The Gemini-Sag Eclipses: Be Crazy Dumbsaint of Mind

Holy Fool in Convertible on New England Coast

These are wild times, eclipse days. Many of us felt the recent Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius like being in a washing machine on ultra-spin cycle. Sagittarius – expanding our view, stretching us even further beyond the beyond. And now, we gear up for the New Moon solar eclipse on June 10 in the mutable air sign of Gemini. Whew, another wild card en route!

Yakety-yak, don’t talk back – or DO talk back. Gemini Twin energies want us to keep talking, writing, dialoguing with self and other. We need new information, and we need to think critically (remember that?) about what we are reading, imbibing, hearing. How do you know what you read or hear is True? Because your heart, gut, intuition give you a green light. How do you know if what you read or hear or even think is false? Because, if you give yourself a second to sit with it, you’ll feel a subtle or strong feeling of disgust, heaviness, repulsion, insidious anxiety. Allow serenity to be your barometer to Truth. And, that doesn’t mean you are never angry, sad, frustrated, upset. These are gifts, pointers to Truth as well.Simply remember that peace is the ultimate root underneath it all.

Another theme with Gemini/Sag eclipses is dissemination of information, through books and travel and movement, long and short distances. Where are you being moved to gather new inspiration? Are your mental moorings needing to be loosened, freed? Are you, as Kerouac wrote, allowing yourself to “be crazy dumbsaint of mind”? As we gear up for next week’s New Moon Solar Eclipse, we might have a chance of enjoying, loving, laughing and easing through it by cultivating our HOLY FOOL archetype.

Pilgrimages to Cultivate Your Holy Fool

Recently, my Beloved and I took a trip to the East Coast for a family wedding on the Maine coast (see Exhibit A: Holy Fool in Convertible). We also spent time in Boston and Western Mass. I took the opportunity to make many a literary pilgrimage to bless my Book Baby. I took my new book Truth Seeker to all of these sites to request the spirit of writers whom I admire to imbue the book with their love and to show them what their inspiration contributed to! Thoreau, Dickinson, Emerson – and most importantly, to me – Kerouac.

I invite you to make large and small pilgrimages to sites and spots that symbolize that which inspire you, that you want to amplify. Pilgrimages are powerful nods to the personal and collective psyche. I wanted to not only enhance my own connection to these writers’ work, I was remembering the metaphysical principle that “as we do one thing, we do all things.” We are not separate. My visitation to these sites was not just for me, for Truth Seeker – it was for YOU, too. I wish for YOU to keep reading, learning, thinking CRITICALLY and questioning the mainstream narrative. To keep digging in deeper. To keep jumping off your cliffs, and diving in to deeper evolutionary waters. Tell yourself the truth. What do you KNOW? What do you most need to admit to yourself? Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, or barely journal – you can use the principle of journalistic observation to tell yourself the Truth about how you feel, what you sense about the world, the cosmos, Consciousness within and without.

For this reason, I made an effort to visit these great masters of the written word.

#1 Parker House Hotel in Boston, MA, where Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathanial Hawthorne et al gathered to discuss topics of the day and their Transcendentalist writing. Parker House is the oldest running hotel in Boston and an historical hotspot, no doubt. Erin’s key inspiration in high school: Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” (1854) – a treatise on individuation; highly recommend.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Emerson

Walden Pond, Concord, MA

 #2 Walden Pond in Concord, MA to pay respects to Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862). Literary pilgrimage, asking for blessings for my new book from this great Transcendentalist and early environmentalist advocating simple living; Thoreau was of course a disciple of Emerson and author of "Civil Disobedience."

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

-Walden; or Life In the Woods, 1854

#3 Paying respects at the Amherst, MA grave the great poetess Emily Dickinson, way ahead of her time. She inspires me in her depth of wisdom and clarity and soul. If you're a fan, I recommend watching The Belle of Amherst (1976) with Tony winner Julie Harris.  Streaming on Kanopy with your library subscription. 

