Thursday, August 17, 2017

Solar Eclipse: More Sacred Opportunity Than Spectacle

Solar Eclipse: More Sacred Opportunity Than Spectacle: This may or may not be news to you, but there is so much hype about the upcoming Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017, that I feel compelled ...

Solar Eclipse: More Sacred Opportunity Than Spectacle

This may or may not be news to you, but there is so much hype about the upcoming Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017, that I feel compelled to share about it on a deeper level, for your consideration.

It came to my attention that the upcoming Total Eclipse of the Sun is not a “spectacle,” as it is being treated in typical Western fashion, but a sacred and powerful event. For instance, certain Native tribes share that this Eclipse is an intimate and rare encounter between the Sun, Moon, and Earth, a connection to be respected rather than “stared at.” They add, in fact, that it is "rude" to stare at it. The word that comes to mind for me is “disrespectful.” 

From a Shamanic perspective, the Total Eclipse of the Sun is a powerful and significant event, providing an opportunity for heightened awareness and positive change. Out of the light from which we are born, into the shadow of this ego-oriented reality, and back to the light of our true nature we die - a Solar Eclipse symbolizes the sacred journey of our lives.

  
Here are some other reasons why the Solar Eclipse is not only a significant opportunity, but a sacred event:

From an energetic standpoint, the Total Eclipse of the Sun signifies change, or a disruption of the norm. For instance, it is not "normal" for the Sun's light to be blocked, or to glimpse twinkling stars during the daytime, or for the Planet Earth to be cast into full shadow. The symbology of these things is intriguing.

The Total Eclipse of the Sun flips the reality of what is on its head. It is a turning over of the status quo. It rocks the energetic boat of our lives, offering a significant opportunity to reboot outdated, hurtful patterning.

This Eclipse invites us to explore the multitude of changes within ourselves, our lives, and our world that feel like a “disruption of past norms.” How do we respond to them in a way that maintains our integrity and fosters harmony or even evolution? This is the challenge; it matters not whether we feel aligned with the changes or disruptions we face. And there are many right now.

How we choose to address the changes is significant: it is the point of our personal power in terms of what we manifest in this reality. Through our choices, we can either make substantive healing and peace possible, or we can feed the wounding and chaos - within ourselves, our lives, and our world.


Just as the Earth will be cast into shadow, we, too are thrown into the shadow of our beings, our lives, and of what we have created in the world, even if only through our ignorance, apathy, or by our default membership in the Human Race. We are all responsible, since we are all energetically inseparable. 

This event invites us to look deeply inward to search out the shadow aspects of our being that we generally deny - those parts of ourselves we reject; those parts we are ashamed of and choose to keep under cover; those parts of ourselves that in some way contribute to our personal and global suffering. By bringing them into the light (of our awareness), we claim the opportunity for change, allowing us to make a different choice - to release and move beyond them to something greater for ourselves and our world, rather than continuing to hide them in the shadows of denial, fear, apathy, ignorance, or rejection.

Something powerful this way comes…

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Reality Check

In case you haven't stopped to notice it, we are already midway through August, 2017, two-thirds of the way through the year. This is stunning for me to consider, as it feels just last week was the new year's beginning.

If you read my last blog, "2017 - The Year of the Ten Fire Rooster," you may be feeling the truth of what was predicted based on ancient numerology and Chinese Calendar lore. Though perhaps a tad less tense than last year, 2017 comes packed with its own set of opportunities (or dramas, depending on how you choose to look at it). 

At this point in the game, it is important for you to find your inner balance. With strong beliefs and opinions streaming out from every arena, you'll need that inner balance to stabilize you through the rising and falling of emotional waves that pass through your personal space - those belonging to you and those belonging to others. It is human nature to have reactions to things, but it's not your inner emotional reactions that are the problem; it is what you do with them.

   
If you use your reactions to justify blame, shame, judgement, or separation, you are missing the truth and a powerful opportunity. Whenever you slip into this type of justification, you are actually passing off your responsibility for yourself onto others, where it does not belong. Your emotional reactions belong to you and you alone. 

Let me say this another way: Others are not responsible for your feelings - not now, not ever. 

It does not matter what they did or didn't do; you are the sole proprietor of your feelings today, in this moment. They happen inside of you, not outside of you. They are created inside of you. They exist and are managed inside of you. They dissolve away inside of you. They do not belong to anyone else; they belong to you, even when what you attribute them to happens outside of you.

This means that you are also 100% responsible for your reactions to the experiences of your life - how you deal with your feelings. Nobody makes you do anything, unless someone threatens your safety or your life if you do not comply with their demands. And even then you have choices; limited ones, but still choices, either in that moment or sometime later. Other than that extreme situation, you make your life choices from a place of freedom. You are nobody's slave, nobody's prisoner.


If you insist on blaming others for your state of being, you try to make them responsible for your choices, your feelings, and the quality of your life, when in reality you are. You hand them all your power by sacrificing to them how you feel and what you do in your life. And then you blame them when it doesn't turn out like you want. That's messed up. That is part of what Marianne Williamson refers to as error thinking.

As a free adult living in this country, you have the luxury - and it is a luxury - to choose for yourself who you want to befriend, who you join in partnership with, where you work and live, what you eat and drink, where you go, what you do, how long you stay, what you believe in, what you reject, how you feel, etc. No one else makes those choices for you. You make them for yourself, each one adding to the creation of the story of your life.

That means when things "go wrong" in your life, so to speak, or don't go as you hoped, you have the choice to change something to bring it back into alignment with what you want. Whatever happened in your past is past; whatever wounds you carry forward from that past can be healed. You have the choice to stop blaming others and take responsibility for your life now, starting today. There is no one to blame for your current situation, or for the feelings you hold in relation to it.


Instead of blaming others when you make a choice or a string of choices that do not bring you the outcome you want, or when you disagree with what is, or when you let your emotions get the better of you and react destructively, step off the road you are on and find a new path to walk. It really is that simple. 

You are the captain of your ship; the star, director and producer of your movie; the King or Queen of your life. You have the power within yourself to change the course of your ship, to manage the contents of your movie, and to make rulings about the direction of your life. But first you must stop blaming others and take full responsibility for yourself. You must reclaim your freedom to choose, for you alone can truly change your life.

And the sooner, the better.