Summer Solstice 2023

At the Summer Solstice, I gave a talk at the local community center here in Longmeadow.  We have lived here for almost two years, newcomers to this lovely town. 

The blurb in the newsletter said:  Julie offers perennial wisdom associated with the summer solstice.  Astronomy, astrology and archeology illustrate why this day has been honored since ancient times.  Come learn about the great shift of ages we are in the midst of, and how aligning with the rhythms of nature lends a sense of stability in turbulent times.  Enjoy a guided meditation to awaken your inner light.

So I head over with my laptop and handouts, prepared to give this talk as I have done since 2012.  Back then, I sat with notes on my lap, in my living room, sharing the information with my newly-formed meditation circle.  Since then, my presentation has evolved into a PowerPoint; I tweak it every year, adding pertinent astrological info and current events that out-picture the archetypal energies at play in the heavens.

When I arrive at the community center, they point me to a large room set up with chairs in the front and tables in the back, as if lunch had been served.  There's a small stage.   

Am I supposed to sit on this stage?  

The activities director hustles in.  He sets up a card table for my laptop and connects it to a screen that, viola, lowers onto the stage.  This platform is about knee high off the auditorium floor, and I realize I have no other option but to sit there to deliver my talk.  He asks if I want a microphone and I decline.  I have never sat on a stage or used a mic for this kind of event so...no. Thank you, I think I'll be OK without it.

About 20 people filter in.  Only two men.  I introduce myself briefly and indicate that there is  information about me and Blue Heron Healing at the table in the back.  If they are interested in being notified of upcoming special events they can leave their email addresses.  

Can they hear me ok?  No, a couple of heads shaking no.  So I hop off the stage to get that microphone.  

Distinctly out of my comfort zone.

But maybe the mic is a good idea because I've had an oddly long-lingering head cold.  My throat is still a little raspy.  I'm concerned about straining my voice or having it give out altogether, which of course is not a good look. I ask my audience to excuse the lozenge I have tucked in my cheek.

So here's me:  Testing, testing.  Hearing my voice through the speaker system  reminds me that I spent many years in local politics, in my former life in Wethersfield, speaking into a mic.  This is not a big deal.

I give my talk sitting at the card table on the stage, right hand at my laptop, left hand holding the mic. This deprives me of gesturing; I feel oddly handcuffed, but forge ahead. Things proceed smoothly, except for one guy who appears to be napping, lol.  The rest are engaged.  Once or twice I get up to point out something on the big screen.

I speak for 40 minutes, then suggest a break before we settle for the guided meditation.  A woman raises her hand, reminding me that I haven't asked for questions or comments.

She says, in a mind-blown kind of way, 

Who are you?  

Where have you been? 

 What's your story?

The esoteric info in my talk clearly resonates with her.  She says something along the lines of, this stuff is meaningful to me, but I rarely see out here in regular life.

I love this response!  

So I tell them how, many years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  How I was in Barnes and Noble after this distressing news, and found Louise Hay's little book, How to Heal Your Body:  The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them (heads nodding in the audience).  I look up: breast, left side of the body, and cancer.  

My diagnosis was a revelation: I wasn't nourishing myself.  

I was busy raising two daughters and volunteering in the community.  No one ever taught me the importance of taking care of myself. 

 Better to give than to receive and all that.

I've come a long way since then.  

All the women are nodding their heads.  They get it.

I describe my decision to study energy medicine as a result of that eye-opening moment.  It was a four-year program -- six long weekends from September to May every year, with plenty of assignments in between.  I have always been fascinated by energy dynamics, wellness, mind-body-spirit connections, the nature of reality and human nature:  Who are we?  Why do we do the things we do? How do things  get created?  Who/what is God/Source/the Life Force/The Great Creator/The Spirit of All Life?

I told them how I received reiki while undergoing radiation treatments at Hartford Hospital and it felt so good  I resolved to learn how to do it.  That led to the discovery of a local school of energy medicine.

I tell them I have a lovely healing space in my home and amazing clients that inspire me every day. They ask where I live.  It's a small town; everyone knows where our house is located.

Any other questions?  Another woman raises her hand and says, this is going to sound weird, but...and asks about extra-terrestrials (because they may have had a hand in some of material I presented).  In my world, this is not a strange question.  I elaborate a bit and then we take a five minute break.

