Tag Archives: Frog

A New Moon In Aries, The Energies Of Frog & A Full Pink Moon

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized

Aries is the first sign on the Zodiac. From a Western Astrological perspective, Aries reflects the energies of both the new beginnings of a new year, as well as a New Moon on April 1, 2022. Feelings of uncertainty make it tempting to run the hurry up offense by trying to solve problems faster than is natural. Do not rush as if there was a deadline. It is wise for the Ram to try to slow down their steps so that they can decide what they want to do and proceed at their own chosen speed. In the heat of the moment, remember the cool, wintry transitional shoreline tides of Pisces to take a deep breath, relax and go with the flow. May this be a gentle letting go of the heavy blanket of Winter, including any judgements you have been carrying in your backpack. The mystical, soulful travels of other dimensions are as important as the practicality of knowing how to live on this Earth. We all go through ages and stages in our life cycles. As humans, we all get insecure and suffer. We have neglected and even discounted our spirits. Vanity and glorifying youth culture can become a barrier to embracing our cosmetic imperfections. No, we can’t turn back the clock. With meditation, the aging process can be slowed down and even reversed. But meditation isn’t a cure nor is it a cosmetic approach. Developing a regular meditation practice is an inside-out approach to nurture our spirits (as well as our bodies and minds) that can have a meaningful and sustainable impact on our everyday lives. As we change the way we look at ourselves in the mirror of the mind, the way we look in the mirror changes.

Aries the Ram brings the element of fire and is a life force to be reckoned with because they can be fiercely deliberate in their approach. Aries is the part of our personality that embodies the power of our will, which is masculine or yang. Keep in mind that all women have masculine energy in them, while all men have feminine energy in them. So as the yin and yang, these energies flow within all of us and have a natural desire to be expressed. The Billy Joel classic song, My Life, captures the self determination of Aries to do whatever it wants. An intentional selection of crisis reflects the mountains we choose to climb. This writer remembers tapping into his inner ram during some radical hiking adventures, where being present with secure footing and listening to the elements could literally mean the difference between avoiding serious injury, or even life or death on any given moment. There were times that he lost his way, ran out of water and had to pull from resources that he didn’t even know were there. But the spirit of Aries is an intense and direct warrior and they will be sure to bring fire to their target. It won’t be a question of how to avoid stress because Aries attract stress like a magnet. The question is what form will it take. It’s as if the Aries positive self talk mantra asserts: pick your battles, as its signpost. Energy is energy. It’s what we do with it that counts and our approach that matters. We do not need to draw our swords or go to war with each other. Nobody likes feeling like they’ve been thrown under the bus or ambushed in relationship with each other. Remember that anger is the bodyguard of our fears, which explains why most, if not all emotional reactions come from a place of anxiety. Like the yin and yang, order and chaos are always at play with each other.

Check out this Civil Rights oriented video that captures the intersection between the powerful energies of Aries and feminine youth poetry in motion:

A Full Pink Moon, which gets its name from vegetation known as moss pink, arrives on April 16. The Cree Indigenous People called this Full Moon the Frog Moon. It is also known as the Paschal Full Moon because it is the first Full Moon of Spring. Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday after the first Full Moon of Spring, following the Spring Equinox, which was on March 20. This year, Easter falls on Sunday, April 17th. Like humans, flora and fauna; traditions have been mixing since creation. The light rises till its climax on the Summer Solstice on June 21, 2022. After that, the sunlight will slowly start waning until light and dark energies are equal again on the Autumn Equinox in September.

Artwork by Barbara Merlotti

When Frog sings in the torrential downpours of rain falling onto your Being . . .

No need to let it dampen your spirits!

Soak up the cleansing shower of Heavenly tears

by letting yourself bathe in a colorful

rainbow that shines on your golden soul.

What does Frog have to say to you about cleaning up

your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors?

Is there something you need to release or let go of?

How are you weathering the spirits of your daily routine?

A Full Pink Moon reflects an early arrival of spring vegetation in our outer world.

Let Frog guide you into an internal spring cleaning.