Here’s another I drool over:

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – 236

I keep it, staying at Home –

With a Bobolink for a Chorister –

And an Orchard, for a Dome –

 

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –

I, just wear my Wings –

And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,

Our little Sexton – sings.

 

God preaches, a noted Clergyman –

And the sermon is never long,

So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –

I’m going, all along.

-Emily Dickinson, 1864

 

#4 THE CRESCENDO. At the Lowell, MA grave of Jack Kerouac. “The road is life.” Bless you, Ti Jean.

I am a Beat Lit freak. Kerouac is a cornerstone, yet just the tip of the iceberg. I devour it all – Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, Snyder, and the women Beats Joyce Johnson, Diane Di Prima, Patti Smith, JoAnne Kyger – these are my people. Spontaneous Bop Prosody. Allow Consciousness to do the writing.

We placed a cig for Jack on the grave, next to my book and the empty minis of tequila others had left. Inspiration: Belief and Technique for Modern Prose – must read! Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind.

As I said, pilgrimages are beyond recognized spiritual spots. It can be a coffee shop where you first met your lover. A chaparral trail where you saw your first phainopepla. Any place where magic has occurred. Where your hero/heroine was born, walked, loved, ate, taught, died. Your psyche, your soul will know – you are connected. Let Gemini move your feet to the beat.

Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind. Your Consciousness will live forever, for it is not separate from All That Is, and Ever Was and Ever Will Be.

All my love,

Erin
 

BOOK REPORT!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy with my book launch, which turned out GREAT. If you were there, THANK YOU. I appreciate the support! It was a lot of fun, and I was totally astounded by the geographical range of turnout. The two live Zoom calls, celebrating the birth of my book, Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation, had folks from the following places (among others!) in true Full Moon in Sagittarius international spirit:

 

Croatia

London, England

Glastonbury, UK

Berlin, Germany

Essen, Germany

The Netherlands

Malaysia

Bali, Indonesia

Japan

NY, NY

Philadelphia, PA

Portland, OR

San Francisco

Los Angeles

Joshua Tree

Santa Fe, NM

Tucson, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

Costa Rica

Oakland/East Bay

Mallorca, Spain

Chicago, IL

Portugal

Lake Tahoe, CA

Baton Rouge, LA

Florida

Sacramento, CA

Houston, TX

 

Have you read Truth Seeker yet? If you prefer supporting your local brick and mortar bookstore, you can order the book straight from your local bookseller. Otherwise, it’s available on Amazon Prime in paperback and Kindle here. I continue to be touched by the reviews (keep 'em coming, please), like this one from an appreciative reader in Washington State:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is alive!

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2021

This story is an energetic and forthright articulation of a personal journey written in easy flowing prose. The narrative flows outward from the pages and engages one's deeper attention in a subtle manner becoming a bridge of consciousness - as if one were bathing in her vision. It is a "living" experience pointing at the core, inexpressible truth of love and life shared from the heart.

 

Holy Fool in Convertible on the New England Coast

 

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.  

 

 

 

New Moon Eclipse in Sagittarius: Intergalactic Evolutionary Shift

Today, we have a new moon total solar eclipse in the mutable fire sign of Sagittarius, the truth-telling seeker. I’ve been looking forward to this eclipse; it’s giving everyone the simultaneous space and energetic oomph to prepare for the next VERY BIG event on December 21, the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the sign of Aquarius.

I have some information to share with you regarding this eclipse that is bordering on airy-fairy. For shame! Still, I can’t deny it – I must come out of the closet a bit more. I’m going to use words like ascension, paradigm, and dimension. Remember, these are just words used to describe evolutionary shifts in consciousness. I don’t really want to use them either, but I’ve not yet come up with new words yet, even as a Gemini Rising and Gemini Moon. For now, bear with me and by all means, CHECK with yourself to see if what I am sharing resonates with you. If not, throw it out.

