Full Moon in Capricorn: Slow Your Roll

When Your Love Takes You to a Barn Dance

 

Today, we welcome the full moon in the cardinal earth sign of Capricorn, the Sea Goat. The Sun in watery Cancer trines the fortuitous planet of expansive Jupiter in Pisces, harmonizing well with the Moon right now. Earthy Capricorn connects us to Mother Nature and Cancer/Pisces brings in the cooling, yin, feminine side of life This is good: we need a little ease as the recent yang Gemini (air)/Sagittarius (fire) eclipses and Mercury Retrograde, along with unseasonal heat waves, put many of us on edge mentally and physically.

What is happening under the surface is that the messages from the culture (i.e. mainstream) tell us that it’s time to get back to “normal.” The state of California,for instance, is declared “open” and it’s magically time to socialize, see everyone again, move about, get busy, spend money, and do a lot of things that weren’t available to us over the past year of lockdown, whether because they were officially shut down or the fear factor was too high.

The problem is that our animal bodies and our soft underbellies, and our intuitive souls, may not be ready to get back into gear. The empathic wisdom in all of us is attuned to something much deeper than what is being fed to us on the social media feed or the news… If you’re one of the empathic people or sensitive spirits who feels this, you are not alone. Trust your body’s wisdom. Just because the society tells you to come out of your lockdown hermitage and run around again, it may not be time to do that for you.

When Kitty Encounters Her First Stag

As the veil covering that which is hidden has been fully ripped open since the past year, empaths and intuitives are acutely aware of what is behind the curtain. The collective shadow is knocking hard on the door – some of us can’t sleep at night as our guides are speaking to us, our ancestors are teaching us, our souls are doing heavy lifting and processing in the nighttime hours. If that is you, it is vital that you adjust your lifestyle to rest more often during the day. Take more naps, lie flat on your back, and definitely schedule less on the calendar.

Explain to your family or friends that you are needing more time to rest. If they’re in tune to you, and attuned to themselves and their own processes, they will understand and support you in this. Speak up: you are practicing good modeling!

When You Finally Attempt to Garden

If you do travel, whether by air or land, make sure you build in ample time (like, weeks) before and especially after your journey to ground, to earth yourself. Let yourself be in an “ordinary” lifestyle and chop wood, carry water, hang your clothes on the line, plant flowers, take a walk in the woods. Driving in cars and getting on planes stimulates vata, the air element, which in Ayurveda can create pain or stiffness, anxiousness, and confusion in the body-mind. Slow down, do less, especially talk less. Bed earlier, cook your own food, sit quietly and feel into your spine and hips and legs.

Same thing goes for social events and visiting friends and family: before and after the event, make sure you have plenty of time built in for quietude. The theme is spaciousness. Our bodies and souls are begging for more space and a slower pace. It’s totally OK to let loose or attend highly stimulating events or crowded situations – we just need to ground, root, and center all along.

Last but not least: IF you have plans to go somewhere, to have a visitor, to do something, and you feel a sense of unease or even dread about said plan – stop immediately and reevaluate. Adjust, minimize, or cancel. No hemming and hawing. This is a time in our evolution that we cannot compromise that which is for our body-mind-soul’s highest good. If you’re still hearing the internal message that “it would be good for you” or “it’s not nice to cancel on someone” or “it’s good to keep your commitments always,” realize that it is completely outdated conditioning. What is good for you IS what is good for everyone else, for the whole. When you are tuned into your body, your spirit... When you slow down and listen... When you pay attention to your belly, your root, your heart... it is absolutely PERFECT to change or cancel plans. You can trust that is perfect for the collective and everyone involved.

Do not deny any insights you are having.

Do not gaslight your soul. Honor your soul’s truth, and be free.

Enjoy your precious Presence.

with love,

Erin 

When You Take a Long, Solo Hike to a Secluded Beach

 

 

THE KING (OR QUEEN) IS AWAKE!

from Rumi

 

There are people with their eyes open

whose hearts are shut. What do they see? Matter.

But someone whose love is alert,

even if the eyes go to sleep,

he or she will be waking up thousands of others.

If you are not one of those light-filled lovers,

restrain your desire-body's intensity.

Put limits on how much you eat

and how long you lie down.

But if you are awake here in the chest,

sleep long and soundly.

Your spirit will be out roaming and working,

even on the seventh level.

Muhammed says, I close my eyes and rest in sleep,

but my love never needs to rest.

The guard at the gate drowses.

The king stays awake. You have a king inside

who listens for what delights the soul.

