April 2014 Cardinal Grand Cross - break down, break up or break through (maybe not so much a blog break)

Astrologer Susan Miller said about this month, "April's so scary, I'm giving classes on it." You may be hearing about the skies in April and wondering what all the fuss is about. Some astrologers see war or monetary collapse possibilities and when we look at the planets involved in this month's cross we can see that this is one way to look at things - but only if we only look at the negative aspects of the planets involved (Pluto - destruction, Mars - war, Uranus - recklessness, Jupiter - increases whatever it contacts).

When it comes to war - it is our energy they must use to take us to war so we all need to stay positive and focused on peace. We don't want to be thinking "no war" - the universe doesn't understand "no", the vibration of "no war" is the same as "war", so we want to be thinking PEACE. The proliferation of the peace symbol☮ probably did more good energetically in the 60's than all the anti-war rallies.

It's the same with our money - money is energy and comes from our own energy. We create this energy internally - it only looks like it is external, but our internal world creates it via vibration and then our external world lines up with it. Our world financial system doesn't need to collapse - it does need to change though and it is. One scenario is our politicians warring over how to fix our financial mess and we've all seen that before.

The word 'break' has been coming up for me a lot over the last few months. I think it relates to what is happening now -  

breaking free, breaking out, breaking the bank, breaking the ice, making a break for it, getting a lucky break, things and even us breaking down (poor Hubs has had one nightmare job after another in the shop for months!), breaking hearts, breaking balls, breaking through, breaking a leg, break neck speed, the straw that breaks the camel's back, breaking out in a rash or a cold sweat, breaking rank, breaking news, breaking promises, getting a break, giving a break, breaking with tradition, breaking ground, breaking bread, breaking the law -  
in short all hell breaking loose.

Always remember in our lives we get the breakthrough (and not the breakdown) when we embrace the change that is being asked of us.

So, what is happening here?

• April 14- Mercury squares Jupiter, Mercury conjuncts Uranus, Pluto enters direct
• April 15- Lunar Eclipse-Full Moon 25 degrees Libra, Mercury squares Pluto
• April 16- Mercury opposes Mars
• April 20- Jupiter squares Uranus and opposes Pluto
• April 21- Uranus squares Pluto
• April 22- Mars squares Jupiter
• April 23- Mars opposes Uranus and squares Pluto *BREAKING POINT*
• April 29- Solar Eclipse-New Moon 8 degrees Taurus

Basically what we are seeing this month is a BIG, temporary ramp up of the Pluto Uranus square we have all been dealing with since 2012.

This is a picture of what the skies will look like over NYC on April 23rd at approx 10:30am - imagine we (Earth) are in the center looking outward.

See that red square? We will never see this again, we have never seen this before in our lifetime.

From December 27, 2013 through July, 2014 we have four planets within just a few degrees of each other and on April 23rd they will meet at exactly 13 degrees.

(which not only has a reputation and therefore carries a vibration of being unlucky is represented in Tarot as 13 of the Major Arcana - the Death card so we certainly have something being released here and of course, this is not a surprise because for anything new to begin something else has to end)

The planets involved are Pluto, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars. The signs they will reside in are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

So, what does this mean?

I am going to talk more about what this could mean personally than globally here - but let's talk globally for a minute. There is certainly the possibility for the beginning (cardinal signs rule beginnings and the four signs involved in this square: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, are all cardinal signs) of big change. The Grand Cardinal Gross will be exactly in aspect to the USA natal Sun position of 13 degrees Cancer (where the U.S. sun was on July 4, 1776) so that must mean something here in the U.S.

With the Cross in cardinal signs since cardinal signs are when things begin - we may not really see much of anything. It could be the kind of situation where things are much changed later and we pinpoint the start of the change as this period in time, but while we are living it we do not recognize its importance. The God Particle discovery was made public during a similar (yet much less dramatic) astrological event and we don't yet know where that discovery will lead.

(the Sabian symbol for 13 degrees Aries is  - An Unexploded Bomb Reveals An Unsuccessful Social Protest, 13 degrees Libra is - Children Blowing Soap Bubbles, 13 degrees Cancer is A Very Old Man Facing A Vast Dark Space To The Northeast and 13 Degrees Capricorn is An Ancient Bas-Relief Carved In Granite Remains A Witness To A Long-Forgotten Culture - I don't know enough about Sabian symbols to know what to make of these images - but google them if you are interested)

I had an astrology teacher many years ago who always compared US-Russia relations to a bad marriage between Uncle Sam and Mother Russia. In the 80's Uncle Sam (dysfunctional masculine) and Mother Russia (dysfunctional feminine who devours her children) were enacting out for all of us the disintegrating marriage archetype - what a bad marriage! These countries took on the burden of carrying that dynamic as the other countries played as children (children of dysfunctional parents, of course, but children none the less - Afghanistan the orphaned and abandoned child, for example). We thought these dysfunctional parents had grown since their bad divorce and learned to work together and I guess we will find out. We also have this whole gold / dollar / U.S. standard thing that could blow up.

