Sun Enters Aries: Spring and the Super-Powered Seed

Jet Martinez, Te Quiero Tantito (2016)

Tomorrow in the wee hours of March 20, the Sun enters fiery Aries, the sign of “I AM.” We celebrate the vernal equinox with its full potential of springtime, and all that is new. Our hearts and minds, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, are prickling with fresh energy.

At this point, however, we know not exactly how this potential energy will take shape. It is tempting to force it into being, to have a plan, to make up a story with your ideas of how this, that, and the other thing are going to unfold this season and into summer. We immediately impose a mental framework onto this new baby potential of springtime. When this happens, we are in great danger of missing the magic.

I am about to launch my second book, Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation, into the world. It’s a matter of days now before the paperback and Kindle version go live on Amazon. I’m relieved, and thrilled, that this seed is going to burst onto the scene – finally! People will be able to read this spiritual memoir that I’ve toiled with for over ten years. Finally!

Now, have I any firm intention as to how this book is going to find its way in the world? How and when it will start walking and talking? To find its way to a bookstore virtual reading, an interview, a top-book-pick list? Nope. Do I have an agenda as to what it’s going to result in – more recognition, more students, more money, more, more, more…?

Nope. When I think of imposing a limited collection of thoughtforms – ideas of how it should be – onto this book baby, I lose all the magic, all the wonder, all the faith in Existence to show the way.

Of course, I absolutely hope that people enjoy the book and benefit from it, are inspired by it, or even transformed. But is that up to me? Not a chance.

I’ve done my part. I’ve fertilized the soil, I’ve weeded and tilled and toiled. I’ve been pregnant for years, had many false labors, premature contractions. I was in the delivery room for eons, it seemed, without epidural. Without drugs. A raw, natural childbirth that had both mother and emerging babe screaming and wailing in fits and starts. So many breach moments, so many crownings, fantasizing about forceps, asking for help, and more help, and more help.

Until finally, the little truth-seeking infant lands on the scene. Just about ready to be shown to the world. Packed chock-full with all its DNA ready at the helm, a life stored within from start to finish, a blessed star is born.

And of course, I have heard, seen, and felt pressure within and without to do a book launch the right way, the correct way. To get Facebook ads, more advance reviewers, a larger mailing list. To which I say, let’s see what happens! Let’s let the baby herself have a moment to show me the way.

At this time of Spring Equinox, when the potential energy within and without is throbbing, pulsing, ready to burst forth, see if you can take a moment to let it reveal itself to you, rather than imposing an idea of what should happen next.

We are coming off a year of being isolated, limited in movement, and more turned inward than ever before. We are ourselves blessed new seeds. Rumblings of reentry back into the bustling world are being heard across the globe. They are real rumblings, and surely we will reengage in a new way. Yet, let Life lead the way, try not to push too quickly or too hard. Lest you miss the magic.

Art by Casey Weldon

Equinox 2021

 

Reenter the world

come out gently but slowly

like a tiny bud at the tip of a branch

barely quivering at first sun.

A babe is borne, really raw

very tender and fragile.

 

What have you learned this past year?

Must you pick up all the old crap?

Can you leave those old patterns,

dust motes, habits, compulsions,

convictions aside?

Salvador Dali, Rosa Papilio

Can you accept the spaciousness

of a raw, empty palate-palette?

 

This is the opportunity you have been

waiting for.

The unknown, the void

with pure potential.

A seed with all life force energy

packed inside.

 

Release the need to control the outcome.

Trust the unfoldment of life.

 

Allow the sun, the rain, the

rainbow to feed the seed.

No need to know.

All by itself, life will grow.

~ Erin Reese

 

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering. Visit erinreese.com for more information. 

