In praise of Saturn and Virgo: Showing us where WE ABANDONED OURSELVES.

“Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels,
None other holds you that ye live and die,
And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss
Its spokes of agony,
Its tire of tears, its nave of nothingness.”
― Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia

Hell-to the-o Yoganauts!!!

Just want to use this space in the letter to remind you of where we are in Lunar Flow Yoga and in time and space (as much as one can with the dimensions shifting, opening and reorienting our world).  Firstly, just had a penumbral (almost) lunar eclipse in Aquarius on 18 August.  Friendly warning or a shot across the bow, depending on your perspective.  Mercury retrograde begins in Virgo (the planet’s home sign) on 30 August.   We head toward the annular solar eclipse new moon in Virgo on the 1st of September.  Secrets revealed and extreme energy for everyone!  Then we have ANOTHER penumbral lunar eclipse on 16 September –but we won’t see it in North America.  AND THEN (as if all of that was not enough) comes my favorite!  A total suprise and an astrological event I was not even aware of when we started this class cycle:  

A BLACK MOON (in Libra) ON 30 SEPTEMBER.  

The second new moon in a calendar month is called a black moon and since the first new moon of September is an annular solar eclipse, this heaps on even more potential for meaning.  Y’know, if you dig that sort of thing.  Only two more classes to support this maelstrom, both on Saturday, both at noon this week 8/27 and next 9/3.~L

The Archetype of Black Moon Lillith – the Vengeance of the disowned feminine.

(Part of me celebrates, the other half trembles, but ALL of me cares about this symbol.  And just to remind you, if you don’t think you are occupying several dimensions?  Please touch your body right now — nothing perverted for this exercise, please.  Now touch a thought you are having in this moment.  Please touch the emotion this causes.  Touch the memory of last nights’ dream.  The veil between what you can touch and what you cannot thins now as this eclipse cycle closes the 9 months of work you have done in lunar yoga.  May both/and blessings be upon us.  May the dark and the light recognize your offering, your sacrifice and your beauty.  I do.

Also, remember that personal vision of beauty and how you wanted life to go?  It may come in hand to be able to call it up at will and under duress.~L)

Mars is the brightest “star” in this image, in the lower right. Saturn is second-brightest, above and to the left of Mars. Plus stars in Scorpius and Ophiuchus.

You see the world famous Eiger North Face in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Saturn and Mars are sitting over the Jungfrau mountain. The moon just starts to rise from behind Eiger peak. The bright light is the train station of the famous Jungfraujoch Top of Europe railway situated in the midst of Eiger North Face.  Roland Küng, a professor in the School of Engineering at Zurich University of Applied Sciences, submitted this photo. ~earthsky.org

If you are not seeing this gorgeous lineup, you possibly have something obstructing your view south and west.  The straight line is even more pronounced now, perfect view from the Mt Helena scenic bench above the parking lot.  Happens after sundown, needs to be dark – and cloudless!. ~L

In French: “Balance” is Libra

 At 7:27 am on Aug 24th, the planet Mars (ancient god of war) conjuncts Saturn ((ancient) ruler of limits and boundaries (and time~L)). Their coming together represents a debate between polarities:  action vs. stasis, hot vs. cold, spontaneity vs. containment, individual needs vs. the Collective. These planets meet in the sky approximately every two years.  It urges us to develop the self-discipline and groundwork needed to become a courageous warrior for our personal or collective causes. Less positively, when the energies are right for war in the world or strife within a relationship, this conjunction can represent the spark.~horoscopesbyvivian.com

“I Was Wrong…”

Those are words you are not likely to hear for the next few weeks… hehe… Geeshka, it can be hilarious at times because chart energy like this always seems to provide reasons and excuses to ‘splain (sometimes in the most idiotic ways) or to try to justify errors or mistakes… The classic “the dog ate my homework” excuses… If you find yourself in a situation like that and you made a mistake, do yourself and others a favor and just admit it… This energy is actually here to point out where additional learning and understanding can be found and often that happens as the result of making mistakes.                          ~daniel dowd of weeklyhoroscope.com

(This is my favorite piece of advice ever.  Welcome to Virgo season (tropical)!!  I mean Leo season (Vedic/sidereal)!!!~L)

I am a Warner Brothers baby.~L

8/24/2016 Wed 2:42am EDT Mars Sagittarius Conjunct Saturn Sagittarius 

Irresistible force meets immovable object. Proceed with caution! There is a lot of energy available for disciplined work, but push too hard and you may break something.         ~daniel dowd of weeklyhoroscope.com

(Perfectly describes the line between intention and allowing that Lunar Flow Yoga tries to attain.  When walking on the moon, giant steps are propelled by subtle, masterful use of force and focused attention on trajectory, Yoganauts.  Congratulations.  You broke through.~L)

Venus and Jupiter do a little square dance over the nights of August 26-28. Jupiter is headed westward toward conjunction with the sun, while Venus is moving away from the sun in the opposite direction from our perspective. Credit: Stellarium

“Wednesday, August 24th

4:27 AM PT – Mars conjunct Saturn at 9 degrees of Sagittarius on the fixed star Antares

Thursday, August 25th

11:57 PM PT – Mars in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces both at 10 degrees

Saturday, August 27th

3:29 PM PT – Venus conjunct Jupiter at 27 degrees of Virgo

Sunday, August 28th

11:32 PM PT – Mercury conjunct Venus at 28 degrees of Virgo

This week is one to watch.

Eclipses come in pairs. They signal times of endings and beginnings. Openings and closings. Power shifts and lasting change. On September 1st there will be a solar eclipse in Virgo and on September 16th there will be a lunar eclipse in Pisces. Eclipse season is a time when we can expect rapid growth and acceleration in a certain area of our lives.

In astrology, the Virgo/Pisces axis is about healing on micro and macro levels. While Virgo carries with it the wisdom of the earth’s way of healing by breaking things down, organizing, digesting, categorizing and assimilating, Pisces heals through the wisdom of the waters that flush out our wounds and wash away the separations between us so that we might remember that we are unified and connected to each other and all of life.

Virgo is discerning. Pisces is unifying. We need both to attributes to heal.  (I am SO SICK of the word “heal” it seems like the new age version of “original sin”–don’t mind my Lillith, she just needs to vent.  Let’s see the word “align” in place of heal so it doesn’t feel so ripped open. K?  I can accept that I am out of whack, but I don’t think I need to call a shamaness, necessarily.  My discernment tells me to “trust I can handle it”.~L)

During this eclipse season Mercury will be retrograde, Jupiter, planet of abundance and expansion is also changing signs from Virgo to Libra and Saturn will make its last square to Neptune. It’s is a month of endings and beginnings on many astrological levels. By the time September comes to a close we will be onto many new endeavors and adventures. ~chani nicolas of chaninicolas.com

August 27, 2016 is conjunction evening when the two planets are 7 arc minutes apart!

~jeffreyhunt.wordpress.com

“To be a true yoga master, you need to master the art of negation. That’s Patanjali’s idea, from the Yoga Sutras:

2.33 Vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam

The practice of pratipaksha bhanavam prescribes that, when disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite thoughts should be brought into awareness.  (Ever wonder where the “Law of Attraction” got started?  I feel it is a flawed interpretation of this idea and the result of the double slit experiment of quantum physics.  Don’t get me started.~L)

It takes a good amount of logical and spiritual training to know how to approach the art of negation. It’s like when you were studying algebra, and you learned how to use the order of operations. When you are solving for x, you need to understand the operations and their inverses, and figure out where the parentheses are, to really figure out the value of x. And just like algebra, it takes a good amount of practice to do it consistently well.”

#BlackLivesMatter is itself a negation, a masterpiece of pratipaksha bhavanam, a response to a society whose actions tell them that black lives do not matter.

Statement: Black lives don’t matter.
Not the opposite: Other lives don’t matter.
Opposite: BLACK LIVES DO MATTER.

Sutra 2.34 (concerning Ahimsa~L) applies to three kinds of violence. First, don’t commit violence; instead, cultivate the opposite. Second, don’t think violent thoughts; cultivate the opposite.  It includes the third type: don’t allow violence to happen.  (Finding the False Dichotomy.  For Yoganauts, taking the both/and approach.~L)

The altruistic chant, “Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu,” is often followed by, “shanti, shanti, shanti.”

“May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. Peace, peace, peace.”

~Erin Luhks  at Embodied Philosophy www.fiveattvas.com

(Despite the fact that this yogic instruction fits wondrously well with our Lunar Flow Yoga attention to inverses, polarities and dichotomy as learning and navigation tools, you may wonder about my including it here.  Wonder no further, for the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in ANTARES (for the love of Pete) may as well spell out W-A-R, but we know that there is always another side to appearances (double entendre intended)~L.)

 

Mars, Saturn, Antares

Mars, Saturn and Antares on August 21, 2016 from Azya Matsumoto in Malaysia. She wrote: “Every night I look up at the freckled sky and fall in love with the universe all over again.” (Sigh.  Me too.~L)

The actual conjunction of Saturn and Mars – when they’re due north and south of one another on the sky’s dome – happens on August 24. ~earthsky.org

War and Peace by jinzilla on DeviantArt

“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”

― David W. Orr, Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World

“Yoga to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system : Virgo rules the sympathetic nervous system, the division known as “fight or flight.” To counterbalance this primal electrical storm of adrenaline and instinctual urge running through the body, we engage the parasympathetic – “rest and digest.” The sympathetic nervous system is designed to maintain homeostasis in the body and rules our unconscious actions. Its areas of function include the stomach, duodenum, colon, spleen, gallbladder, liver, kidneys and ureter. We can calm any nervous energy here by engaging the vagus nerve, which falls under the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve is actually a pair of cranial nerves running from the medulla oblongata all the way to the abdomen. It is connected to the heart and digestive tract – stimulating this nerve brings peace and relaxation. We can do this bytwisting the spine in many kinds of standing, sitting and reclined poses – I have listed a few above. Inversions with the feet resting above the heart are also very effective. Try placing a block under the sacrum, parallel to the spine, and lifting the feet directly above the hips.” ~Ren Tvenden www.astroyogalove.com   (Woohoo!  Saturday is gonna be upside~down and twisty!!  We’ll honor Saturns’ ‘slow it down’ message AND Virgos’ ‘clean it up’ entreaty. Thanks Ren!~L)

“Love the horn”, her look seems to say.~L

“Patanjali uses the word twice in the Yoga Sutra. One sutra [2.33] says, “Vitarkabadhane pratipaksha bhavanam.” That’s a very simple sentence. (!~L) It means that when we have afflicted thinking, then “Pratipaksha bhavanam”: Contemplate and take another view—look at the situation from another perspective. In another sutra [2.34] Patanjali says if you have negative thinking that comes from anger, greed, or delusion, whether you’re actively in it or just thinking about it, the fruit will be unending suffering and ignorance (!not THAT again!~L). Therefore, “Pratipaksha bhavanam”: Take another view, reframe your perspective on the situation.”~viniyoga.com

                                              

“My body is my instructor,
Teaching me to find,
The balance in giving to the world,
And taking personal time.

Yes indeed, with the Moon passing through Cancer this weekend, and Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and the north Node in Virgo, it is a time to listen more to our feelings and our bodies than the chitter chatter of our minds. AND, this may not be so easy to do! Ol’ Mercury wants to keep analyzing and talking, and fixing, and planning, and working and and and. Whew….. chill it out.As Mars moves away from Saturn, it will free up toward freedom, expansion, and the wild. Great time to travel, be outdoors, listen to the trees whisper and look at those stars! Good time to be in nature, rejuvenate, heal, and allow Spirit to whisper in our ears by silencing the monkey mind that is stuck in 3D…… Injoy!

So Much Love,

Kaypacha“

Virgo is the point in the zodiac where the real world and the world of spirit become one. It’s where the Hermetic Axiom, “as above, so below” installs itself in the collective mind. The obsessive-compulsive tendencies that are characteristic of most Virgos spring from a deep desire to witness spiritual perfection, or see it reflected on the physical plane. The need for order, the love of purity, and the willingness to work harder than anyone else, come out of an innate understanding that behind what is apparent, absolutely everything we do is really a sacred act.
When the sun’s in Virgo what is of this earth is being consecrated and blessed so that it can symbolically be handed over to whatever its ultimate purpose is. The fruit that gets picked off the vine doesn’t become truly glorious until it goes through the alchemical process that preserves it for future use. Transmuting lead into gold is sacred work. And at this point in the dream cycle our visions are being transmuted so that we can bring them into the core of our being and understand at a deeper level how they are meant to serve us.
Virgo is the sign of the High Priestess. In the Egyptian temples the High Priestesses were the intermediaries who superintended the rituals that kept life going in the right direction. They knew where the all the sacred objects needed to be placed so that the proper energies got stirred. They were also the guardians of the sexual mysteries and acted as conduits for the spiritual force that comes through all of us at the sexual level. Contrary to popular belief the Vestal Virgins were far from celibate. In fact, it was part of their job, their ultimate purpose, to be sexual.
It’s hilarious to me that Virgos are written off as prudish. I think it has something to do with the fact that the sexual force and the spiritual force were so intermingled in the Priestess archetype. And 13,000 years of patriarchal programming have led us to believe that sex and God can’t occupy the same space, so Virgo can only be seen in public as the “resident prude!” The truth is that all the power and force of creation resides within the womb of the female.
It’s no mystery. The sacred and the profane are one and the same.
God and light flow through absolutely everything. The fine line between what is apparent and the spiritual energy that fuels it may be invisible but it’s the point where we can tap into our own divinity. There’s so much more to what we do than meets the eye. All the visions that we’ve fostered have spent nine months in the womb of creation. And they are on the verge of being alchemically transmuted so that their highest purpose can be served. Open your heart to that idea and use this month to recognize that all of life and everything you do is sacred. – See more at: http://mountaintimes.info/cycles-birth-beget-fruits-labor/#sthash.KIWZJ9cF.dpuf  (That’s the Mother of Skye, Cal Garrison explaining to you the archetype of her sun sign, Yoganauts.  Sacred to the last semicolon if you asked me.~L)

 

If 2% of the brain is ego and 98% is unconscious it might be time to let the music move the body, if you are picking up what I am laying down.  I am calling this picture “too much think”.~L

“Mercury (27 Virgo) squares the Galactic Center (27 Sagittarius), whilst conjuncting Jupiter (26 Virgo) and Venus (24 Virgo).

Mars (10 Sagittarius) has just finished its conjunction with Saturn (9 Sagittarius) and both square Neptune / South Node (10-12 Pisces) and the North Node (12 Virgo). In roughly 9 hours´time, the Gemini Moon will complete a Grand Mutable Cross, linking all these bodies on the 25th of August.

Tomorrow (26 August), the Gemini Moon will go on to oppose Venus, Jupiter and Mercury in Sagittarius. Jupiter will enter 27 Virgo and square the Galactic Center directly.