For all of us personally- if we have planets near 13 degrees of these cardinal signs we will be most affected (hubs has 2 - yikes). These signs are the natural rulers of our 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th house so we are hitting me vs. we spaces and work in the world and our exterior lives vs. our home and our interior lives:

Aries (cardinal fire): the self, the ego, personality, appearance and its polarity Libra (Cardinal Air): relationships, compromise, legal stuff

Capricorn (Cardinal Earth): our work, career, public life, reputation and its polarity Cancer (Cardinal Water): home, family, roots, security, our emotions

But this could affect our lives in our spaces based on our natal chart. If you have, say 15 degrees Libra in your 2nd house (money, values, relationships) in your natal chart (the position of Libra when you were born) that is where you will feel this - but realize this is a long process so you are likely already feeling it - things could come to a head then.

With Jupiter in Cancer we get an amplification of whatever is happening. We think of Jupiter as the Santa Claus of the zodiac because he increases what he touches, but in this case the amplification may make any challenges more difficult. It is equally possible that GREAT AMAZING STUFF could totally hit the fan, too.

Anyhoo, I thought I would be remiss with all these Astrology postings to just leave this stuff out, since it could be very important. This is affecting hubs 4th house of home and family and 7th house of partnerships so .... I will report on what develops. xo all

could be time for a blog break (better than an actual break)

I may take a little blog break (I thought I broke something else last week, but it turns out to be "just" a dislocation and ligament stretch) to heal and figure out my direction with this blog. I very much love this image because either direction looks amazing which is exactly how life actually works! I will post about the Grand Cardinal Cross next week first though!

I am also going to create those long-promised Goddess reports now (thank you for the reminder Renate)!

If you would like a Goddess report, my obsession and semi-specialty (based on the skies at the time of your birth, no charge) pop me over your birth date including year, time and place of birth (see the let's chat link - lower right).

Do not worry that I will be learning any secret info about you as my brain has a self cleaning feature these days so I forget everything I see, do or learn in about 10 seconds. I will post it on my blog with an alias (not your real name) and email you a link.

xo all - if I have your info from a previous chart, I still have it, so just let me know you are interested!


**I should explain this (I have started writing on this blog like I talk to hubs, I start mid thought so he never knows what the hell I am talking about) - this will be an astrology report based on the Goddesses - Ceres, Pallas Athena, Juno and Vesta (asteroids) placements at the time of your birth! Don't hesitate to email me - it will be fun!

Part IV - our money mindset and our business - wrapping our heart around this stuff

To recap some actionable stuff that will create a more abundant money mindset for us:

1. Respect our money - see this post here - this is about mindfulness
2. Invest (some regular percentage on a regular basis) - this is about telling ourselves we deserve stability
3. Make a list of money memories and beliefs. Use forgiveness exercises and tapping to release the ones we need to let go of. This is usually a process and not a one time deal, but brings dramatic results.
4. Nurture our 2nd house needs - see this post here
5. Listen to our language about money - are we telling the best stories
6. Money challenges are a symptom. Money represents energy so our health often mimics how we manage our money, too. What can we learn about our relationship to our money by looking at our health?

We pray/set intentions for more money and then are surprised when instead of cold, hard cash what we receive is an invitation to change our vibration. But that is how life on planet Earth works!

Think about it like this - asking for patience will draw to us situations to practice patience (how else will we learn to be patient?) - like long lines and traffic jams (this is why I do not ask for patience!).

So what does asking for more money or more business bring in our own life? Life will show us our imbalances. Guidance is communicated to us all the time - no one is left out of the loop. Usually this guidance shows up in the form of patterns so we will take notice. How people treat us and how events happen around us is a direct mirror of our beliefs.

(One day within an hour of driving I had 3 other drivers flip me the bird in 3 different incidents! This would sound like I was driving like a maniac, but I wasn't - note I live in NJ which might explain one middle finger, but 3 is still an extremely unusual, once in a lifetime event - now if this happened today I would be thinking about what part of me I was saying f* you to, each incident was unprovoked so I would ask myself how I was making myself guilty for something I didn't do. Back then I didn't think like this. I did think to drive myself safely home and park my car for the rest of the day - and of course I would still do that!)

