaging through old photos, baby cloths, letters, old jewelry, etc. My mom has lived at this house for 20 years. There’s a lot of stuff to go through. We are also painting bathrooms, updating hardware, reframing broken artwork, repotting plants, selling old beds, buying new ones, and putting together IKEA furniture for the staging of the house.

We are re-viewing and re-making a life.

Astrologically, this is a pretty powerful time to be sorting through my mother’s basement. Mercury went into retrograde on Nov 24th and will stay there until Dec 13th. We are also in the middle of a solar eclipse (Nov. 25th) and a lunar eclipse (Dec. 10th). Mercury retrogrades invite us to review, revision, reorganize, revamp and retell our story before moving ahead with the business of manifestation. The two eclipses push hidden energies from the unconscious into the light. There is an emotional volatility to the process as eruptions in the psyche make their way to the surface.

I also have to mention the powerful winds that have been blowing through the Bay Area over the last several weeks. The upheaval has mirrored and affected my inner process greatly, as old dust and dried-up matter are swirling about in the psyche. (My lips are also super chapped!) It has been so much to process and work-through I have felt assaulted by it at times. At other moments, the fast winds of change have felt like a great opportunity to shed old skin. Surrendering to the power of the wind, letting go, letting it take away what no longer serves. It’s easier to give-in and practice the art of surrender when the workshop presents itself.

Letting go into the process of sorting through my mother’s house is very much a practice in engaging the unknown. Each drawer is full of surprises – exciting, tender and terrifying. There are plenty of lost treasures we have come across, photos of great times our family shared, but we are also forced to face emotions and parts of our life covered over by avoidance or forgetfulness.

My mom has been so brave in facing some of her hidden boxes – the things we all shove into the back of the closet. We sold her old wedding ring unused for 20 years, sorted through condolence letters from when her sister died 17 years ago, and let go of the bed she’s slept on for 40 years.

I’ve also had my hidden boxes to deal with. As we were cleaning out the last of the garage, I kept eying two boxes up on the top shelf in the back corner. I wasn’t sure exactly what I would find in them, but I knew they were full of something I had been ignoring for five years and that the time had come to face it. So I carried them straight to my car and decided I would open them when I got home.

Here’s what I found: A box full of photos and memorabilia from my wedding, and a box full of journals taking me back to my early 20’s. I had placed that box of wedding photos in my mom’s garage five years ago when my marriage ended and the grief was insurmountable. Time has passed and I felt ready.

I spent a long evening sorting through the photos. Remembering the joy and ecstasy I felt on my wedding day. Going through memories of a love that spanned 12 years of my life. A great love with a great man, a truly wonderful time. I felt a little weepy but mostly grateful, appreciating a formative chapter in my life and the chance to learn and grow with a remarkable friend and partner.

Reading through my journals, it’s hard not to chuckle at my consistency. I’ve been writing about the same things forever: Dreaming my life into reality, earnestly trying to learn as I live, years of attempting to birth the inner artist, to trust in life, bring my gifts into the world, open to abundance, and writing poetry through it all. I’ve been actively giving myself permission to have my own life and my own experience for a very long time. I’ve been wrestling my resistance energies, the self-critic, and the fear of freedom as well.

There were many journals dedicated to my personal growth, morning pages from The Artist’s Way, three years of studying with Mary Swanson, a great class on The Shadow I took at College of Marin in 1998, a conference I went to with Angeles Arrien in 1999 and a Fearless Journal class I took with Heather Bleasdell in 2001.

I have been drawing crows and writing poems about feathers and wings long before I consciously dedicated my life to being a Crowrider.

I have felt overwhelmed by the amount and magnitude of the visions and ideas that knock relentlessly at my door.

I have always loved Joni Mitchell, Frida Kahlo, and dramatically writing about my feelings.

I’ve been putting “paint on a big canvas” on my To-Do List for fifteen years.

I have prayed to serve the world for a very long time.
I have prayed for more alone time for the same amount of time.