A couple approaches and the woman says, Julie, you're not going to remember me but....  It turns out she is the sister of two dear friends from high school.  We both grew up in Utica, NY and now live in Longmeadow.  She has family news to fill me in on.  This connection is a joyful surprise.

And it turns out the mic is great for guiding the group into meditation because, at times, I almost want to whisper, and my quiet voice can still be heard.  Everyone is sitting with eyes closed, shoulders relaxed, journeying inward to their own light-filled core essence.

Afterwards, everyone makes a point to express their appreciation.  They leave their contact info for future programs.

As any speaker knows, this is gratifying.  In the weeks leading up to my talk, I spent time reviewing my presentation, making it more fluent and concise. I added relevant material I've come across since the last time I gave it.  I updated the design of the slides themselves.  All the while wondering if it's worth the effort.

It almost always is!

It's my practice to pick an oracle card on the solstice and 2023 is no exception.  From the Spirit of the Wheel Meditation Deck, I pick Freeze Up Moon.  Hmm, seems opposite the themes of the day of longest sunlight.

But the message is spot-on.  The keywords are:  Identity, Self-discovery, Vulnerability.

Like the snake shedding its skin, Freeze Up Moon represents letting go of outworn roles to reveal your true identity.  

I mentioned my former life in Wethersfield.  All those roles?  Gone. Only wife, mother, and friend remain.  New role?  Grandmother.  A role I embrace wholeheartedly.

Courage and patience are required to let go of the roles that have been smothering your inner light.  This is exactly what our meditation was about -- uncovering our inner light.

Shedding old skin may leave you feeling somewhat vulnerable.  The people around you, who are accustomed to your old roles, may resist this change.  

This one merits its own blog post!  Let's just say this dynamic has been up in a big way recently.

As you allow...your true identity to emerge you will feel your spirit lighten.  There is real freedom in true creative expression.

In my experience, this is absolutely true.  While nothing in my PowerPoint is original, what is original is how I pull it all together.  Arcane information from many fields of study, arranged to make the summer solstice as relevant to us as it was to indigenous cultures who honored the cycles of Nature in ways that we simply do not.  We rob ourselves of the richness of archetype and myth that pervade perennial philosophy when we are out of tune with Mother Nature.

I also highlight the tremendous transformative shift we are undergoing.  I describe it as fast and furious.  Does it feel like this to you?  Like circumstances that might have happened over the course of months or years are now coming at us at such an accelerated rate we can hardly keep up?  I provide archeological evidence of The Great Shift, foretold by more than one ancient culture.  I don't know how people manage the rocky times we are living through without this contextual knowledge. 

Finally, the oracle card says:  Now is the time to let go of the roles that limit your potential and take up the call to explore and express your true self.

This reflects the potential I spoke of at the center of the galaxy and the center of ourselves.  The principle of as above so below applies as I explain how the galactic center and our deepest core essence are described in remarkably similar terms -- a velvety black void, empty and yet teeming with unlimited potential.

The deepest place within us and the far reaches of  the Milky Way mirror one another.

Identity.  Self-discovery.  Vulnerability.

How do these resonate for you?

For me, they tie together like this:  

Self-discovery reveals that we are far, far more -- identity-wise -- than we were ever taught to believe.

 And self-discovery depends upon one's willingness to risk ever-so-tender vulnerability. 

Like putting together decidedly non-mainstream material that could easily be dismissed as woo-woo...

And stepping up onto a stage in front of a bunch of strangers...

And magnifying my voice.

Are you on a voyage of self-discovery?  Willing to risk vulnerability in the venture?  Where are you called to  magnify your voice?  What talent might you step up and share it with the world?

These are the invitations of the sun as she peaks in her annual arc across the sky. 

At the summer solstice energy culminates.  From this day forward, the days gradually become shorter until it becomes noticeable in the mellow light of Autumn.  Until then, enjoy the long, light-filled days  and the summer stars when night finally falls.  Most prominent is the Big Dipper, part of the Great Bear, Ursa Major.

