WANING GIBBOUS TO WANING CRESCENT
MERCURY RETROGRADE ends JULY 31
'RETROSHADE' begins JULY 31 till AUGUST 15
Another busy week is behind us, but the good news is that it's now safe enough to breathe a deep sigh of relief and take off our crash helmets to enjoy a latte without the fear of being trampled, Pamplona-style.
July has been hectic to say the least, but thankfully, the 2019 eclipse season culminates with beauty, joy and loving kindness, giving us the chance (after all that turmoil) to now settle and assimilate as the dust clears. A lot of it was about helping us not only find our inner world-outer world balance, it was about striking a work-home balance as well.
So how did you go?
By the end of this week coming, life will look, feel and be a whole lot softer and this has quite a bit to do with the favourable positioning of the ‘King’ of constellations – Master Leo. That doesn’t mean however, that we should go completely flaccid and drop our game balls because that isn’t being energetically responsible. Put the majority of your weapons away, but know that you are allowed to keep packing one; just please keep it concealed and know that using it, is an absolute, final and utterly last resort because remaining ‘armed’ only delays your own spiritual ‘disarmament’. Trust that you’ll be okay if you stay awake and stay alert – because the world sure needs more “lerts”.
This lert thing has been a running joke in my family for years, but just out of curiosity I googled the word and got ‘Lutheran Early Response Team’ and the ‘Lake Eldora Racing Team’ (in Colorado). Apparently it can also refer to “a small furry woodland creature whose senses are always very intensely attuned to its surroundings”. Classic.
Let us be the latter this week because that definitely ties in with the cosmic climate more appropriately!
Starting tomorrow, Monday 21st, the Sun enters one of the most courageous, big hearted and magnanimous signs in the zodiac, making it an excellent time to let loose your inner leader and allow your most creative self to jump up and take front and centre stage. Get writing, drawing, painting, drumming, singing or anything else that allows your inner child complete freedom to be loose like a goose and in the moment. Get nude and roll around in paint if you like; whatever unleashes your unique juju for you! When the Sun aligns with the Lion King like this, it’s time to give yourself full permission to be proud of what you have achieved (and are still working towards manifesting) in your life so far and to basically have some unadulterated FUN! Just do watch the Leonine tendency to be a little bit too ‘up in your face’ flamboyant and be aware of how your sneaky ego might try and take control over others with some not-so-subtle-over-confidence, because even though it may feel like it does this week, the Sun actually doesn’t shine out of your you-know-what.
By Wednesday, it’s time to speak your nearest, dearest and most aligned truth. Share your feelings with someone you have re-connected with from the past or open up to next level with that special someone that you are currently involved with, or wanting to be. Venus conjunct Mercury Retrograde has the potential to make romantic miracles happen today, so to all the single sisters, if you’ve been looking for your ‘King’, this week could herald his appearance. He may not ride in on a white steed all glamour and glory and he might not be the ideal star sign match to yours, but don’t get stuck in fantasies or dismiss someone because they don’t tick every box on your imaginary list either. Chances are, you don’t tick all of theirs either! Focus instead on the feelings you get in your gut, not your head, that way you can safely hop on for a ride and not be taken for one. Keep your heart open and your crystals handy as always. Kunzite, Rose Quartz, Rhodonite and Rhodochrosite – plus one I have recently discovered and fallen head over heels for, Pink Amethyst – are all good allies in love. These will also help strengthen you if have a pattern of sacrificing yourself instead of surrendering yourself, in the name of love.
Self sacrifice is fear-based and manifests as continual compromise; surrender is love-based and asks nothing of you, other than to recognise yourself as unconditional love.
Thursday 25th brings more luck and light your way thanks to Mars trine Jupiter, which is the astrological equivalent of ‘signed, sealed and delivered!’ Anything you do, will be successful, so make sure you dial up all your positive thoughts and keep the “I deserve abundance” and “I am ready” inner dialogues going. Don’t start anything brand new just yet – best to wait till early August to do that – but do start channelling life force into any idea or project that all this recent self exploration and awakening, has birthed inside you. Breathe out any old patterns or wounds that may rise to dispute this new mindset and swallow them down into your heart’s fire before bleeding them out through your roots with as much forgiveness and gratitude that you can muster. Think of it as ‘already done’, in fact, that would be a great mantra for today: “And so it is. It is done. And so it was.”
