A New Moon in Aquarius on February 1, 2022 aligns with the same date as the Chinese New Year of theTiger. It is also the Imbolc/Groundhog Day on February 2nd. Our ancestors honored the Imbolc because it is the approximate midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. At this time, we are reminded that, in spite of the colder temperatures outside, daylight is gaining, and Spring is on its way. This is a complicated time with emotions, as there is a strong need for emotional freedom now. We are in the early stages of the Age of Aquarius, and this transition into a New Age and Paradigm is not without the experience of labor pains. Can’t you feel the contractions on the Planet right now? Life is always with its tension of opposites, or duality. As we have discussed, the Chinese symbol of the Yin and Yang reflects this. Meditation on the energy of Duality helps you feel at peace with your own inner duality. It helps you live in balance, in oneness and harmony, so that you may continue your path in a cosmic consciousness. It helps you discover life through enjoyment and play.
Truly, the energy of Aquarius has an assertive need for being an individual with a fiercely independent streak. But Aquarius also begs the question of how do I be my authentic self, and at the same time, fit in to group consciousness? As such, among groups, it can be easier to understand your feelings and free yourself from negative emotions such as fear, anger and jealousy. Linking up to the right groups can support us in accessing our inner genius, to think in new ways, even divergent from what we have been taught by family/societal conditioning. Getting in touch with inner freedom can be liberating for a soul in a way that transcends rules and defiance of them. Diversity in Unity is the Aquarian mantra. Gone are the days of the Lone Wolf.
Also, a Full Snow Moon arrives on February 16th. The Ojibwe called this moon the Bear Moon, while theAlgonquin called it the Groundhog Moon. Winter is a good time for human forms of hibernation and nurturing our inner cubs before they are ready to come out into the sunlight for the spring thaw and begin manifestation on the Spring Equinox.
Artwork by Barbara Merlotti
When Turtle swims into your stream of thoughts
Remember to picture Mother Earth
loving you with patience and kindness
The river does not need to be pushed
Slow down and take it one step, one breath, and one
moment at a time
How does slowing down help you stop and smell the roses?
What happens to the river’s rapids, when we go with
the flow instead of pushing the river?
Do you need to curl up in your shell and hide, or do you need to come out
into the sunlight and be with people?
Our ancestors celebrated the Full Snow Moon as the peak snowfall accumulation.
Beneath Winter’s dirge,
stirrings of Spring are beginning to think about coming out of Plato’s Cave.
Picture a Turtle protected by an invincible shell,
securely anchored deeply into Mother Earth.
Turtle’s spirit is an ancient reminder of our soulful connection to our living planet.
Our ancestors celebrated the Imbolc,
the mid-point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.
Also, this February brings the Chinese-Lunar year of the Tiger.
Now more than ever, meditation on Tiger can inspire a deep freedom for
cultivating ourpassions, power, devotion and sensuality.
Running a hurried up offense is a popular way to live on Earth today . . .
Might as well wise up to Turtle’s wisdom to remember
Do you need to escape from the worries of the world for a spell?
Mother Earth’s ancient wisdom to slow down our tempo and anchor in Her ground
Or do you need to come out of your of your shell and be more social?
Meditate on Turtle for a deeper understanding of
patience and planetary connection
A Chinese-Lunar New Year reminds us that Spring is arriving energetically
In spite of probable peaks in snowfall accumulation . . .
Do you feel the seeds underground starting to think about waking up?
Time to bury your ideas in the ground and let the sunlight do its business . . .
So that they may organically blossom in the Spring
Turtles are older than dinosaurs and carry an ancient wisdom on their backs. If there are any spirit guides to help us open up to the idea of Karma, Turtle is a good role model. Karma can easily be understood as the law of cause and effect. If you are paying attention to the big picture, you start noticing how cause and effect impacts your life and then have ability to transcend it. Have you ever noticed that the more you hurry or try to expedite a process, the more your hurried pace slows you down in the long run? Through patience and compassion, we become equipped to harmonize with our conflicts. T’ai Chi is often practiced in slow motion. The idea behind this slow and meditative internal martial art is that if you practice it at a slow pace, you will be fast if and when the situation calls for fast action. When we slow down, observe the moments as they come without judgment and learn to be with what is. May we cultivate energy gradually and powerfully like water.