That king's wakefulness

cannot be described in a poem.

- RUMI

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 Berkeley, CA:

 5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, inspiring, and a joy to read

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2021

This book took me on a journey through India, and through spiritual awakening, with a front-seat view from the author's perspective. The honesty of the author's writing made it a joy to read, and her tone always remains humble and relatable, even when she shares her experience of awakening. I gained a greater understanding of the core principles on non-duality and I was moved by the piercing description of her love for her guru. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a spiritual "seeker", and to anyone who shares a passion for travel in India.

 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.  

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Sun in Taurus: Time Out to Tune Up

How's your nervous system?

We’ve just come off a radical jolt of a Full Moon in Scorpio week where themes of death and regeneration, purging and transmogrification shook most everyone up internally – if you are paying attention. Shedding, morphing, regenerating through shamanic experiences, radical release, and strange illnesses have arisen for folks to help us evolve, release, surrender to the collective evolution. The Sun in Taurus conjoined radical change agent Uranus to surprise and shift us all – a sci fi movie that is not fiction at all – these changes are happening, and our body-minds are along for the ride, like it or not.

What’s a body to “do”? Ride the ride, and take care of your self best you can while the Cosmos goes through this quickening dance. The Sun continues his sojourn through the fixed sign of Taurus, the Bull, for another two-and-a-half weeks. For myself, I turn to All Things Taurean to make myself feel better. The springtime sign of the earthy four-footed Bull is best honored with the five senses: smell, sight, taste, and touch.

Staying glued to a device, whether phone, laptop, TV screen would not be healthy these days. Our eyes need a break – they need to see things far off in the distance. They need dimensionality, perspective, varying hues of color, especially green, and movement that is not programmed bytes of zeroes and ones.

Snow melt in the canyon

Our noses need the smells of the forests, of chocolate chip cookies baking, of our lover’s neck in a nuzzle, of the blossoms on a walk.

Our bodies need to feel, to be massaged, to stretch and strengthen.

Our ears need breaks from headsets and Bluetooth. Many folks have had tinnitus lately, and it seems to clear up a great deal by stopping the use of constant headphones, especially Bluetooth. Another way to take care of the ears is to sit quietly in a room or out of doors, just letting the energy purge off the ears. I also love ayurvedic ear oil (nose oil, too!) as a way to care for the ears.

And taste – try new recipes, even if we don’t know how they’ll turn out. I love Google recipe searches for this reason – just put in “tilapia” and “instant pot” and few hours later I’m smelling a fish curry wafting through the house, waiting for rice at dinner time.

But most of all, most of all… in time of Taurus… do get outside.

This past weekend, my Beloved and I went for a three-day backpacking stretch along the Pacific Crest Trail. A shorter trek, we wanted to slip it in before the crowds head up to the mountains. Incredibly healing, I could barely stomach turning my phone on again once we reentered civilization.

Was it the best night’s sleep? Was I cozy and warm all the time? Was it easy hauling straight up a mountain face with a pack for 8.5 miles?  No, it isn’t the Ritz. But it’s got a much larger return on investment, believe you me.

High Sierra Salamander

I saw a beautiful salamander on the trail, many American dippers (aka water ouzel, the only true aquatic songbird!) in the river, at least eight snakes (luckily not rattlers), a deer bounding away up ahead. We ate cheesy potatoes for breakfast, took a freezing cold bath in a raging snow-melt stream, and watched the campfire dance at night, a beautiful nod to Beltane (May Day) fires.  I savored Nescafe, instant oatmeal, beans 'n rice, and maxed out on trail mix.

My Beloved and I pondered doing the entire Pacific Crest Trail in chunks – he might do it solo with me joining in for certain stretches. I feel ready now to get out there solo myself, albeit for shorter periods at a time.

Another great thing about hiking for a few days in uncrowded trails is that it is a natural walking meditation retreat. It’s wonderful, if you’re with another, to allow at least a long distance between your pacing. No talking, texting, looking anything up on Google. It’s just you and the trail. And you have to pay laser sharp attention, or you might step on a snake. For reals.

Rattlesnake Spring

While walking and looking for snakes, thoughts often turned to the current World Changes, and how I am embodying this in my work and personally. I keep a lot of this to myself, though am hopeful that I can start to share this with others in private sessions. Having moved up to the High Sierra this past year, I have more time and space and access to a direct line of what is happening cosmically. The information I get is definitely far outside the norm (when have I ever been of the norm?) and it takes courage to admit even to myself what I am downloading. I am grateful for the few individuals that I am able to speak about this with. Talking to the trees and the sky and the mountains is a gift; they simply know.