By Saturday, Venus follows the Sun into Leo like a lovesick puppy, bringing excitement, drama and some unlikely random and emotionally-related encounters – but not in the form of one night stands please, because those are such a waste of your sacred energy. And so 80’s. The planet of luuurve and the planet of passion come together to create just the right mix of magic and intrigue, so be prepared to loosen your armour, be more vulnerable than usual and let someone under your skin. You never know what can happen when you do.
All of this is delicious preparation for the New Moon coming up on August 1st, in – you guessed it – LEO! – at 8 degrees also, which is the number associated with Leo, one that embodies courage, strength, balance and personal power; plus, on its side, 8 looks like the infinity symbol and you know what that’s all about.
PS and heads up: as a fixed sign, Leo is prone to being stubborn, but on the flipside, this can show up as ‘powerful and empowered persistence’, so focus on that instead if you come up against obstinate behaviour in any form; in yourself or others. This one also brings in the energy to help us heal old relationship wounds and what our patterning is in relation to pursuing (romantic) attention, (unhealthy) game playing plus our understanding of love, lust and sex vibrations.
On Sunday the 28th, Sun trine Chiron encourages a new and more creative view of the universe, and man, are we ready for that! The #28 reduces to #10 (1) which is new beginnings; and the day date reduces to #11. This creates a powerful portal involving a repeated #1 and an energy that knows no bounds. We are all about to walk through a liberating gateway that promises to restore your faith in yourself, in your life and return joyful independence to your soul. Sun trine Chiron creates more opportunities for you to access and apply your imagination and realise that everything in life actually is sacred and supporting you. You are naturally aware of your inner powers because this configuration highlights intuition, so your sense of purpose and personal power is acutely activated today, almost like you suddenly have more mental strength, more confidence and a deeper belief in yourself, like being hit by an out of the blue bolt of light-ning.
You 'get' that you are a divine soul that is a part of the One Great Spirit and are more keenly aware than ever that you are here to serve others. Others need what you have to offer.
I struggled with this one myself for a long time as I worked to separate my ego, from my book for example. Once I realised and fully accepted that it’s actually not about me, that the contents in my book are of vital importance to share at this point in humanity’s evolution and that it has the potential to change people’s lives, I was able to step away from all my fears around self judgment, being judged by others, by my peers and the anxiety connected to exposing myself in such a raw and globally public way! It’s actually got nothing to do with me – it’s all about the people who need what I have to offer – and hence, when I accepted that I am just the conduit for such information, I was able to finish it, publish it and finally make it available for sale!
So you see, we can waste a lot of time and energy – not to mention money! – worrying about what might be, or when we lose focus on our purpose (or the bigger picture if you prefer) and allow vanity/ego, to keep us small.
Chiron also teaches us that we don’t have to go through our lives in pain – the wounded healer is actually here to teach us this, not rub our noses in it like we're a naughty dog being told, “There you go, remember when you did that last time and what the consequence was? Don’t do it again!” That’s old school-patriarchal school and that is NOT how we operate anymore. With ourselves or with our pets! What happens however, is when we don’t have the tools, the space, the support or the willpower to face our wounding, it festers and embeds even more deeply in our programming, creating an attachment to it that subconsciously becomes our ‘signature’ if you like.
You see a lot of life coach-types talking about this – since the invention of social media especially – telling therapists to connect with their clients through their past pained experiences because that shows people that you understand what they are going through. Yes, but also, NO!!! I understand the intention may be pure, but the execution is all wrong. As a healer, you want people to trust that you know what you are talking about because you have walked a similar path or survived similar tragedy, but you can only hold that space if you have completely resolved all your own debris first. Otherwise that is just connecting with someone through pain, not empathy or clean energy – and when wounded healers try to heal one another, that not only delays their ability to transform their pain into their medicine, it distorts and delays the collective's karmic journey back to self love and self mastery as well.
So, watch your thoughts, your words and how you communicate your message this week because Mercury is still retrograde and that means there is still the strong possibility for self delusion. We cannot all save the world on our own – that is ridiculous and a challenge that nobody is up for – but we can participate in saving it, by saving ourselves first and then sharing what we have learned through that experience, with those who need (and want) our help.
Until the teacher is healed and balanced, anything they attempt to do on behalf of another, will be corrupted by their own unresolved needs and imbalances.
