“We must remember that the feminine works in a non-linear fashion, so while many are impatiently looking to new-age checklists and dream dictionaries for a bottom-line, the final answer, they rarely find anything enduring. This is because there is a greater genius at work which we could never integrate all at once. Instead we must follow a mysterious and melodic trail, which lures us deeper into the unknown, fortifying our trust in that which is parenting us. One day, sometimes years down the line, we finally understand how the symphony resolves itself.”
“Cure yourself, with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon. With the sound of the river and the waterfall. With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds.
Heal yourself, with the mint and mint leaves, with neem and eucalyptus.
Sweeten yourself with lavender, rosemary, and chamomile.
Hug yourself with the cocoa bean and a touch of cinnamon. Put love in tea instead of sugar and take it looking at the stars.
Heal yourself, with the kisses that the wind gives you and the hugs of the rain.
Get strong with bare feet on the ground and with everything that is born from it.
Get smarter every day by listening to your intuition, looking at the world with the eye of your forehead.
Jump, dance, sing, so that you live happier.
Heal yourself, with beautiful love, and always remember… you are the medicine. “
Expansive full moon in airy Aquarius. We are in the midst of global change and chaos. Expect the unexpected.
Many people are feeling overwhelmed, tense, contracted and exhausted right now. Shallow, rapid breathing fans the flames of your inner chaos. Take deep, long breaths instead. Make your exhale longer than your inhale. If you are a student of yoga or pranayama, use Ujjayi breathing. Slow down, unwind and expand your energy with yin yoga.
Aquarian consciousness encourages us to expand our perspective. Change is always messy and chaotic. It is impossible to control, so stop trying. This is what is happening right now. Surrender to it.
Take a break from the news. Seek out the beauty and magic of life instead; the colors of sunrise, clouds dancing on the wind, cicadas buzzing in the trees, flowers quietly blooming, the feel of soft pet fur on your fingertips, the sound of a child’s laughter, an ice cold drink on a hot afternoon, the smell of dinner cooking, the full moon lighting up a dark sky tonight…
Life is still full of magic. Look for it.
And remember that you can be part of the healing medicine we all need right now by simply speaking and acting with kindness.
The Spaniards came to our village in 1524, but they couldn’t get anybody to go to their church, so they demolished our old temple and used the stones to build a new church on the same site. (This was a common practice.) But the Tzutujil people are crafty. They watched as the old temple stones were used to build the new church, and they memorized where each one went. As far as the Tzutujil were concerned, this strange, square European church was just a reconfiguration of the old. (When I was learning to be a shaman, I had to memorize where all those damn stones were, because they were all holy. It was like being a novice taxi driver in London.)
The Catholic priests abandoned the village in the 1600s because of earthquakes and cholera, then came back fifty years later and found a big hole in the middle of the church. “What is that?” they said. By then, the Indians knew the priests destroyed everything relating to the native religion, so the Indians said, “When we reenact the crucifixion of Jesus, this is the hole where we put the cross.”
In truth, that hole was a hollow place that was never to be filled, because it led to another hollow place left over from the temple that had been there originally, and that place was connected to all the other layers of existence. For four and a half centuries, the Indians kept their traditions intact in a way that the Europeans couldn’t see or understand. If the Spaniards asked, “Where is your God?” the Indians would point to this empty hole. But when the American clergy came in the 1950s, they weren’t fooled. They said, “This is paganism.” And so, eventually, they filled the empty place with concrete.
I was there when that happened, in 1976. I was livid. I went to the village council and ranted and raved about how terrible it was. The old men calmly smoked their cigars and agreed. After an hour or so, when I was out of breath, they started talking about something totally unrelated. I asked, “Doesn’t anybody care about this?”
“Oh, yeah,” they said. “We care. But these Christians are idiots if they think they can just eradicate the conduit from this world to the next with a little mud. That’s as ridiculous as you worrying about it. But if you must do something, here’s a pick, shovel, and chisel. Dig it out.”
So some old men and I dug out the hole. Then the Catholics filled the hole back up, and two weeks later we dug it out again. We went back and forth this way five times until, finally, somebody made a stone cover for the hole, so the Catholics could pretend it wasn’t there, and we could pull the cover off whenever we wanted to use it.
That’s how the spirit is now in this country. The hole, the hollow place that must be fed, is still there, but it’s covered over with spiritual amnesia. We try to fill up that beautiful hollow place with drugs, television, potato chips — anything. But it can’t be filled. It needs to be kept hollow.
For many of us, this may be the first time in our lives that we have felt so little control over our own destiny and the destiny of those we love. This lack of control initially feels like a loss, a humiliation, a stepping backward, an undesired vulnerability. However, recognizing our lack of control is a universal starting point for a serious spiritual walk towards wisdom and truth.
To be in control of one’s destiny, job, or finances is nearly an unquestionable moral value in Western society. The popular phrase “take control of your life” even sounds mature and spiritual. It is the fundamental message of nearly every self-help book. On a practical level, it is true, but not on the big level. Our bodies, our souls, and especially our failures teach us this as we get older. We are clearly not in control, as this pandemic is now teaching the whole planet.
Learning that we are not in control situates us correctly in the universe. If we are to feel at home in this world, we have to come to know that we are not steering this ship. That teaching is found in the mystical writings of all religions. Mystics know they are being guided, and their reliance upon that guidance is precisely what allows their journey to happen. We cannot understand that joy and release unless we’ve have been there and experienced the freedom for ourselves.
Full moon in Scorpio, the queen of watery, emotional depths. Raw, wild emotion is all around us.
Yes, life is chaotic and difficult to fathom right now. Yes, reality is shifting. And yes, you probably want to crawl under the covers and stay there for a good long while. Quite understandable in these crazy times.
Spiral into the heart of whatever you are feeling. Simply breathe and stay with your feelings. Allow yourself to be present with whatever comes up. Breathe and feel it all.
Airy full moon in Libra, lover of fair, egalitarian relationships. In the midst of pandemic chaos, all of our relationships have been altered. But within chaos, deep lasting change is also possible.
Examine your relationships. How do you choose to move through the world and relate to others?How do you relate to Mama Earth and all her creatures?
Most important of all, how do you relate to your own heart, body and Soul? Your relationship with your Self is key to whatever you wish to create in this life.
Look deeply, unflinchingly, lovingly at all your relations. Now is the time.
