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. 

 

 

Full Moon in Leo: Your Inner Child Needs You

Konkan Coast, South India

Today we greet the full moon in the fixed fire sign of Leo the Lion. Leo rules the fifth house of the horoscope, the home of love affairs and play, drama and romance, gambling and risks, self-expression and creativity, children, and the Inner Child.

In my recent New Year’s and January 20^th Meditation and Messages online meetings, the theme of the Inner Child featured prominently in the transmissions. It is clearly important in 2021 to stay connected to this part of self, no matter what age or condition they are appearing to us.

This lunation is unstable and potentially volatile with Venus conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, and the Sun conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius opposing the Full Moon. There is a clear conflict in the messages we are being given as a society and the messages that Nature is giving to us. The media and popular leadership are telling us to prepare for normalcy again, to start making plans to travel, to run around, to spend money, to get together with folks as quickly as possible. In short, the input we are receiving is “get busy, get back to normal.”

The pressure in our culture is to go back to where you were a year ago, to get busy, stimulated (and spend your stimulus check), make plans (lots of them).

Well…

Intuitively our bodies and inner children are confused as to what that means. The truth is, there is no return to normal, at least if you've shifted into the new paradigm. Many of us are stabilizing in a completely different reality and it is going to create a ton of stress to pretend to revert to pre-2020 activities and modes of living.

Kushinagar, India

Whether you are feeling hopeful, skeptical, or daunted by the idea of “getting back to normal” this year, there is one aspect of the lived human experience that comes along with you every day, integrated or not, and that is the Inner Child – the young part of self.

Check within and see how she is showing herself to you these days. A cheery five-year-old, a sad seven-year-old, a wailing infant, a cranky toddler, a wistful preteen, a rebellious or brokenhearted adolescent?

The Sun - XIX

The flavor of the age you are working with will not necessarily reflect your memory of yourself at said age. What is important is how the Inner Child is presenting itself to you now. You may have more than one age showing up. I often tend to my five-year-old sensitive and magical Little Erin, but my hormonal, misbehaving sixteen-year-old has been known to make an appearance.  A depressed infant pops up on occasion, as does a confused sixth grader.

An easy way to reconnect to your Inner Child is to commit to spending a half or full day only doing that which they need from you. Usually this is away from the computer, phone, adult duties. You might need to read quietly with your Little One envisioned beside you on the sofa. You might let your little one choose the book or magazine to read, or the movie to watch together. (I recently watched Taika Waititi’s The Hunt for the Wilderpeople which I highly recommend as an Inner Child playdate flick; I’m sure you will have fun picking your own!).

Like Leo and the Sun card of the Tarot, the Inner Child needs time to play, to shine, to be seen and acknowledged. And the most important person to revel in your goods is… YOU. Sure, hamming it up with others in your household or community or job is fab, especially for our extroverted aspects and the part of us that likes to put on a show – Leo’s fave. But even when we are uninterested or unable to socialize or perform, or it is not received, remember that we will benefit most by going within. We are the parent. We can celebrate and revel in our little one’s creations or fascinations – and play along.

Performing with the Inner Child, 2007

Inner children often like to draw, paint, collage, sketch or scribble – badly or goodly as it appears. You might try drawing with your non-dominant hand to let them express themself unedited. Perfection, goals, intentions, and getting it right are blocks and bugaboos, so let yourself go. What is most important is to stay present with the body and feelings, pleasant or unpleasant.

A nation of non-recovered Inner Children is a world filled with Walking Wounded. The Child is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, whether consciously (through tending to their needs) or unconsciously (acting out). Without paying attention and listening, we have an immature, reactive, cranky, needy, upset, confused self leading the show, and we’re left wondering how it could be so.

With the tumultuous energies in the world right now, it is time to hold on to your Inner Child. Remember it is healthy to allow this part of self to be the Center of the Universe – the leonine Sun. Everything rises and sets on the energy of the Inner Child.

Erin Reese performing, 2007

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.