Each one of us is a healer; the work is finding out exactly what your specific healing talents are and then finding the right teacher who can show you how to accept the associated responsibilities with those gifts and then second, help you navigate, manipulate and master them, so you can transform whatever comes to you; without taking it all on and being consumed by it. That’s the tricky bit, but it is pivotal to all healing work: learning how to transmute what people/clients bring to you – in reality and on the ethers – in alignment with your abilities. If their particular expression of wounding, matches your forte or area of energetic expertise, then you are going to find yourself supporting people with the same core issues, and this is important to know and respect because as an energy worker, you cannot possibly be all things to all people. We all have our niche. I’ll explain more in another newsletter/blog because it’s such a huge topic.
Now, this MR, Capricorn full moon AND eclipse window has been as intense as it has, because Mercury has been conjunct to Mars and square Uranus the whole dang time. This has meant a period of unavoidable and heightened agitation, increased communication cock-ups, even ex-communicado moments, flashes of complete insanity and impulsivity all round. Plenty of WTF’s like never before basically; I’m sure you’ll agree.
The whole MR phase isn’t just the ‘retrograde’ part though. It includes Mercury going direct, going retrograde and going direct again AND this one has moved over the same signs which have both held steady at 23 degrees (Cancer) and 4 degrees (Leo). There is also a two-week ‘shadow phase’ either side of retrograde known as just that – the shadow phase or ‘Retroshade’ – which is kind of like a ‘ramping-up’ intro to what’s coming (pre MR) and then a ‘coming down’ phase (post MR), where the universe graciously gives us a few days to make sense of all that has happened. I like to call these phases ‘prepare’ and ‘process’ respectively. During MR, I believe it’s best to just let go of the reins and surrender to what is, because you’ll just create more stress for yourself and go round in more twisted and torturous circles, if you try and analyse everything whilst in the eye of the storm! Just witness what’s flying about, go “Gee, look at that” instead of your usual knee-jerk expletives – and maintain your grounding practices. Also watch any tendencies to react to or re-create, crapola that doesn’t serve you and always, keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times.
It’s interesting to note – well at least I have noticed this over recent years – that conspiracy theories tend to rise and circulate more obviously during Mercury Retrogrades. Hmmm.
Nothing in astrology is cut and dried nor does energy just halt on a particular date because someone says so. Everything is in constant flux, flow and following its organic yin/yang path, so there is no straight ‘black’ or ‘white’; life is more like ‘extended periods of grey’ where edges are blurred, boundaries crossed and lines in the sand, regularly rubbed out and redrawn. Especially with climate change and so much happening as we near the end of another era.
2020 is just around the corner and she is gonna be a multidimensional game changer.
Speaking of game changers, we’re up to The Fourth (and final) Agreement (by Miguel Ruiz) now – Always do your best – and again, like last week, the timing couldn’t be better. I think I could safely assume and state with a high degree of certainty that most of us are pretty hard on ourselves when we stuff up and that we all have our ‘go-to’ self sabotage habits, when we do.
Your personal poison might be drowning your sorrows with alcohol or drugs as a way to numb the reality of what really went down. Maybe bingeing on Nestlé and Netflix or partying to the wee hours with people who don’t necessarily have your best interests at heart is your thing. Or you might be the type that prefers to punch themselves into a sweaty stupor at the gym until you can’t see straight or at least until you have no more physical or mental energy left to argue with yourself. Maybe you’re at the other end of the scale and your MO is to deny and deflect, pretending as if whatever happened, never actually did, and you (unconsciously or consciously) choose to ‘move on like Teflon’.
It’s obviously impossible to be at your absolute best and 100% on your game all of the time; we are human after all and there are so many contributing factors that can pop up during the day and night – and that do – that are beyond our control. So, I have a little adage that has served me very well over the years and that helps bring me back to ‘the now’ when I have taken myself on a marathon run into ‘Nevermind’. I am sure it will help you cope with whatever yourself or someone else is doing, that has you perplexed and wondering what just happened.
Everyone is doing the best that they can, with the tools that they have in that moment.
