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11 Dec 2015
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Make Room For Miracles: New Moon in Sagittarius

This month’s new moon occurs during the last few days of Chanukah on Friday, December 11th at 2:29AM PST. A celebration of light amidst the darkest nights, Chanukah’s central theme is to remember and publicize the miracle, reminding one another that miracles are a part of our life, happening all the time. Placing our menorah in the window ensures that everyone who passes by our home will at least have the possibility of receiving some light during these long dark nights.

Chanukah isn’t the only holiday this season that centers itself around the themes of gratitude, miracles and the returning of the light. All of our ancestors had specific yet similar associations with the sun’s cycles and this season.

As the days grow darker and darker until the Winter Solstice on December 21st we need reminders that the light will return, so we light candles, we wrap trees in tiny lights, we tell stories of miracles that occurred long ago and if we are wise we look for the miracles that occur in our lives everyday.

Miracles are a part of life.

They happen constantly and as humans we often miss them. Our gaze might be cast down when they fly by our eye line. Our hearts may have hardened against receiving them. We may have forgotten that we can actively manifest them. We might not know that there is a way to prepare ourselves to be the vessel for such miracles to flow through.

Preparing our selves for the miraculous takes deep introspection. It takes a willingness to see when our thoughts are rooted in greed or hate. It takes a great strength to notice the places inside of us that are bound in fear and trauma, rightfully so perhaps, but nonetheless withholding from us the experience of witnessing how grace is always wanting to move through us, always ready and at our service, and always willing to show up.

The fact that we have been traumatized, violated, beaten down and abused is not our fault. It is not a fault that we have within us. It is not something that is wrong with us.

It is, however, something that we have to carry.

The fact that we have perhaps participated in the trauma, violation and abuse of others is something that is hard to recognize, it’s hard to see in ourselves, it’s hard to acknowledge and it’s also hard to carry.

But we are not our worst decisions.

We are human and if we choose to see both sides of ourselves, the victim and the perpetrator, miracles can occur.

When we open ourselves up to more than just our own experience, we become more competent, loving, intelligent and connected beings. And that makes our lives fertile ground for miracles, healing and hope.

We are, as a world, in dark times. We are in jeopardy of believing that our hatred of others will protect us from the pain of life. We are in jeopardy of forgetting that our own hatred harms us more than anyone else’s could. We are in jeopardy of letting our minds and our hearts be poisoned against one another by the distortions of the deranged. Right now, we need all the miracles we can get.

Fortunately, miracles aren’t granted only to the holy, the pious or the righteous. Miracles aren’t saved for the popular kids that are so #blessed. That’s privilege and it’s a human construct that has nothing to do with actual blessings. Miracles are something much more interesting. Miracles are taking place all the time. In big ways. In teeny-tiny ways. Inside every life. Miracles simply exist. Without our force. Without our coercion. Without our manipulation.

Every time you love out loud you are opening a space for a miracle to enter. Every time you seek to create a safe and just world for all you are helping miracles to occur. Every time you remember that your liberation is bound up in the liberation of every other being on the planet, you have been granted a miracle. Every time we remember and act on the fact that we are all here to serve one another, we have been part of a miracle.

Hold that miracle up.

We need to see it. We need to remember it. We need to be reminded of the fact that there is nothing greater to give than our light, our awareness and our energy in service of all life on the planet.

Sagittarius is a sign that has boundless faith. Sagittarius knows no bounds. Sagittarius is down for possibility and excited by the open road. Sagittarius focuses on what works. It is a sign that acts on faith and has the enthusiasm of a thousand excited puppies unleashed on the world.

Sagittarius knows life is miraculous.

On Friday, December 11th at 2:29 AM PST, the moon will be new in Sagittarius. This is a new moon that can remind us that we have to have great amounts of faith in order to live life out on the open road.

This is the first new moon in Sagittarius that we’ve had with Saturn co present in about 28 years or so. Saturn, having recently moved into Sagittarius where it will stay for the next two years, is encouraging us to embark upon our journey with a great commitment to its process.

