My day got off to a weird start today. Nothing went as expected. I went to teach my hoop dance class this morning and no one else showed up. Not one student came. I took this in stride and made the best of it. Some days people are busy. Apparently, today everyone was busy. So I used the studio for my own practice session, reveling in the luxury of all that space and a wall of mirrors. I set up my tripod and video camera and played with some new moves to see how they looked and what I needed to work on. I’ve been teaching hoop dance for just a year now and love it more than I’d ever have guessed possible.
I had a meeting scheduled for lunch time today. I’d even been sent a reminder. When I got there no one was anywhere to be found. Apparently, the meeting was canceled and no one thought to let me know.
I went home. Some days it is better to just let go than to push against something that isn’t happening. All the resistance in the world wouldn’t change things and all that pushing against would just leave me exhausted at the end of the day. Instead, I went out and ran errands. I walked into a salon and asked if there was anyone who had time to do a pedicure. A woman named Tami who came from Viet Nam in 1979 was preparing the foot bath when I got to her chair. She escaped from her country when the communists took over, she told me. She couldn’t live with the communists. She left her family and everyone she knew. That is a bravery I am thankful I have never had to summon. I left the salon feeling uplifted by our exchange, with bright fuchsia toenails, and feeling like a million bucks.
Sometimes the best stuff happens when things don’t go the way we thought they would or should. When we say the moon is ‘void of course’ it means has moved past its relationship with the other planets in the solar system and it is hard to guess what might happen. Sometimes we get into an orbit that is out of sync with others in our world and things don’t go according to plan. If we open our hearts and let go of our plans, real magic can happen.
The moon was not void of course today, but I was, and some pretty cool things happened as a result. Rather than ending the day feeling that I can’t win–which is the way I’d have felt not too long ago–I’m ending my day with great appreciation for all of the miraculous things that happened expressly because things didn’t go the way I thought they would.
Yesterday was the Aries New Moon–the first new moon of spring. This is a particularly potent time for planting new seeds of all kinds. Aries is famous for acting first and thinking about it later. Don’t be surprised if you are feeling a little extra impulsive these days. It’s just life nudging you to lighten up a bit and branch out in new directions.
Though I have never been sure what ‘crystal blue persuasion’ means I’ve loved this song since the first time I heard it in 1969. It still holds up as one of my all-time favorites. In 1969 I was fourteen years old, growing up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, dreaming of living in California, away from the long, bitter-cold winters and the people who really didn’t understand me. By the fall of 1974 I was living in Northern California. It turned out most of the people I’ve met here don’t understand me either, but the sun does shine most of the time… And, over time, I connected with an ever-evolving, core group of people who are kindred spirits; sweet friends with whom I can always converse in the language of consciousness and celebrate life’s magic and mysteries.
Today, January 1st, we arrive at the gateway to this brand new year, the year that holds tremendous promise for birthing a new day for anyone ready to embrace the tranformative waves of change. Astrologically speaking, we have been in a bit of an energetic portal with Mercury turning retrograde in early December in Capricorn, traveling back through the late degrees of Sagittarius and now having resumed forward movement will offer us one more chance to tie up the loose ends we may have missed, finally tell the truth about something we couldn’t admit to until now or correct something that has never felt right. On December 20th/21st we had the Gemini Lunar Eclipse at the very last (known as the critical) degree of Gemini, further amplifying the need and desire to say what is on our minds and in our hearts. January 4th is the first new moon of the year–this one is the Capricorn Solar Eclipse. Capricorn is the sign of manifestation, discipline and giving structure and order to our lives. The energy mounts as we approach an eclipse and only after the fact that we begin to realize what it has all been about. We are starting this year in an energetic atmosphere that is swirling, surging and capable of shaking out anything that is no longer relevant to our lives. Speaking our truth and letting go allows life to flow in ways we could never have seen when we were shut down and holding on.
May 2011 be filled with words that are music to your ears, sights that make your heart sing, people that speak your language and time for enjoying every lovely moment!
Yesterday was the day of the Sagittarius New Moon. New moons initiate new cycles of growth and development. The Sun and Moon together in Sagittarius–sign of Truth, Faith, Intuition and Aspirations–invite us to aim high, like the archer that symbolizes this sign, while keeping our feet on the ground, connected to the instinctive nature of the body that is constantly offering us feedback about whether we are being real with ourselves.