Clean, purify, detox and release any dirty, stagnant energies

that muddy the waters your soul wants to set free.

The winds of change are in the air!

Here we are hopping further along into Spring . . .

Frog showers us with purifying songs of April rains!

We branch out of a wintery coffin after a soulful energetic spring cleaning.

Rainbows reflect colorful flowers blossoming with clean care;

A Full Pink Moon signals an early arrival spring of flowers spreading outside –

Abundance and fertility are in the air!

Time to clear away the internal clutter . . .

Are you remembering to take deep, cleansing breaths to stay grounded?

Might as well transform the way we hop through life.

Call on the positive vibrations to reverberate in your soul’s acoustics.

Metamorphosis abounds as May flowers whisper in the winds of change.

Frog awakens magical elemental forces of water and land;

What needs to be released from your mind-body-spirit?

Picture a Frog to help you develop a deeper respect for boundaries.

Visualize transformative travels through powerful conductors of water and sound;

Your creative powers want to spring forth!

Now is the time to let go of stale, stuck energies

that want to uproot your soul’s impetus to evolve and grow!

Commentary:

Showers in April are a good reminder that it is time a good Spring clean-up. Time for cleansing, purification, detoxification and release. Nature reflects our inner world for us to examine. The beauty of a rainbow could not exist without the storm that preceded it. It’s when we feel lost and alone that a rainbow appears that brightens our spirits. Otherwise, we would not be able to differentiate a dark sky from a clear day. From a spiritual perspective, we are living in a time of transition, where there is the death of an old world and rebirth of a New Earth. We are literally taking our first quantum leap onto the lily pad of the Aquarian Age. In this process, we need to let go of divisive us and them, stale, boxed in thinking, old ways of being sacrificial lambs, dog eat dog, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, male dominating female, fear of feminine power and unbalance of power by subjugating Black Indigenous People of Color and Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer people. The awakening New Age of Aquarius is a time where we can find our way in our own uniqueness by aligning who we are as individuals that mixes with group consciousness. Diversity within Unity. We are moving into a time period where the ego does not dominate the playing field anymore. It is about us becoming what is in tune with our Higher Selves or our Better Angels, as President Lincoln said. We can be aligned in our heads and our hearts with each other and come from a place of authentic soulful recognition. Yes, we have our prewired and learned fears, negative self talk and voices of trauma. But we don’t have to be seduced or submerged by them. Sitting with the Lotus flower out in Nature will help show you the way by becoming the change you want to see in the world. Observe this transformative process unfolding within yourself.

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Ari

Frogs Hop In

Posted on by under Native American, Shamanism, Uncategorized

It has been said that Frog hears thunderclouds,
and call in the rains to give our souls a spring cleaning

And here we are living in times of purification

Giving ourselves permission to grieve and experience sadness
is part of learning how to be an authentic human being

The light may be rising, but the whispering
dark nights of Winter have left their mark

Attachments to our friends, relations, and peers is part of being human

And yet it is good medicine to meditate on
letting go, releasing, and relaxing these attachments

When racing thoughts, and the anxieties of the chattering monkey mind
are weighing you down . . .

Picture a Frog with a mantra to “stop it!”

Remember when we are feeling lost and alone,
we should honor those feelings with gentle examination

At the same time, we can trust that the sunshine and rainbows are on their way

Like the Phoenix Rising, it is always darkest before dawn

Try not to get sucked into the murky quick sand of societal’s swamp

Keep your wits about you, and remember to explore
the playground of your inner tapestry with empathy and curiosity

Even if someone gives you a superficial compliment about the way you look,
just say “thank you.”

Meditation on gratitude is always an attitude adjustment
in allowing your heart to take in the love that you deserve

It’s harder to have an icy heart, when you shine the light of compassion on it

May the arriving Wesak Full Moon in later April
shower the Buddha’s light onto your soul!

See you up the trails,

Ari

Hopping Along The Trails With Frog

Posted on by under Consciousness, Native American, Shamanism, Uncategorized

A Full Pink Moon blossoms in our skies this week . . .
The intensities of the light are rising

There is evidence of new growth sprouting up along the trails . . .