Saturn isn’t the easiest planet, nor the kindest, but it is the most serious. In Sagittarius, Saturn asks us what journey we might be serious about taking, what we are serious about learning and what spiritual pursuit we are serious enough about to take on in earnest. More importantly to note is what part of your chart this is all taking place in (read your new moon horoscope to find out). Since Saturn will be here for the next two years it might be helpful to use this new moon to consider what projects you are willing to commit to, which journeys you are prepared to take and which pursuits feel like they need your full-on yes in order to really get going.

Saturn in Sagittarius might also be asking us to harness our faith, show up for what we believe in and offer our lives as sites for the miraculous to occur.

The new moon is also getting a hopeful and invigorating trine from Uranus and a helpful heeeyyy there sextile from Mars. Uranus wants freedom, change and innovation. Uranus wants new, bold beginnings. Mars has courage. Mars has get up and go. Mars has what it takes to take it to the next level.

It takes courage to travel this path because what we face we do so mostly on our own.

The ruler of this new moon is Jupiter. The new moon is squaring Jupiter who is currently in Virgo. Jupiter adds an exaggerated tone to the new moon. It might magnify Sagittarius’s tendencies, like over indulgence and overestimation.

Steady your feet. This isn’t a race. We need conscious co-creators to take their journey one step at a time. Look at the horizon. Look to where you are going. Look to what is possible as you commit yourself to the path that you have chosen.

Declaring our commitment immediately calls in the possibility of doubt. That’s what choice does, it reveals what we allow ourselves to become constantly distracted by. Our doubts. Our fears. Our facades. But it’s too easy to make excuses. It’s too easy to be swayed by unfounded fears. It’s too easy to be unsure and to therefore stay in the same cycle.

This new moon is daring you to do that all differently. If you want a relationship, commit yourself to a practice of self-love, healing and preparing for them. If you want to open your own business, commit time every day towards learning about it and doing something towards manifesting it. If you want to feel good, commit to a self-care ritual and to loving yourself through each up and down. If you want justice you have to commit to making room for it in all aspects of life.

If we want anything, like anything at all, we have to show up for it in sickness, in health, in hopeful days and in ones where we despair. That’s what Saturn can teach us. If we want a miracle, we can at the very least prepare ourselves for one.

About the Author:
Chani has a degree in Feminist Counseling from George Brown College and a BA in Integral Studies from California Institute of Integral Studies. She has studied psychological astrology for over 20 years and is currently studying Hellenistic astrology with Demetra George. Chani devotes her spare time to studying, practicing and supporting restorative justice practices. You can find her at http://chaninicholas.com

09 Dec 2015
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The Gift of Goodbye

In order to make room in our lives for the new, we often have to release something we’re attached to — mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually. Letting go with grace may be the hardest task most of us will ever master. And it isn’t necessarily people we’ll be called upon to release.

Twice on my evolutionary odyssey I lost jewelry that was precious to me — both times, when I was at a crossroads in my growth and needed to relinquish a way of being that no longer served me. Each time, I was walking along the beach with a male companion who challenged my self-concept in a major way.

In the first instance, I’d placed my driver’s license and some money in a small change purse in my pocket. Just before we stepped onto the beach, not wanting to risk getting sand in my beloved onyx ring, I put my ring in the purse, too. When we reached the car after our stroll, the change purse was gone, and my ring with it. We retraced our steps along the beach, to no avail. An elderly man, observing my distress, asked what was the matter. As I related my tale of loss, he said sagely, “You lose something today, something better comes tomorrow. That’s the way it works!” But I was inconsolable.

A year later: another beach walk, another challenging relationship. I was wearing my favorite pair of rhodonite and onyx earrings. (Onyx was an important gemstone to me then. Interestingly, according to a crystal and gem awareness guide, onyx is said to assist one in mastering detachment…). At the conclusion of our walk, my right earring was missing.

