Moon is waxing and passes through Cancer, Leo, Virgo and into Libra this week.
Monday, June 2nd Moon transits through Cancer (its own sign) and is in Pushya nakshatra the majority of the day. Moon in Cancer receives drishti (gaze) from retrograde Saturn, and Pushya nakshatra enlivens its ruler, Brihaspati (another name for Jupiter). However, this nakshatra is in fact ruled by Saturn, so we get direct access to the expansion (Jupiter) and contraction (Saturn) elements today. The dynamics of Saturn at play with the Moon can bring a restrictive feeling. Saturn is our grief and suffering and the Moon is our emotional body, so you may feel like you're being wrung out like a wet towel. Jupiter expands and opens, whereas Saturn contracts and restricts. Moon in Cancer is a direct connection to all matters of the heart. Use the metaphor of the heart to serve you today. The natural open and close, inhale and exhale of the heart and breath is a lovely reminder of how both these elements are necessary for life. This is the ultimate balance. Nourishment can be harvested and received with some surrender today. Harvest for the golden nuggets with extra self care. How can we use structure and restraint today in order for nourishment? Attend to your inner needs. Find nourishment and support in the slow, small, and steady. Seek the gentle silence. Work with expand and contract, open and close principles as well as the other dynamics of the heart lotus while Moon is in Cancer. Find my Exalted Jupiter & Heart mp3 here for greater creative awareness and support with this dynamic. Later in the day, Moon moves to Ashlesha nakshatra at 18:19 CDT, heightening its deity Sarpa (snake energy) and the planet Mercury (who is currently transiting its own sign, Gemini). Mind over matter strengthens into Tuesday. Embodiment will be crucial this evening and tomorrow. If you have trouble sleeping tonight, do an abhyanga (Ayurvedic oil massage) and take a warm bath before bed. Pranayama may help silence the mind as well. Tuesday, June 3rd Moon transits its own sign of Cancer and Ashlesha nakshatra through out the day and into the evening. This nakshatra is ruled by Sarpa and the planet Mercury; the symbol is a coiled serpent. Serpent energy is connected to a bit of mischief; deception, the illusions of life and overconfidence. Think: north node, Rahu who is the "head of the serpent", or the head of our shadow self. Look for excessive cravings today. Where are you wanting more? Where are you needing extra support and nourishment? Where is the mind leading you astray? Ask for your needs to be met. Make a list of what is feeling nourishing and supportive in your life and relationships. Make a list of what isn't feeling supportive and nourishing. Where can you make some adjustments? What needs to be said that you are avoiding? What poisons are you feeding your Self from the Mental Body? Seek clarity. Seek comfort. Align with support. Moon moves to Leo and Magha nakshatra at 21:18 CDT, enlivening our masculine/Sun energy. Wednesday, June 4th Venus moves to Bharani nakshatra at 03:57 am CDT. Sensitivity heightens with relationship matters over the next two weeks. Be perceptive to your own needs and use self care for extra support. There are transformations and endings likely with relationships, creativity and all Venus matters. This is a time of cleaning and clearing, restructuring and creating new contracts. These themes are heightened due to Venus's conjunction with Ketu in Aries right now. Remember, letting go creates space for new possibilities to arrive. Moon transits Leo and Magha nakshatra today. A nice exchange occurs between Leo (ruled by the Sun who is currently transiting Taurus) and Taurus (ruled by Moon who is transiting Leo today). This can give a boost to the emotions, a sense of encouragement and support, and bolster the spirit. Some may feel extra agitation and annoyance, a lack of support and the desire to force change. You might feel a shift within some of your relationships today. We are all in a pruning phase right now. Changes are inevitable. New contracts are being created, while old one's disintegrate. As Magha nakshatra is ruled by Pitr and the karma of the ancestors, take time for gratitude and thanks for your lineage and those that have come before