  

A few resources and books:

• adultchildren.org
  
• Recovery of Your Inner Child, Linda Capacchione (1991) 
• Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential, Caroline Myss (2001)
• Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child, John Bradshaw (1990)

Full Moon: Energy Calibrating + New Year's Day Meditation

Tomorrow, we welcome the full moon in the cardinal water sign of Cancer. This lunation arrives just one week after the super-powered Jupiter-Saturn great conjunction. Many folks are feeling wobbly, trying to integrate all the energy and awareness of the fifth dimension. For some people, it was like a shot through the heart as the portal opened. All of the new freed-up space and energy in 5D embodied living can be disorienting.

“What do I do with all this ACCESS?" you might be wondering on a subconscious level. As an empath and energy intuitive, I sense the vulnerability in the field right now, and know some feel nauseous, slightly ill, confused. It is going to take a minute, friends!

If you’ve already blasted through the portal, whenever you try to calibrate your energy field with someone who is still running old paradigm consciousness, you won’t feel good. It’s as simple as that. So don’t do it.

Become a ninja at unplugging from people, places, and situations that continue to run limited consciousness. You don’t have to be harsh or unkind; in fact, you don’t need to say a thing. Use the energy of the Cancerian crab to shell yourself; remember I mentioned in the last report that healers and empaths are forming a protective energy shell, like a space suit? These are the moments to use the shield. Gently remove yourself from the conversation. Any attempt to fix, change, convince the other – no matter who the ‘other’ is – will only perpetuate the dysfunctional, outdated bond. In short: unplug. Unplug. Unplug.

Come back to your center. Rest there. How will you know that you’ve been successful? You’ll start to feel good again. Remember that feeling good is your true, natural state.

There might be a period of detoxing and releasing habits, relationships, conditioned spaces and places in the body-mind. This is the wobble.

Some folks are learning to run a 220 volt current, but the body-mind is still at 100 and hasn’t yet upgraded to the new channel. What can you do in the meantime?

• Keep unplugging from anyone or anything that is pulling on you
• Get outside. Walk, run, hike, breathe. Connect to the earth.
• Take baths, soak in a hot tub, take a hot shower.
• Give yourself a massage. Oil is a great way to ground (especially sesame or ayurvedic oils)
• Spend more time alone. If you don’t live alone, find a room or a corner (use a screen if you have to) to get at least 10-15 feet away from other people. You need this space to run your own clean, new vibration.
• Go to bed earlier. Yes, even earlier 😊.
• Don’t take it personally. This is no longer about your personal story, drama, narrative. We are now in a time of Total and Complete Trust in Unfolding. The less you take on with involvement, the easier it is to flow with ease.

Most people need more physical exercise right now, even in winter conditions. Just put your hat and shoes on, step outside and start walking. It doesn’t have to be fancy.

Most people need more time alone, too – this is one reason why some folks wake up in the middle of the night, or super early in the morn. This is because your soul is aching for time alone with you, before you talk to the kids, the partner, the world. Try not to get upset that you’re awake at odd hours. Relish the time alone with your self.

New Year’s Day Meditation and Intuited Messages for 2021

Our last group meditation on the Solstice/Great Conjunction was beautiful and helpful for the 20+ folks who attended. So, let’s do it again and work with rebalancing of frequencies.

I’m going to host another free group meditation to welcome the New Year.

Please RSVP directly to me for the special Zoom link!

Friday, January 1, 2021, 10am Pacific

Free

As always, we will see what opens up on the call itself. Surely, we will take some time for grounding and centering, before dropping into silence together. I will be tuning into my guides and the collective, and will share some of the information and pointers received for the global shift into 2021. Also, you may ask questions and receive guidance during the call. Remember to message me with an RSVP for the Zoom link. Yes, you may repost this to share with friends and family.

Finish up what you’re able to this week, treat yourself with gentleness, and put yourself first. Remember, what is best for you IS what is best for the other. This is new for many of you, but if you start practicing radical Self-compassion, you will see that it is always what is best for the Whole.

Welcoming the miracles of ease, grace, and enjoyment on the horizon.