Several years later, I participated in Angeles Arrien’s Four-Fold Way training at the Esalen Institute, on the ruggedly beautiful California coast. Part of our initiation involved making Native American “prayer arrows” and offering them to the Earth in whatever way we chose.

I elected to give my prayer arrow to the sea. Crawling carefully out onto one of Esalen’s magnificent rock formations, I suddenly became aware that I was wearing all of my “replacement jewelry”: the custom earrings I’d had crafted after the above incident, and an onyx and pearl ring I bought to assuage the loss of the old onyx ring. I hesitated, uncertain whether to continue and perhaps lose my new jewelry, too. Yet I felt differently this time. I was conscious in the moment of what was happening, and knew it would be okay.

I completed the release of my prayer arrow and later, when I shared my experience with the group, Angeles said, “This is an important story. The lost parts of ourselves always return when we are willing to attend to what we ignored or were attached to, and integrate it into our being.”

I’m continually amazed at how kindred our lives are. A friend in the midst of his own soul journey shared how he went dancing (another great form of release), first carefully placing in his pocket a treasured beaded bracelet that he considered his “power object.” At the close of the night, the bracelet was gone, and though he combed the dance floor, it did not materialize. He recognized the call to let go, and did so. A few days later, the woman who had made the bracelet resurfaced in his life, though they hadn’t been in touch for years.

We are all cells in the body of God/Goddess/Spirit/Source/Universal Mind. (Add your own favorite term.) Every goodbye is also a hello.

About the Author:

Amara Rose is a “midwife” for our global rebirth. Her services include transformational guidance, talks, e-courses, a digital download CD, and an inspirational monthly newsletter. She is widely published in health, business and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Learn more: http://www.liveyourlight.com

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07 Dec 2015
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Season of Stories

“The universe is made of stories, not atoms.”

~ Muriel Rukeyser

As we enter the year’s prime shopping season, stores tend to replace stories as the gift source of choice. I grew up in Paramus, New Jersey, the shopping capital of the known universe, where it’s easy to get “malled”, so I understand just how seductive — and soul diminishing — the material mindset can be.

Emerson said: “Rings and jewels are not gifts but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself.” How do we put the “I” back in “stores”, supplant material-eyes with empath-eyes? How do we create the new story of Now? We can begin by sharing who we are, as keepers of culture, guardians of wisdom traditions, members of a vast community belonging to something greater than ourselves. In re-storying the holidays, we restore a sense of continuity that is soul nourishing for us, and everyone around us.

I suggest a trio of powerful vessels for re-storying our lives. The first is Ho’oponopono, a Hawaiian teaching that means, “to make right” with all our relations, past and present. It encompasses the idea of forgiveness, along with a rather extraordinary premise: that by looking deeply within to correct “errors” in our own perceptions, we can heal emotional, mental, and physical dis-ease in others, since we are all expressions of the One Being.

Haleakala Hew Len, PhD, calls this taking “100 percent responsibility” and, indeed, it elevates the idea of being our brother’s keeper to an entirely new dimension.

Another example of re-storying in action is The Secret, the mega-popular DVD about the Law of Attraction (LOA). Most of us are familiar with the LOA concept: what we think and feel creates our reality. Seeing life as a basket of broken eggs is much less fun than viewing it sunny-side up. The latter mindset aligns us with our highest aspirational vision, and enables us to take positive action in the direction of our deepest dreams.

While on one level, the information The Secret presents is elementary, the film’s engaging scenarios and healthy dose of humor highlight its core message, making it a useful refresher in how to create the life we want — personally, professionally, and planetarily.

And this brings us to the third re-storying vehicle: Espavo. Steve Rother, channel for The Group, brought through this term, which literally means, “Thank you for taking your power.” The ancient Lemurian acknowledgment is akin to the Indian greeting “Namaste”, which means, “The Spirit in me recognizes the Spirit in you”, and the Mayan saying, “In Lak’ech”: “I am another yourself.” The distinctive difference is that, like Ho’oponopono and The Secret, Espavo carries an implicit call to action.

