Full Moon In Scorpio May 14th - letting go of our need for certainty and seeing the truth coming to light

We are building toward Wednesday's full moon in Scorpio - this is the culmination of November's Scorpio New Moon, so something from that time may be coming to closure now.

Ruled by Pluto, Scorpio is a very powerful energy for transformation - any shaky ground we have built our life on now will come to light for us to clearly see or will tumble away altogether. The moon is conjunct Saturn, so take this stuff seriously. If we need to grow a backbone Saturn will see to it that we do, one way or the other.

Any time we let go of anything that is not true in our life (the stuff that is weighing us down) - we raise our vibration (live in our truth). This is vibration raising time, folks - and sometimes this doesn't feel so good.

Scorpio is about honesty (which can be a wonderful thing and a cruel thing, too). 

True honesty is ferocious. 

With the full moon (the emotions we are holding) in Scorpio the universe is asking us "Can you be deep? Can you live gracefully in a world that scares the hell out of you? Can you let go of the stuff you know isn't working before you can see what will? Can you live with the fact that maybe nothing will?".

Scorpio is wired for intensity.

If you are a Scorpio sun sign (born October 23- November 21st) you know you have to keep your sense of humor. A sense of humor will go a long way for all of us right now. It is actually a very powerful discipline and effective practice for living a happier life - if you have a lot of Plutonian energy (or are just living on planet earth) comedy on Pandora Radio is your friend.

I have a Scorpio rising sign so people's first reactions to me have always been complex

(our rising sign is kind of the mask we wear - it influences others first impressions of us, how we interact socially and how we view and relate to others - I also have Saturn conjunct my sun which seems to amplify this, but I won't get into that).

People either really like me or really dislike me immediately. I was the girl on the playground the other little girls wanted to be best friends with ... or beat up. There was never any middle ground for me.

I did not understood this intense energy was working through me and interacting with other people's intense (and often uncomfortable) energy; their loose ends. I just thought I had no social skills. Now, I know I do have social skills - they are just the kind that get you invited to coffee when people are hurting or looking for answers but not to the neighborhood barbecues. And this is all ok and more than ok actually, words are probably more important than cole slaw after all (well, unless the cole slaw is very, very good of course).

I will write more about this tomorrow - I have lockets to weld and orders to get out - and still want to get into the sun a bit today (I can feel my Vitamin D level increasing and my garden fairies celebrating with every plant that goes into the ground right now).

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

BACK TOMORROW - how to work with the full moon energy at play now

changing our grip - the value of being ourselves part III

See Part I and Part II

Sometimes we talk a good talk about change and growth, but when it comes to our makings we think what we wanted to do yesterday is what we want to do today and what we will want to do tomorrow.

(We have a full moon in Scorpio next week - I am going to do a big post on this for Monday - there is much Plutonian energy with this one and since Pluto is the planet of karma ie our beliefs that create our reality - if we can release our emotional grip on what we are so afraid of losing we can get a huge emotional growth from this period. We can work on "our stuff" now or our stuff will work on us.)

I saw Russell Simmons (yes, the hip-hop business magnate and gazillionaire) speak a couple years ago. On the surface it was about growing a fashion business (specifically a t-shirt brand, I think), but what it was really about was growing a business to sell and by "sell" I mean "sell the business" not sell your t-shirt, although obviously we would have to sell a whole lot of t-shirts before our t-shirt brand was sell-able.

The goal though was clearly to sell the business (ie the brand) at some point. It seemed like it was a foregone conclusion that this would be our goal, too.

This whole "growing a business to sell it" kind of made my heart ache. I could see all the pitfalls with this way of thinking - unsustainable growth, the kind of corner cutting and number crunching that results in poverty wages, damage to the planet, do whatever it takes to make this work stress and unbalance - the more is more is more thinking that is so unsustainable and so damaging and truly not the way the energy at play in the world now is leading us.

(now I am not saying this is what he was saying - this is just what I was hearing)

Obviously there isn't anything wrong with selling our business or our brand (one day I will no doubt be sick to death of all this and accepting a fair trade of a lifetime supply of avocados and milk-bones) - it would be better than a slow, painful death after all. 

It was having this goal at the beginning that bothered me. 