The themes of our lives, the deep questions, the losses and the learning weave through our life strongly carrying the dream of the soul and the painful initiations that either urge the soul forward or impinge on it’s unfolding. Looking back, digging in, and facing what I had avoided for some time, leaves me knowing there is such a thing as right timing and the things that scare us aren’t as scary as we think.

In this time of strong winds, as the darkness, and hidden things in the shadows beckon us, as we are invited to re-examine and re-tell our stories ask yourself:

What hidden box are you ready to open?
What does the past want you to remember?
What are you afraid to face?
What could you retrieve from the areas of your life you are avoiding?
What if it’s not that scary after all?

Messages from the past:

“Thoughts are energy and energy is real stuff. Energy follows your intention.” – Mary Swanson ’01
“What I really want is myself.” Laura Tabet ‘98
“It’s amazing what we can accomplish and heal through imagination.” Laura Tabet ‘01
“If we have faith in another’s process we don’t need to control it.” Heather Bleasdell ‘01
“A miracle is a shift in perception.” Angeles Arrien ‘99
The door of our comfort zone is always open, we emerge from our bird cage without thought of return.” Angeles Arrien ‘99
“Life is about what you love, not what loves you.” Laura Tabet ’03
“What I want is sacred.” Mary Swanson ‘02
“We can always point to a physical reality to find evidence. But you affect your physical reality.” Mary Swansons ’03

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There’s a volatile energy in the atmosphere this month, complicated by a Mercury retrograde cycle that traditionally introduces an element of confusion. Sometimes, though, confusion can be a good thing: it prompts us to pull back and to look within for a better perspective that give us peace of mind.

Addie speaking on her Shell Phone

TIP + Keep it Loose this month. Spend less time speaking on your cell phone and more time listening to your Shell Phone. Let yourself sink more deeply into your own intuitive healing path, and try not to take the tantrums Other’s throw (or your own) too personally. And breathe.

Read More Here about the Mercury Retrograde.

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Tomorrow, Saturday, July 30th, the new moon joins the sun in shiny Leo. As with all new moons, it is a powerful time to BEGIN. With the Sun and Moon aligned in romantic, generous, creative sign of Leo…notice where you’d like to get things ROARin’! What part of you wants to be more fully expressed? Where would you like to inspire more passion, feed your urge to splurge, shine yourself up?

The energy stirred up by the full-hearted Leo moon encourages us to take a larger role in the areas of our life that have heart and meaning for us. What area of your life are you willing to take “center stage” in? Who would you like to share that stage with? Today, let yourself roar with delight, nap for pleasure, play with your kids, make art for fun, and sing your head off. Express, express, express! Leo loves creative self-expression. Sign-up

for an expressive arts class – theater, painting, writing, movement, music, etc. Make your new moon wishes around creativity, new direction, romance, and self-expression.

• Appreciate Someone (especially if they are a Leo)
• Shake your mane, grow a beard, get a new haircut
• Do some sit-ups, strengthen your core power-center
• Say yes to Romance – get theatrical, set the stage, play the part, have some fun!
• Get Creative – spend time doing your favorite art-related activity, go dancing, tune the guitar, pump up the stereo…
• Write your New Moon in Leo Wishes

TIP + GO BIG – Ruled by the Sun, Leo’s energy is BIG and shiny – “born to be a star” energy. So, how can we best use this energy to shine more brightly ourselves? By honoring our gifts & talents through expressing them. Express= Possess. What are you passionate about? What do you love doing? Take some time today to express that passion in a bigger way. Loosen up, roar, dramatize, try a new direction, break some rules, paint too big, sing too loud, plant too much, dance too wildly. Stretch yourself. Go big. Let the Leo energy take you to new places.

Celebrate Lammas - August 1-2
Lammas honors the passing of the light and the reaping of grain. It is the cross-quarter holiday between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and the Autumnal Equinox (Mabon). Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset August 2 and call it Lughnasad after the Grain God Lugh, the Sun-King whose light begins to dwindle after the summer solstice. The first sheaf of wheat is ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so that the people might live. Honor the energy of Grain God & Goddess by baking bread in the shape of a man or woman and feast your face off! Create your Lammas Altar.