So as you prepare to gift those you love this holiday season, I invite you to invest in some new threads from the stories you visit. With autopilot turned off, it’s easier to reclaim your Wonder Wings. You already know how to fly. Espavo.

About the Author:

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06 Dec 2015
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The Evolutionary World Inside Our Brains

It is true that the greatest miracles generally go unnoticed. This is certainly the case for most of us when it comes to the complex function of our brains. Like every other body part, we mostly pay attention to it when it hurts or quits working. Just to give you a few ideas to help increase your appreciation of the amazing stuff that happens between your ears:

Modern physics has established that the world around and within us is made up of energy, rather than “things”. Even the smallest particles, such as electrons and photons, are “quanta”(meaning a certain amount) of energy. These quanta can appear out of, and disappear into, nothingness. And even if they were “things”, the empty spaces between them are vast. If the nucleus of a hydrogen atom were the size of an orange, the only electron of the atom would be the size of a cherry circling the nucleus at a distance equivalent to the length of a football field.

So modern physics has to agree to some extent with the ancient Buddhist teaching that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. No-thing-ness is the basis of existence.

It does not feel that way, though, when you hit your thumb with a hammer. So what is actually there? Electromagnetic forces that strongly repel each other. They give us the very convenient appearance of solid matter.

Your skin has built in sensors that respond to their electromagnetic interactions with “things” and report them to a specific part of the brain through electrio-chemical nerve conduction. The brain now creates an image of hard, soft, hot, cold, rough, smooth, and so on, out of nothing more than impulse computations.

What you see is what you get, but it’s not what is actually there. What the sun provides us with is light rays, vibration, radiation. Only a very small spectrum of this radiation is interacting with the sensors in your eyes, which translates into electrical impulses sent to another specific region of your brain. Color, shade, 3D depth perception, recognition of shapes and faces, finding meaning in little black scribbles on a piece of paper as “writing”, “seeing” a big black bird in your mind’s eye when you recognize the 5 letters on your computer screen that add up to RAVEN, all of that is a function of the brain’s perception.

When a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?

Actually, it does not. What it does is create shockwaves in the air. Only when some ears are present to translate the shock waves hitting the eardrum into electrical impulses sent to yet another highly specialized region of the brain, can we reasonably speak of “sound”.

And naturally, it is the brain that allows us to convey meaning through consecutive noises we make and call language. If you don’t believe me, travel to a country with a language completely foreign to you and ask where the bathroom is. Even understanding universal body language requires very complex brain functions.

To sum things up, the world “out there” only exists as we know it because our brains make it so. As humans we generally perceive the same events “out there” because “in here”, our brains are built and wired in roughly the same way. We have different filters that decide subconsciously what is worth noticing and what is mere background noise, but we generally agree that a tree is a tree.

A bee creates visual images by processing the ultraviolet radiation spectrum. Its world looks vastly different, and we can barely imagine how our tree appears to a bee. A bear has very poor eyesight but one of the most sensitive noses on the planet. Its reality is made up of entirely different sense integration skills than ours.

Creating a meaningful experience of the world “out there” is only half the task of our astonishing brains. There is also the world inside our skin that needs to be monitored and coordinated. Our conscious thinking comprises only a minute fraction of the brain’s information processing at any given moment. It is truly a blessing that we don’t have to make decisions regarding our blood acidity levels for effective oxygen bonding and release into the tissue, for example. It would be difficult to concentrate on reading this article while simultaneously having to focus on micromanaging our liver functions and hormone cycles.

Think about the inconceivable amount of computations the brain has to accomplish for a tennis player to hit the ball across the net. She has to perceive the speed and movement arc of the ball while rushing to the right place at the right time to hit the ball back with the most efficient muscle action of her upper body, and she has to calculate the exact angle, speed and force to connect the center of her racket with the ball to get it over the net to a location within bounds but preferably out of reach of her opponent. Her split second visual computations have to create an instant response of extremely fine tuned muscular coordination, balance, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, internal heat regulations, and much more. All of our most advanced supercomputers combined could not handle a task like that.