It's not that I thought we should all be building generational businesses - although I do have a fondness (sniffle) for them, in a small town diner kind of way, but I was an artist after all, this was my creative baby, how could anyone ever love her like I do?

Flash ahead two years and I run across some clips from this same talk and I get something totally different from it now.

(it's amazing how much smarter Russell has become ... ha!)

Probably one of the truest things in life is that we just don't know what we don't know. 

There is real value in separating ourselves from our businesses and brands.

emily mcdowell - joan of arc quote

This doesn't mean we won't continue to work from our hearts - knowing when to tighten our grip, when to loosen up, when to switch grips

(I'm starting to feel like one of the Williams sisters, hopefully my biceps are listening)

and when to let go like we are holding a hot potato takes courage and inner work. This stuff will never come from our head.

My friend with the music store is exhausted. Most of us are. Life has sped up and we were all born from energy that moved at a slower pace. We need to trust ourselves with this stuff.

We truly were born to do this.

I realized with my second listen that had I embraced the "building a business to sell" thinking even a little bit I would have been much more likely to have built a business that could get along without me more often. I would take things a little less personally. I would have asked for help when I needed it. It would be easier to change my grip.

Of course if I had fully embraced this thinking I would not have built anything truly real because it would not have been built from the energy I came here to use - I would have been too busy playing for an audience.

(creativity and children both fall into the 5th house of our astrology chart and birthing creative babies that keep us up all night or crying babies that do the same thing produce equally strong emotional attachments and this is a good and necessary thing ... until it isn't anymore)

We have a full moon in Scorpio in a few days - the period of this full moon and the days after will be a powerful time to release some of the emotional attachment we have with our businesses. Scorpio is our fixed (unchanging) water (emotions) sign - he really likes to hold on to emotional experiences as long as possible - ruled by Pluto if we are clinging to the wrong stuff this can be devastating. Scorpio will be in Saturn so not taking any crap - we either loosen our grip or life forces open our fingers (this is the culmination of November's new moon in Scorpio).

NEXT UP PART IV - owning our impact - the value of being ourselves (so what might the music store do next and what does it have to do with Russell Simmons and what does it have to do with our business)

going downstream with an upstream business - the value of being ourselves part II

It wasn't that long ago, of course I think in evolutions and age myself in dog years now, that I sold things from mall carts because there was no place of commerce called the internet.

(there was an internet of course, but people didn't trust it so much for shopping in those days)

I had to build my business to appeal to the local customer. This is what business makers had been doing for generations.

If I wanted to focus my business on what I wanted to do I had to plant my business in a place the thing I wanted to do was needed.

Or I could try to figure out what was needed in the place I wanted to plant my business (ie the local mall) and focus my business on that.

I couldn't just decide what I wanted to do and do it wherever I wanted to do it - I had to work upstream with an upstream business.

We live in a very different world now.

(although it looks like the internet created this change, what really happened is we changed and the internet was created by us to support our new way of being - this is why we really need to defend what we have created here - if you haven't educated yourself on net neutrality, please do so and take some action to support it)

The stuff I sold from my mall carts had a very broad appeal. It had to. I had to appeal to as many people who came into that mall as possible or I wouldn't stay in business.

This mindset is the reason so many people in business before the internet have so much trouble translating their success to an online business. With 60% of U.S. sales anticipated to involve the internet by 2017 we all need to figure this thing out.

I have a friend who owns a local music store selling musical instruments and supplies. He has been in business for decades and was smart enough to see the internet as a great opportunity. He got in early and set up a website.

It pretty much looked like a one dimensional version of his music store.

This seemed like a good idea at the time (the aisles in his store became sections in his website - he even had pictures of his retail store on his front page) because we really couldn't see how this was all going to work yet.

Of course what happened is his website never took off. Yes, millions of people were buying online, but they weren't buying from him (most of the money made from local stores going online without a doubt went to web designers).

His physical store sales plummeted. Yes, customers still came in to pick the brains of his seasoned staff, but then they went online (and to the big box stores), with its price comparison and Amazon free shipping.

The very internet that was supposed to open up his little business to the world destroyed his retail sales platform because he was selling the same thing everyone else was.

Now he is a very savvy and smart business man and switched his retail sales business model to a service model - he now makes most of his money on music lessons and has become the go-to local place for this. He was able to go downstream and do what we loves in an upstream business.