 

 

Fire in the Heart 🔥 New Moon in Leo

If you’ve been reading my articles, or had a session or attended a group with me over the past few months, you’ll note that I’ve often mentioned the incredible amount of HEAT on the planet right now. Mars’ long journey through the cardinal fire sign of Aries, due to a retrograde, lasts seven months, until the beginning of January 2021. Right now, this is being exacerbated due to a square to the prevailing ominousness of the Jupiter-Pluto-Saturn stellium in Capricorn that is raising hell with all structures, public health, political institutions, and control issues. Need I say more?

I’ve been talking about the heat, the fire, the kundalini shakti being raised all summer. I’ve suggested to my students and clients to stay ultra-aware of their energy field. To manage their internal energy systems with the keenest consciousness. To take responsibility for their own volatility, and tend carefully to what is needed internally and externally. I’ve discussed sex, food, cooling, electricity, anger, and family relations. I’ve advised exquisitely detailed listening to the body, mind, spirit. This is the way of responding and balance. 

As always, and obviously now, we must listen to the finest points of what our souls are asking. We will always know exactly what to do, and when to do it, so long as we are in the present moment. If you are fretting about the future, or dwelling in the past, you are already long-gone, and you will not be able to make any decision with clarity and confidence. This is why I teach Freedom in the Eternal Now and Unshakeable Presence.

Your life is always here, here, here. Nowhere else. (If you need assistance to see through the illusion of future-tripping, or past-melancholy, consider coming to an Awakening Group spiritual talk on Thursday morning, 9am PT. Email me directly for details.) It is vital that you drop into the moment, and embodied presence, if you want to be at peace through this great Transformation.

Things are heating up and will continue to do so over the next several months. Where is the reprieve? It is in your own heart. The opportunity hidden in disastrous planetary, political, and viral upheaval is to bring you back to what is already here, inside of the Self. It is from this place that you are able to make the move you need to make, to take the action that is being provoked, poked, and pushed by Mars’ fire at the moment.

Allyson Grey, Jewel Net of Indra, 1988

At this week’s New Moon in Leo (Tuesday, August 18, 19:42 PT) the Sun and Moon are trining volcanic Mars, and there is a grand opportunity to make a superpowered leap into your next life circumstance. It is vital that you listen. There is always a window to jump through, a hole in the net, a portal. What is it that your fiery courageous heart is telling you? Now is the time to have 100% trust in the Self, and be carried into the next chapter. We cannot sit back and wallow, eating up only what we are being fed from the fear-based collective, no. Go beyond, to that place in your self that is ready to risk it all, to make a move even when it doesn’t make “sense.” Your very heart knows what I’m talking about. Pack light, and make the leap.

I love you,

Erin

The real world is beyond the mind's ken; we see it through the net of our desires, divided into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer. To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering.

Full Moon in Aries: I Am That

Vivien Szaniszlo, Aries

This Sunday, we welcome a full moon in the fiery, cardinal sign of Aries, the headstrong Ram. The motto for Aries is “I Am.” Here, we find ourselves potentially facing themes involving personal identity. Here, in the First House, we experience Consciousness emerging from the Piscean depths once again. The I Am, spontaneously arising and aware of itself as a separate entity – the self with a small ‘s.’ This is the self that plays in the cosmic lila of daily life. It is never separate from the plenum, the whole, the Self.

I AM THAT

At this Full Moon in Aries, I highlight here an Aries teacher in my non-dual lineage – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a passionate, fiery Ram known for heated outbursts in transmitting fierce clarity. His teachings were compiled in the classic collection of Maharaj’s talks, appropriately called I Am That.

Here is a passage that nicely depicts the theme of “Living is Life’s Only Purpose.”

There is no question of failure, neither in the short run nor in the long.
It is like traveling a long and arduous road in an unknown country.
Of all the innumerable steps, there is only the last which brings you to your destination.
Yet you will consider all previous steps as failures. Each brought you nearer to your goal, even when you had to turn back to bypass an obstacle. In reality, each step brings you to your goal, because to be always on the move – learning, discovering, unfolding – is your eternal destiny.