Since our conception, our bodies have grown from one single fertilized cell into a complex community made up of roughly 50 to 70 trillion individual cells. By the time we are born, these cells are specialized and functionally grouped together into most of the basic structures necessary for life on land: Bones, muscles, skin, connective tissue, organs, glands, blood and lymph vessels, body fluids and the immune system. But the nervous system requires another couple of years to fully develop and master skills like the ability to walk upright and language development.

Keeping our inner maintenance up and running non-stop requires so much information processing that it would be too slow and inefficient to do it all in one fairly remote location. Therefore our internal organs have nerve plexuses connected to them where functional monitoring and self-correction takes place on the spot. The heart itself is actually not just a muscle but is made up of 60% neurons like those in the gray matter of the brain. So we speak of a heart brain, a gut brain, and immunologists speak of the immune system as a mobile brain.

However, if our individual organs only look out for their own function and growth, without consideration for the needs of the whole, what we get is cancer. So it is absolutely essential that the activities of all of our body parts are connected, monitored and coordinated. That is what our central nervous system does.

The survival of the individual entity we call a human being depends on the willingness and ability of the individual cells and organs to communicate and cooperate for the good of the whole. When the whole dies, so do the cells and organs. This is not rocket science, but it is something the cancer does not know or chooses to deny.

Just a thought: what would happen if we applied the body’s wisdom to the whole of the human race?

In the past 100 years we have had two competing economic ideologies.

Communism was all about absolute, central control. This lead to a huge, bloated head and atrophied, non-functioning organs. The body was ultimately not able to support the head, and it fell.

Capitalism is all about the individual organ-(ization) taking whatever it needs to grow and prosper without regard to the consequences for the rest of the body. “Off with the head! It only gets in the way!” Has anyone seen the headless rider lately?

There is a third option. Our body proves it. But we have not seen it in action yet. Could it be that the human race is still so young that the nervous system of our collective body is still growing into its full function, and upright gait plus communication skills are just around the corner? In our previous attempts to get on our feet we fell on our behind more than once, and throwing tantrums has not been very effective in communicating our needs. But considering the age of our universe, the human race was only born a few seconds ago. So there is hope.

There is one more admirable capacity of our brain that I still need to mention:

Our ability to dream, imagine and visualize possibilities that have yet to be created. Our head-, heart-, and gut brains are capable of receiving information – inspiration directly from the Field. What is the Field? It cannot be described in terms of space and time, it cannot be measured, and it is an inescapable necessity for our most up-to-date observations of quantum physics to work. It is a concept that tries to explain the inexplicable: How can information travel faster than the speed of light?

It does, and not at random.

Switching from physics to metaphysics: there appears to be an Intelligence or Collective Consciousness that is in charge of our personal, collective and universal evolution. I am convinced that it is this omnipresent Intelligence that allows our individual Consciousness to inhabit a complex body grown from a single fertilized cell. It is also in charge of the growth and maturation of the human race as a whole. It has purpose and patience. Yes, we are facing a crisis, and the growing pains are profound. But the Intelligence that came up with this brilliant way of expressing Consciousness through physical form is certainly capable of guiding our continued journey from evolution of consciousness to Conscious Evolution past the present crisis. It is a journey worth taking!

Shana Dieterle, PT, CST, is a CranioSacral Therapist practicing in Missoula, MT. She has trained with the Upledger Institute International and is presently working on her Diplomate certification. It is her pleasure to explore the amazing health benefits of light touch therapy to optimize brain function and self-healing.

For further information and contact information, go to www.ShanasHeartofHealing.com

Make Room For Miracles: New Moon in Sagittarius

The Gift of Goodbye

Season of Stories

The Evolutionary World Inside Our Brains

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