This works for him because he is a musician and loves music - if he had been just a guy who opened a music store because he saw his town needed a music store he would have been in a whole lot of trouble. Those guys are dead in the water now.

There is not a Happily Ever After ending to this tale however

(and if he really thought it through he wouldn't really want there to be, we came to this planet for contrast and growth after all - the end is never really the end).

His service business model is exhausting. His sales staff do not easily transition to teachers. Some are excellent, some not so much. He is now trading hours for dollars. Even in his little upscale community parents will only pay so much per hour for lessons. Other music stores are making similar transitions. There is more competition all the time. He still has a store filled with musical merchandise and a website that looks like his store. He is swimming in brand new waters.

(and so are we)

Next part III - loosening our grip

why we have to know we're awesome to sell online - the value of being ourselves part I

 

The challenge with integrating our spiritual life and our business is that in order to be fully ourselves we have to stop catering ourselves to an audience, and of course, our customers are kind of an audience.

They don't eat popcorn and we don't tell them to silence their cell phones

(well, maybe they do eat popcorn - I hope not with any of that fake butter though)

but we are in business to trade value with them - the stuff we make for that stuff in their wallet; the stuff that got into their wallet when they traded their value for the stuff in somebody's else's wallet. We are all in this together after all.

Since Business 101 taught us to figure out our customer, get inside her head - who is she? what does she look like? what does she want?, then cater to that - this is all good solid advice, until it isn't anymore and the truth is - this way of thinking has always made artists a little itchy.

Maybe we quit our day job to fire our boss and now we have dozens of bosses (we call them customers or clients these days) and instead of working for a paycheck we are working for the possibility of a paycheck. We really need to know what the hell we are doing here.

I have had a couple businesses before this one and before that I was in banking. I have made many mistakes over the years, but the one thing I have done right (and this is totally because of the Course in Miracles and my spiritual practice) is this:

I have always seen myself as the primary value in my business or my job. Not the stuff I make, not the stuff I do - because I know these forms can and will change - I know the value is really me.

I know from past experience that when one business winds down I can make another one because I have done it before. Seeing ourselves as the primary value we have to offer the world rather than our makings being the primary value is an important distinction. This works the same way when we have a job.

I have many friends who sell online who are selling less and less because the marketplace is more and more crowded (and other reasons, but this is one of them). They are a little panicky. Many people have turned to teaching and coaching and this in itself is OK and a good thing really - we all teach what we need to learn after all, that's how life works - but the coaching business online is starting to look like a giant pyramid scheme (which is not in any way sustainable) with coaches just coaching people to be coaches! 

(I have to do a post on the proliferation of online coaching and the asteroid/minor planet Chiron - the wounded healer- soon)

So what is the answer here?

We always have to know our ability to make money is in our own hands.

It isn't in our customers' hands or our boss's hands - the money looks like it comes through our customer or through our paycheck. It comes from the Universe (God/Higher Self - we should pick our most comfortable word here because we really need to get this and hold it in a place we vibrate with) - the money comes from Source.

It is like air. We breathe it in. We breathe it out.

The more we try to hold on to money the more it runs through our fingers - and in fact if money is running through your fingers right now, loosen your grip! Spend a little more. Trust that life has got your back!

Some experts advise us to play out worst case scenarios with our fears - they tell us to think of the worst possible thing that could happen if we lose our job or our business and this is supposed to make us see how preposterous our fears are so we can release them -

the problem is that all of us have past life experiences where the worst possible things that could happen to us really did happen to us (and if you don't resonate with past lives, think of your familial ancestry here) and part of us knows this.

How freeing would it be to really absorb into the very DNA of our business that we just have to be who we truly are and trust that the universe will deliver to us exactly the people who will benefit from us and our work and that is exactly what will happen.

(this does not mean we will make a lot of money - it does however guarantee to make us rich)

Part II next week - going downstream with an upstream business

Have a nice weekend everyone - I had a stressful week and it is now 70 degrees and sunny so I plan to be meditating (ie gardening) in the sun as much as possible for the next two days. I had a terrible Vitamin D reading of 16 (!) recently and have decided sun (and supplements) are my friend right now. I will try to do another auto-immune thyroid/hormone post next week. Would love to hear what anyone else is doing.