The Great Goddess Grand Water Trine – with Juno, Black Moon Lilith, Vesta, Neptune and the South Node continues to bring us revelations on the Nature of the Dark Feminine (especially), and the karmic currents that we need to navigate in the Search of Her. This alignment will remain in place for the next 2 weeks and is a remnant of the Great Goddess Grand Sextile that lasted between the end of July till mid-August 2016.

In English – what all this means is that we´re seeing the arrow finally Launch! We´ve been building up to so many of these alignments for months now and they are revealing to us the Path we must take, or Paths (if that works for you).

The next few days will bring you in contact with teachers, teachings, paths, philosophies, paradigms and/or opportunities for travel, learning or really – anything that expands your horizons. Some of these paths will be right for you, and some won´t. See what comes and choose what you need to.”

~Dr. Bairavee Balasubramaniam PhD

(Viveka, viveka, viveka.  Look into the situation from within yourself.  No one and nothing owns you.  Only YOU know what is right for you.  You do not know what is right for anyone else.  No absolutes! (grin)~L)

This is a long one and there is more to say, but for now I’m going to walk my talk and just present the deep appreciation I have for the authors presented here.  Appreciation is a good place to be as we realign the ossified belief structures and realize that misalignment or wounding IS this Virgo Pisces Axis (9 months!) and we need to acclimate to the astrological enema being administered by Saturn and Mars, Jupiter and Venus.  Think Jenga (one balanced move at a time), not (cut it open, rip it out) surgery.  Relax and breathe, move slowly and deliberately it will all come out in the end (tee hee).

Remember, Eckhart Tolle made a billion dollars for naming the pain body (thanks for pointing that out Sara Silverman) and our tendency to gravitate there and become addicted to our suffering.  It is really time to stop (I write this because I, more than anyone, need to allow my pain lover to leave me).  It is time to decide if we want our lives and the lives of the next 7 generations to be about toil or joy.

Saturday at noon.

Mind your heart,

~L

PS Make art.  

A Word on the Method and the Madness

“To know this diagram is to know astrology, to know Ayurveda, to know both the manifest world and where it came, to know the child of Purusha and Prakriti. Ganesha.” ~Dr. Ladd

Global Humans in the Cosmic Context

The What and Why of Lunar Flow Yoga

We have to see ourselves in a new way to change our world.

 

Looking back on what was created with our Lunar Flow Yoga class has been fun for me.  I feel like I grew a lot and gained so much by your indulgence.  I am so grateful for the time you gave me to work out the ideas, asanas and practice that became our experiment.  I would like to record some  conclusions here before we head into our cycle on the eclipses.  Before I get rolling though; some simple sincere thanks–from the light in me that is just like the light in you.

Firstly, Lunar Flow Yoga was themed on Vedic lunar astrology, which meant we followed the moon through the nakshatras or Lunar Mansions.  We focused on the archetypes represented there, but the overarching theme was creating wholeness out of dualism.  So many Vedic ideas support this; yama and niyama, prana and apana, sukha and dukkha and the creation principles Purusha and Prakruti, rajas and tamas.   This principle is personified in Shiva and Shakti, the dance of creation and destruction.  In class it provided a base for building a sense of equanimity and balance through observances of the full cycle of the moon; waxing and waning.

Our Vedic Lunar Yoga experiment always sought to bring greater intimacy with self and sensitivity to the wisdom of the body as a place of contact with Nature and holism.  Many astrological phenomena occur in pairs of opposites: binary stars, zodiacal axises, negative and positive aspects of the signs and archetypes.  These are akin to pairs and polarities within the body; each chakra below the 6th owns a pair of glands–thyroid (and parathyroid), thymus, adrenals and gonads.  The shadow and ego of the psyche were explored and considered as well.

This dual constellation led us to consider and enact the whole of process to gain clearer understanding of ourselves and our cosmic situation.  We began holding the idea of reconciliation as a model when considering unity and separation, order and chaos or any single aspect, sign or archetype.  In class, contraction and expansion were two sides of a cycle of inhale and exhale, wax and wane, light and dark.  

The hope was to begin to instigate a pause, a moment before action when we recognized one aspect and searched for it’s twin opposite.  In that moment we could hold the dichotomy in unity within ourselves and see if stabilization or ordering would result.  It’s not just a mental concept–we were enacting this with the breath and the asana as well.  The whole organism engaged the training of becoming a vessel for contradiction.

Well and so, what in the world would that be good for?  Why would we WANT to stretch ourselves to encompass more?  I mean, we are already pushed way beyond what we seem to be built to withstand.  There is more change coming at us faster and faster all the time, when do we get to stop and rest?  Lunar Flow Yoga was started with just such an idea in mind.  It would be great to think that we have all of our collective poop in a group and we can just go to yoga class and cast off all the yuggies, get a tune up and go on our way, but the fact is we have to reintroduce ourselves to ourselves nearly every day.  

We have to remind ourselves of our intention to respond from the inner guide and not in react to external forces in every moment.  We have to practice, practice, practice our connection to divinity as often as possible.  Let me reiterate as the lead holder of the Lunar Flow Yoga space, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THAT DIVINITY LOOKS LIKE FOR YOU, it’s welcome in the space.  Imagination and spiritual (read inner) inspiration have to be used like muscles or they atrophy.  The best way that I have found to access the inner world is to exhaust the body with breath and movement first, then try to rest.  Otherwise I’m squirrely.

Another reason why Lunar Flow Yoga evolved this way is to  demonstrate that we are in a process.  We are constantly releasing the past in order to move into a future self that is unknown to us.  Call it the conquest of dimensionality, call it evolution or just plain growth; none of us is the same person we were yesterday.  We put some things down and picked others up since then and  our capacity extended.  I like to imagine that embodying duality, embracing dichotomy and bridging the gap serves a purpose in the universe.  I pretend that one of the values of being human and vulnerable is that it propels the boundaries of the cosmos into new dimensions of complexity and evolution.  Holy moly is it a complex and vulnerable time.

Looking at the cycle of the moon is another way to envision the myths of all culture that have been passed down for millennia.  Joseph Campbell gave us the pattern of the hero’s journey: unity, separation, fall, interior examination and descent, a crisis of meaning, transformative encounter with suffering and dissolution of self.  Only after this descent does the hero penetrate into the ability to rise into a larger dimension of life, a broader point of view.  Since the moon is our closest celestial satellite and she makes this journey every 28 days I thought to short-circuit the process and accelerate it by making it so much of the internal landscape as to no longer alarm us with the G forces of the drop and rise.  (Sheepish grin–hubris, anyone?)

The promise of the Aquarian Age is deliverance from the spiritual wounding of the long night of the Piscean Era.  We are asked to heal and integrate the amputation of the spiritual evolutionary process that was not allowed by religious dogma and insisted someone had to translate for God.  God, love and the internal world of soul was appropriated.  There is no home for soul in a world that is wholly objective, where it costs money to simply exist and where nature is “red in tooth and claw”.  In this new age of Aquarius, we are told, the truest, most natural cosmic self will once again be allowed to spread it’s wings and take flight.

So many spiritual teachers advocate a process of hierarchy,  method or a “path”.  I want to say again, as I have tried to remember to say in each of our meetings, that is not what Lunar Flow Yoga is trying to achieve.  “No absolutes!” is the Lunar Flow Yoga motto.  I am not showing you the way to YOUR SPIRITUAL VISION, only you can do that.  I am using what is at hand (namely the lunar cycle, the Vedic and tropical astrological archetypes and Ashtanga vinyasa asana) to run experiments on our changing consciousness and see where it gets us.  These conclusions I draw are MY conclusions and it’s possible and even a really good idea to do the class and not think about any of this stuff.  I don’t own the class even IF I originate it.  The form that class takes is MY preference and it is important and encouraged that you modify it for YOUR needs.  

Many of us  feel so deeply that this point in time is pivotal and want to be sensitive to that.  Awareness is ratcheted up to an excruciating level right now.  The Aquarian Full Moon of 2016 is a major release valve for the mental chains of the past and  the penumbral lunar eclipse (seen or not) points to the portal this moment can be into the future self–the more evolved, refined, aware being in each of us.  I ask you to imagine looking at your past from a new point of view that allows for a shifting of previously unquestioned judgements and paradigms.  Imagine a larger truth that allows you to see what came before in a way that no longer perpetuates Piscean wounding and victimhood, but illuminates the positive side to the twin fishes archetype: true joy, authentic playfulness, empathy, telepathy, the highest form of spiritual intuition and spiritual peace.

Look, it was necessary for reasons unknown to us (yeah, that again) to uphold a materialist reality for 2000 years.  It got us where we are, for good or for ill and we are all familiar with the ills of the Piscean age.  What no one thinks too much about is the Piscean capacity for rage, just white-hot batshit-crazy anger.  When you think about a pair of swimming fishes, you seldom fear or imagine they might be sharks, but they could be.  The Aquarian is always seen as so evolved and fair, but the flip side?  Arrogance and disgust on a massive scale.  “Kill them all and let God sort it out”, kind of thinking.  I don’t think you need me to point to all the places this negative side of the archetypes is advancing in our world.  We have to do what we can  to advance peace, kindness and compassion through this window, this portal of eclipses, even if it’s only to sit down and remind ourselves where the moon is, where our hearts are and where we hope to go.    This class is my offering.  Please be welcome.  Please join me in a little time out of time.

Mind your heart

~L

 

Lunar Flow Yoga Class

Eclipse Portal Cycle

Thursday August 18 at 7pm, Saturdays August 20, 27 and September 3 at noon at DLC

 

Full Moon (Almost) Lunar Eclipse 18 August 2016 in Aquarius for tropical and Vedic: THE POWER OF “WE”

LUNAR FLOW YOGA makes it’s triumphant return to the DANCING LOTUS CENTER on Thursday 18 August at 7pm and the Next 3 Saturdays at noon.  Join us, whydoncha?  You’re so dang WELCOME!!!