Masculine energies are in full swing now, as yin fades into waning darkness –
In the Northern Hemisphere at least

As we trek further into Spring,
many folks experience frogs in their throats at this time of year

Perhaps you are unexpectedly grieving the ghosts of Winter, past relationships
or even a death of a close relative that has left this Earth

Are you experiencing heightened anxieties about the recent
human-made atrocities that have occurred in our history
and are happening right now around the planet?

Let Frog enter into your awareness to stop doing that
and replace the chatter with heartfelt visions of Love and Light

Death is just another transition really,
although part of being human is to have attachments . . .

Given part of spiritual growth is to let go of our attachments . . .
Lightening-up to our formless selves is not always easy to relax into

And it is our formless selves as souls that are created in the image of God
In our diverse expressions, we are one intricate web of life

What we do to one strand, affects the cosmic whole

When a fellow human being dies of suicide, is taken by cancer,
or a nation of people are bombed from within and also far away . . .

We are all impacted and affected by these disastrous
tragedies of human shortcomings

Let Frog breathe spiritual power into your being,
and reinforce the power of self-respect for your personal boundaries

This time of year reminds us of the transience of life . . .
The blessing of becoming mortal, is not without the curse of physical decay

But as inconvenient truth as allergic reactions to
the winds of change might be . . .

Another way to look at rain, is to look forward to the release of old,
stuck energies that are cleansed by April showers

It can be hard not to get submerged in the swamp . . .
Do what you can to rise up and make the energetic leap onto higher lily pads

Our world is ripe with the fruits of purification
Even if they come in the form and feeling of labor pains

A transformation in consciousness is occurring
Even though the awakening process isn’t happening as gracefully as it could

But somewhere over the rainbow, Frog’s sings in an unconventional voice
that spring’s forth a thunderous washout that brightens the spirits with
a colorful bouquet of fluorescent leaves and May flowers

See you further up the trails,

Ari

A Natural Spring Cleaning with Frog Power

Posted on by under Consciousness, Energy Medicine, Native American, Original Prose, Shamanism, Uncategorized

Frog Medicine is a powerful Spring cleaning of sorts
Time to clear away dust bunnies that have accumulated over last Winter

Frog calls on a parade of rain to cleanse the filth and muck
that has attached itself to dirty watery windows of our souls

Now is the time to let go of stale, stuck energies
that want to uproot your soul’s impetus to evolve and grow

Base! Root Chakra –
How low can you go?
Just let your energy flow –
Down through the soles of your feet
and into the ground your roots will grow

We need to honor our tears
to authentically experience our own silent fluidity

Meditation on Frog is akin to Feng Shui –
Or an internal martial artist chi washing away
any person, place or thing that is causing you emotional negativity

What needs to be released from your psyche?

Picture a Frog to help you cultivate your personal boundaries

Visualize transformative travels through powerful conductors of water and sound
Your creative powers want to spring into action!

Amphibians are connections to magical elemental forces of water and land
Their energetic footprint is an inspiration to sing forth the rains
to cleanse the blues of muddy waters with soulful purification

Use their medicine to awaken to Lunar energies of abundance and fertility

Do you need to transform your way of hopping through life?

Metamorphosis is in the air as May flowers are right around the corner

Are the stresses of everyday life leaving you feeling depleted?

Pay attention to your breathing patterns

Does this world got you all charged up?
Fine-tune your internal strings
by unplugging for a spell and
just be with what resonates

Stop!

Relax by taking deep breaths to quench your thirsty mind-body-spirit vessel!

Use your voice to call forth the Climate Change
your life needs to amplify your soul development

See you further on up the trails,

Ari

Staying on the Hop with Frog

Posted on by under Consciousness, Energy Medicine, Native American, Original Prose, Shamanism, Uncategorized

Frog’s ribet is a harmonic convergence with Father Sky.

Spirit lightens our way with a thunderous applause . . .
Springing forth rains answered by Frog’s prayerful singing.