May the blessings of the Summer Solstice 

Spill from the celestial dipper 

Onto your home and into your heart 

As we venture forth on the path toward Oneness

Into the unity of All That Is

 

Spring Equinox 2023: Endings and Beginnings

The sun enters Aries on Monday, March 20  at 5:24 pm (EST) marking the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere.  The prevalent astrological energies are endings and beginnings.

I've  been following astrologer Pam Gregory on YouTube.  She discusses the spring  equinox 2023 with Davyd Farrell here. They do a lovely job of expressing what the various planetary placements on and around the equinox signify for us humans on Earth.

I think of the planets as the chakras of our solar system -- each expressing it's own multi-faceted,  multi-dimensional characteristics.  How they express in relation to each other is similar to how our own energy systems operate within us.  How planets express in the houses of the zodiac is similar to how we manage our energy when under the influence of certain circumstances, life's challenges and opportunities.

Since the spring equinox marks the beginning of the astrological year, it sets thematic tone for the next 12 months.

Pam begins by noting the extraordinary surges of light coming at us.  Solar storms and auroras are creating electromagnetic instability (they may make you feel ill) but they are also upgrading every cell of our bodies. Davyd chimes in on the importance of doing our spiritual work, like venturing into the shadow psyche, as a way of clearing our energy bodies to receive the benefits of the incoming light.

These equinox energies are all about cleansing, clearing and purification -- shedding the old you in every sense.  

This is not the usual spring cleaning! These sweeping energies are of an entirely different magnitude.

Perhaps you've been letting go of old roles and identities, left and right?

Pam and Davyd share the archetypal mythology associated with dwarf planets featured in the astrology of the equinox.  These legends give us a feel for the very human dynamics at play.  Sedna is one such planet, named after an Inuit goddess.

According to legend, Sedna and her father were caught in a terrible storm at sea.  To save himself, her father tosses Sedna overboard into the frigid waters of the arctic.  When she grasps the side of their canoe, her father cruelly chops off her fingers.  Sedna and her fingers drift into the depths of the icy sea where they are transformed into beautiful sea creatures.  

Cruel ending, completely unforeseen new beginning.

Sedna shows us how terrifying it can be to leave traditional notions of safety and security behind -- only to be re-born as an exquisite and entirely new being.

Another dwarf planet, Manwe, is at 1 degree of Aries at the equinox.  Pam calls this the creator degree.  According to myth, Manwe and his wife created the cosmos.  He is the highest archangel, closest to the  mind of God.  Manwe's orbit around the sun is 289 years; his position at 1 degree of Aries on the equinox signals the beginning of the new earth.

Humea, another dwarf planet, is named after a Hawaiian goddess.  Humea represents fertility and connection to the Earth.  She uses her rebellious energy to save her partner, who was imprisoned for picking bananas (!) before the elite had chosen what they wanted for themselves.

Humea summoned the power of her ancestors and the community to return authority to the people vs. the elite  She teaches stewardship vs. ownership of the land by a few.  Humea shows us how inequity is unjust and unsustainable as a socio-economic model.

Humea's right relation to nature is being revived now in grassroots movements around the globe where humanity's relationship with nature is becoming the centerpiece of an evolving new spirituality.

We can also expect continued disclosures regarding elite financial and medical interests like big banks and big pharma. What has been hidden, toxic, or criminal (not mentioning any names) will continue to be revealed in the coming months. 

These endings are the death throes of the old paradigm.

Although this year's spring cleaning may expose some difficult truths, we are encouraged to move forward in love (Venus).  When triggered, upset, or disillusioned, Pam and Davyd recommend refraining from reacting and choosing our responses wisely.  

In addition to endings and beginnings highlighted at the equinox, we have a new moon in Aries the following day, Tuesday March 21.  As always, the new moon is a time to begin anew.  So whatever you're ready to begin working on, creating, or taking to the next level, let the potent combination of spring equinox and new moon energies fill your sails with the inspiration to take those exciting first steps.  

We are invited to release everything that doesn't reflect who we are becoming as citizens of the New Earth.  What has ended (or needs to end) for you?  Where have you found closure, resolution, or forgiveness?  This is the difficult spiritual work we are engaged in!  Congratulations if you have navigated the end of something.  You may have clung like Sedna to the side of her canoe, hoping to maintain the status quo.  Letting go, or being forced to let go, may have been painful.  Yet you may find yourself acclimating to a new sense of relief, freedom, and beauty on the ever-evolving path of your soul.