you. It might also be valuable to take stock of familial patterns and where this conditioning is serving you or not serving you. Thursday, June 5th Moon moves into Purvaphalguni nakshatra just after midnight at 00:11 am CDT. Ruled by Bhaga (an Aditya connected to resources and abundance) and the planet Venus, Purvaphalguni is incredibly creative and fertile; ripe with possibility. Use this as the focus of your day. How can you invite in more creativity, more connection, more opportunities for growth and abundance into your life? What feels nourishing and supportive within your relationships? What needs to shift? Invite in more joy, play and pleasure today and see if some of it can stick! This is a great day to get out the paints, oil pastels and do one of my creative rituals. Need some support? Sign up for one of my upcoming creative workshops. Friday, June 6th Moon transits into Uttaraphalguni nakshatra at 02:47 am CDT, which is the latter half of the Phalguni stars. At 09:21 am CDT, Moon moves into Virgo, joining Mars there. Uttarphalguni enlivens Aryaman (an Aditya that gives health and bodily strength) as well as the Sun. This constellation connects us to sustainable parts of life, particularly those that sustain relationships and are connected to the ancestors. Need to create a contract or make something feel more solid and sustainable? Today's a good day for that type of endeavor. Most of us will feel a lift in the heart, extra support from loved ones. Make sure you do the same for others and remember your gratitude! Some may feel a rub and agitation with relationships. Take stock. What shifts do your personal boundaries need? Saturday, June 7th Mercury goes retrograde in Gemini at 06:54 am CDT. Need a reminder about what his backpedaling will offer? Find more here. Moon Moves to Hasta nakshatra at 04:52 am CDT as it nears Mars, also in Hasta nakshatra. Hasta is ruled by Savitr and the Moon. Savitr is the dawning of consciousness, awakening, and brings knowledge and great insight. He enlivens the hands and is connected to jyotish. Pay close attention to your intuition today as harvesting your inner wisdom will be palpable if you are listening. Recite Gayatri Mantra for extra support. Moon and Mars are in exact degrees at 18:31 CDT. Sharp intuition and awareness abounds, yet simultaneously, we may be feeling agitation and aggression as Moon and Mars make their conjunction. Anger is our red flag that personal boundaries are being crossed and that we aren't feeling supported in some way. Do an emotional audit. What needs to shift in your relationships? Where do you need to say no, instead of yes? Sunday, June 8th Sun moves out of Rohini and into Mrigashirsha nakshatra at 00:41 am CDT. Soma, the nectar of the Moon and the planet Mars are enlivened for the next two weeks with this dance of the Sun. We may feel noncommittal in the coming weeks, and find challenges making choices in regard to relationships. Remember that Venus's transit through Bharani is helping us restructure our contracts. The themes of change, movement and new alignments abound. Moon transits to Chitra nakshatra at 06:17 am CDT. Ruled by Vishvakarma and the planet Mars, today is a day of action. Vishvakarma, the celestial architect, calls upon us to take action (karma) and provides resources that we can "build upon". What are you moving towards? What are you moving away from? Take an action step today. Join me for part 3 of my virtual workshop series the Creative and Cosmic Self, where we will be exploring: Moving with Support and Stability. Working with Saturn in Libra & the Pelvis. Get the details. Moon transits into Libra at 18:42 CDT, joining Rahu (also in Chitra) and Saturn here. Our emotional body (Moon) joins the Rudra (storm) energy of Rahu and Saturn's conjunction. Work with what is, do not avoid or neglect. Explore the emotional body and let it provide you with resources. Remember, with Mercury retrograde right now, we are all retracing steps, while simultaneously gaining momentum for moving forward. Plan your week in tune with Nature. Never miss my Moon Mind Calendar. Sign up for my newsletter. And if you like this post, please share it!
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Here's what many people don't understand about art and creativity.
