Full Moon in Virgo: Focus, Stop, Stabilize

The Melting Watch, Salvador Dali 1954

Today, we welcome a full moon in the mutable earth sign of Virgo, the Virgin. The energy of Virgo is earthy, but it isn’t solid earth; we are still in the time of Pisces, the nondual sign where life feels dreamy and dissolves when you try to hold on. Time has felt like taffy – it’s stretchy, and messy to the touch, even muddy.

This lunation continues to amplify 2021's Saturn-Uranus square that I wrote about last week here, "The Collective Crunch.” Over and over, we are being asked - nay, forced - to leave outdated programs and concepts by the wayside as a natural if challenging process of evolution. If we forget, and attempt to grasp, we are usually hit by a cosmic 2x4 that is meant to get us back on track – so best to surrender to what is, and ground best you can.

Sensitives and empaths are 100% clear: The collective walls have been melting for a long time. We are not in Kansas anymore, Toto. We are coming up on one year since most of us heard the words “coronavirus” and COVID, one year since pandemic and lockdown became household words, one year since the world came to a virtual stop. Anniversaries bring up deeper body memories for people. Our nervous systems remember, and the prickles can come in – “Are we in the clear? Are we getting back to normal? If 2020 went down like it did, what else could come down the pipeline?”

There is a feeling of skittishness and unsettledness in the collective air. Half of the world is anxious to get a move on, trying to get back to a busy lifestyle where activity, travel, busy-ness is the norm; half of the world is just entering into the cocoon that will hold them for the next years as they continue their internal evolution. It is like two sliding glass panel doors. We can call this old vs. new paradigm, or third dimension vs. 5D or ascension – it doesn’t matter. In fact, many of us are finding that words and terminologies are starting to melt too, but we do the best we can to try to find language to point things out.

There can be a feeling of seasickness, fogginess, confusion, or vertigo for those who are highly sensitive to the planetary shifts. Even for those of us who usually do a good job getting grounded through domesticity, nature, lovemaking, yoga, exercise, creative expression, etc. it has been a hell of a time to attempt to stop the time-space swirl. You might notice that appointments with others are cattywampus – scheduling has become a joke. You might notice that facing your to-do list is laughable. Either there is no energy to “do” that which is on the list, or the list itself feels like a rope strangling your neck.

Speaking of to-do lists – a very Virgoan invention: In my work with clients and students across the board the TO-D0 LIST is one of THE most stressful entities in a person’s life. I have found that if folks get rid of the ominous to-do list and learn to rely more on intuition in the moment, the stress level decreases tremendously. Of course, jotting down a few critical items for the day or week, or marking something vital on the calendar, makes sense; it’s the massive list of “getting sh*t done” or “to research” or “be productive” or “optimizing your life” that will strangle the life out of your life faster than anything. So throw the to-do list in the trash and trust your natural instincts to guide you from day to day.

As a human species, we have been like drunks on a bender, except instead of alcohol, we’ve binged on activity, productivity, efficiency,  improvement. Not only have we made ourselves quite ill, we’re in a raging addiction. It might take a few minutes, let alone days or years, to come down off the drug. Stop.

Instead of doing more to attempt to ground, emphasize focus and stabilizing Consciousness. This is all available 24x7 by simply sitting, lying down, or standing in place, then breathing, focusing on your feet, hips, breath, root. The main word is STOP. The monkey mind will rear up swiftly, so keep coming back to relax into beingness rather than doingness.

 This is not about doing more meditation, either. It’s about a full-on inner halt.

Then, and only then, will the room stop spinning.

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 healing message about the U.S. election

Please repost this link and share. Your community may need to read these words right now.
http://erinreese.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-healing-message-about-us-election.html

Before I went to sleep last night, I tuned into the planet, my clients and the community. I knew I had to get real clear, real fast about the election results. I needed to fully align with spirit, truth, and love immediately, to ensure that I could be as supportive and helpful as possible when the fallout of this election began to rain down...

Here are the things that came to me in meditation, and I share them with you. They apply today, and they need to be practiced for the coming weeks, months or years.