Being in the woods for even a few days – absolutely no one around, early in the season, far away from restrooms, cell towers, and highways – is a blessing. It may sound hard, but perhaps you yourself can find a way to go for it, alone or with others. You may be uncomfortable, but the rivers will cleanse your bloodstream and the cold mountain air can clear your mind faster than any meditation practice.

Blessings to you in time of Taurus and always!

Heading Out on the PCT

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.  

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. 

 

 

Summer, Serenity, and the Beauty of Inanimate Objects

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.”  ~ Albert Einstein

Hello Beloveds,

With the recent Summer Solstice and New Moon Eclipse in Cancer, we have entered the time when the solar life force is the strongest in the Northern Hemisphere. With so much intensity on the planet, it’s critically important to notice what helps you feel in alignment. If you’re feeling out of sync, off-kilter, confused or garbled, it might be a sign that you are not living in a way that is congruent with your soul, your authentic self.

When we live in accordance with our True Nature, we feel good. We feel good even when we feel “bad.” There is a residing peace and contentment, daresay happiness or even joy, underneath even the so-called “negative” emotions. When we are seated in our self, we experience grief, anger, sorrow, loss, even frustration, with an ease that permeates all. There is a knowing, a holding, a basic trust that we are exactly where we need to be.

Think about it. Think about times when you’ve felt the blood-boiling of rage, or the bone-core-barrenness of deep grief, and you’ve just flat out felt good about it. This is because it is TRUE. It is real, it is here, and it is the authentic You.

When you’re living out of alignment with True Nature, even that which is supposed to feel good has an edginess to it. This is a sign you’re coming from ego, from separation from Source. You’re living from an idea that this is what is supposed to be happening, this what you are supposed to be doing. But it’s an idea. It’s not reality.

Reality is always easeful. It is always here. It is the place of rest, no matter what is unfolding.

The Beauty of Inanimate Objects

In summer, as in all seasons, we are urged to listen to the land. Listen to the wind, the trees, the flowers, the clouds. Listen to the rivers, the lakes, the sky. Listen, and you shall know exactly what is needed and called for in each and every moment.

These days, I’m reminded of the beauty of inanimate objects, not just of those found in nature, but also things human-crafted, human-made. I love that in most other languages besides English, we have feminine, masculine, neutral articles (e.g. German, der/die/das; French, le/la; Spanish, el/la, etc.) to indicate the gender of an object. We refer to objects as “she” or “he” and the whole object comes alive even more. “Der Zug,” or “the train” in German gives us the impression of a mighty creature huffing and puffing up the hill as we say, “there he goes! Watch him climb!” “Die Blume,” or “the flower” becomes She. “Look how beautiful She is!” as we gaze at the perfect rose.

Even the most unlikely candidates become alive through hints in language. This is a great pointer to the fact that All is Consciousness. Recognizing the Consciousness and beauty inherent in inanimate objects, we find aliveness, alertness, consciousness and story even in a hayfield. Above and below are photographs I took last week of two pastures and their recently collected haystacks and hayrolls. We can have an entire conversation with a hayfield when we really look. I am enamored with their beauty.

Aliveness is everywhere…

The other morning, my Beloved and I were driving across the valley and we had to slow to a stop as the most beautiful pronghorn antelope was standing right before our vehicle. Gorgeous markings shone vividly on her face, as die Antilope stared directly at us. She was looking for an opening to the prairie but was blocked by the cattle fence. Luckily, no cars were coming behind us, so we were able to sit and wait for her to find an opening in the fence. After a moment, she dove into a small opening in the barbed wire and pranced quickly across the cowfields, off into the sunset plains. Free again!

The Consciousness present in this animal was clear as a bell, as we looked directly into each other’s eyes.

We instinctively and collectively know there is intelligence present as we anthropomorphize animals and inanimate objects in Pixar, Disney, graphic novels, fairy tales. A teapot transforms into a friendly trickster, a pelican embodies the wise old man, a sea turtle a surf bum.

Non-humans are smart, flawed, perfectly imperfect, and just as conscious as we humans. Any animal lover will know that True Love is there and a connection is made, eye-to-eye, when one truly looks. This goes for trees, rivers, lakes and streams as well. Who’s to say that the Love is not reciprocated? Perhaps we experiment with extending this idea to every apparent separate object, every inextricable part of the whole.

Consciousness is everywhere. May joy and aliveness fill you as summer reveals its splendor and gifts!

With love,

Erin

Erin Reese, M.S. 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. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering.