Coming and Going

Here's your riddle for the month:

Are you coming, or are you going?

When you leave your home to go to a park, are you leaving your house, or going to the park? Of course, you're actually doing both, but what's happening in your mind? At what point do your thoughts switch from the act of leaving to the act of going towards, and how do you feel when you're engaged in those different frames of thought?

That's an easy one. Now let's catch a bigger fish...

When you leave your job/family/relationship/youth/insert-major-part-of-your-life-here, what is it you're going towards, and what's going on in your mind and heart as you navigate the realms of departing and approaching?

And for those moments when someone or something leaves you, what arises in the ensuing absence?

Sun in Pisces: 2/18/17 - 3/20/17

When the sun travels through Pisces, it's time to pay attention to your dreams - night dreams and day dreams. Mine your impossible fantasies for realizable potentials. Strip away the glitzy bits of dream-stuff, and uncover your unmet longings. Look them in the face, and say, "Hello."

It's also time to turn up the volume on your capacity to give and receive love. This is especially important in light of current events. Love enables 1, forgiveness - which frees us from the heavy bonds of anger; 2, compassion - which opens the door of our heart to others; and 3, joy - which deepens and enriches experience, and inspires happiness in others. And love will help you through the vortices of ambivalence, confusion and overwhelm that can catch us in the Pisces season.

Herbs for the Pisces month:

Drink a blend of equal parts mugwort, peppermint and clary sage before bed to enhance dream recall. Add mullein to your dream tea if you need to transmute unresolved grief. If you suffer from nightmares, you may benefit from daily decoctions of liver supporting herbs - burdock root, milk thistle seed, and dandelion root (simmer these dense herbs in boiling water 10 minutes or longer). To enhance your imagination during the day, a blend of equal parts garden sage, ginkgo, and jasmine flowers is quite lovely.

Nervines, friends. NERVINES. We are in the time between two eclipses, which means the tide is high in the energy department. The next eclipse is in a mutable sign, so tend your nerves: Mugwort, clary and garden sages, oat straw, passionflower, nutmeg, and vervain are a few calming herbs I recommend for this month.

Solar Eclipse in Pisces: 2/26/17 at 6:58 AM PST

Welcome to the last eclipse in the Pisces/Virgo axis until 2024. We are wrapping up about two years of lessons in the themes of choosing to be in right service, practicing discernment, balancing compassion and forgiveness with appropriate boundaries, and taking all the little steps that lead to the accomplishment of big dreams.

What's your capacity for giving love? receiving love?

Do you need to say NO to anyone/thing?

What do your dreams tell you about your deeper longings?

Do you have the courage to take actual steps towards fulfilling those longings?

What brings you back to center?

The potency of this annular eclipse is somewhere in the medium range. So heave a sigh of relief while also staying on your toes.

No really. Stop reading, elongate your spine, shake out your arms, get up on your toes, and heave a sigh of relief. Let your body tune your mind in to this dual message - poised and alert yet relaxed.

The chart for this eclipse combines a strong thrust of Pisces - watery, dreamy, sensitive, imaginative, prone to escapism and overwhelm, but also capable of vast love and compassion - with a strong thrust of Aries - fiery, feisty, action-oriented, quick to anger, yet courageous, protective, pioneering and loyal. Mars, the ruler of Aries, is currently activating a long-term tense T-square, which you can read more about if you scroll down in this link.

The short story is:

Stay present, tend your sensitivity with compassion, watch your temper, and be wary of the anger and aggression of others. We are officially in HOT WATER.

Herbs for this Eclipse:

If you've ever stubbed your toe, you have some sense of how many nerve endings are in the feet, which are ruled by Pisces. Foot baths are an excellent way to take in herbal medicine, so... Wake up early on 2/26, take any of the herbs listed above, and throw them into a foot bath to welcome the energy of this eclipse. If you need to build your capacity for love, throw some rose petals in too.

Venus Retrogrades in Aries & Pisces: 3/4/17 - 4/15/17

We continue the Aries and Pisces (a.k.a. HOT WATER) theme with our Venus retrograde, which begins in mid-Aries on 3/4, and ends in late Pisces on 4/15 (tax day in the USA). Venus' outer world expressions - finances, the experience of abundance, the getting along aspect of relationships - will be out to lunch during this time. Venus' inner world expressions - connecting with your sense of values, and your sense of self-worth - will be heightened during this time.

Relations and finances can go awry during this retrograde, but this handy Venus in Pisces/Aries questionnaire will lead you to some trouble-shooting tips:

Are you holding any anger towards yourself or others?

Is there anyone you need to forgive, including yourself?

Where and with whom is your heart fully engaged?

Where and with whom do you feel ambivalence?

What matters most to you? This may have changed since you last thought about it.

What and who is worth investing your time, energy and resources into?

Is there anything/one you need to withdraw your time, energy and resources from?

What/whom are you grateful for?

How can you practice deeper devotion toward those people, relationships, places and activities that are at the top of your list of priorities?

How do your priorities compare with the priorities of those you relate with?

What do your actions and decisions indicate about your sense of self-worth?

Full Moon in Virgo: 3/12/17 at 7:54 AM PST

This full moon wins some extra credit points in the energetic intensity test. For one thing, it's the apex of the lunation that began with the Pisces solar eclipse. In addition to that, Saturn forms a mutable T-square with the Sun and Moon. This will feel like a loud horn blast cutting through the cacophonous din of the longer-term cardinal T-square (Nov. 2016 - Apr. 2017).

Acknowledge any fears that come up for you around this time, but do not engage them.

Rather, EMBRACE CHANGE.

T-squares indicate hard-won, effort-ful, change. We are in it for the long haul - the lifetime of our individual selves, and the lifetime of our species is colliding with the concurrence of these two T-squares in the cosmic blink of a full moon day.

Things to do on this potent day:

Let something heavy go, and proceed with more ease on your heart-path.

Make one act of kindness to someone you love.

Make one act of kindness to a stranger.

Make one act of kindness to yourself.

Forgive yourself.

Forgive someone else.

Proceed with what really matters.

Proceed with love.

Next Month...

Saturn stations retrograde, Venus stations direct, and we complete the long-term, tense cardinal T-square influence with a full-moon induced bang. Until then, feel free to contact me or schedule a private consultation or healing session. May your heart abide in peace and know true joy. Thanks for reading, Rae