Also Venus is moving into Aries May 2nd - so this is a great time for us to take any action that brings beauty and love into our world. Will write about that next time!

New Moon in Taurus April 29th - Solar Eclipse!

Tomorrow's New Moon in Taurus is a solar eclipse!

In olden days solar eclipses scared the hell out of everyone and we still carry a little of that in our DNA I'm sure.

This one has the energy of the Cardinal Grand Cross, so even though a new moon is a time in the dark, a beginning that doesn't always feel like a beginning until later, this one has an extra kick behind it.

People don't always understand Taurus. It is like she is so simple, and these times we live in so complicated, we have made her complicated, too. She isn't.

Taurus is all about the Earth - she is everything grounded.

Taurus is all about sensuality - the touch that feels like love.

Ruled by Venus she coaxes us back into our bodies at the end of a long day with a hot bath, she urges our hands to pick up those tomato plants at the market and get them into the ground, she is the voice that whispers I love you when we stroke the baby's ear with our lips.

Taurus rules our 2nd house of values - everything money can buy and everything money can't buy. 

We have the sun and the moon in Taurus today and this is the time to ask ourselves "what do we really value?"

This new moon in Taurus is an excellent time to begin a grounding practice, make affirmations and set intentions about:

Money, Contentment, Patience, Self-worth, Releasing Stubbornness, Health Issues regarding your neck, throat and voice in the world

Some I will be working with include:

1. I live in comfortable and enriching surroundings
2. I easily find the time to shop for, prepare and eat nutritious and delicious meals
3. I enjoy and appreciate my life!
4. I slow down and enjoy doing each task with thoroughness
5. The habit of trying to rush results is easily lifted from me
6. I embrace constructive change
7. My neck and thyroid enjoy perfect health
 and then some money affirmations.

 (astrologer Jan Spiller calls them wishes and says to work with 10 at every new moon)

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a happy frame of mind - always make affirmations from a  positive place - write your affirmations down by hand in script, speak them out loud - I write my affirmations on strips of paper and burn them, releasing the ashes into moving water - then release your attention from these things knowing that your intention is known. Know these things are already yours.

Also remember affirmations are action -  they set the energy in motion and we are literally creating the affirmation within the energy that is needed to manifest it. 

Words are not just words. If done properly, in the right frame of mind, they line us up energetically with the thing we are seeking.

I started my money work when the sun entered Taurus and have had a few surprises - two unexpected checks in the mail, hubs won the lottery (each win under $10 and growing steadily - he is addicted) four times and

<--- I received this from the girl at my local bank sandwiched between two check registers.

I found it in my bag the next day, briefly considered a quick trip to the bank at midnight with a flashlight - but since I value my freedom more than the bank's loot -

I accept it as a clear signal the cosmic loot is ready to be picked up!

The new moon in Taurus always makes me think about stewardship - the responsible care we take of ourselves, our families, our businesses, our planet - this one feels like an excellent time to do some restful things and just be actually.

Taurus always desires peace, so bringing some symbol of peace into your life right now is very powerful.

(think about what symbolizes peace to you - and get yourself some of that! for me it is a garden, so I grabbed some pics from Pinterest and am getting my supplies this week to start a new one just for cutting flowers; a garden I can watch from my studio window while I work)

Stuff is springing to life all around us now - we show the universe what we value by what we give our attention to - where is your attention today?

xo all

First 10 Goddess Charts Are Out!

I have 14 charts going out this week. 10 I am emailing tonight and the final three by mid-week - we have a new moon Tuesday so I will blog that first.

I will post a little bit from each chart (no names ever, of course) at the end of the week, probably with a link here and the full shebang on the new site. I will still be posting my usual stuff here even if just with a link to the new site until the end of the year- so no worries about missing anything.

I hope I haven't missed anyone, if you don't hear from me by Thursday, don't hesitate to knock me over the head with an email with your info and I will get it done. My gmail account is a bit hard to keep up with at times. A big thanks to all the victims volunteers.

The Goddesses may not seem as important as some natal chart aspects but I have found mine very helpful and  maybe others will, too!

xo all

Asteroid Goddess reports almost done .... first, a little background ....