The positions of the other planets at the time of this new moon sets the stage for intense, transfomative conversations that can lead to tangible improvements in our businesses and lives. The stage is set for purging the old ideas and visions that time has shown us will no longer hold water, so we are free to embrace something that will work for us now.
Our definition and understanding of Love is changing, too. Whereas Love has been a largely accepted as the personal province of romance or what we feel for family and friends, we are now beginning to understand that Love is so much more than that. Love is the essence of our human nature. Without Love we will truly cease to exist. Of this I am certain. It is time for expanding our experience of Love and its expression in our lives.
You may think I’m shooting at the moon. My North Node is in Sagittarius and I have spent my life in service to learning to aim high and shoot straight–letting go of my Gemini South Node tendencies to fritter away my time on inconsequential things and hold back on speaking what I know I need to say rather than being forthright and direct.
I have faith that we are capable of embodying and expressing the loving aspects of our essential nature in more significant ways than most of us have done up until now. At this time of year, especially, we are presented with one opportunity after another to choose to express love instead of pretending we don’t notice, choose optimism instead of dread, choose faith instead of falling backward into fear. There is so much speculation about 2012 and what it means. To me, it means a gigantic opportunity to make a change. To Love first and ask questions later. To Love more and worry less. Perhaps most important of all is that we learn to Love ourselves every bit as well as we love our friends, family and children. Choosing to love when you don’t feel like it may be the most life-changing thing you ever do. Love now. Love big. Shoot for the moon.
After years of hosting my website in one place and blog in another I am finally coming to a third online site for Light In Motion where you can find it all. This has been a long time coming and I am excited about creating a fresh new space in which to share insights, inspiration, ideas and sessions designed help you attune to and develop your own intuitive guidance for living well.
To schedule an appointment for an Intuitive Astrology Reading or an Intuitive Consulting/Coaching Session, please see the Store.
While Mercury is retrograde, currently from August 21–September 13, things can get a little weird. We go along, business as usual, but life seems to be playing tricks on us. We blame it on Mercury, aka the Trickster, saying he’s up to his mischief, again. However, if we are paying attention and focusing on the areas retrograde Mercury enhances, we can come out of this three week cycle better organized, healthier, happier and feeling good about ourselves.
Mercury is in the retrograde phase of its cycle in Virgo, the sign of the harvest and one of the signs Mercury rules. We can make the most of this time by focusing on the details for a little while and trusting that if we take care of the things that are obvious the rest will be well served. This is the time for cleaning up loose ends and either completing or deleting projects that have languished, unfinished, for far too long. Review, reconsider, relax, relinquish, rest, restore, reclaim, recreate, respond, restructure, refinance, realize, renovate, reorganize and realize renewal. Virgo is the sign of digestion, sorting the seeds of potential, assimilation, integration, creating systems of order, health and hygiene. It is in charge of work–not necessarily the career but the stuff we do for money or because it needs doing–and service–the things we can do well and feel good about offering to others, whether formally or casually. The ways in which we do or do not take care of our bodies fall under Virgo’s influence, too–optimally, these include our exercise program, a good diet of nourishing food, and taking pleasure in the small things, like how great we feel when we are taking good care of ourselves.
Virgo has a bad reputation for being the pickiest sign in the zodiac and likes things to be just so; you may notice your inner critic particularly active lately, about things that maybe haven’t bothered you for years. When the Sun and Mercury are in Virgo, as they are now, many of us who normally don’t seem to have any Virgo-like tendencies at all, may find ourselves feeling the Virgoan impulses to clean, organize and make some lifestyle changes that makes us look and feel healthier.
With the moon waning until the New Moon in Virgo on September 8th, we are doubly primed for letting go of anything that isn’t working for us or enhancing our experience in some way, particularly in terms of our health–diet, exercise program or lack there of–and/or the systems of order we use to get and stay organized. This is a great time for clearing clutter, including the unused and unnecessary files on your computer. I finally went out yesterday and bought some odd sizes of plastic boxes to use in reorganizing my closet and office–the room in my house that has seemed to defy order. After years of trying to cram too many things into the limited storage space I have, I am now relentlessly releasing the things that are no longer working for me. My life has changed, I have changed and so much of this stuff I literally never use today. What a relief to send it off to charity where maybe someone else can use it!