~L

“timeanddate.com calculations show that the Sun, Earth, and Moon will be very closely aligned on this day, but there will be no lunar eclipse. There are several different ways to calculate eclipses, so some sources are listing this event as a penumbral lunar eclipse. In any case, viewers on Earth will not be able to see the Earth’s shadow on the Moon.” ~timeanddate.com

(That said, let’s proceed . . .~L)

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse August 18 2016 is at 25º Aquarius Decan 3. Aspects: Sextile Uranus & Quincunx Jupiter (Yod). Fixed Star: Sador in Cygnus

For the first time in a while we have a a significant Yod to deal with during an eclipse. This one is important because it points to Jupiter, and has the Moon sextile Uranus as its base. This means that Uranus is the key to resolving the opposition. (Ah, Uranus and it’s bridge-burning impulsiveness.  Watch that, Yoganauts, babies and bathwater and all . . .~L)  Yods are like a thorn in one’s side that constantly spurs you towards your goal, often wether you like it or not! And this Yod is entwined with the Lunar eclipse. Yods are sometimes called ‘The Finger Of God’, because life feels fated or destined. At the same time there is a yearning for perfection signified by the planet that it is pointing at. This one is God pointing at…. well God. (So many one-liners I could use . . .~L)

2016

Solar Eclipse Mar 8 2016 I OMG!  ~ 18º Pisces 56′

Lunar Eclipse Mar 23 2016 I Tipping Point ~ 3º Libra 17′

Lunar Eclipse Aug 18 2016 I God Finger ~ 25º Aquarius

Solar Eclipse Sep 1 2016 ~ 9º Virgo 21′  (This one!!!~L)

Lunar Eclipse Sep 16 2016 ~ 24º Pisces 20′

~Marina at darkstarastrology.com

Greg Diesel-Walck wrote on August 5, 2016: “I’ve taken over 30,000 pictures of the moon. Tonight I had a chance to get chills again like it was the first time 🙂 Jupiter over the moon as a thunderstorm drifted across the horizon here in Moyock, North Carolina tonight.”

“Aquarius, the sign of altruists and altruism, astrology and astrologers, frankincense, freethinking, free will and friends. The last Air Sign of the Tropical Zodiac governs one’s hopes, humanitarianism, and idealism as well as inventions and the inventor, paradoxes and parliaments, rebels and rebellion, truth and wishes.

 The Full Moon is positioned at almost 26 degrees of Aquarius and the Sun almost 26 degrees of Leo. Since the June 2016 Full Moon, our Full Moon Lunations have been situated in the late, “critical” degree of each lunation’s Astrological position, indicating that Humanity is at a time of monumental shift toward higher, spiritual experiences. Before we arrive at that elevated condition, we, Humanity, need to be aware of what must end and what must be eliminated–that which no longer serves a higher purpose–for the greatest good of all concerned. (This is the WHY of the Discernment Yoga Cycle~L)

Next month we have our subsequent series of Eclipse: a Solar Eclipse on September 1 and a Lunar Eclipse on September 16. And in these summer months–winter for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere–Spirit gives us the opportunity to prepare for what is to come as we progress through the last few months of this extraordinary year.”

~Roy Sette of astrologerray.com

“August 11th: Year long transit of Jupiter in Virgo begins!

August 13th: Saturn goes direct

August 16th: Sun in Leo

August 18th: Full Moon in Aquarius and Dhanishta nakshatra

August 19th: Mercury moves to its exaltation sign, Virgo

August 24th: Venus moves to its debilitation sign, Virgo”

~swatijrjyotish.com

“Today the Moon is full in Aquarius. This Full Moon is a harmonizing point of the Leo Sun cycle. Now is the time for you to serve that which is greater than just your own personal strength (represented by Leo). The power of the kingdom must be connected to citizens or it will rot from the inside. We’ve been seeing this on a global scale for the last year, as government institutions and alliances around the world are in chaos. Of course, this also challenges us as individuals to serve something other than our own personal needs and wishes. Now is the time to Be the Change.

This Full Moon happens in Dhanishta Nakshatra, related to Lord Shiva and his drum of creation as described in Vedic Astrology. There is enormous wealth and personal prosperity now, but also spiritual growth and a deeper awareness.”

~Sam Geppi  of LAyoga.com

“It takes discipline to turn illusion into reality.”

— Lionel Suggs

Here’s a glorious shot of all 3 planets after sunset, with the moon. Jupiter is highest in the sky, Venus is lowest, with Mercury in between. Photo by Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Thanks, Peter!

“The Full Moon in Aquarius, who is ruled by Uranus, the “Great Awakener,” suggests that we here in the United States are at a time of a “great awakening.” Incidentally, this Full Moon is closely conjoined to theAquarius Moon in the astrological chart of the United States. The Moon in a country’s chart represents the “people of the said county,” so, we here in the U.S. are in for a great awakening.  At this time, it may not be completely apparent that the United States has been in a condition of “karmic clearing,” and we here in this country are being prepared for a significant new cycle of experience in which each individual will recognize his/her personal empowerment and “We The People” shall enjoy the experience of a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” as the founding fathers intended.  EVERYONE is forever connected to the Source that created all things. Further, all that is needed for a harmonic human experience shall ALWAYS be given to us, of course, when we ALLOW the Universe to provide Abundance, which is our birthright.”  (Bang onit, RAY!!!~L)