1.       Stay in PRESENT TIME. Stay in the NOW.

We need to manage our anxiety, and not let fear overtake us. Anxiety feeds off of future-tripping, ruminating and dwelling on the past. If we are totally, 100% in the Now, there is immediate seeing that the Self, in the Ground of Being, is OK. Even if there is crisis afoot, the Self in present time will be able to make healthy, wise choices. No matter what, there is a sanctuary within that you can rest in. Do whatever practice or method or teaching you must in order to stay in the Now. We must wake up and drop the addiction to anxiety-producing story out there, over there. Be here. Stay in the Now.

2.       Stay GROUNDED.

What are your grounding practices? Exercise, run, walk, hike, swim. Walk on the earth. Garden. Eat healthy foods. It is VITAL to get enough sleep, not optional. Practice DEEP BREATHING. Get the air down into your belly, your abdomen, your diaphragm. Practice yoga, stretching, tai chi. Make love. Hug each other more tightly, hold hands longer. Spend time with a pet or with animals. Take a hot bath or shower. Reduce anxiety within you and around you. Simplify. Monitor screen time. Get off the computer. Go outside. Massage your feet. Meditate on the spot, at the drop of a hat. Center yourself. Drop in to yourself.

3.       MONITOR INPUT. Reduce time spent listening to, watching or reading the News.

Yes, it’s good to be informed. To get the facts. But we must keep it in serious check right now. The anxiety that comes flooding in by over-stimulating newscasts, commentaries, and dramatic storylines is destructive in large amounts. Step away, take breaks. Turn it off. You are part of an ecosystem. Remember: garbage in = garbage out. Process what you’ve taken in before you imbibe further.

4.       BUILD COMMUNITY

Truly be with friends, neighbors, families, housemates. This is the time to join together. To appreciate the color of our nation, the marginalized groups, the rainbow and kaleidoscope of beauty around us. Celebrate diversity. It is a time of bonding. Cook together, laugh together, make music together. We need each other more than ever now. Practice kindnesses toward each other, toward strangers. Give the guy or gal next to you a leg-up.  Smile and compliment and encourage each other. Have a potluck for your block. Come together.

5.       Express JOY and GRATITUDE

Dysfunction and ignorance want others to be brought down, to wallow in the same quagmire. Don’t fall prey to negative thinking and destructive, hateful tendencies. Keep the vibration UP, UP, UP. Keep living, loving, laughing. In our household, we started a new practice immediately this morning on an erasable white board in the kitchen. We have written “TODAY I AM GRATEFUL FOR…” and each of us are writing three things a day that bring us joy and appreciation. Take a look around at how incredibly abundant you are. Maybe you have all of your arms and legs, you are healthy, you have a friend, you have a meal in your belly, you had a good cup of coffee, you are a kind person. Find that gratitude and grow it.

6.       Heal the greater family ECOSYSTEM.

This is the really important one to get. We are in a situation that resembles a dysfunctional family. If we wake up and see the problem, coming out of denial, we can heal and get better. Maybe some people will have to hit bottom, which is sad, but it doesn’t have to take you down with it. By staying healthy, you will be less susceptible to being taken in by the illness, and getting sick yourself. Realize that you have to change your own actions and take personal responsibility. Keep the focus on yourself and what you do have control over. Pointing fingers and blaming will do no good.

Strengthen your own emotional, physical, mental immune system. Resist cancerous, toxic elements. Understand that there are lots of families and ecosystems all over the world that have had to deal with a poisonous or destructive presence and still overcame. This is no different. The United States is also a system. The rest of the elements must get stronger in order to continue thriving and stay in balance. Today’s election marks a disruption to our homeostasis. It is as if the great volcano Vesuvius blew, or the great flood arose. In response we now build together, protecting our cherished treasures of love, nature, diversity, compassion. Individually, we must do our part. Together, we thrive.

Stay focused on the solution, NOT the problem.  Commit to staying grounded, in the Now. Don’t buy into the fear. Manage anxiety. Cultivate joy, community, gratitude. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, “No mud, no lotus.” Awakening, beauty, and truth can all emerge from this election when we change our perception. Make the choice now, and commit to healing.