With love,

Erin

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.

 

 

 

 

Wings of Change

I was so happy when I came across these iridescent, luminous cloud wings on my early evening walk yesterday, for several reasons.

First, the smoke has temporarily cleared enough to see them. (We were on advised evacuation for almost a week due to our massive regional forest fire which lapped up against our tiny little Sierra town.)
⛅
Second, these wings of change heralded a shift in heavy energies. Indeed, last night I was awakened by strong winds (and dangerous lightning once again! ⚡) At 2:00 a.m. I dashed outside in my bathrobe to pull laundry off the clothesline, wind howling and lightning surging. Lying in bed afterwards, hearing the pitter-patter of raindrops, I was thrilled for the (albeit temporary) cleansing energy of water finally gracing us with Her presence.
💧
Third, I had just completed another enneagram seminar weekend as part becoming a certified Enneagram counselor and practitioner. So, seeing these "wings" made me very happy to honor my wings of 5 and 7 which, for those who know the language, obviously reveals me as a Six (counterphobic).
😏
The enneagram is a powerful tool I use to assist my clients and students to understand and face their own ego fixation, moving toward freedom and liberation embodied. I am excited to share this with you all moving forward.

May you be sane, serene, courageous in this Great Unfolding. 

Love,

Erin

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. 

Rebirth, Quarantine, and the Inner Spring

Wherever You Are, Is Perfect

A quote I've long appreciated, oft attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson is, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

Yet these days I’ve decided to turn it on its ear. Let’s make it the following:

“The destination is the journey.” Meaning. Wherever you are, it’s perfect. You are perfection. You are that which you seek. You yourself are the destination.

I’ve noticed on the collective consciousness stage that folks are energetically leaving their quarantines even though the shelter in place hasn’t been lifted. People are wanting to travel more in their minds, and bodies, even locally. They are socializing more, trying to find new ways to fill up the space, to bring a sense of what used to be “normal” back into their lives. Perhaps it’s the spring weather; perhaps it’s boredom, a need for distraction. Perhaps it’s simply human nature.

However, many souls are not ready to focus on the outer world yet. You will know that you are in this group if you feel confused or garbled when you’re at the grocery store, when you’re trying to have too many virtual social gatherings, or neighborhood six-to-ten-feet away chit-chats. You might feel like you get clobbered by externalizing your energy. You might get easily fatigued. It might show up in your dreams, imploring you to pay attention.

Last week, I dreamed I was being pulled out of quarantine, and my soul balked. It wasn’t ready. I was attempting to secure a reservation for a weeklong silent retreat, to go back inside. Upon analyzing the dream, it became clear that, even though the earth is laughing in flowers right now, and coyotes are (literally) howling in North Beach SF, for us humans, it is an Inner Spring this year. A deepening connection to the Self, rather than the World, civilization, unnecessary activity. We are springing forth, from the inside first. The destination is us, and we ourselves are the journey.

Sheltering In Place

Time Out of Time

Many of us are in a gestation period, pregnant with something new. It needs a bit more time to cook – that symbolic bun in the oven. Some of us have already birthed a new idea, project, vision during quarantine, and that new baby needs a bit more protection before it is trotted around the neighborhood and exposed to all and sundry outside. Think of a snake that has shed its old skin, a death and rebirth process. It takes time for the new skin to grow, and the animal needs this coat to form before revealing itself to risky elements. Sensitivity is high. 

I find it notable that the animal associated with this pandemic (whether science or symbol) is a bat. In many indigenous traditions, Bat represents Rebirth, and the shamanic, symbolic death of the healer. Jamie Sams and David Carson write of Bat in Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals (Bear and Company, 1999), “If Bat has appeared in your cards today, it symbolizes the need for a ritualistic death of some way of life that no longer suits your new growth pattern. This can mean a time of letting go of old habits, and of assuming the position in life that prepares you for rebirth, or in some cases initiation. In every case, Bat signals rebirth of some part of yourself or the death of old patterns...”