~~Roy Sette of astrologerray.com

The Big News is…

Saturn returns to direct motion on Saturday… ((( YAY )))…

This is energy we all have been waiting for… (even if you didn’t realize you were waiting for it… hehe)… What we will all find, is that in the very near future is a flash of personal realization and understanding that suddenly appears… Just like in the old cartoon when that light-bulb appears indicating a great idea or an epiphany has taken place… Like waking up from a long moment of “duhhhh”… ~daniel dowd of weeklyhoroscope.com

Saturn is turning direct after 5.5 months of retrograde motion.  This happens every year.  While direct, Saturn is a taskmaster.  He is also the Judge or the Teacher.  When he turns retrograde, we are given time to think about what we “should” do and prepare for the time that we will do it.  Then he turns direct again and it is time.  We must fulfill whatever is required or the consequences will materialize.  ~horoscopesbyvivian.com

Well, Yoganauts, this looks like as good a place as any to congratulate you on making it through the Mars Venus square and try to give you a look forward at the whitewater ahead.  The cool part about the eclipse portal before us is that you have been mentally, physically and spiritually in training for this since you set foot in Lunar Flow Yoga.  FLOW.  Be ye not hitched up upon the darkness for it is the birthplace of the light.  Be ye not blinded by the brightness for the shade will soothe and shield you.  You know this music.  Now lead the beat.

I am asking, begging and imploring you to remember: whatever comes through that door next you will meet on your feet.  Have confidence in the love in your heart.  You know why love is such a tricky thing to pin down?  It’s because it means something different to each of us.  We all feel it in a different way and as much as we like to pretend that we are all dealing with the same reality, it is different and unique for each of us.

When we accept and allow each his own AND all together WE FIND OUR STRENGTH.  Individually AND collectively: of the people, by the people, for the people.  So LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY and CELEBRATE what you LOVE in the face of all this adversity.  Just for a moment, take stock of what you have been through and realize that you kept the most vital part of you alive through all of this adversity and you know what?  That makes you somekinda cosmic badass in my book.  Please don’t give up.  Not now.

It was recently pointed out to me how the Lunar cycle and the breath cycle are similar.  When you start inhaling, it can be compared to the new moon: a preparation, a climbing.  It has a building, anticipatory energy, a gathering together.  The full moon is like the top of the breath; the space of holding, the fulcrum of change and then the waning moon is like the casting off of spent rocket stages that got used up as we ascended.  Each new breath is built on the information and quality of the last in a sort of FLOWING evolution with staccato breaks within.

This full moon in Aquarius really supports the metaphor.  Some of us (true to our dualistic, 3D experience) are building up an expression of isolation and paranoia.  Others have been squirreling away authentic self-expression and love.  Whether the passage of our most recent evolution has made you expand or contract, the period of eclipses that run from now until well after the 16th of September will surely show.  And neither one is wrong, it’s just likely that ONE is wrong FOR YOU.

This is the Leo~Aquarius axis of the zodiac.  Leo’s highest expression is, well, the love that supports authentic self expression.  It’s lower vibe?  Playing to the crowd and having no grounded center.  Aquarius in  elevated form puts the “I” in team and celebrates the individual’s contribution to the grandeur of the whole.  Negatively, Aquarius will impatiently burn it all to a cinder over a single disagreement and be like Eric Cartman, “Screw you guys, I’m going home.”

while I do not condone dog shaming, this made me laugh sooo hard.

Ok, so here’s my (and Shawna McGrath, whose Youtube video inspired this rant) strategy on how to proceed in these energies: get a grounded self-expression.  Check out what you want to come off as and who you usually come off as and combine the two with a LOT of humor and kindness.  Know yourself well enough to laugh at your habitual foibles. Practice patience with the way others respond to you or, if you are an advanced Yoganaut, RELEASE any expectation of how others receive your grounded self-expression.

Respond to others in their self expression, grounded or not, and AVOID reacting to them.  Various heart-based methods have been advocated here and elsewhere.  Using these is a practice of DISCERNMENT (pausing to reflect and wait for inspiration (see previous breath metaphor*!*)) and will become MORE valuable as September 1 approaches, so really practice now, if this rings true for you.

Above all, try to let the beauty of what is happening really effect you: each of us is learning freedom of expression as if for the first time and feeling a very visceral liberation from limiting thought patterns.  Encourage this in yourself and others, if you can find the Leonine courage (heart-fire) to do so.  Include and allow the expression of others.  Not because you want that for yourself, but because it FEELS REALLY GOOD to cheer for that person who is doing what you were told NEVER to do.

Let me just slip in one brief example from my life.  At a movie, to be funny, I started a meme with my friends about counting “man-buns”, a way of dressing male hair by piling it atop the head and securing it there, very hipsteresque.  Like a five-year old, every time I saw one I would say, “man-bun” and we would giggle.  Stupid, right?  So yesterday, I am hiking and I see a person (I really don’t remember the gender) with a bun piled atop the head dyed canary yellow with the hair closer to the scalp colored lime green.