A rapturous chorus appears as a purifying parade of rain –
leaving our souls feeling cleanly washed.

Got dirty? Are your dogs barking from a long, strange trip
down the road less traveled?
Are you feeling . . .
Tired, overloaded, harried, frustrated, nervous,
at a loss, empty or weakened?

Visualize a psychical, surround-sound stereo sauna –
watery-womb like setting bathing your soul . . .
With a relaxing energetic cleansing cocoon of love and light.

Remember when Bob Newhart played the role of a psychiatrist
that yelled at his clients paralyzed by anxiety to
“stop doing that!”?
Showering us with comic relief –
Featuring alignment with Frog medicine.

Giving ourselves a good, energetic spring cleaning clears out
the filth and muck that accumulates in our souls.

Clear away any negative energy by
Spraying water out of your mouth while picturing a frog.
Indulge in a long bath . . .

Taking deep, relaxing breaths is good medicine.

We all need to wash away our distractions and unplug for a spell . . .

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Cleansing Frog Meditation

Posted on by under Meditation, Shamanism

Frog is a powerful animal spirit totem for cleansing your soul during your travels in your spirit-mind-body vessel. Consuming Frog Medicine helps the purification and detoxification process of cleansing your soul. May the energy of Frog help you clean up both your inner and outer world. Doing this proactively helps us weather our experiences with Climate Change and effectively transition into a New Age and Paradigm. Here is a shamanic journey meditation to assist you in this area:

*Light incense/candle.
*Start drumming to a consistent beat that feels natural to you. A simple bongo drum works well. Get into a comfortable position, relax and breathe.
*Picture a frog in your imagination and feel its energy coming into your Being.
*Ask Frog for any guidance that you feel is appropriate for you. Being specific with your question is helpful.
*Continue drumming for 10-20 minutes and gently allow yourself to receive whatever arrives to you in your consciousness.
*Thank Frog for its spiritual medicinal offering.
*Remember your callback by opening your eyes and changing your drumbeat. A callback facilitates the transition back into our material reality. A callback can also be in the form of a word or mantra that you prefer. My callback consists of 3 sets of 8 beats, then 3 sets of 3 beats and then 3 sets of 7 beats.
*Record your notes of whatever messages Frog brought to you. These messages might be in the form of feelings, lyrics, sounds, visuals, smells, etc. Let go and gently allow your soul to inform you as you travel along during your daily walking meditation.

With Frog, April Showers Bring May Flowers

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Frogs help us remember how to evoke changing weather patterns by singing harmonically with Mother Nature. Perhaps these vocalizations are more raw and less polished than the popular voice. And yet, their melody is powerful and music to the clairaudient ear that resonates deeply within our souls. In the beginning, there was sound. In that vibration, our spirited songs of freedom were born. This reverberation asserts that we are all diverse expressions of Great Spirit. It is true that we are a rainbow of different orientations, but we are all cut from the same cloth. There is no us and them. We are one human family. If corporations are people too, then we wake up to the awareness that we all benefit from a spring cleaning in our souls. Developing tolerance for our diversity is a “step-up” for many folks. A step further is to integrate acceptance of what is into our Being. Frog helps us purify and detoxify blockages in our souls, so that we are equipped to move more gracefully with the changing tides during our experience with Climate Change. As more of us become hip to this vibe, we witness a proliferation of this Oneness reflecting in our material realm. In this process, we help clear the way for spirit to weave its way into our world. Ingesting Frog medicine is good food for the soul and amplifies our power by becoming clearer channels, serving as conduits for radiating cleaner energy. This internal purification and detoxification facilitates the internal experience of inner peace, which decreases pollution so within as without.