Many if not most of you will have heard some of these things already, especially over the past year. I’m particularly writing this for those folks who have been on the cusp of understanding this shift, in themselves and others, but maybe need a bit more encouragement to “go there,” and accept what is happening.

This week, with the eclipse energy permeating our very cells, we are in preparation for the upcoming 12/21 conjunction. THIS WEEK it is important to release, release, release any contracts, relationships, old belief systems, concepts that are old and outdated. You may find that you need to go within more this week. You may find that you need more quiet, space, time off. You may naturally eat cleaner foods like soups, dals, broths as you’re lightening up. Drink more water, get fresh air.

Everything and anything that you can release, wrap up, say farewell to, is great THIS WEEK.

Why?

Because on 12/21, with the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius, we need to be ready to take in all of the new light-filled information and consciousness that is about to flood the planet. This is a MAJOR SHIFT for humanity. It is NOT political. I repeat: this is NOT political. Those who are in tune to this evolutionary shift reside or will reside primarily outside of the old societal landscape, on an energetic plane. We are ending the OLD – the Capricorn traditional systems, infrastructures, and calcified belief systems.

We are shifting into an intergalactic, interdimensional frame of consciousness. This is literally rewiring our light bodies, our DNA if you will. We will no longer be functioning in same perceived realm of cause and effect. Some folks call this switching from 3D into 5D – that’s fine, it’s just a label. Some folks call it moving from ego consciousness to Divine Consciousness, some say “ascending,” some folks say “awakening.” No matter what you call it – what is important, is to feel it, to live it, to trust it.

This is thrilling stuff, and it is going to take some awareness on your part, especially for the next 2-3 weeks. Some of you might feel more grounded than others. Some might feel completely “off planet.” These are the stages we can expect (and you can see where you are personally – some of you have already gone through all of them, or may be just beginning – no matter):

• Preparation and Release of Old
  
• Allowing and Trusting
• Receiving the New Information and Energy
• Experiencing and Embodying
• Integrating and Stabilizing
• Living Fully in New Dimension   

When I speak of the difference between 3D and 5D, or ego vs. divine consciousness if you will, envision before you two different railroad tracks. You might be flip-flopping back and forth between tracks. You’ll feel it start to get more and more uncomfortable, until eventually, you’ll shift into full-time 5D awareness, stabilizing on the new track.

The thing is, your body-mind has to come along with all of this. Some of the symptoms you might experience are:

-          Dizziness, vertigo

-          Pressure changes in the head

-          Kundalini activity (shaking, bouncing, quivering)

-          Sensitivity to sounds and different pitches

-          Changes in visual perception

-          Changes in taste, smell, skin sensitivity

-          Sleep disturbances (don’t fret, it won’t last)

-          These are just a few possibilities. You might find that you need to STAY WARM, you might need to cool off. You might need celibacy, or you might need more sexual activity. Listen to your body, and give it whatever it needs right now; this will help the process.

Why is this happening? I am not keen on the word why, because it invites the mind to cling and identify. The answer is – because it’s necessary, simple as that. It is because Life has a need for it. Evolution.

Is there a reason, an intention, a trajectory? Sure, we can easily make up a story around this. But stories are often traps, so hold them lightly.

Saturn and Jupiter – Grand Conjunction in Aquarius (and Meditation) 12/21

The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter occurs at 10:20 a.m. Pacific on Monday, December 21. (The actual Winter Solstice occurs at 2:02 a.m. PT that day.) I am going to host a free 45-minute meditation on Zoom at 10am Pacific on Monday, 12/21 – please reply to this email and let me know if you would like to attend. I will leave the Zoom room open for folks to enter/leave easily and quietly, so you may stay as long or briefly as you like.

This dance of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius is very exciting to me, a native Water Bearer who was literally born for this.