In my orientation, I came into this realm strongly aligned with the energy of Rabbit. I remember Grandmother taking me to see story hour at the local library in my Preschool years. I had a hard time understanding the story of the tortoise and the hare. But that makes sense to me now, especially because I was raised in a culture that did not teach us about opposites. We were taught that it’s either this, or that . . . just say no, just do it. Living in America was a sea full of mixed messages that mirrors growing up as a child in a psychotic household. Meditating on Turtle helps relax any pressures of the cultural river we might feel we are pushing against. Just knowing that these creatures are older than dinosaurs helps me appreciate a long range perspective. Rome wasn’t built in a day. All we really have is right now. Might as well take it in. If you need to, go within your shell to take refuge from the worries of the world, or you can come out of your shell and congregate with others. Knowing when to turn inward, and when to socialize is about knowing balance within yourself. Some people are naturally more monkish and hermit like, while others are more pod oriented, and thrive on others to feed them. Nature just reflects to us where we are at and what we need to work with. Let Turtle guide you in wise council.
Like many, I have been in a place of wishing the weather was different from what it was. After I was a child, back when enjoyed being outside regardless of climate, I started to internalize an adult-centric perspective about certain weather being preferable to others, namely complaints about the cold, dark and stormy, and the like. For many people, it doesn’t really matter – it’s too hot, bright, buggy, windy, the laundry list is endless. But for those of you who live in a northern climate, and really hate winter – knowing the half way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox happens this month may help you appreciate that the sunlight is rising, and warmer temperatures are on their way. I remember being up in the Andean mountain range in South America, and the little Indigenous children were trying to sell us rotten berries for a buck or two. It was a sobering reflection for me to see such a pristine, natural habitat, and yet such abject poverty. Privileged first world people were traveling here to appreciate the natural riches of this land, and yet the Indigenous people who lived in this natural treasure were fighting for survival.
I remember some of my old football coaches telling us that we should play every down like it’s our last. It was a good metaphor for life. Like the Hopi say, we are in the 11th hour, and we are the one’s we have been waiting for. The time is now. We are at a point in our current experience that we have the power to make ourselves go extinct or awaken to a massive shift in our collective consciousness. The reality is that an old world is dying, while the trumpet of a new world sounds its call. Out of the ashes, a phoenix rises. May we become beacons of light in a world of darkness. Mindfulness isn’t a cure. It is a way of paying attention to the present moment, and noticing what it is, without getting sucked in to labels or judgment.
A Full Snow Moon arrives on February 27th, and welcomes back ancestral traditions of honoring this Moon for representing peak snowfall accumulation. If rocks are part of your spiritual path, it’s a good time to let them rest and recharge underneath this Full Moon so that you can recalibrate them in your sacred meditation space. We all need to rest, especially with the cultural war raging on, coupled with the slow melt of the pandemic. It isn’t just the school community I work in that is hitting the wall during these hard times. And the lingering shadows of Old Man Winter are nothing to sneeze at either, if you’ll pardon the puns. But visions of Vernal Equinox, and Big Night, when the salamanders make their romantic midnight run to get it on, dance sensuously in our hearts and heads. How do tiny salamanders make it to far reaching vernal pools against all odds? Indeed, they have great forces of Nature, and lurking predators to contend with. Maintaining perspective is a key dynamic to happiness as a way of life. Patience in communication with each other is critical to that. Building bridges of understanding in our connections with one another will support positive development in human relationships.
Switching horses for a moment, when I think of turtles, I think of survivors. Turtles have been around longer than humans, and have even left dinosaurs in the dust. If you’re anything like the rest of the planet and me, then you could probably stand to meditate on the virtue of patience. Whenever I feel like I’m pushing the river or running the hurry up offense unnecessarily, I try to remember to keep my wits about me by visualizing a turtle to help ground me to the Earth. If only I can catch the wave of a mindful moment to swim with the current by allowing what is to happen, rather than striving to make it happen. Easier said than done. In my younger days, the spirit of Rabbit dominated my energy field over Turtle, as I was almost always on the hop. Who would I be without the charge of my hypervigalant nervous woodland creature energy? Suffering from young man’s disease means that you see faster as better, and competative worrying as a strength. But as my years of living on the planet advance, I feel more connected to Turtle’s spiritual therapy these days.
Furthermore, it is wise to realize that happiness doesn’t mean that we are above or below the tones of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings. If you are paying purposeful attention to your feelings, then you’ll notice that most of them don’t last more than 15 to 30 seconds. Indeed, they are like a river. So, what’s with all the sensational headliners? Is this suffering really an outrage or will this too so shall pass? Not to project my anthropomorphism onto Turtle, but I do believe their spirits will just watch without any judgment or clinging to any primary feelings or secondary emotions that might arise in its wake. Pretty sure Turtle wouldn’t get seduced into a partisan Congressional quagmired debate. No dark earmarks, bloated military industrial complex budget, Qanon or Trumpamania either. Perhaps more likely, we might entertain a peaceful, and non-violent act of civil disobedience. But melting the ice I don’t think so. This doesn’t mean turtles aren’t fierce or that they’re wimpy. They’ll let you know when they’re angry, and are good teachers on knowing when to retreat into your shadowy shell or let your head out into the sun for some vitamin d.