Living is life’s only purpose. The Self does not identify itself with success or failure – the very idea of becoming this or that is unthinkable. The Self understands that success and failure are relative and related, that they are the very warp and weft of life.

Learn from both and go beyond. If you have not learnt, repeat.

I Am That, p. 107
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (April 18, 1897 - September 8, 1981) is an Advaita (non-dual) sage from Bombay. He was my Teacher Ramesh Balsekar’s direct Guru, so that makes him my ‘grand-guru’ so to speak. I’m so happy I’m a part of his lineage, because he was an embodiment of fierce Grace. Plus, his story is unconventional – on the surface, nothing special, and that's what makes it so special.

Nisargadatta lived in a dodgy part of town, close to the red-light district. (In fact, unbeknownst to me until later, the very first night I landed in Mumbai, I actually stayed in a cheap hotel that not-coincidentally lay just around the corner from his family house!) He was a simple shopkeeper. He actually was a corner bidi walla – he sold hand-rolled cigarettes and other variety items in a local corner kiosk. He smoked. He ate meat. He had a family. And… he was wide awake.

Nisargadatta (nisarga = natural) was largely illiterate. He wasn't a scholar of the scriptures. He did love bhajans, however, and continued to sing and revel in the music of the Divine until his end. He 'woke up' pretty much on the spot after a friend brought him to a Bombay guru. The guru told Nisargadatta that all he needed to do is unwaveringly remember that his true nature was the Entire Universe – Brahman. Nisargadatta, with his simple nature and uncomplicated mind, clung to that truth with all his might and all his being. As a result, without any sadhana besides total faith and trust, he merged into complete Oneness and absolute realization.

Over the years, Nisargadatta continued his householder duties and maintained his cigarette shop, but in a totally non-attached manner. He still conducted the same actions as before – he never gave up bidis or meat, stating that, “yes, the body has retained some habits.” But now, the true knowledge of jñana was the constant flow. All sense of personal doer-ship had been uprooted. Nisargadatta was fully immersed in Consciousness. The ego had been reduced to a speck – just enough to keep the personality on the planet…

And, his personality is one of his claims to fame in the spiritual hall of sages: Nisargadatta is known for his angry outbursts and unpredictable spouts. If anger was necessary to drive home a point to a disciple, he wouldn’t mince words. The thing is, he was fully unattached: as soon as the point was made, full release of the anger also happened, just as quickly as it came. He might laugh at a disciple's joke in the very next instant. This is because ‘no one was there’ – there was absolutely no involvement or identification. He was a true 'gunatita,' flowing like water between tamas, rajas, and sattva qualities. This dispels the illusion that a sage has to exhibit a particular behavior to be a sage: a true sage is beyond qualification. Nisargadatta was as natural as an ocean that ranges from placid to torrential, depending on the energies afoot.

I Am That: Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is mind-blowing. I first came across this book in Rishikesh in 2002, my first visit to India. At the time, it went right over my head. I couldn’t understand it at all. It took several trips down the non-dual rabbit hole and a bit more spiritual maturing before I’d be able to absorb the teachings therein. After I met my Teacher, Ramesh, I got 'it' - 'it' meaning an intellectual understanding of nonduality - and then, Nisargadatta’s words flowed like sheer poetry.

It’s known as a ‘modern spiritual classic.’ I used to read one of the short chapters each morning, sitting on my balcony in south India, birds chirping as the Sun rose. Sometimes, tears would stream down my face as my heart opened with awareness. It’s impossible to put the absolute truth of consciousness into words. This is why poets and fantasy writers and artists are so important: we can understand indirectly.

It’s like the Buddha said when it comes to teachings, “the finger pointing at the Moon is not the Moon,” but it at least shows us the way. Ultimately, we have to experience it directly, for ourselves, and in the Heart.

Usually, if the experience brings you to tears of joy or – in some cases – bittersweet pain, you’ve hit the right spot.

Go there. 
  