May the seeds of re-birth gestating within bring a re-birth of your True Self in all its grace and power. May every choice help you to realize (make real) the multi-faceted and multi-dimensional truth that you are a divine child of the Universe.  You are here at exactly the right time.

The more inclusive your perspective, the more loving your responses, and the more compassion you embody -- the greater your contribution to the massive evolutionary leaps that are highlighted in the celestial dance of the cosmos on the spring equinox. 

May the  many blessings of the spring equinox be yours!

 

Re-Opening after a BIG Transition

Most boxes are unpacked, the overwhelm is subsiding, and my healing space is ready.

I appreciate the clients I've already seen in my new space; are you ready for your next session?

This looks familiar, yes?

As you can see, we're in a historic home with many charming features.

Here's my consulting room!

These continue to be times of rapid transformation.  I'm finding that life is full to the brim, even overflowing, with what needs healing.  

What has been hidden -- in our psyches and in the collective psyche -- is being brought to light in order to be re-known in new ways.  

What's arising for you?

If your life is overflowing, let yourself receive some ease, balance, and soul-level perspective that can help you ride the waves of  ever-expanding consciousness.   

As we move toward the Fall Equinox, we're reminded of balance -- equal day and night.  Nature is always gracing us with her perennial wisdom.

Julie

Julie Montinieri

Energy Medicine Practitioner

Blue Heron Healing

​664 Longmeadow Street​

​Longmeadow, MA​

Special Delivery

It's the morning after the presidential election here in the United States.  Like so many others, I got very little sleep last night.

When the flurry of texts and calls subsides, I turn everything off and settle on my meditation cushion.  I sit at my kitchen slider facing the rising sun.

I'm listening to the Dalai Lama chanting OM. Following the rhythm of my breath, rolling in and out like ocean waves, I am gradually unmoored from election tension and sailing into silence.

When I sit like this, eyes closed to the sun, my inner vision is a field of undulating gold light. I'm reminded of a prayer I read recently in The Book of Runes by Ralph H. Blum.  I interrupt my meditation to retrieve this little volume.

I turn to the page with the rune I picked on Halloween. Sowelu looks like a jagged  S or a bolt of  lightening.  It's the Rune of Wholeness, Life Force, and the Sun's Energy.

Blum says this prayer, called the Gayatri, embodies the spirit of the Rune of Wholeness:

You who are the source of all power,

Whose rays illuminate the world, 

Illuminate also my heart

So that it too can do Your work. [1]

 

I recite these sentences in silence, inviting the Divine into my heart.

After a few rounds, they repeat themselves of their own accord as my inner space opens and brightens.

Behind the resonant voice of the Dalai Lama, there's the sound of something spiraling through the air, end over end, like a delivery from the ethers hurtling toward me.

I don't know exactly what happens in moments like these, but it feels as if the rays of the November morning sun are streaming into my chest. 

Suddenly, my energy field expands exponentially.  It's radiating like a great halo from the nucleus of my heart.

As if the Source of all power is activating my heart, illuminating my inner world.

      

After a while, my inner vision fades to purple and I take it that this transmission is over.

I draw a an oracle card, The Lady of Lightening.

The Lady of Lightening brings powerful forces of change into your life.  She tells you to expect a sudden shift in your circumstances.  Perhaps a situation you weren't anticipating arises and offers you the opportunity of a lifetime, or a series of Aha! moments culminates in a pivotal flash of insight causing everything to change just like that.  Maybe someone enters your life and pushes you to new heights.  You may have a brilliant idea that hits you like lightening.  

Be prepared; change is imminent, and a total paradigm shift may be upon you. [2]

 

 

This flash of insight penetrates the cloud of uncertainty that's been hovering for weeks as I navigate the pandemic, the election, and life generally turned upside down.

Later in the day my daughter sends a video from the OBGYN's office.  I hear, for the first time, the beating heart of our first grandchild.  It's pure joy to hear that steady rhythmic whooshing behind Meredith's happy voice.

It reminds me of something though....  That sound I tried to describe earlier -- like something spiraling through the air, end over end, behind the Dalai Lama's chanting.