More importantly, revolutionary spirit is in the air as we move in a New Aquarian Age. But what old ways still have meaning in this New Earth we are transitioning in together? Cocreating Heaven on Earth means that we are getting in touch with the better angels of our Higher Selves to support our universal connection to one another during our shared coexistence on Mother Earth. Diversity in Unity means that we are all connected. Like may attract like, but remember that even opposites attract because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. All voices matter so that we can honor our differences, and also be true to our oneness. Clearly, there are old patterns and wounds that we still need to release and heal before we can really move forward. Part of that healing is to hear that the attraction to Trump is “a belief that government should not run our lives, and limit our freedoms.” And while I can appreciate the sentiment, he is part of the problem, not the solution. BIPOC and LGBTQ + are not a threat to humanity, but rather weave an integral part of our collective inner tapestry.
For example, take a look at Bernie Sanders as an embodiment of revolutionary spirit, and of working Turtle energy in the positive. Now that’s an elderly white man of privilege that will give you the shirt off his back. All people like him are saying is that capitalism, socialism, and the democratic process can all coexist equally. “The spiritual war that we have in our world right now wants us to cling to these fearful stories, take sides, and blame someone for our pain. We have to remember our togetherness and really what unites us which is our spirit. Our spirit is made of all of the same Divine Light.” Letting go of the Military-Industrial Complex’s concentration of power in our lives is breaking down, and we can see that through the eyes of disorder in our world. There is no one size fits all T-shirt folks. Don’t be tricked into believing that fixed ideas and attachments to them are not the real natural disasters and war drums that divide and conquer us. There is enough, and we can all win. It is unconstitutional not to level the playing field by promoting the general welfare of the public. But isn’t that obvious?
Looking back, we have discussed the growing body of evidence that supports the existence of the UFOs, extraterrestrials, multidimensional beings, etc. But keep in mind, there are many historical reports of these phenomena that existed prior to the Roswell incident back in July, 1947. For example, Leonardo Da Vinci was reportedly visited by “light beings”, and Michelangelo, Christopher Columbus, and Nostradomus reportedly saw some sort of UFO or otherwise unexplained apparent aerial phenomena that shifted their consciousness back then. Also, there are many culturally accepted stories by Indiginous people about “sky people” that trace lineage connections to humankind. Here in America, “multiple states” reported sightings in the 1800s. In his book Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters (1999), the late Dr. John E. Mack, who was a Harvard psychiatrist, and department chair, came out for his support of his clients that claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Dr. Mack believed that his clients had experienced something real that was traumatic, perhaps that their souls had really been abducted. However, it was unclear whether this experience was physical or more multidimensional in nature. A trauma informed lens would appreciate the meaningful reality of what they went through that had lead to transformational experiences in their consciousness. What is it that we need to revisit in our consciousness? What more do we have to learn about the truth of this phenomena as the Pentagon continues to relax its guarded secrecy, and disclose the information that it has been hiding from us?
Additionally, during this “dreamy” Pisces time of year, it is a time to “let go, surrender . . . (and) connect to our oneness, own spiritual path, mystical side of life, (and) reorder the sacredness of life.” It is within the elemental forces now to examine an old part of yourself that needs to die so that you can be reborn. During this process, we are invited to face our fears, and explore what is hiding in the shadows of our unconscious so that we can “bring love to it.” Meditation on Venus’ rising tide evokes passages through a death/rebirth cycle of inner transformation that reflects an out with the old, in with the new perspective that mirrors springtime. Many moons ago, I remember an old friend saying that she “got depressed” around springtime. This makes sense because it is natural to grieve the loss associated with the death of the old self. You might not even like Winter, but even so it can be hard to say goodbye to yesterday. Remember that we are part of Nature, not separate from Her, nor Her seasons. But the sun of Father Sky still rises to lighten our spirits, and the Moon still shines on and moves the tides. As humans, we are mostly water, which is a conductor of sound frequency, which Whale is deeply aligned with. “We are assisting mother Gaia (Earth) in giving birth. She has been waiting for us, patiently. Her water has broken and we are gathered ’round to assist her in any and every way possible. She doesn’t ask that we prepare in any way. She simply asks us to show up and assist her to remain calm and trust that all will go well in her delivery process. The cataclysmic occurrences on the planet as of recent have simply been Gaia’s very intense labor contractions. She needs us now, more than ever.”