As I write this, I hear school children playing in the neighborhood school grounds. They are laughing. The sun is shining, the autumn leaves are rustling in the breeze…

These kiddos are alive, vibrant, thriving. Like these children, who need us, we must remain strong and healthy and keep building.

Flourish and heal, dear friends. Flourish and heal.

 

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.

NO MUD, NO LOTUS: "Both suffering and happiness are of an organic nature, which means they are both transitory; they are always changing. The flower, when it wilts, becomes the compost. The compost can help grow a flower again. Happiness is also organic and impermanent by nature." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“Are we part of the solution or part of the pollution?” ~ Michael Franti

New Moon in Taurus: Cultivating Stability

Today we have a New Moon in the fixed earth sign of Taurus. The sign of the Bull at its best is a grounding, stabilizing influence. Wherever Taurus is in our chart is where we are called to firm up structures.

Build. Cultivate wealth of all types. Feeling deprived? Start to notice where you’re on shaky ground. Where do you need shoring up? We honor the New Moon by taking responsibility for bringing more stability into our life for the next 28-day cycle. We are giving ourselves a platform, a foundation for the next phase of growth.

Taurus is where we pull in our resources from deep in the earth, saving them for a later harvest. We gather strength, power, and hold our center. We don’t always need to spend the money just because it's in the account; we don't always need to disperse the goods or energy prematurely. We can discipline ourselves and harness the potential.

Do you have a ground to lean into when the outside world comes pounding in? Find a center, the still-point within. We all must find it, a place inside ourselves that is solid as a rock, stable and protected. Know what you need that is fixed, consistent and provide it for yourself. Seeing it manifest on an external level can take a while. There’s no rush here; Taurus has time. Buying a home, deciding on a professional track, having children, investing in a business venture, committing to a partner. Gather the facts, sit quietly (stubborn like the Bull), and wait til it’s right. Carefully consider the environment and deliberate. Once you decide to move forward, you can be sure it will be a good move.

Peace of Mind

At this New Moon in Taurus, we can ask ourselves, what gives us serenity, true peace of mind? What helps us feel serene, what helps us have a harmonious relationship with ourselves, our partners, the earth, the world? It is worth it to invest swaths of time and energy toward building that foundation, that inner ground.

The Buddha – born under the sign of Taurus – exhibited this in his “earth touching gesture.” “Let the Earth be my witness,” said Gautama the Buddha, affirming that no distractions – Mara’s dancing daughters of temptation – could seduce him away from steadfast stability. He had mastered unwavering peace of mind.

Red Flags Waving: Mercury Retrograde, Mars opposite Saturn

“By yielding, you may obtain victory.” ~ Ovid

Mars in Gemini opposes Saturn in Sagittarius at this New Moon, testing our inner peace. We may experience a confrontation between idea-manic Mars in Gemini charging forth with words and counterpoints, and stodgy Saturn demanding respect for well-earned wisdom and big-picture understanding. This may also be heightened during Mercury Retrograde in Gemini (May 18 to June 11), which can tend to be argumentative.

Mercury Retrograde means double-checking the communication wiring in our speaking, listening, and information distribution, especially since Mercury will be its own ruler sign of buzzy Gemini. What we say and what we write may be called to question. Complications, snafus, challenges are bound to come down the pipeline. We can be sure some will be seeing red. It could be the IRS waving its red pen. A barking dog, a persnickety roommate, a gnarly neighbor, a grumpy partner. But if we have cultivated our stability, our inner and outer security, we will be thrown off-kilter and caught off-guard much less.

Once provoked, the energy of Taurus can be unstoppable, a veritable Raging Bull. It can take an incredible amount of self-awareness to restrain oneself when taunted. “Toro! Toro!” shouts life, egging us on to charge and fight. Forewarned is forearmed. Remember our “peace of mind” commitment, and back down when the opponent attacks. Sometimes, it is simply best to yield. Or at least wait until the dust settles.

