Maye 20 2012 - Photo of the solar eclipse taken above the clouds.

MORE LOVE, MORE LIGHT

Things seem to be happening in bunches this year, i.e. on May 15th Venus, planet of love and beauty turns retrograde in Gemini until June 27th, and then a Solar Eclipse in Gemini happens on the 20th of May. When a planet turns retrograde it is actually slowing down and only appears to be going backwards because earth is not  slowing down.  However when a planet retrogrades it stays in a sign much longer than usual. Instead of the usual 3to 6 weeks in a sign Venus will be in Gemini for almost 4 months. It entered Gemini on April 4th and will be there until August 6th.  

OPEN YOUR HEART TO MORE LOVE

So what does it mean when Venus retrogrades in the sign of communications?  Spiritually speaking there is a golden opportunity to reset your love goals, to connect with the love energy on the planet, to forgive and let go of all past hurts and disappointments relating to love relationships.  Single people who are looking for love can use this retrograde energy to completely clear out their love closet...the stuff that was stored there long ago that you no longer want or need.  It's time to  create a new paradigm when it comes to self image.  Regardless of what happened to you in the past you have the power to forgive it, let it go and start off brand new.  On the mundane level that could just mean changing your hairstyle or the clothes that you wear.  For some people it could also mean getting back to a talent or hobby that you love to do and doing it more.  As the ancients would say "be the love that you want to have in your life".  Modern day healers are telling people to live from the heart and not the head. Overall Venus in Gemini is saying be more people friendly, smile more and do little random acts of kindness for others.  Sometimes the retrograde brings people back into our lives that we may have forgotten about.  Meeting up with people from our past give us the opportunity to look back on our lives.  Sometimes we may think to ourselves "what was I thinking when I hooked up with this person?"  Or it could be "wonder why I let this person go?"  Whatever it is you have the chance to see who you were, back then and to deal with the situation in a loving way.  This person might not be a good candidate for a love relationship but he or she could just become a good friend.  The flip side of all this loving energy is to love yourself unconditionally.  If you're not loving yourself then you're doing yourself a disservice.  Opening your heart to more love means to forgive yourself for past mistakes or as Iyanla Vansant said on Oprah's LifeClass, "when you're not loving yourself, you're not loving the God within" We are spiritual beings having a human experience and in our humaness sometimes we make mistakes.  We are learning to love ourselves and others unconditionally and we can only do that when we open our hearts to more love.

SOLAR ECLIPSE IN GEMINI

Solar Eclipses happen when the Moon blocks out the light from the Sun.  This happens on May 20th when the Sun is in Gemini.  In North America we may see (depending on weather) the partial eclipse. I'm sure the news will be sharing pictures of this eclipse, which is the first of two eclipses, the second will be on June 4th and it will be a Lunar Eclipse.  So as the Moon, planet of emotions blocks out the Sun, planet of will and ego, it's time to put our little wills in alignment with the greater will of God.  With all that increased love energy coming from Venus Retrograde, the Solar Eclipse provides the opportunity to put more feelings into our prayers.  Our teacher stopped us in group meditation one day as we were reciting the Lord's Prayer.  She cautioned us not to get into the habit of repeating our prayers in a robotic fashion.  "don't say it if you don't mean it, say it with feeling" were her words.  It's so easy to get caught in the habit of saying a familiar prayer or affirmation in a monotone and robotic way.  When I find myself doing that I'll either say a different prayer or stop and breathe and think about the words I'm saying and I'll deliberately put some feeling into it.  It is interesting that this eclipse is in Gemini, the sign that is usually coming from the left brain, the sign that thinks but has to learn how to feel.  As we progress on the spiritual path and start to develop our spiritual gifts we're taught to connect with our emotions, to  check how it feels in our gut, to forget about so-called facts on a piece of paper but to go right to the stomach and check how it feels.  We all need to start to connect with our feelings.  Intuition is knowing but not knowing why it knows.  Intuition comes from our feelings and the stomach area is the place in the body where the intuition resides.  Years of tapping into my intuition with the guidance of my teacher, I learned to bypass the rational mind and to go right there...in my gut.  Last week the news was blurbing a story that was sensational, in fact all the news stations were blurbing the same story.  My gut told me it was an outright lie.  I don't know why, and I don't have the facts but I just know it was a story that was manufactured and that for some reason the blanketing of our airwaves with the story was setting us up for something else.  My political teachers used to tell me  to ask myself "who will benefit from this story?"  I decided not even to try to figure it all out, I knew it was a lie and after surfing other news, I knew it was a big lie, so I flipped the channel to the tennis matches (laughing).  No use upsetting myself about things that I cannot control.  If we can do something about it, or are directed by our inner selves to do something, then we should listen and obey.  Other than that we know the truth is all there is and eventually the truth will rise to the surface.  In the meantime the match between Nadal and Verdasco was interesting.  Metaphysicians, astrologers are saying this coming Solar Eclipse promises to bring more Light to the planet.  They are urging us to tap into that Light and set our intentions, for a better life, a better world.  That sounds like a good activity that we can all do.  Here's to a better life, more love, more Light on the planet...Love & Light, Ayesha