Finally, according to the sacred geometrical Arcturian wisdom, “The energy of frequency helps you remain within your own energy. Quite often we conform ourselves to others, thus raising or lowering ourselves to a frequency that isn’t ours. By proclaiming your truth with love, you will start processes that may influence others. More unity will be visible!” Moreover, inner peace is about a vibrational-dimensional shift that takes place from the inside out. That being said, a trauma-informed/mental health oriented term that is gaining popularity in schools today is called coregulation. When you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, anyway you shapeshift, coregulation is when we are able to influence each other in ways that supports empathic heartfelt connections with each other.
In conclusion, you’ve all heard the old saying, misery loves company. That’s why sympathy cards and gossip generate so much attraction. But generally speaking, neither does much by way of co regulation or helping anybody. There isn’t anything wrong with holding a sympathetic perspective toward someone or indulging in a little news gossip once in a while. There can be an element of catharsis to commiserating with a fellow coworker, peer, friend or family member from time to time. But just know that it doesn’t serve anyone’s well being when it becomes habitual, and ingrained in your everyday life. If anything, this pandemic has taken away the IV drip from the gossip and sympathy addicts. What have been their replacement strategies? While that remains a mystery, a 6th greader I know took my advice and has gone on a news fast, and has reported a significant decrease in his anxiety and paranoid thoughts. Also, I know many people who have started meditating, wearing items of power like crystal necklaces or other spiritual trinkets, playing around with smudging themselves or giving themselves energy baths with essential oils, or playing with chimes, singing bowls or utilizing meditation/mindfulness apps on their phones. These are all gadgets that help you make a dimensional-vibrational shift into inner peace, or become more adept at empathic coregulation. You can always become an agent of change by starting with yourself. Or you could just march to the beat of your own hum.
In today’s fast paced, high octane, and trigger happy world,
doesn’t it feel like a politically radical challenge to hit
the pause button, and remember to hit the BAR?
Just pull up a chair, and Breathe And Relax!
May this be a mantra to live for on this Full Snow Moon.
I was talking with a coworker recently, and he admitted
that he worries about having panic attacks, and gets
nervous about focusing on his breath.
He’s probably in the normal majority of people in that way.
But what if only we take a moment to picture a turtle to slow down,
and accept the sublime invitation into the present moment?
Who would I be if I tuned into the sacredness of the
life force that lives in my body?
The showtime of the living now is all there ever really is.
And when you awaken to right now, you start to recognize
that you might as well say yes to it.
Think about how a turtle just knows the futility of
trying to push the river.
It’s kind of like the self defeating absurdity of trying to
kill your ego or make it an enemy to demonize.
Or the quackery of giving the Heisman pose to your Higher Self.
What are you afraid of saying yes to by accessing your personal divinity?
From a developmental psychology framework, we know that
the first stage of human development is trust versus mistrust.
Human beings are prewired to trust.
But of course that doesn’t happen when we don’t feel safe or
that we don’t belong to a greater community.
Of course, it is incumbent on all of us to learn how to work
with that on the inside.
And we all have to do our part to both manage ourselves,
and create a better world for all of us to coexist peacefully in.
Yeah, it may feel daunting at times, and we have a long way to go.
But if you think about a turtle dreaming about waking up, while
they are sleeping under a white, wintry blanket –
perhaps it will inspire you to ponder . . .
Do I need to come out of my shell and be more social?
Or do I need to turn inward, and be compassionately curious
about slowing down, and retreating from the world’s hurried pace?
Speaking of a slow, and low tempo, we can look forward to Big Night,
arriving sometime between the Spring Equinox in late March,
and early April.
That’s when the Frogs, and Salamanders head
for Vernal pools, and make their way across dangerous
crossroads of pavement where cars, and trucks traverse, in New England at least.
In our hustle, and bustle, we could stand to take stock
in Nature’s way, and follow a long term game plan
of Mother Nature’s creatures that have been here longer than we have.
Besides, an outgrowth of energy, and a faster pace will be budding
once we make our way to the equality of yang and yin energies
by Spring, and then increasing activity levels into the Summer Solstice in June.
They do have an innate wisdom about them, and we could stand to
pay more purposeful attention to their intelligence.
Celebrating our diversity within unity is something all
creatures can win by way of profiting off of mutual aid.
A waning Full Wolf Moon shrinks in the skies,
as we are waking up into a new year ahead . . .
