Embracing Ereshkigal

This moon the Tao of Now (theme of my monthly inspirational newsletter, What Shines) is Embracing the Exponential, bridging the chasm between science and spirit, energy and matter, yin and yang, masculine and feminine … it's quantum, although for many of us, especially in this retrograde month of consuming fire, the dichotomy may loom much closer to home: namely, how to love our own dark side, our shadow, the part of our being that keeps us slogging through molasses, too tired to break free.

I've written and spoken often about "my Inannic journey," and my reverence for the Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth who descends to the metaphoric Underworld to e/merge with wisdom gained, bearing gifts for her people. What I haven't focused on is Inanna's dark sister, Ereshkigal, who summons her to the netherworld in the first place so that Inanna may expand her awareness.

For me, learning to love my root chakra, which grounds me yet is divorced from my perception of the Light, is my journey into essential darkness. In the original Star Trek series, there's an episode in which Captain Kirk is split in two due to a transporter malfunction, but the crew doesn't know this — and his "good" side becomes weak and unable to make decisions without his wild, primal essence to balance it out. Years ago I journeyed to the Underworld to meet my own darkness, and returned whole/holy/healed (all from the same root word, hale). Yet I've never loved Ereshkigal, even though she is part of Inanna, just as Kirk's split-off dark side made him the Captain he was.

I must welcome Inanna's dark sister home in order to be whole/wellthy/wealthy in the deepest sense. According to the classic Wheels of Life by chakra expert Anodea Judith, the first chakra resonates to Ereshkigal and the seventh vibrates to Inanna, anchoring me to both Earth and Spirit. Unified, I am greater than the sum of my parts, as true wholeness always is.

What parts of you are ready to be welcomed home during this fiery gateway? I invite you to embrace Ereshkigal, whatever the dark, split off, hidden, divorced aspects of your being look like, and expand the possibilities for who and what you may become on the far side of reintegration. It's time, and wholeness has never been more available for you than right now.

Blessings!

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!

11:11 = Eleven a-lovin'

I walk in stride with people much taller than me
And partly it's the boots but mostly it's my chi
And I'm becoming transfixed with nature and my part in it
Which I believe just signifies I'm finally waking up.

~ Ani DiFranco, lyrics from Evolve
November 11th always signals a transformational gateway. Eleven is the master number reflecting the transmutation of physical to divine. You may have begun noticing 11:11 on digital clocks. This is an encoding that activates our cellular memory of the ascension process that's well underway. Gillian MacBeth-Louthan says, "The energy of 2009 comes to one of its many peaks through the valley of change, as we enter a placement of time and light that has disguised itself as a date."

This year, November 11th is especially powerful, because it's 11:11:11 (2009 = 2+0+0+9 = 11). Archangel Michael through channel Celia Fenn describes the opening of the Sacred Rose Stargate, and Mary Magdalene offers a meditation to allow us to open to the new consciousness and receive the Love that will be streaming through. READ THE REST!