This includes you! And it includes your ex that drives you nuts and refuses to listen to anything you say. And the criminal with obvious low level awareness and no morals that we believe devoid of soul and deserving of the death penalty. And the litter-bug who unconsciously tosses their rubbish on the ground, right next to the bin and the ‘no plastic please’ signage. And the smoker walking right in front of you and your children, sharing their second hand smoke without a care for anyone else in the world. And the new mother ignorantly buying those horrid disposable nappies that you just know are going to end up as landfill in less than 24 hours; nothing huggable about them! Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.
It’s a great little saying that helps keep us in a space of acceptance, tolerance, compassion and patience because we have all ‘been there’ at some point in our lives – that is, the space of unknowing, unseeing and unawareness – and we are all learning and growing, every second of every day. It’s just a little more obvious (or rapid) for some than it is for others.
Humans are on their own awakening journeys and as much as we may want to guide them, educate them or shout at them to “WAKE THE F UP!”, we can’t. We all have to learn our lessons in alignment with our own karmic processes and in alignment with divine timing, otherwise we will feel forced, judged and ultimately disempowered. So, as frustrating as it is, we have to learn to accept that and allow others who are yet to expand and embody higher consciousness, the space to explore the repercussions of their own choices and actions. We can lead by example, leave hints and give suggestions along the way of course, but ultimately it’s ‘each to his own’. It doesn’t hurt to have a slightly wicked and warped sense of humour either because often at the end of a particularly rough day, that’s sometimes all you feel is still yours.
All is allowed, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone or anything that is vital to the survival of the collective.
If it does, then, I reckon you are entitled to interfere and make premeditated attempts to urge them towards what’s universally ‘right’, because let’s be honest, some people’s energy is that dense that they do need a good smack in the chops to help them step up alongside everyone else! And by ‘dense’, I don’t mean ‘stupid’, I mean energetically heavy. ‘Tamas’ has always been a massive problem in society – known as indifference, inertia, laziness and the complete absence of ‘the will to participate’. In the Ayurvedic system, this ‘Guna’ or ‘quality’, is an energy that breeds ignorance, contempt and disconnect and actually has the potential to destroy the world as we know it because when enough people give up, don’t give a toss or couldn’t be assed trying anymore because it takes to much effort to change and they don’t see a possible future anyway, they are certainly not any help to those who can be bothered – and they are certainly not doing ‘their best’.
Back to the Agreements and doing less than yours now.
Think for a moment, of a time in your life when you know you have done less than your best. (Like me, there may be several lol). When your intentions didn’t match your actions or when you consciously chose the lower road instead of the higher one and most likely being fully aware that you’d regret it later. Can you connect any past patterns to that less than ideal decision or attribute any unresolved wounding as the culprit that ‘made you do it’? And have you been able to forgive yourself for the momentary lapse in consciousness? It’s an interesting and cathartic practice to try and identify the triggers that precede the moments where our less is (definitely not) our best, with the intention of not repeating them again and again.
Some things to contemplate for the next 7 days, if you feel to:
Where am I heading? Am I still in my highest integrity? Am I living in alignment with who I am and making the best and most conscious choices as often as possible? Who am I hanging out with and do they share the same values as me? Am I over compensating, over compromising or over giving in an effort to keep the peace, reduce conflict or avoid rejection and pain? Is my relationship honouring who I am? Are my connections founded in love or fear? Where am I leaking energy, in relationship to myself and to others? What still needs to shift, forgive and heal so you can step up and feel whole and happy?
In the stars this week, there is plenty of support for changing those things about yourself that are in need of an upgrade and whilst I am not suggesting that you aren’t perfect and okay just as you are now – because we know on a soul level that we are perfect with all our imperfections – we can all do with a little bit of ‘work’ or ‘tweaking’, yes? There is always room for improvement; it’s what allows us to keep evolving and hence, experiencing more of our amazing light-being selves.
Plus, we don’t really want the gods to start thinking they made a colossal mistake by gifting our species with free will and unlimited potential. Especially when the ink is still wet on the cockroach contract.
If you don’t try, you won’t receive. If you don’t receive, you can’t connect. If you can’t connect, you won’t care and if you don’t care, you won’t bother trying because that’s your recycled belief system right there; in all its Tamasic splendour. You are yet to understand that giving and receiving are the same thing and that effort equals reward.