So, what I am about to do here is a pretty large astrological no-no. Taking celestial bodies like asteroids outside the context of the larger natal (birth) chart is rather treacherous territory.

It is like gathering the spices that have gone into a delicious meal and discussing what was eaten without knowing the meats, fruits and vegetables those spices flavored.

But I am going to plow ahead anyway.

If you were one of the volunteers gracious enough to offer up your birth information and something just doesn't resonate with what I write for you

(and you are over 40 or so, before 40ish these may be archetypes you just haven't met up with yet)

- it could be the spices in your chart are not heavily accented enough without the other ingredients to make total sense to you.

Be assured their energy lives inside you and is playing a part in whatever magic you are unfolding.

The asteroids are a belt of celestial bodies found mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that were discovered in the 1800's. The first 4 were quickly named after the famous Goddesses - Ceres, Pallas (Athene, Athena), Juno and Vesta. 

In mythology Vesta, Ceres and Juno were the 3 sisters of Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto - all born from the union of Saturn and Rhea. Pallas (Athene, Athena) was Jupiter's favorite daughter (conceived without a mother and birthed from his head - the father's daughter archetype).

Our belief within astrology is that celestial bodies are discovered when our actions on Earth have readied us for them - when our vibration is a match for theirs. 

For example Uranus the planet of freedom and rebellion was discovered in 1781 when we had just experienced the American and French revolutions. Neptune was discovered in 1846 amid the spiritualism and transcendentalist movements. 

(We now have Neptune in Pisces until 2025 - he is a slowpoke that Neptune. Neptune is known as the planet of illusions, dreams and fantasy. It is energetically responsible for the manifestation of the creative imagination. That dreamy creativity, spiritual questioning and yearning to connect with the big picture we are all feeling - yup, that's Neptune moving through Pisces. So we have the potential for mass awakening and also mass delusion with this one. With Neptune everything is not as it appears. 

The collective consciousness, or unconsciousness as the case may be, is more readily accessible now and with Neptune traveling through Pisces life is even more confusing as the veils between the realms of experience become thinner and easier to traverse.

I have Neptune in my first house of self in my birth chart and he started his solid trek into Pisces just a couple weeks after David - my husband's brother with schizophrenia - moved into our house; much of my blog in 2012 is about this experience and all of it is influenced by him. 

I really didn't see them coming - Neptune the planet or Neptune the person. I had always felt more attuned to the positive side of Neptune; his creativity and intuition although I have always sensed the burdens of his challenges - lack of personal boundaries, need for recognition, addiction and escape, lack of focus and motivation, depression. When Neptune moved into Pisces and my extra bedroom the ground beneath my feet seemed to disappear. Two years later I still find myself dangling 50 feet above the planet at times. This little guy should be taken seriously.)

In 1930 with the sighting of Pluto (once a planet now an asteroid, although still a planet in astrology), we had the mass transformation that Pluto is known for - awakening our sense of a collected welfare after war and genocide.

Before the asteroid sightings the only significant feminine energy in traditional astrology chart making was the Moon and Venus. We had the socially acceptable female roles of Moon (mother) and Venus (lover/mate). These asteroids represent the new voices of the dormant feminine recently activated and stepping into their power.

This isn't about women, we all have feminine and masculine energy in our charts (you can think of this as right brain, left brain stuff if it feels more comfortable). Men used to project their feminine qualities of emotional responses other than anger, nurturing and sensitivity onto women. Now they are required to own and develop these qualities within themselves. We are all in this together.

A little info about the asteroid Goddesses we will be working with. 

Ceres is the nurturer and mother archetype of our group. Known to the Greeks as Demeter

(which is btw the fragrance company I have partnered with for my new patent pending lockets HERE which are available now and launching at the trade shows this summer!)

she rules agriculture and nourishment and works tirelessly to bring forth new life and to sustain us. I could write 10 blog posts about her but if you are unfamiliar with the story of Ceres, her daughter and Pluto, there is enough HERE.

Pallas (Athene, Athena) is the Goddess of wisdom and crafts and warfare (and all you makers out there will understand the connections between these 3 realms easily!). She represents coming of age, exploration, education, the daughter role, the maiden part of our journey, our ability to defend our territory and grow to independence. Some of her story is HERE.