We need it. We need it like breath. Like water. Like sleep. It gives us life. Art is a life saving tool that can provide us with the ability to move forward with our lives in a more conscious, life affirming way; a life that has more possibilities and more awareness. Before you disregard these grandiose ideas about art, I invite you to meet Expressive Art Therapy, particularly the type of Art Therapy that I work with, which is a body-centered approach. These tools have been life saving for me; above and beyond my meditation and yoga and healthy eating, the arts have allowed me to move with my darkness and misery, and this work has helped me create something different for my Self. Again and again and again. Life changing and life saving, indeed. Art therapists understand the power of art and our innate creative abilities as humans. It's also understood in the Art Therapy realms that art has the potential to heal, to re-create us, to allow ourselves to be open to re-creating ourselves. We understand innately that art helps us work with the unseen, hidden parts of ourselves, and to develop a different relationship with our personal mythologies. Let me take these realities a few steps further. We, as humans, are in a body. This is a tool. A tool of perception, of felt sense, of growth and awareness- if used as such. I say, let's use it! We as humans, are each unique, vast and complex, just as the cosmos are. We are each essentially a microcosmic imprint of the macroscopic universe. The planets and their movements effect us, influence our experiences, and can provide us with a map for our lives. Incredibly useful and very helpful for our journey! This is why I use Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology in conjunction with the arts; these are both fabulous tools of guidance and can provoke self-inquiry and personal growth. This powerful trio of art, body and astrology is a unique combination I've been working with and growing with personally and using with my clients. All three growth tools together, art, the body, and Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) offer an exciting experience of body-centered Expressive Art Therapy or Jyoti Art Therapy as I am calling it. It offers a unique blend of awareness enhancing tools that provide profound results. But here's the catch. Art for arts sake doesn't inherently heal us. It's intention that guarantees a shift; a possible transformation. Art is a by-product of our innate creativity (as humans the creation process is literally how we came into being, why we are here, and how we continue to exist). Artists have "open channels" that allow them to tap into this flow of creativity that courses within each one of us. And the channels that are open for each artist are unique and vary. But these channels aren't just a part of an Artist's existence, we all have creative channels. Most people have closed channels, dry channels, small channels, rigid and brittle channels of creativity. Cultural, familial and personal paradigms keep the creative channels from opening, flowing and thriving. These creative channels are like rivers and provide us with the life giving nourishment that flowing water gives us. Water brings forth life, wealth, purification, abundance and joy. Art and water are very much the same. Not surprisingly, the planet Venus is linked to both these life giving tools; art and water. We need more flow in our lives. We need the channels of our creativity to stay open and fluid. Art (in all its forms) helps us do that, but in order to reap the vast rewards that art has to offer us, we must harvest the richness, the fruits of our labor. We must listen to the hidden messages that our art is offering us. The medium we use will have a direct effect on the benefits we receive, the parts of ourselves that are effected, and the healing properties that can be attained (for this reason an intermodal art process is recommended). When we create a piece of art, a harvesting process can bring a sense of meaning and purpose to our work and help us go beyond the surface, excavate the deeper meanings of our work, the "why" behind it. Art is a messenger from our depths, from the most hidden parts of ourselves. It never ceases to astonish me, fill me with awe, and renew my trust in the magic of creativity. Here's a simple "harvesting" process to use with your next art creation, using the Tamalpa Life Art Process (TLAP) Baseline Statements. These simple questions can help you uncover the hidden messages wrapped up in your artwork. Explore and unravel. Step 1. Move your body, open the channels, get the breath involved, and pay attention to the body's subtle messages. Get embodied. Step 2. Paint, draw, use craypas or pencil. Move and explore, open your senses through an artistic medium. Surrender to the creative process. Don't hold back. Step 3. Answer these Baseline Statements after finishing your art piece: I am___ I want___ I need___ I feel___ Return to this process regularly. Commit to it. Let it help you create more fluidity and listening in your life. Look for themes and symbols, messages and stories that continue to arrive. These patterns are vital messengers. Sometimes, the support and outer influence of a trained witness is necessary and can be profound for your process. When you get to that point, when you feel stuck or at a crossroads, confused or uncertain, it is time to ask for support. I am happy to support you or give you further references for your journey. Contact me for a session. Get creative resources and jyotish insights in my weekly newsletter. |
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