Thursday, August 26, 2010

Dancing With the Shadow: Mercury Retrograde

It's that time again: Mercury is retrograde (Rx), and as the past cycles back (or recycles, if you see Mercury as an environmentally-minded messenger!) we have an opportunity to claim/reclaim what's been hiding in the shadows. Mercury Rx is also when technology, travel and the best-laid plans often go haywire — especially in the season of fire.

For instance: three days ago I discovered that "Live Your Light" (my website URL) was at last available as a Twitter handle (it had been parked, unused, since 2008) and joyfully added it to my existing Twitter presence. The next day, the power cord to my laptop appeared to short-circuit; it wasn't working at all last night. Today, after sending my Mac and its accoutrements some good juju, all systems are go — but the refrigerator in my van isn't cooling.

This might be because it's been well over 100º, highly unusual for northern California. I mentioned the soaring temps to a friend back East, who opined, "The mercury at 112 is certainly in retrograde." It's all highly amusing, when we can get a bit of perspective.

Dancing with our unhealed/unacknowledged aspects, observing how they control us in ways that do not serve our highest good, reveals a potent opportunity to live into Aretha Franklin's song Respect, where she sings: "Re-re-re-re". You know: review, redefine, renew, reform, reimagine …

This particular Mercury Rx began in Leo, seguing quickly into Virgo, where it remains until September 12th. What do you need to release to the fires of transmutation? What needs to be planted in fertile soil for the future?

Astrologer Allison Rae counsels, "Mercury's transiting back through Virgo, so pay attention to details. Take the time to get things right. Also pay attention to your health and well being. Mercury Rx check-ups aren't just for cars and computers. On a deeper level, our path of service is highlighted in the sign of the Vestal Virgin, goddess of hearth and harvest. What did you come to do in this lifetime? Are you tending the flames of your soul's passion? It's time to remember and recommit. Soon, it will be time to take action."

As we surge towards 2012 we're in the midst of the most accelerated period of personal and planetary transformation in history. The energetic of the new exhorts us to live as large as possible NOW, not some time in a shadowy future. It's a continual process of reinventing ourselves.

We can use the energy of Mercury retrograde to release our resistance to going higher. The world needs all of our gifts, especially now. We've never been so primed "to boldly go where no one has gone before." This star trek begins in our bodies, minds and hearts as we begin to burn brightly with purpose and to activate our true potential in every realm.

You are the gift; open yourself now. It's time to shake hands with the shadow, unbox its message, and multiply our power exponentially.

For further illumination:

What's shadowing your potential? Is there:

∞ Someone you need to forgive (including yourself)?
∞ A phone call you're afraid to make?
∞ A long-standing debt (monetary or otherwise) you've not yet fulfilled?
∞ A health challenge?
∞ A relationship issue that's quarantined your emotional energy?
∞ A job that leaves you too drained to think about anything else?
∞ Or "simply" an all-encompassing fear of living your light?

Saturday, August 07, 2010

The 8/8 Lion's Gate: Your Portal to Power

Each year on July 26th, a gateway opens with the heliacal rise of the star Sirius in Egypt: the Nile floods, enriching the land, even as the Heavens flood us with cosmic illumination from the Galactic Center. Known as The Lion's Gate, this powerful portal of light code transmissions reaches its peak on 8/8. The Stargate closes about August 12th.

To handle the intensity, we can take comfort from Viktor Frankl's quote: "What is to give light must endure burning." The author of Man's Search for Meaning spent World War II in a concentration camp, and went on to write the landmark text about what it takes to continue to say "yes" to life under the most extreme conditions. READ THE REST!