It's the sound of a beating heart!

I don't know how to tie the synchronicity together like so many iridescent pearls on a string.  

But there are these moments when the flow of time opens, like a river to the sea, into eternity.  

Special Delivery

Illuminated by the Source of all power, 

My heart

Finds its way

Through the eye of the needle.

Slipping through that slender opening,

Into an infinite field of grace

Reverberating with the heartbeat of the cosmos.

As a baby's heart beats

Underneath the heart of her mother

My heart beats 

Within the heart of the Great Mother

And the love of each for the other

Through the great chain of being

Sparks creation.

1.  Philip H. Blum, The Book of Runes A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle:  The Viking              Runes (New York:  St. Martin's Press, 1993), 140.  This prayer is known as the Gayatri.

2.  Colette Barron-Reid, Wisdom of the Hidden Realms Guidebook (Hay House, 2009), 97

I Can't Breathe

This morning's news was no worse than any other.

Or maybe it was.

All I know is it hit me hard today.

Lead story -- Minneapolis is on fire.  Arson, looting, tear gas, riot gear, and pepper spray on full display as protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, erupt into violence.  Protesters gathered in Memphis and LA as well. 

Minneapolis intersection near Floyd's tragic death

I witnessed the last moments of his life.

I heard his last words, I can't breathe....

The police officer who pinned Floyd's neck under his knee has been identified as Derek Chauvin.  It appears he was putting his full weight into that knee.  I don't care what Floyd did, no one should ever be restrained so lethally and inhumanely.

George Floyd was unnecessarily murdered.  Chauvin is a murderer.  The officers who stood by and failed to intervene are complicit.  As of this moment no one's been charged.

As if that story were not literally sickening enough, the NBC anchors' next story is the Coronavirus death toll:

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND 

A deadly pandemic takes root in our country and Trump wishes it away like a miracle.
 
But when Twitter calls him out?  Full assault on social media.

Third news story.

Peter Manfredonia, UCONN student suspected in two homocides, has been arrested in Maryland.

Manfredonia allegedly hacked to death Ted DeMers, 62, with a machete.  He allegedly shot and killed Nick Eisele, a former high school classmate, and kidnapped Eisle's girlfriend, who was found uninjured in NJ.

Nick Eisele

The reason this story is heart-wrenching for me is that I know one of Ted's family members.  My friend is Ted's wife's sister.  She was on the news a couple of mornings ago, describing him as generous, helpful to everyone, a good neighbor.  His obituary says he was a craftsman of fine wood furniture, an outdoorsman, and looking forward to the birth of a grandchild that he couldn't wait to take for walks in the woods.

Ted DeMers

My friend is a sensitive soul. I cannot even imagine how horrified her family must be.  According to news reports, Ted DeMers was helping Manfredonia in his last moments on this earth.

Ted's loss leaves a gaping hole in a close-knit family that will never be filled.

These three stories took 15 minutes, a long time in TV news.  At 7:15 Hoda and Savannah finally turned to some good news.

The relief was plain on their faces.  Time for the weather with Mr. Roker.

But there are some days when I can't file it away and go about my day as usual. Injustice, unspeakable sadness, presidential irresponsibility, and tangible grief hover like the drizzle outside as I load the washing machine, unload the dishwasher, and pour a mug of tea.

As I take a deep breath, I remember George Floyd's final plea.

One of the protesters, a young black woman, asked reporters: 

When is it going to change?  When is it going to stop?

When will this litany of horror end?

And I realized that as long as I remain silent, I'm complicit too.

Impromptu memorial on the green in Willington, CT, Ted DeMers' hometown.

Moon Dark and Morning Pages

Moon dark is  that time in the lunar cycle when the face of the moon hides behind the shadow of the earth.

It's a mystical time when perceptual curtains in my psyche are drawn back and I can see, finally, what's been hidden  in the shadows of my consciousness.  Insights and epiphanies that have eluded me may reveal themselves when the moon slips into nothingness.

During moon dark, I see more clearly.

   

Astrologers call it the balsamic phase -- an inward, mysterious time.  The moon goes dark, creative energy ebbs.  I'm poised between cycles, waiting for the slender crescent to appear among the springtime stars.