So, if we are desiring more money (and more business) we need to pay attention to what comes up when we focus on this. Lack of money shows up as chakra imbalances, too.

If we have too strong (open) a heart chakra, for example, we will give our money and energy away too much - this will reach a critical point when we are sick of giving. Our heart is meant to inspire and empower people to do things for themselves, not for us to do everything for them. Within our business we will be giving out much more than we are getting back. A weak (closed) heart chakra will result in us being critical and suspicious and not being able to spend the money we need to spend on our business or let go of things that are not working - we will hold on too tightly.

Being a victim is root chakra issues of not taking responsibility for our actions and blaming others. This will cause our business to lose money and alienate people who can help us. Our weak root chakra brings people to us who will take advantage. This isn't about life punishing us - let the idea of punishment and reward go. Once we take responsibility for ourselves and learn to say no to things - we will draw people who are an asset to us instead of people who drain us.

(and our emotions show us our vibrational base with all of this - if someone asks us to do some little thing and we get annoyed right away even though it is something that is very easy for us to do - our emotions have told us that we are giving too much)

Our outer and inner worlds are always in balance. The stuff we are seeing in our life is always the reaping we have sown.

So, say you see certain patterns of being a victim in your own life. Use the internet. We are so lucky to have all this information at our fingertips! Google "what chakra imbalance would make me a victim?" or something like that and then "how to strengthen my root chakra" - use your own judgement with this and do what feels right.

The reason to think about this stuff is never to beat ourselves up - there is no blame in this universe truly. I have seen enough astrological charts to know with absolute certainty we are all here for different things.

The reason it is easier to build a business when we need to make a living is that this is all a lot of work and the output needs to be equally balanced with input or we will get out of balance by doing/giving too much.

There is nothing wrong with going on Etsy (for example) and making a business and not caring if you are making any money as long as you are certain about your beliefs with this and understand they may change over time. We can certainly do this for fun as long as it really is fun! When we are doing something just for fun and it stops being fun, we need to stop doing it.

Since a business is never going to be all fun - there are lots of things we will have to do that we will not want to do - it is usually best to balance it out by making money with it. We need to take this stuff seriously before anyone else does. If other people are not respecting our business, they are only reflecting us back to ourselves.

The reason it is hard to build a business when we really need the money is that our business is always about our value to other people. The giving must come before the getting. We are not really selling our whoseewhatsee, we are really trading its value to another person for money. When we come from a place of "need" we will be trying to sell our whoseewhatsee to everyone instead of exchanging it for money with the people who will get value from it. We will also need a certain amount of money to build a business that makes money. Money likes its own kind.

I got a bit off-track from my original post and where I intended to go with this series and that happens sometimes. Hopefully, the next reader/writer will come along, pick up my wayward thread and keep the conversation going or make it even better. ..... xo all

Part III - why our money mindset matters - tapping into business success and releasing money guilt using EFT and the 2nd house

In astrology money is 2nd house stuff; the 2nd house rules our finances, our values, our possessions, even our talent but what really shows up in the 2nd house is our self worth. It rules what money can buy and what it can't buy. This is the space where we pull our own weight in the world. This space is ruled by the planet Venus and the sign of Taurus.

Most people think of Taurus as represented by the stubborn bull and they can be, but Taurus is really the space in the zodiac that expresses our need for stability and grounding - ain't nothing moving that bull if he don't want to be moved.

(yes, I am going to talk about grounding again - this stuff is all connected plus I am obsessed we know this)

They always benefit by being out in nature,

(a Taurus in the city will not be a pleasant person to be around for long unless allowed a cat, dog or at least a fish tank, plenty of plants and frequent trips to the country)

peace and quiet, hands in the dirt, music in their ears and sensual touch

(think cuddles, hot baths, massages - the kind of touch that feels like safety).

Because Taurus is the natural ruler of the 2nd house the things that strengthen Taurus will strengthen our own 2nd houses, too.

(yes, the same 2nd house that holds our money, our values and our self worth - if you know who is hanging out in your 2nd house and where Venus and Taurus are in your natal chart, you can also work with that energy)

It could seem like taking a hot bath is not something that will make us any money, but it may be exactly what we need to feel safe and cared for. This is the rich soil of self nurturing that grows money best.

Anyhoo, on to tapping (not the kind with the awesome shoes - sorry!).