While we are one human family, we see that we have been raised with much dysfunction and toxicity. We have been programmed by our societies and parents to follow certain rules and rituals, often unconsciously and without review. In Maine, there’s an old saying, “that’s just the way we’ve always done it.” But part of our healing, especially in Spring, is “out with the old, in with the new.” We can learn from Frog and shamanic network of animal friends how to get back into alignment with Nature. Do you remember the scene in Rocky 3 when Apollo tells Rocky that he has lost the “eye of the Tiger”, but that he is going to help him get it back? Given where we are at in human history, the timing of the spiritual wisdom, “if not now, when” is critically important. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. The corollary is also true. In much the same way as the Buddha, even children raised in ideal situations have an underlying yearning to wake up to the emotional sensitivity that there is more to life that creature comforts and pampered privilege. Through our dirty waters of suffering, Frog breathes in a renewed sense of harmony into our lives and rekindles the notion that there is great peace and joy in taking time for yourself. With its connection to the water element and the lunar cycle, we look back to the waning Wesak Full Moon and are inspired by clearing out our muddy waters and drinking in crystal clear fresh water. Whether you are an atheist, agnostic or a devout believer, Frog is here to remind us to do whatever we can to get closer to Great Spirit. Some ways we can bring in this energy into our lives are going for a walk in the woods, taking in a deep and cleansing deep breath, asserting “stop”, unplugging from technology, staying away from the news for a while, taking a long, relaxing bath, going for a swim or just getting near the water for a spell. We all need to give ourselves a break from information and choice overload. In our modern world, tapping into Frog’s energy might even make you a bit of a rebel. How do you like to weave Frog’s cleansing energy into your life?

Frog is the rainmaker and is a true weather person that is capable of weather control. Its medicine encourages us to wash away the dirt in our lives. As such, meditation on Frog reflects metamorphosis and creativity into our waking lives. Given their amphibian nature, consuming Frog’s spirited energy links us to water and land and helps us stay grounded and emotionally sensitive with respect to the boundaries of self and relationships. Meditation on Frog can assist us in vocalizing our truths powerfully and respectfully. Given that Spring and Summer are its power times, we need to use its energy effectively so that we do not blow things out of proportion. Frog is good spirited soul food to consume while digesting Climate Change.

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Cleansing with Frog

Posted on by under Uncategorized

I remember driving to play with the boys in the band the other evening and feeling particularly spirited while listening to the peepers singing in a wetlands choir, if you will.  Although I clearly heard their messages about cleaning and purification, the lyrics arrived more telepathically and clairaudiently than in words of human language.  In fact, just the other day I hopped into a friend in the community and we traded awareness that now is the time to get back into balance and purify the soul.  One way to feed our souls and nourish our mind-body-spirit connection is to fuel our human vessel by awakening the fruitarian, vegan and/or vegetarian within by eating foods that follow that suit.  Even if only for a day or three, what an experiential opportunity to detoxify and purify.  In the spirit of co-creative exchanges while building a New Earth together, I wonder how you will feel after such an action plan?   

Part of walking with one foot in spirit and one foot in ground is to wash the dirty laundry and reduce, reuse and recycle.  For example, I visited our recycling center today to release dead weight and then ventured to the redemption center to return bottles.  Following that, I felt more free and less bottled up inside.  Does anyone else out there feel more alive when they release judgements of self and others?  I enjoyed my co-creative connection with Mother Earth after venturing out in nature and invoking frog’s energy to call the rains to quench Her thirst and inundate our planet to cool it now.  Does anyone else feel the presence of God when they gently allow negative thinking and emotional patterns to pass with care?  The waters in our life is asking us to flow.  When we become stagnant, our water element becomes polluted and we radiate that outward onto the world around us.  Don’t we have enough of that outside of our control?  I Am inspired to know the Unity Consciousness that I am One with everything and yet a diverse expression of that Oneness.  Do you hear what I hear?  Do you see what I see?  Can’t you hear the thunder?

