Part II - Reclaiming our Authority; Rituals for Abundance - Profit like a Prophet

galactic abundance - polarity locket

I think my plants have started talking back to me.

(not in a bratty, teenager kind of way  - they are much too polite for that)

But, lately after I tell them how beautiful and strong and amazing they are for hanging with me during this hot and humid July - I am hearing little whispers of gratitude.

George Washington Carver talked to plants - he would ask them "what are you for little guy?" and they would whisper back - probably something like "I am a peanut and I taste great with jelly".

I've been telling my hanging baskets all about George in the morning while I eat my poached egg on gluten-free toast on the front porch.

(gluten free bread btw if you haven't tried it, tastes pretty much like any dense bread, except it costs twice as much and needs to be refrigerated)

This morning I slipped up and started talking to them about Luther Burbank (another famous botanist - there is a reason for all this plant reading I've been doing lately which I will report on in a couple weeks). Luther talked to plants, too. He grew plants that were edible without their spines simply by saying to them "you are perfectly safe here, you do not need your spine" - then he would grow these incredible spineless fruits - how amazing is that!

(of course, he would then proceed to eat them which is maybe the reason so many plants have stopped listening to us)

We all have rituals and our rituals are very powerful. Even the most simple tasks, actually most especially and maybe only the most simple tasks, when done mindfully, invoke the power of ritual.

We can sweep our floor or we can sweep out the past along with our dust bunnies.

Rituals are the way God/the Gods/the Universe, our Higher Self (choose your comfort zone) know we are asking for help. Life is a collaboration.

I don't know what Webster or Wikipedia would offer up, but for our purposes we will define ritual as any act imbued with invisible intention. 

In Astrology, Saturn is the part of us that sets our intention - he gives us the power to focus and define our boundaries, our terms and our purpose. With intention and ritual we begin to grow the form in which that intention will be realized from inside out, rather than having it externally imposed.

Either we step into our responsibility and become the author of our own lives or we give our authority away - there is no in between place. Fear is a symptom of loss of authority - we can find the places in our life where we have not honored Saturn by the things we are afraid of.

And when we give our authority away, we should be afraid.

Saturn moved into Scorpio last fall for a two and a half year visit, then went retrograde a couple months later and just turned direct again last week. So, this is a great time to work with this energy (there is never really a bad time, but some times are better than others). Next Monday we have a full moon, which is an excellent time to set release intentions and to practice release rituals.

A really simple release ritual which utilizes the four elements (earth, water, air, fire) is to speak your intention of release, write it down by hand on a piece of paper, burn the paper and release the ashes into moving water (stream, river - once I used a flushing toilet in a bar bathroom; it worked).

The power of our results will directly mirror the power of our intention.

Challenging circumstances always drive us inward - where we get to use our Saturn to author a new chapter. Saturn asks us "how do you want your story to proceed?" - if we don't go inward willingly Saturn reaches up and yanks us down forcefully (which is why he has gotten such a bad rap) - this yanking is often experienced as depression, but it is really a reminder to step into our responsibility for our life; to not live life by default.

We really are on a quest here and ritual connects us to the bigger picture.

Last winter I was very focused on connecting with other people thinking these connections had to come in a certain way - forgetting that we set the intention and let life work out the 'how's'. Life showed me very quickly that crowds and people are no cure for loneliness; that maybe we need to be alone to find out what supports us. Solitude is the cure for loneliness; like cures like. Life was offering me a space for reflection because without reflection we can become as vulnerably off balanced as if we are sleep deprived. Insight must be earned, I guess. It's crazy how often I can know something and then act like I don't know it ...

Next up - Reclaiming our Authority; Rituals for Abundance - Profit like a Prophet Part III (some specific rituals for our business)