I first read about tapping and the Emotional Freedom Technique through Jack Canfield - the Chicken Soup for the Soul Guy.

It's a form of accupressure and is a simple exercise that you do to yourself.

Tapping works on the theory that negative emotional experiences disturb the energy meridians that run through our bodies. When we use our fingertips to tap on specific points on our face, head and body while focusing on a negative feeling, EFT quickly realigns the energy meridians associated with those particular thoughts and memories and allows healing to occur.

It is an excellent tool and you can do it almost anywhere. Google around and find some information and videos. Cheryl Richardson has one here. She is talking about anxiety but it works exactly the same with our beliefs.

I use the "Even though I have this fear - naming the fear", or "Even though I have this memory - naming the memory - I deeply and completely accept myself." There is something about the pressure on specific energy points while our body is hearing these words that allows our body to reset itself. It's amazingly effective.

With EFT we take responsibility for calming and soothing ourselves and changing our negative mood or belief instead of waiting for some external thing to come along or happen to change it - it allows us to take our power back. I think that is my favorite thing about it, plus it really does work. Try it for a week and see what happens.

So, what kind of negative belief or memory should we be tapping on to change our money mindset?

Make a list of your money memories or negative beliefs about money you want to release.

I will tell you one of mine that relates to my job loss story from Part I and Part II.

Even though I had technically 'quit' my job I filed for unemployment and since my employer did not want to fight me on this, I got it. I had a much loved uncle and one day I was over his house, no doubt whining about my job loss, but also complaining about the dollar amount of the unemployment check I was about to receive.

My uncle, born in 1924, had probably never worked a week where he made more than $400 in his life.

When I complained about the unemployment amount, he said "you should be grateful you have that". I was immediately filled with guilt. The guilt wasn't about any lack of gratitude on my part, but that I had embarrassed my uncle with my words.

And of course, what I internalized was - "who are you to deserve/ask for more than that?"

When I started thinking about the way money flowed in and out of my life and didn't stick to me, this was one of the memories that came up for me. I knew it told me a lot about my family heritage with money, what I grew up believing I was worth and the ways I self-sabotaged my own stability with guilt over having more than the others around me. I did the forgiveness exercise in the previous post and tapped to release the negative beliefs.

(our memories are always a doorway to our beliefs - asking ourselves why do we remember this particular thing among the gazillion things that have happened to us)

Negative money memories (beliefs) need to be released if we do not want to be sabotaging our business when we hit our income comfort zone.

Often I think I have released something because I have released it in my mind, but my body is still holding onto it.

Many years ago I had a rolfing session with an experienced practitioner and while he was working on my shoulder I had a flash memory of a collection of smiley face stickers on a metal background. It took me about a week to remember these stickers were stickers I had stuck to a metal slide in my backyard when I was a child. I had broken my collarbone when I was nine years old on that slide. When the rolfer (rolfer?) worked on my shoulder, that unconscious memory, stored in my right shoulder, was released. Truly this is self-acceptance at a soul level we are working on with this.

Women often feel guilt about debt more strongly than men do. If you think you will feel better about yourself when you are out of debt you probably won't.

(well maybe for 10 minutes until you celebrate your debt-free status at your favorite restaurant with your Mastercard)

If you let the current state of your wallet dictate your self-worth it will be dictating the future state of your wallet, too. Re-framing your thinking about your debt as life's belief in your future earning ability might help.

When I was in banking I worked with people who had declared bankruptcy. Generally men bounced back faster. They were usually able to separate their money from themselves, "it's just business", they would say, even about their own personal finances. They would file for bankruptcy one week and be in the bank asking me how to get their credit fixed the next. Women often seemed to carry more guilt.

If you have declared bankruptcy - tapping and forgiveness work can help.

Banks who lent you money expecting to get it back took a risk. That's how banks work. They are gamblers, and it’s part of their business to lose sometimes. They have long ago moved on and you should, too.

(this isn't a reason to not pay our debts, but some people have debts that have been legally excused for years still casting shadows on their self-worth)

Everyone needs an investment program. Don't think about saving your money for a rainy day because you will inevitably have one with this way of thinking. You are not saving money - money needs to flow. You are investing your money.

(even if your investment looks oddly like your sock drawer right now).

But don't really use your sock drawer. Money likes to be respected - it is part of our 2nd house family of self-worth after all. Some other tips are HERE.

Next up - Part IV -  tying this back into our businesses (for real this time) and why it's easier to build a business when we need the money, but not when we REALLY need the money