With our astrological wisdom, we can sidestep the impulsive behavior of others and ourselves. We can temper our reaction. With forbearance and longevity in mind, we can build a strong future for ourselves. Keep calm and rest on that ever-reliable inner ground.

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.

On Grief, Love and Loss (Part One - The Guru Dies)

Two years ago today, on September 27, 2009 at 9 a.m. on the ninth day of the Navratri festival of the Goddess, my beloved teacher, guru, and spiritual friend Ramesh Balsekar took mahasamadhi at his home in Bombay. Mahasamadhi is when a realized master finally and intentionally leaves the body to merge with the infinite. Since there is no ego identification, it is said that a sage enters the ultimate (maha) non-dual consciousness (samadhi).

When I got the call, I was an overnight train ride away – working on my Bindi Girl book along the seaside in south India – and knew I couldn’t get north in time for the cremation pyre. When I got the news, my world stopped. There was only silence, and that silence was deafening. Never again would I behold the great spirit and force of Nature that was my guru as embodied Consciousness, in the flesh known as Ramesh.

Even now, two years later, I am only beginning to understand the indescribable union between teacher and student that occurs in a guru-disciple relationship; there is a fusion of hearts and minds that makes it possible for the soul to surrender identification with the ego. It seems to be a combination of the power of defeat and the power of love.

In the days and months that followed my teacher’s passing, my soul experienced an overpowering transformation: intense grief at the loss of a part of my self (like an amputation), combined with a quickening. It was as if this body-mind known as Erin had been placed into a sort of quantum microwave. In a microwave, all the particles are scattered about, vibrating faster than the speed of light, disembodied from the original matter even though things still appear cohesive. Amazingly, such a vibrating mass of consciousness appears to be a whole substance, but there is really only empty space between particles, and empty space within those same particles. Finally, there is only empty space.

And my own ‘empty space’ was getting cooked. My soul wanted to leave the body and dissolve into Consciousness to join my teacher. I couldn’t ground. I fell down a flight of stairs in a monsoon downpour and could have broke my neck. I slipped and smashed my tailbone on a moss-covered bathing platform while stepping into the Ganges to offer flowers during puja. Twice (once in Varanasi and once in Rishikesh) I thought someone dosed me by putting an illicit substance into my chai, I was so high. The phenomenal world grew increasingly permeable and my spirit was lighter than a kite; my soul wanted to fly, far away into another dimension.

The grief rattled me to the core. The hardest part was the fact that hardly anyone could relate or offer meaningful condolences. So-called “spiritual people” would try to tell me I had no reason to be sad, that my guru would always be with me. That didn’t help at all – I was still human, for crying out loud. I still felt feelings! I peered into spiritual texts to see if any sages or students had written or spoke of what happens when a guru dies. I found a couple passages, and I clung to those with all my might: The first was in the classic Autobiography of a Yogi, when Paramhansa Yogananda loses his master, Sri Yukteshwar. He cries the entire river Ganges that he’ll never behold his beloved teacher in person again. The second comfort was the story of Ananda, most devoted servant of the Buddha, who felt his sorrow so deeply the night Gautama the Buddha took mahasamadhi, that he became enlightened through the sheer force of grief piercing his very heart.

A few friends urged me to discuss Ramesh’s death with other disciples, that surely the sangha (spiritual fellowship) would lend support, surely they would understand. I found talking to fellow students, in my case, less than comforting. Whether others were deferring their grief or processing it differently (likely), there seemed to be a rationalizing of the process, such that because one intellectually knows that nothing is born and nothing dies, particularly the mind of an enlightened being, that there should be nothing to cry about.

NOTHING could be further from the truth.

The force of our emotions IS the VERY STUFF OF LIFE, whether grief, joy, ecstasy, laughter, or even anger. My quaking sobs affirmed that I was ALIVE, damn it, I could feel. I have a vital, awakened HEART that can be penetrated and touched, affected to the core.

Intellectualizing or bypassing the emotions, which live in our BODIES where we can FEEL them, is a missed opportunity to experience the rapture of pure existence, which can only be experienced in duality, directly, in the physical body, in the here and now.

It is through our grief that we realize how much we LOVE.

To be continued.