This did not produce the hilarity I would have expected.  I had been through that and was over it.  What happened was that I appreciated the risk that person was taking and wondered at the meaning of it for them.  Then I saw how silly MY judgemental and reactionary joke had been, that I was playing to my female audience out of insecurity because I sometimes wear the same hairstyle when I am really hot or going to sleep.  It’s a little thing, but I hope you see my point.  Then, I had to do a little sheepish self-forgiveness shuffle for being such a nozzle and my world opened a little bit and got bigger with one more green and yellow man-bun in it.  Could have been a tribute to her/his parakeet.  (see, there I go again . . .)

We’re all healing our view of life, trying to trust when the deck seems loaded and operating without all the facts.  Find acceptance and inclusiveness through patience, persistence and present moment awareness.  In other words, get lost in what you LOVE and love YOU for loving that thing or being or act or thought or personal vision and bringing it to the chaos/party.  I am glad you are here.

~L

“This full moon marks halfway between the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox; it is known as Lunar Lammas. Lammastide is a traditional holiday in the Northern Hemisphere, falling upon the first harvest of the year. This phase is also known as the Full Sturgeon Moon because it coincides with abundant fish catches. The moon will rise at sunset, peak at midnight and set at sunrise.

The Sun and Moon in total opposition between Leo and Aquarius: me vs. we. The Full Moon in Aquarius yearns to explode outward, to use the Self as a vehicle for collective empowerment.

Let’s look at the ruling planets of each sign, the Sun and Uranus respectively. The Sun emanates from the inside out, master of identity. Uranus is the rebel and nonconformist, dancing eccentrically to the beat of his own drum. On one end of the spectrum, we have regal Leo in his fullest expression: living through the heart, content to stay there without ever venturing beyond the confines of the Self. On the other lies Aquarius, wandering so far out in the cosmos that he struggles to cultivate awareness within. Leo lives in the here and now, in laughter, in the body, in the raw ego. Too much leonine energy produces self-interest and bullying. So can these two play nicely together? We shall see.

The imbalanced Aquarian closely resembles his leonine counterpart: proud, forceful, blinded by ego. Too much Aquarius makes life feel cold and unemotional. An overdose of Leo makes life too hot – think melodrama, unchecked passion, irrational responses. And yet the water bearer is notoriously aloof and acquires an edge if he feels that his toes have been stepped on. Altruism is rapidly replaced by dark shades of anger in the form of hard logic / “objective” intellectualization. The Full Moon in Aquarius may shut the heart down in favor of the left brain’s insistence on “rational” thinking.  The water bearer often struggles to understand other people. He is quick to judge and finds people boring, deflated of self-confidence and originality.”  ~Ren Tvedten of astroyogalove.com

See you next Thursday night, the 18th, 7pm at The Dancing Lotus 40 N. Last Chance Gulch

www.dancinglotuscenter.com

Mind your heart,

~L

www.dogmoonyoga.wordpress.com

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This stuff is not for everyone.

   

“Hold On To Something”~Hakiru Sulu

 

Lunar Flow Yoga

Eclipse Portal Cycle

In celebration of cosmic energies never before seen in our lifetime:

“Yogic Discernment and Befriending the Unknown”

Four classes are offered and can be bought as a group for $40 or individually for $12 per class!

Thursday 18 August at 7pm

Saturday 20 August at 12 noon

Saturday 27 August at 12 noon

Saturday 3 September at 12 noon

http://www.dancinglotuscenter.com for details, location, info, purchasing and access to the Stone of Hope.

Don’t give up, please.  Don’t give up.  You’re the reason there is any light here at all.

Reply, comment or subscribe to access me directly.  I am not always right, but I am almost allways sincere.  It’s my superpower.  Please join us as we celebrate our uniqueness together.

This could be just what happens!

Mind your Heart,

~L

Seeds of Intention Water Lion New Moon

New Moon 2 August 2016

Please help me.

Please teach me to forgive.  Please Help me remember.  Help me remember how to love.  Please help me evolve and transcend.

Please guard my heart from greed, free my ego from fear and let me bring love to my weariness and hope to my devastation.  Please help me heal my heartbreak and inhabit the present joy.

Please help me release the fear of manipulation, judgement, rejection, loss and pain.

Help me accept that I can change joyfully, that I can accept my sovereign right to be who I am.  Help me accept and love the parts of myself that I habitually shame away.

Please guide me to my highest truth and teach me to live it out with my words, thoughts and deeds.

Let me sustain dimensional awareness more often and for longer intervals.  Let me know cosmic alignment and merge my will with the will of creator’s evolution in effortless, divine process.

Please teach me patience and humility.  Please show me how to embody a quiet confidence in my conscious evolution.  May I please have more experiences that directly support spiritual expansion and understanding.

Please show me the inner path to becoming

Ultraterrestrial.

Please teach me to be good company to creator creating creation.

Please know that even when I am weak and discouraged I am committed to using my wisdom, love and power to further the plan of evolution and transcendence on Earth.  Please bless my efforts and forgive my mistakes.

Please accept my love, devotion and gratitude.

” So remember, when life is hard, and the embers of faith burn low, that your heart, too, is a Sun, a ‘light upon light’  whose home is in the stars.”

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