 
New Podcast: Listen to Erin’s October non-dual satsang 20-minute intro, now up on YouTube: “Never Not Here”

In this intro talk to the monthly in-person Oakland satsang, Erin discusses that which is never not here, that which does not come and go. All there is, is Consciousness. That is your True Nature. We are not separate...

Erin Reese, M.S. is a transpersonal spiritual teacher, author, and modern psychic based in the SF Bay Area. Erin is deeply rooted in the Divine Feminine and a channel of Kundalini energy. She spent many years studying yoga and non-dual philosophies in India, receiving transmission from sacred sites and spiritual masters. Erin works with clients all over the world.

Oh, and HEY! Follow me on INSTAGRAM!

Hurrah! I'm new to IG, and it's finally time to join the party.

Please click here to follow me on Instagram. I'll follow you back!

I'll be experimenting with posts, IGTV, and video soon!

New Moon in Aries: Get Your Motor Running

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way.

~ Steppenwolf, “Born to Be Wild” (1969)

Ready for blast-off? Today we welcome the New Moon in Aries, cardinal fire sign of the Ram. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, the supersonic seed that bursts through the ground, proclaiming new life. While all new moons are ‘seed planting times’ for the next lunar cycle, April’s new moon packs extra punch. Think, bursting life, fresh DNA uncoiling out of the seed coat as it erupts into the soil. Think, raw potential, kinetic energy, creative life force. This. Is. Your. Life.

Get ready for a seed idea to be revealed, or your life to take up a new course in the area of your birth chart that Aries lights up. It is bound to be noticeable! This New Moon in Aries is about: risk, courage, and the reward of experiencing something ENTIRELY new and unknown. 

EXPRESS YOUR “I AM” FACTOR 

At this New Moon-time, we are called – nay, make that provoked – to be even more authentically ourselves, and to make that self even more known to the Other, to the world. If we try to hang on the bench, cling to the sidelines, then we’re bound to feel stifled, to crumple, to cave in. This could cause resentment, irritability, and – in the deepest cases of entrenchment – even illness.

And if we have this fore-knowledge, we can use it. That’s the gift of astrology. So, where are you holding back? Where are you playing it safe? Where are you afraid to ‘make yourself known’ to the world?

Like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die

This is important. We can pay attention to the temptation to lull for years at a stretch, to chunks of time where we may be trying to rest on our laurels, chilling out, cruising through life comfortably. But if we listen closely, we realize something is nagging. Something is pricking. We can’t sleep at night. We know we have more to offer, we know there's more to learn, to develop, to bring to the surface. This is indeed that Aries seed, poking through the soil. Your calling. It’s time to burst forth and climb higher. Is this the moment to actualize your potential? You must, for it is Who You Are.

MAKE IT HAPPEN

The competitive, driven, and willful tone of “Just Do It!” Aries urges us to get going NOW on new projects. We are spurred to initiate fresh ventures and embark on journeys of great significance. Something new wants to burst forth in our life; most of us already know what that “Something” is, for it’s been rumbling under the surface for several months.

Sun and New Moon in impatient, achievement-oriented Aries are urging us to keep our eyes on the prize, to go for the mighty goal that makes us quiver in our boots.  Aries provides us a phenomenal amount of courage. Aries hates boredom and stagnation, turning to adventure, risk, and change to keep life perpetually interesting.

You know you need to make that move, take that leap, quit that job, start that project – and even if you’re spooked, you know the adrenalin rush will carry you through. If you have doubts because facing the unknown is just plain scary, take comfort in one of my favorite quotes from William Hutchison Murray (oft attributed to Goethe): 

“What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

That’s the way! So tap into your courage reserves, inhale a big breath of life-giving oxygen, and start climbing, steady as she goes. At this New Moon in Aries, bolstered by the raw energy of your wild man or woman spirit, you really can move those mountains.
 

Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

Go make it happen!

Erin Reese is an author, spiritual guide, astrologer, and modern psychic reader based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with clients all over the world. For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her directly. She can be reached at erin@erinreese.com.