Year of the Dog: Love, Loyalty...Awakening

With the New Moon in Aquarius to match the sun sign, January 29th ushered in the Chinese Year of the Dog. In Mayan cosmology (a little creative cultural cauldron stirring from a cultural creative!), the Dog archetype is about loving through the heart, and loyalty--apparently the concept of dog as humanity's best bud transcends Western thought!

And this love includes ourselves first and foremost. Maggie Erotokritou, coordinator of the Planetary Awakening Network, repeats a theme we've been hearing from a lot of lightworkers lately about now: it's time to set our intention and bring it into reality. She writes:

"As we move through this New Moon phase, there is a new feeling coming through. We are finally at a closure of what has been coming to an end since January 6th onwards. It seems it has taken until now to actually close the cycle but now we are there.

"We are now moving into a new cycle of manifestation, where for those who have done the work and completed their major clearing cycles, things will be manifested more easily and without so much effort.

"Everything is calling us to move inwards at this time to make this completion and final transition into the new energies. We stand at the Dawn. It is the hibernation time before the awakening of Spring. That is also metaphorical for what is to follow.

"I just spent the weekend with a group of friends meditating for 8 hours, clearing and activating the 8 chakras. I hadn't realized before what perfect timing it was for this weekend, other than the urgency of the push from within to move to a retreat space and spend the time in meditation. I could feel my whole being calling for it and now I understand why. It is often afterwards that we get the clarity of what our intuition is prompting us to do.

"For those who have done the major chakra clearing, the 8th chakra is now vibrating at a much higher frequency and is allowing us access to the higher realms. Our 8th chakra meditation was incredibly blissful and most of us seemed to dissolve into the bliss with feelings of lightness, expansion and brilliant light. This lightness is continuing and is, I believe, part of what we will soon be able to access more easily and certainly an indication of the new era we are moving into.

"The unfolding of this process will take us about 8 weeks, hence the reference to Spring. It is also a time for those of you who wish to further engage in clearing and purification or to complete this process during these next few weeks to do so.

"We stand in the midst of a major transformation that is calling us forward. If you have not yet become clear on your goals, dreams and intentions for the rest of year then this New Moon period is the time to allow them to unfold and to clarify your intent. Do not procrastinate, make your intentions clear now and know that so much support and assistance are waiting to be given from the higher realms. Now is the time."