When we start working mindfully with concepts like this, it’s funny how that becomes all we are able to see. For instance, you buy a new car and within a few minutes of driving it off the lot, all you notice is more of the same model! It’s as if every body has just gone and bought the same car as you. So be aware that when you make the choice to start watching yourself at this level and making the effort to ‘self correct’ and retrain ingrained habits, you will notice just how much stuff you have been holding on to. It may seem like chaos has come to stay, but in fact, it’s testament to your devotion to self and to getting rid of as much karmic debris as you can so you don’t have to repeat it in (yet) another lifetime!
Don’t despair. More stuff to face just means more opportunities to create healing for yourself and the more healing we receive and create for ourselves, the more we can share with others. Win-win.
It’s not like any ‘excess healing’ you manifest, just dissolves into nothing, washed up and wasted either. No! Anything you don’t need after filling your cup, will naturally overflow into the collective pool so that others can benefit. That’s how the universe works. We are all in this together. We just need to remember this truth and start working with it instead of against it (and each other) and in a different way to how our (more recent and less enlightened) ancestors did.
Our more ancient, traditional ancestors – that is, the ones way back up to the origins of all our family trees where humans and animals and mother nature still lived in harmonious flow – knew this and practiced this, without question or doubt. They lived, breathed, fought for and died by their gut knowing around who they were and what their ‘in service’ role to the higher hierarchies was. I’m sure they didn’t always do their best because that would just be idealising the human experience and pretending that shit didn’t happen because it sure did, but from what I have been shown and going by what I have remembered about my own soul’s path and witnessed in others’ – not to mention what historical texts and archaeological discoveries reveal – the fundamental focus was always on the symbiotic relationship between Man and Mother.
Man wasn’t always kind, but he certainly wasn’t always as cruel as we are seeing him now.
Energy and how we manifest and manipulate it has certainly changed since Eve (apparently) bit the wrong apple and with the ongoing influx of high and divine frequencies pouring into Gaia right now and all the portal activations, earth grids realigning and personal blueprints being decoded and reprogrammed at the accelerated rate that they are, the rest of 2019 promises to be one cracker of a canter, that’s for sure. And before heading off on any trip, we know that good packing and planning is essential. You do your best to make sure you and those traveling with you, will be comfortable and taken care of, before you head off. You prepare. If instead, you decide to jump in the car all spontaneous and kick off in your ‘kini – and spontaneity is the spice of life, so I’m not saying never act so – just know that at some point you are going to encounter hurdles in the form of needing fuel, food, suitable attire and somewhere to rest safely, for starters. You may need to escape danger – both natural and manmade – and in that case, doing your best, could literally save your life.
As I wrote last week, “We are not who we think we are. We are so much more” and by dictionary definition, the word “more” means “a greater or additional amount or degree”. This week, aim to be more of yourself and watch how that influences your ability to embody more of your best. More often.
Notice more. Allow more. Forgive more. Give more. Pray more. Sleep more. Eat (well) more. Exercise more. Connect more. (ha, it’s 10:10am as I type this, typical). Believe more. Release more. Play more. Get lucky more! Seek more. Trust more. BE MORE AND JUST LOVE MORE.
You may notice some peeps around you, despite the universal reprieve, will be struggling with things a bit more than usual this week as they try and adjust to the new energetics coming in, so spare a thought and a prayer for anyone that may cross your path to aim a cross bow at your head or heart, for they may quite literally “know not what they do.” Step aside and keep moving ahead with loving kindness. And if it’s a part of yourself that decides to turn the arrow inwards for some self flagellation, or you realise that you are in fact the hunter who is lining up another being in your sights, remember to ask “what higher good can come of this?” before you take the shot. Or another favourite that I have shared before, “What would Jesus do?”; without the crucifixion option on the table.
For learn more about what I am offering in service to doing my best for the collective and simultaneously honouring my highest self, check out these links to a couple of my upcoming events: The Lions Gate Portal and Full Moon Medicine Circle.
https://www.facebook.com/events/344360593140865/
https://www.facebook.com/events/406362079983193/
And remember, if you fall (or jump) off the wagon, are feeling less than, need some dream interpretation, life altering healing or just a friendly ear to help makes sense of it all, book in via my website for either a (free) 30-minute call, or a full 90-minute (paid) session. School is back on Tuesday and the world can now return ‘to normal’ again!
Blessings and love,
Denby
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“We are all part of a community whether we like it or not. Dropping out is no longer a responsible option. It is incumbent on each of us who awakens, to work for the good of all and for the healing of the Earth.” (Leo Rutherford)