This week, while the moon has been hidden in shadows, my own shadowy, unconscious dynamics became very clear.

I wrote some morning pages a few days ago.  This is a practice recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way -- writing three long-hand pages every morning to get rid of the mental clutter that's in the way of my creativity.   It's a private exercise.  No one sees my pages.

I haven't done them in a long time.  But during this quarantine confinement I felt tension building, so I sat at my laptop. What poured forth was like a giant, unflattering mirror dragged out of the back of the closet and propped up where I couldn't avoid my own reflection.

Maybe the virus has done this for you too?

It's as if life is a desk, piled up  with things to do. This and that to attend to.  Life flowing by.

And then the virus sweeps it all away.

Leaving open space.

My friend Deb, with unexpected time on her hands, is cleaning and organizing.  Yesterday she said, When I'm done with this all I'll be left with is my thoughts.

Exactly.

Writing those pages -- it was as if my consciousness was fed up with waiting to be heard and it didn't mince words. 

I'll spare you the content of my pages, but I have shared them with friends.  This is a big deal for me, letting peeps I trust see me exactly where am.

When I don't have my sh*t together.

Lo and behold, they relate.  They give comfort and good advice.

Today's new moon marks the beginning of a new cycle of creation.   I enjoy planting seeds of intention in the freshly tilled soil of my fertile psychic space.  Anything can happen!

In the next few days I'll experience that subtle shift from shadow toward light, as germinating seeds strive for the sun.  I think of that rich inner dark space as a deep well of potential.

Giving myself space to get clear -- by reviving the morning pages -- turned out to be a gift.  It woke me up to patterns of resistance that I've gotten used to, rationalized, and then felt crappy about.

And in response, so much wisdom came my way in the guise of friends who are, respectively, a life coach, a therapist, and a shamanic practitioner.  They say:  Let yourself be, for God's sake.  Soak in Epsom salts.  Put CBD oil under your tongue.  Try giving up dairy.  Or maybe stop judging your physical pain as bad.

This ascension we're in the midst of?  It's taking a toll on me physically but I don't have to assume it means I'm doing anything wrong.

Enter Uranus, the Great Awakener, whose cosmic agenda is to pierce through levels of unconsciousness and resistance! *

Astrologer Elizabeth Jones suggests that the most important question isn't related to ... what we've let go of but rather about what we are letting in (to our awareness).

This is huge...this sudden change, very likely a cosmic prompting from Uranus, has opened a window of opportunity  to co-create with the Universe something extraordinary.  

Something perhaps you've only dreamed or hoped for.  

Something that requires time you didn't have before

 and space to breathe 

and a new set of priorities 

and, perhaps most important, a fresh perspective of what might now be possible in your life.*

This new moon in Taurus, courtesy of Uranus (who moved into the constellation of Taurus in May 2018 and will hang out there for another seven years) has the potential to shatter outdated, no-longer-true-for-me, inherited beliefs.

In case you haven't noticed, this is happening in the collective consciousness as well. (Understatement.)

This would explain my meditation yesterday.

I came upon a doorway, set in a forest.  Sunlight was streaming through delicately budding branches.  Petals of early blossoms drifted like snowflakes to the ground. The double-door came to an arched point.  The left door was closed but bright yellow light beamed out of the right open door.  Inside, it was blindingly light.  I sensed myself on a cool healing slab of rose quartz.

It was a classic shamanic experience of instantaneous combustion.  I heard the phrase, Burn it all down.  I knew what this meant for me.

Uranus rules lightening, which is...how its energies work, often in an unexpected flash!*

Only my luminous bones are left -- the core of my being.  The scaffolding on which to build a new me.

How I come back to life, how I am re-animated by my own spirit...

Its up to me.

Collectively, it's up to us.

*Elizabeth Jones, Monthly Beacon: Astro, 4.19.2020, p.2

Hawk Perspective and the Great Awakening

I'm thinking about Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's stages of grief.  After a loss, I know I can expect to experience a range of emotions, but not in a linear way.  I might think I'm done with denial, for example, but find myself back there, unable to comprehend my pervasive sense of loss.