Like losing our loved ones, a dying lunar cycle
can bring up similar feelings of grieving, loss and sadness
Winter is a good time to turn inward, pause and reflect on the last year
It is also a good time to go into the Dreamtime,
and take note of what comes up from there
What metaphorical trees are moved to uproot and be
examined in the underground of your consciousness?
What seeds do you want nurture and breathe life into the sunlight come spring?
Every day will shed a little more light until
light and dark are equal again on Spring Equinox in March
Energetically, if we are paying attention to Nature’s subtleties,
we will see evidence of a blossoming spring coming earlier than that
Spring Astrological Eclipse season is on its way at the tail end of this month . . .
Their energies correspond with of a Full Snow Moon at the end of January, and the
Chinese-Lunar year of the Dog later on in mid-February
Time to weather the cold, and maintain perspective
even in dim lights, and dark emotions
Picture Groundhog to awaken death without dying, and
focus on seeing the light at the end of the tunnel . . .
Groundgog Day arrives this week . . .
A passing New Moon, and waxing Full Snow moon is coming soon
The energies of February eclipse season are stirring seeds of change in our world
These rising tides of changes in consciousness are not met without resistance
Just yesterday, Father Time delivered the birth of the
Chinese-Lunar New Year of the Rooster into our Mother Earth
It is also the traditional Imbolc, a time when our ancestors honored
Nature’s halftime celebration between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox
So whether or not Groundhog sees his shadow,
Groundhog medicine awakens underground forces
May the Goddess Brigid be the fiery light at the end dark tunnels . . .
Meditate on Groundhog’s spiritual guidance on death without dying . . .
What old self needs to die, what New Self wants to grow?
If you are willing to take a deeper and higher responsibility in life,
then you can transcend cause and effect
You can let go of your suffering, and be free from that kind of slavery
In spite of cold weather, and darker days
Groundhog reminds us that the seeds underground
are contemplating the waking up process to blossom in the Spring
Are you ready to tunnel into and examine the catacombs of your soul
to recycle that compost so that it will blossom in the Springtime?
If you take issue with some else’s perceived transgressions . . .
Are you able to express your feelings without going straight outta woodland?
Just because you might feel justified in your emotional expression through
provocative and aggressive language does not make your delivery OK
Love always wins in the long run,
never the dark forces of hatred and bigotry
Part of being human is learning to differentiate and individuated from our
emotions without becoming our emotions
What matters is how we express our emotions
We are more likely to get respect when we give it
Or you can be a victim and continue to live in hell
This requires us to hit the pause button, and stop, think and relax before
responding to the situation at hand . . .
Be the Aquarian New Age transformation you want to see in the world!
Otters are outgoing, playful and devoted to their families
Organized, constructive and skillful managers are they
You could say their business is pleasure
as they seem to make this attitude work in their favor
Feminine energy is both grounding like the Earth and powerful like Water
On this Valentine’s Day and everyday
Love the woman in you and embrace her nurturing on your soul
Redefine masculinity by tapping into creative mothering energetics
with soft imaginative faculties
Though a Full Snow Moon arrives later this month
The subtleties of Spring are stirring now
Hard to believe alignment of masculine and feminine energies are coming together
on Spring Equinox barely over a month away
Given this frigid cold right Tao in Northern New England
paradoxically, the intensities of Light heat up everyday
Like changing seasons, shifting tides require us to
ride the waves of cleansing and purification
The time is now to heal our polarity . . .
It is natural to fear the unknown of that which is mysterious
Why do you think so many women were accused of being
witches and burned at the stake?
At what cost do we “make America great again?”
Sounds like the justification for genocide is getting louder on the airwaves folks
But on the flip side of the coin . . .
There’s a polar shift drifting toward activist love that’s got people feeling saintly
or at least perhaps moving toward our better angels in humanity . . .
Do you need to have more fun?
Do you need to let your worries roll off you back?
May Otter reawaken your sense of wonder and an opening up to new experiences
So that you can go with the natural flow of life and let your inner child shine on
instead of pushing against the river and fighting the current
See the good in yourself and everyone else without preconceptions or suspicions
Use mental martial arts to create an envy, jealousy and a catty free zone . . .
What we are talking about is cultivating soul sisterhood with each other –
It’s hard to demonize or have enemies in this space
Come from a place of authenticity and trust in your everyday business
Meditate on letting go of attachments to material world things
Remember that clinging to the pleasures of the physical senses
is a recipe for feeling a grave sense of recycled disappointed!
Classroom Mothership Earth 