 

These processes of rebirth constitute "time out of time," and take time. In the recent newsletter from the ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi in Tiruvannamalai, India, the writers describe Ramana’s various retreats under massive epidemics of the first half of the 20^th Century, from cholera, typhoid, bubonic plague. The ashram was shut down to the bare minimum of activity during these times. The sage fondly remembers these months as some of the ashram community's happiest, most peaceful times. A time of deepening and lessening of distractions.

I know many of us absolutely need to get back to work in the world, financially and psychologically. I completely support this and hope this does happen as quickly as possible for folks. Yet, we can also keep in mind: This quarantine is going to pass quicker than we think, even if it chronologically and paradoxically lasts longer than initially thought. When we look back on 2020, and these inner months, we’ll realize that it was restful, healing, revealing. It is an opportunity, and it’s moving fast. We can make best use of the time, and not opt-out of the inner journey before the miracle occurs.

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary intuitive, spiritual counselor, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a spiritual counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. For more information, visit erinreese.com.

 

erinreese.com

Announcing Affordable Spiritual Counseling Group!

Hello Everyone,

I’ve wanted to offer an alternative and affordable form of spiritual counseling during this time. Even before the shelter-in-place, it was brewing: a spiritual support group online. And, so I’m going to start this as soon as possible! The Zoom technology works perfectly, and I trust you will feel at ease as well. I know many of you out there have a need for psychospiritual support yet want to find an affordable option or supplement your individual sessions.

The first group will last four weeks. These sessions will be 4-6 participants. I will offer one or two sections depending on the interest. 

The sessions will be 75-minutes each, weekly.

Each group asks for a four-week commitment. After four weeks, the timing will be reevaluated together. We may very well (I hope!) continue the group.

Description
In this four-week group, you will receive the holding and spiritual direction you most need at this time in a supportive, loving environment. We will adhere to group confidentiality. As a facilitator, teacher and spiritual therapist, I will create a safe container for you and others. I will guide you – sometimes gently, sometimes with fierce grace – to self-heal and examine your intuitive and knowing, your fears and state of consciousness.

Each session will begin with a few minutes’ presentation on a prominent theme that I sense the group is facing, i.e. principles and tools for self-healing and awakening. This will be followed by consulting and dialoguing, one-on-one, with me in the group setting.

You will learn and grow through your own one-on-one work with me, by witnessing other’s processes, and through your own wholehearted presence. The understanding and support will be amplified by the group alchemy.

Prerequisites:

• Having had some background in your own personal spiritual development and or therapy or counseling.
• A brief check-in with Erin by email to confirm your interest and enrollment.
• Agreement to group confidentiality and guidelines
• A willingness to listen and witness others’ processes of psychospiritual unfoldment, to examine your own self and practice self-reflection on a regular basis; a commitment to develop an inner life and connection to self.

This is not a substitute for individual counseling sessions or satsang with Erin. It is for those who would like to:

• Have access to affordable counseling
• Benefit from a group shared experience
• Supplement individual counseling

Cost:

Series of Four Group Sessions: Sliding Scale $150 to $250

PayPal, Card, or Venmo

Interested?

Which of the following times would work for you? Please reply.

·      Wednesdays, 4:30pm to 5:45pm PT (April 15, 22, 29, May 6)

·      Wednesdays, 6pm to 7:15pm PT (April 15, 22, 29, May 6)

·      Fridays, 9am to 10:15am PT (April 17, 24, May 1, May 8)

·      Fridays, 10:30am to 11:45am PT (April 17, 24, May 1, May 8)

If you are called, I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

With love,

Erin

Erin Reese, M.S. in Counseling, has facilitated the following groups, among others:

• Grief and Bereavement
• The Artist’s Way
• Goddess Circles
• Women’s Groups
• The Art of the Tarot
• Intuition Mastery
• Non-Dual Satsang 
• Financial Recovery

Erin Reese is a contemporary intuitive, spiritual counselor, 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 spiritual counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. For more information, visit erinreese.com.

erinreese.com