Last night I was moving a ton of kundalini energy through my system; I felt like I was channeling between earth and sky for all of humanity, moving it out, moving it out. It went on and on; I finally had to take a break, and I knew I could because I’d be telling you about this, and you can now start to move this energy through your body-mind yourself.

I had the feeling there could be an earthquake in the next few weeks. NOT TO BE AFRAID. The earthquake very well could be INTERNAL.

Allow the earth energy to come up into the body, into the root chakra.

You may also simultaneously, before this or at a different time this week, notice old energy draining out your legs, down through your feet, into the earth.

We are moving out old, calcified Capricorn energy. We need to make space for Aquarius now. (This is not a dig on Capricorn energy – eventually we’ll let go of Aquarius, too (it all goes into the Piscean noumenon of Oneness, until it will begin again)… It’s what’s here now…)

Again, allow structures, beliefs, shoulds and ought-tos, political and social constructs, responsibilities that don’t belong to you, financial paradigms etc. etc. to drain away. They are being lifted.

You may become aware of a new form of protection – like a super-sized spacesuit – which is actually more of an aura – that will shield us instantly at any time we need it. Sensitives may be able to feel this in their energy field already. A spacesuit of light that is strong and impermeable to the false, to harmful limiting beliefs.

You may find that a friendship or job relationship or partnership ends – no worries. You may also find that physical items want to be purged. You might start losing weight easily. You might finish up tasks that have been weighing on you. All of this is making space for a new reality of ease, grace, and enjoyment.

This is so not about stay-at-home orders, yet at the same time, consciousness has orchestrated this pandemic perfectly so that you have more time to retreat, to rest, to experience this shift without disturbance. Staying at home is allowing those who might not otherwise take time to stop, to stop.

We are moving into a new dimension of reality. Remember this is necessary for you to step into being an intergalactic human, and welcoming ease, grace, and enjoyment once the body-mind is stabilized and integrated on the new “track.”

Ease, grace, enjoyment. One more time: Ease, grace, enjoyment.

This is not personal. It is not political.

It is not about being special, or being woke.

It is about evolution. 

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. Visit erinreese.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those who want more technical info...

Times are Eastern

Dec 14	11:16 AM	New Moon Total SOLAR Eclipse	23 Sag 08'
Dec 15	11:21 AM	Venus enters Sagittarius	Ven 0 Sag 00'
Dec 15	5:17 PM	Chiron Direct	Chi 4 Ari 56'D
Dec 17	12:04 AM	Saturn enters Aquarius	Sat 0 Aqu 00'
Dec 18	12:25 PM	Juno enters Sagittarius	Jun 0 Sag 00'
Dec 19	8:07 AM	Jupiter enters Aquarius	Jup 0 Aqu 00'
Dec 20	6:07 PM	Mercury enters Capricorn	Mer 0 Cap 00'
Dec 21	5:02 AM	Sun enters Capricorn	Sun 0 Cap 00'
Dec 21	1:20 PM	Jupiter conjunct Saturn	Jup 0 Aqu 29' conjunct Sat 0 Aqu 29'

 

Full Moon Eclipse in Gemini: Think for Yourself

"A holy person is someone who is whole; who has, as it were, reconciled his opposites." - Alan Watts

Tonight, we have a full moon lunar eclipse in the mutable air sign of Gemini, the mentally questioning and flexible Twins. Eclipses are known for big surprises and major life changes that seemingly come from nowhere. Does that make you uneasy? Well, if we’ve learned anything in 2020 it’s that anything can happen, and change is swift and unpredictable. If you can get on board with impermanence, you might be able to ride the wave and enjoy the activity. Highly recommended.

The eclipse in the sign of Gemini Twins brings up the theme of opposites, polarities: hot and cold, light and dark, beautiful and ugly, yin and yang, etc. The critical thing to understand – that is, if one wants to be free of existential suffering and angst – is that polarities are perceptions. What is hot to one, might be cool to another. When is it a warm day to an eskimo? A hot day to a desert dweller? Think about couples sharing a bed – who needs the blankets more at night? Who wants a cooler room to sleep in? Perception!