THE BUDDHA FULL MOON IN SCORPIO

The Buddhah Full Moon in Scorpio happens on Saturday, May 5, 2012.  It is believed that The Buddha made his appearance on earth when the Sun was in Taurus and the Full Moon was in Scorpio, thus we refer to it as the Buddah Full Moon.  I choose to acknowledge the Highest aspects of the Full Moon in Scorpio on purpose, because what we focus on at the time of the Full Moon is what will manifest.  The Buddah came to earth to bring more Light and he was often referred to as The Enlightened One.  Therefore, this weekend I'm encouraging you to stay positive, meditate, pray and focus on the good that is happening in your life right now.  Oprah Winfrey often says that if you can't think of anything good, just focus on your breath.  The fact that you're still breathing means you're living and you have free will and choice in how you're going to use your life.  For some this kind of thinking is too airy fairy or woo woo.  The skeptics among us always point out the bad things that usually escalate during the time of any Full Moon and they ask "how can you stay positive when this or that is happening?"  One student of psychology challenged me and suggested that I was encouraging people to repress the truth.  My answer is that we can choose to focus on the negative or we can choose to focus on the positive, and we always benefit by focusing on the positive.  Staying in a doom and gloom consciousness generates victimhood and helplessness and it literally funks up the air with a negative energy that effects everyone around us. 

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

Below is a list of things you can do to stay on the higher levels of consciousness and to experience the Buddha Full Moon in positive ways:

1. Meditate for at least 5 to 10 minutes a day, leading up to and on the Full Moon in Scorpio.

2.  Write down a list of things you are thankful for. Can't think of anything? Focus on your breath.

3.  Plan to be around people who support you and lift your spirits.

4.  Work on a talent or natural gift that brings you joy.

5.   Apologize to someone you've offended, even if the offense was not intentional.

6.  Forgive someone from your past. They don't have to be present in order to do this. You can write them

     a letter or email, or simply sit quietly and imagine they're in the room with you.

7.  Do little random acts of kindness for others and don't tell anyone what you did.

8.  Forgive yourself for mistakes made in the past.  If you knew better you'd have done better.

CELEBRATE YOUR LIFE

In earlier times when I was first learning about Full Moons, I used to dread the Scorpio Full Moon, therefore days leading up to it, thoughts of what could go wrong were in my head.  After all, I was a Leo with 3 planets in Leo and 3 planets in Taurus so squares to my Sun and oppositions to my Taurus planets caused me to literally have nightmares.  All this changed for me when I met Isabel M. Hickey, my teacher, mentor and spiritual mother.  First of all she told me about the Wesak Festival where thousands came to celebrate the birth of the Buddha.  Second of all she was a Leo, and instead of staying close to home as this Full Moon was waxing (getting larger), she would be traveling, teaching, going out to dinner and having a good time.  She demonstrated to me that it's going to be what you call for, and that squares energize us and oppositions bring opportunities to increase our awareness.  After having a good scolding from "Issie" I started checking myself and shifted my consciousness so I could totally enjoy the Full Moon in Scorpio. It was easy as pie to start to welcome what I once dreaded.  I slowly came to the awareness that what you focus on is what's important, that the planets influence us but they don't control us.  I give thanks for the opportunity to share this with you, and I give thanks for the fact of free will and choice.  Choose happy, celebrate your life!