If you find yourself feeling tired, overloaded, hurried, frustrated, guilty, itchy, nervous, at a loss, empty or weakened, perhaps you might benefit from meditating on frog’s medicine.  Who knows, maybe taking a relaxed, peaceful deep breath, while picturing the rains cleansing your Being and then exhaling your inner demons to see the light of day will lighten you up?  And why not get near water, unplug and listen to the sound of silence?  If you have access to a tub, taking a long bath is a nice way to relax and stay afloat as we swim through these changing tides.  If only the fundraising genius of the Amphibian and his “friends in Congress” would reduce their appetite for destruction, invest less in guns and awaken their frog totems and work its energy in the positive?  Could President Alfred E. Newman and his homies inside the Beltway facilitate a transformation of our global economy into a more equitable structure than the one we currently maintain?  Was it John Lennon or Ferris Beuler who imagined us stopping and smelling the roses, rather than getting stuck in the business of making plans?  Do you dream about our human consciousness flowering into something beautiful? 

Stay True,

Ari

Barefoot In The Woods

Posted on by under Uncategorized

While flying solo in the woods recently, I considered whether or not I’d bring my Aboriginal didgeridoo (bought in USA made in Indonesia) to blow in the wind. However, I shifted gears and opted for a standard low tech experience and ‘invested in loss’ by passing on carrying a big stick.  After finding a favorite hiding spot, I settled into a somewhat ‘Lotus’ meditation position and enjoyed significant encounters with Turtle and brother Frog and Frog (remember T.V. classic Newhart and characters Larry, Darryl and Darryl?).  Although Turtle was alive and well, I couldn’t detect any movement in the hour or so I watched Her–even with my Grandmother’s trusted field glasses.  In the spirit of the Art of Persuasion, I invite folks to bow to the wisdom of Turtle and Her knowledge of patience and longevity and Frog’s beat boxing of forthcoming changes in weather patterns.  Wood You Bee Leave that I heard many Ma’ Chuckin’ Nervous Woodland Creature (NWC) peeping their version of The Boss, “when I’m out in the trails, tweet, tweet, tweet . . . I stick where I want to stick.”

Coincidentally, my shared encounters with Frog and Turtle represent linkages to the Moon and Tides and portals into the Faerie Realm.  With my trusted faggot of Tibetan incense sticks to burn, I put a little Fairy Creme on my face to set the mood.  As I listened to Frog and Turtle, I heard the lyrics, “I miss the rains down in Africa . . . can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder, you better run, you better take cover . . .  rock me mama like the wind and the rain . . . (and) here comes the story of the hurricane.”  And while I may no longer be physically residing in Australia or Africa, I am protected by Mother’s shell, inspired to create life anew, welcoming the tears and rains as cleansing rituals to clear space for the shifting tides and changing seasons–hopefully without getting too washed out in the process, given tumultuous weather patterns (come on Irene) and a splitting Comet Elenin.  By calling on Frog, we invoke its medicine to breathe in new life, live joyfully and harmoniously . . . cleansing ourselves of “any person, place, or thing that does not contribute to your new state of serenity and replenishment.” Soaking in a bathtub with a little sea salt and perhaps a few drops of lavender has a relaxing, cleansing and detoxifying effect.  Got a frog in your throat?  Please consider gargling with warm sea salt water to open up the capillaries. Spraying liquid from your mouth into a fire in the spirit of manifestation and/or letting go and more importantly gratitude has a powerful Shamanic cleansing effect as well, a la ‘out with the old, in with the new’.

Finally, please consider Turtle’s patient and kind reminders for Us to stay slow and low in the tempo of life.  Given how nuts things can get in the transition from Summer to Fall, Turtle inspires Us to allow the river to flow to Us, rather than trying to levy its waters.  By staying grounded and honoring Our Mother, We co-creatively build the New Earth together. In this process, “Turtle medicine can teach new perceptions about time and our relationship with it.”  I’ve also seen that it stimulates clairvoyance and heard it amplifies clairaudience, as well as improving Our capacity to smell the scents of Life in more discriminate ways.  It’s as if Turtle and Frog are beckoning Us to stop and smell the roses–even if it means hoppily standing in the rain once in a while.  And while noticing the flowers in your garden, please remember to soak in the magical Full Moon on Monday into your sea of consciousness.  I’m glowing already merely envisioning it in my Third Eye!

I Hopi You are well,

Ari