And regarding beauty and ugliness – have you noticed the range of beauty exhibited in movies made outside of the image-focused U.S.? Humans with real features, real aging, real noses, teeth, body size, etc. are considered beautiful, and not ugly. Put those real folks in a Hollywood film? Doesn’t happen so much unless they are cast as the outcast or oddball. Perception!

It is the mind that creates issues by labeling and judging appearances. To be free is to go beyond these fixed ideas, and that is where Gemini the Questioner can be a guide. In addition, Neptune in Pisces stationed and turned direct Saturday, November 29, giving us the power to dissolve our fixed perceptions and allow things to be a bit more fluid – our thinking, our timing, our dreams. Neptune brings us out of the fixed ideas of duality and allows us to rest in the vastness of Existence.

Gemini Sisters, Jeffrey Maddex

Stepping Out of the Societal Superego

A simple definition of the superego is the Inner Critic, the evaluative aspect of the ego that tells us how we “should” be doing things, to fit in and adjust to the world around us. In a large percentage of modern humans, the superego gets overblown on steroids, causing us to doubt and question our natural inclinations. Some of us spend many years in therapy and self-help realms to combat the harsh voice of the Inner Critic. However we face the superego, happiness comes when we make choices based on who we really are, sans expectations.

Did you know that societies, cultures, countries all have a collective superego? When one becomes sensitive enough to input and conditioning, the collective superego can actually be sensed in consciousness, felt like a sticky glaze over the mind. Stepping out of the societal superego is why it feels so damned good when we travel internationally, especially to cultures that are vastly different than our own. We feel the freedom, viscerally – the freedom to think, act, err, express, move, breath outside of the constant, subconscious monitoring that is ever-present in our native land.

This is why a simple Thoreauvian “Walden Pond” experiment – leave everything familiar – can be so completely vital in one’s life, for a certain period of time. It can be six hours, days, weeks, months – or six years. The point is to disconnect from what you believe is true, because it’s always been said it’s true.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

For about five years in my thirties, I spent 90 percent of my time in India, solo. I wanted to disconnect from the West in order to see how I really felt about things, and to learn to think for myself. I wanted to step away from even the “good” conditioning of California – being a healthy person, a spiritual person, a successful person, a moral person – and see what I was without all of these inputs. I immersed myself in a culture that wouldn’t automatically reinforce my regular thought patterns and habits.

Was this easy? Um, no. Did I feel alone and adrift some of the time? You bet! Did I feel unhinged at times, unsure which way was up and which way was down? Absolutely.

And you know what? As a result, I gained true, lasting happiness. I am Free. Dismantling belief systems and facing existence without the constant feedback of whether I was doing it right, I fell back on the Self. I examined my value system as well, and found that it was also fluid.

How do we move out of the conditioning of right and wrong, good and bad, and all of the other judgements that we carry with us, in our bones – genes and conditioning – if we can’t do a Walden? Some folks find that meditation helps, as well as other contemplative processes, time in nature, time with animals, time off the phone and computer, and languorous time in bed with a lover (another form of meditation!). It can be helpful to read news or follow media from other sources than the usual, or people you disagree with without categorically dismissing what they’re saying before you consider their point of view first.

At this Gemini lunar eclipse, we can take the opportunity to step outside of what we are being fed mentally. With flexible minds and hearts, we can take a good look at we’re being guided internally to do, to uphold, to live. And interestingly, the more we know ourselves, the less we need others to agree with us.

In good Gemini fashion, it is a fascinating experiment to question everything. Ask your body, your mind, your heart – is this true? Is it really true for you? Or are you swallowing what you’re told? When you ask, “Why?” do you automatically hear “Because it’s good for you” or “Because it’s the right thing to do”?

Is it? Inquire within. And be free.

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. Visit erinreese.com for more information.