I'm mourning the loss of our ability to gather --  in classrooms, workplaces, and coffee shops.  I'm mourning the loss of connection that comes from celebrating Easter together, when Judy brings her famous meatballs, Marisa brings a giant salad, Sa stirs brussel sprouts, roasted until even I like them.  Ray entertains us, Bailey rolls her eyes, the adult kids arrive with wine and dessert.  The boys launch projectiles from the balcony. Joey lights candles. Michelle pours me a glass of sparkling Moscato. We reminisce about the ones no longer with us (irreverently).  Steve loads the dishwasher despite my protests.

I know we'll do all these things again.  I'll give my daughters big hugs.  I'll grocery shop without low-grade anxiety.  I'll place my hands on a client's heart chakra and channel pure love without worrying if I feel a cough coming on.

But right now?

I find myself in the anger stage of grief.  Between bouts of exasperation (I can no longer watch White House press updates), depression waits on the doorstep of my awareness.  I don't usually entertain depression, but sometimes I think if I'm not depressed, there's something wrong.  Deep sadness is warranted now, as daily death tolls rise alarmingly.

So I allow my troubling emotions.  But I also know that deep shifts are occurring. Something is stirring in the collective psyche that will

tolerate nothing less than the highest levels of integrity, truth, and honesty which will clear the way for new paradigms....*

This is the spiritual message of an astrological event that occurred over the weekend, the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction.

Pluto's immense power is felt in world events  and in the great tides of history.  It influences masses of humanity, enormous groups of people, and large organizations....  The planet governs the beginnings and ends of cycles of life....  Pluto clears ground for the future.  The force of Pluto is felt as an undercurrent of turbulence and uncontrolled energy.

Right?

Pluto

Expansive Jupiter rules over knowledge, higher learning, breadth of vision, and honesty.  The knowledge that Jupiter imparts is on a philosophical level....**

Maybe Jupiter's influence helps me remember that I am not my anger or anxiety -- I am the one who has the ability to watch myself experiencing my troubling emotions.  I'm feeling them, but also raising my awareness to hawk perspective -- soaring above ever-shifting states of mind to a level of consciousness  that's steady, free, eternal.

Where I can  breathe again.

Eckhard Tolle explains it best:

The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not...the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe your [thoughts]. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought, that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. ***

Without this capacity -- this higher-self perspective -- I risk being swept into a maelstrom of emotions that threaten to pull me under.

I use my spiritual sight, my hawk perspective, to slip into the realms of knowing beyond my thoughts.

Ascending to hawk perspective helps me comprehend the pandemic in the context of the great awakening that has been foretold for these times we live in.

The Maya prophesied that we, together with the precession of the equinoxes, would come full circle.  The hugely significant galactic synchronization of 2012 is the context of the  spiritual and cultural renewal that will enable us to solve our ecological problems and usher in a new...age.  

The dominant message emerging from the Mayan prophecies...is that we are the prophecy, and that whatever happens in the future is dependent on the choices we make.****

I can only comprehend this evolutionary big picture from hawk perspective.

When I get lost cycling through my sometimes-erratic thoughts and feelings, elevated awareness brings steadiness.

So when scary news reports and reality-TV press conferences become too much, I pull on my metaphorical wings.  I survey my surroundings like the hawk presiding over the pond from the highest bare branch.  Longing for spaciousness, I launch myself into the open sky, gathering momentum  until I'm spiraling ever upward, gliding above the fray.

Unfettered from my anxious mind, I surrender to spaciousness as open as the sky.

A lost ancient civilization with advanced knowledge of  great  cosmological epochs looked to us  as the bringers of light to new age of enlightenment. 

Adopting their galactic vantage point, I comprehend the pandemic as an event that will prompt ways of being that are more strictly in alignment with Who We Really Are.

Mayan Mural

Visionaries have a way of soaring aloft to perceive an ideal.  Bringing vision into reality is the very  heart of creativity.

If we are the ones we've been waiting for, there's not a minute to lose.




Sources

Jones, Elizabeth, Monthly Beacon, 3.20.2020, p.2

Joanna Martine Woolfolk, The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, p. 283 (Pluto) and  p. 258
Jupiter)

Tolle,  Ekhart,The Power of Now,  p. 14

Benedict, Gerald, The Mayan Prophecies for 2012, p. 188