Heads Up! Mercury will begin retrograding August 2nd in Leo through August 26th in Virgo. Read more.

Maternity Leave

Finally, the time for retreating into my cave is drawing near. I will be on Maternity Leave from September 1 – October 31, 2011 and will not be scheduling private Intuitive Sessions during that time. If you would like to schedule an Intuitive Consulting Session with me before I retreat, please do so earlier than later. August appointments are filling up quickly. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Purrrrfect,
+ heather

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In the past, I have had mixed feelings about new years resolutions because they are often based on something I would like to fix or change about myself. Coming from the approach that there is something wrong with me… is not inspiring enough to sustain me for an entire year. In fact, by the time we move out of the influence of steady Capricorn (Saturn: structure, goals, steps) and into the energy of rebellious Aquarius Jan. 20th (Uranus: provocateur, surprise, disruption, independence) we have fallen (or jumped) off the wagon.. perpetuating the story that we are bad and have no self-control. That’s no fun. And for me, if it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable.

So this year, when my husband and I found ourselves pondering what we would like our new years resolutions to be, we were clear that our goals had to be reflective of this understanding – FUN is #1. Making a New Years’ Resolution that is fun AND supports our own happiness will go farther than any rules we could make to control/fix/change ourselves. So for my husband, he promised to go flyfishing once a month for 2011. As a couple, we promised to go on one adventure date a month, adventure = active. (As parents of a young one, we tend to do lazy dates which don’t do much in the way of generating relationship SO we are now going hiking, checking out someplace new, leaving town, moving around, etc.) For myself, running is my passion. I’m not a crazy runner, but I do love it and consistent running balances my mental state more effectively than anything else I have experienced. I’m not sure what my promise is around running yet, but I will be figuring that out within the month. For now, I am committed to 4 days a week.

BEYOND RESOLUTIONS

This is my real ritual for the New Year. I create a New Year’s Collage that focuses on general themes rather than specifics, starting with the question: What would I like to experience in 2011? I also love Michele Lessirard’s approach of creating a Vision Board from New Moon Journal that is updated in the Spring. If you are interested in what 2011 looks like from the astrological perspective,  I enjoyed Maurice Fernandez’s outlook for 2011 where he strongly encourages us to

“utilize the energy of the first months of 2011, particularly from the end of January until the end of June, to step out of your comfort zone and advance your life. Despite economic strain and collective insecurities, it is a time to step out and conquer life. If you want to promote a new project, embark on a journey, or break free from unfulfilling life conditions, this will be a time to dismantle the shackles—this is your time!”

The Altar for the Month of January is the New Year’s Altar. You can check out more about it by clicking the image below. Time for dreaming friends. <yawn>

Image: Adventure Date on a Winter Beach, Incline Village NV, Dec.26, 2010

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Here is something I got from Molly Hall‘s blog that I liked:

SUN in Virgo & FULL MOON in Pisces
“The Full Moon is in Pisces, engaging the mutable Virgo-Pisces line, with its instinct for taking the pieces and working healing magic to reshape the form.”

Mercury Retrograde in Virgo
“This is a brass tacks sign that has a genius for understanding how things work. Mercury in Virgo retrograde, then, can show us ways to reach our goal, by working out the steps. There may be a roundabout way to get there. That’s one of the gifts of Mercury Rx — new ways of seeing a situation. And with Mercury in Virgo, that can mean solutions to practical problems that you didn’t expect.”

And, inspired by the Grounded Dreaming of Virgo Sun & Pisces Moon…

This is an image from my Full Moon in Pisces Collage. It’s a revolutionary idea for me, but it’s only just occurred recently – to collaborate with my husband who is also an artist. As we’ve begun our collaboration together, it’s been so fun! And that’s what we are calling it BE SO FUN. (This is also a family joke.)

And here is my Dream Card for this year: Grounded Perspective

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Mercury goes Retrograde August 20 – September 12, 2010

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