So, Mercury’s gone retrograde and the moon is on the wane… sounds like the title of a country music song, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s just life playing itself backward for a while so we have a chance to catch up..
*Mercury goes direct, again, on September 13, 2010.
Spring waits in quiet splendor just around the bend
These last days of winter dawn softly
Releasing the final vestiges of the past twelve months
Days grow longer; sunlight slowly overtaking the night
Dream time is rich; filled with vibrant images
People long gone but never forgotten by the heart
Appear full of life and laughter
Singing the timeless greetings of their spirit
Everything is possible in this nebulous world of wonder
Beauty reaches new heights in this sacred space within
Flashes of insight and seeds of potential in glimmers of grace
Carry their promise on the breeze of imagination.
Exotic flowers in full bloom carry me back to the island life I left behind
I see the shining sea and the bougainvillea-lined lane of my morning runs
The magical beach I walked at sunset rejoicing in the splendor of Life
Lives and breathes in the eternal springtime of me, still.
Love is letting go of all we’ve been so we can be all we are. And in so being, become a beacon to others who are ready to let Love lead them home to all they are.
The truth written in the stars
Lives within the heart.
As above, so below.
As within, without.
We have lived so long beside ourselves
Hoping someday to go home.
It seems the time is here and now.
It’s safe to come back home.
Home is not another place
It isn’t out there somewhere.
Home is a tucked inside the heart
Where all is safe and warm.
It isn’t what you thought it was,
It isn’t a mystery.
It is simply letting go of all
You once thought it might be.
Letting go and giving up
The tricks and traps and rules.
At home you are free
To do exactly as you choose.
It was never about being good enough
Or right or careful or wise.
Home holds its doors out wide
Come on in, you decide.
Home is the place you can always go,
You’re always welcome, always known.
At home there’s no need to be special or good,
Who you are is understood.
You can catch your breath and take a break
And rinse off the debris of the day.
You can kick off your shoes, take off your tie
And sit before the fire with a good glass of wine.
At home you are seen and known and heard
There’s nothing you need to do.
You can hear your heart and find your rhythm
And live the way you choose.
At home you are free of the trappings;
The shoulds, hows and wherefores all cease.
You can let go of all the believing
And simply let yourself BE.
Be yourself. Live your life. Love yourself. Love your life.
All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love still holds up as one of the best songs of all time, for me. And tonight, on the eve of Valentine’s Day, seems the perfect time to post it here. Love is so many things–only a small part of which is romantic. Grand and glorious as romantic love can be, if we haven’t learned to love ourselves first our love for another will not fill the hole in our soul and psyche.
Love is the animating force of every living thing. It is the energy that beats the heart and keeps the world going round. Love is the essence of who we are. With love all things are possible. Without love we are mere machines going through the motions. Living is loving. Loving makes life worth living. Love, love, LOVE!
Sun, Earth and Moon unite
In a dance of Divine delight
Potential and promise
In starburst glowing gold
Natural magic unseen by human eyes
Far beyond our imaginings
There, all the same
Cosmic music plays a love song
One we each know by heart
Coded in our genes
Written in the stars
Keeping us in time
A melody unheard by human ears
Always and ever present
There, all along
Love in all its guises
Beats the Universal drum
The very heart of the Universe
Pounds a steady pulse
Rhythm of the stars
Calls us back to now
Into the precious present
Here, where we belong
(C) 2006, 2010 Jodi Flesberg Lilly ~All Rights Reserved
My day got off to a weird start today. Nothing went as expected. I went to teach my hoop dance class this morning and no one else showed up. Not one student came. I took this in stride and made the best of it. Some days people are busy. Apparently, today everyone was busy. So I used the studio for my own practice session, reveling in the luxury of all that space and a wall of mirrors. I set up my tripod and video camera and played with some new moves to see how they looked and what I needed to work on. I’ve been teaching hoop dance for just a year now and love it more than I’d ever have guessed possible. 
Yesterday was the day of the Sagittarius New Moon. New moons initiate new cycles of growth and development. The Sun and Moon together in Sagittarius–sign of Truth, Faith, Intuition and Aspirations–invite us to aim high, like the archer that symbolizes this sign, while keeping our feet on the ground, connected to the instinctive nature of the body that is constantly offering us feedback about whether we are being real with ourselves.