Juno known to the Greeks as Hera is the Goddess of marriage and relationship. Her story is HERE. Her placement in the sky when we were born affects how we handle intimacy and relationship with those we love. Do we honor our partners or do we struggle to stay committed? Juno encourages the "for better or worse" stuff. She brings the wisdom that conscious relationship is a path to spiritual enlightenment. 

Vesta aka Hestia is the sister, virgin archetype (this is the original definition of virgin before the sex stuff was thrown in to trap us - the definition of virgin as a 'free woman') associated with the relationship we have with ourselves.

So, I am going to work your natal charts (if anyone would still like to get involved just email me by Friday with your birth date, time and place) using the Goddess asteroid placements at the moment of your birth and see what we come up with. I will post a bit of each (no real names will be mentioned of course) and email each victim volunteer the full scoop.

A heads up that I will be moving my astrology posts to the Armchair Astrologer at some point soon. As a friend said to me, "you might not want a jewelry customer thinking they had wandered into a seance" - HA, she cracked me up.

Funny story about that new site - I registered the name armchair astrologer a year or so ago meaning to transition my astrology hobby stuff over there. Last Friday afternoon in a wave of "let me finally get my ass moving on this" energy - it was this or my messy closets -  I finally started setting up the site. 

I spent about 8 hours getting everything as you see it (still have to add content). On Saturday night I decide to hit PUBLISH so I could see how it looks on different browsers. I wait an hour, type in armchairastrologer.com - nothing. I decide to go to bed, thinking maybe this takes a while. Sunday morning I get up, type in armchairastrologer.com - still nothing. I return to Godaddy and it says it is published. I'm thinking what the heck (and yes I was thinking what the HECK, it was Easter after all)  - then I realize I have not set up a site called armchairastrologer.com, in fact I don't even own the name armchairastrologer.com - I own and set up a site called arcmchairastrologer.com.

I have a little mini coronary - which means of course I grab Olive and some Easter candy and do some deep breathing in between the mouth fulls of chocolate.

I return to Godaddy and by some miracle the name armchair astrologer is still available - then I call Godaddy and by an even bigger miracle I reach a real live person at 9am on Easter morning and am able to transfer the site over in 2 clicks. So, I love Godaddy now, even though I still hate their name and those stupid commercials.

xo all

Happy Earth Day 2014!

20% off in both Etsy shops this week

Uncorked and Polarity with coupon code EARTHDAY2014

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Libra April 15th - relationships in balance

the full moon in Libra asks us to look at relationship imbalances

Heads Up Moonies! We have a full moon tomorrow. This is a lunar eclipse full moon in Libra (remember when the sun is in Aries the full moon will be in Aries opposite sign which is Libra). This is the culmination of the new moon in Libra from October. Lunar eclipses are extra emotional (the moon rules our emotions) so maybe have some extra tissues handy. This is the first of a series of 4 eclipses, so holding onto things lightly is best right now.

This is the Aries/Libra polarity. Too much Aries and we get selfishness or we are rebelling just to be rebelling. Too much Libra and we get boundary issues and codependency. Together they represent wholeness of the me vs. we paradigm we are all playing out.

With Libra this is all about our relationship to others. Any imbalances will show up now. We need to really take a look at the disagreements we are having with others - what are we projecting onto other people that we need to take ownership of now. Full moons are about release - how can we let go of what isn't working?

This me vs we space is also one of the places we carry the masculine/feminine paradigm. The spaces in our relationship where traditional male/female roles are being lived out could be facing some rocky roads as the divine feminine energy continues to rise.

(I have a friend whose husband lost his job last winter. His job had enabled her to make her art without too many concerns about the financial parts of her business, so when he lost his job she lost her job, too. This is exactly how this energy can hit us. Any space someone else is carrying for us will be handed back to us to figure out. How we work with this is always up to us. In this example he hated his job and she was doing something she really loved to do - but since his work was supporting hers, how could this be sustainable? She was also carrying his relationship with the kids since they rarely saw him and that space gets handed back to him.)

We've got asteroids Ceres (the super mother who demands respect) & Vesta (the keeper of the hearth who breaks things down into bite sized pieces) conjunct this full moon so even more light on the divine feminine now (this isn't about male vs female - we all carry the divine feminine within us) and any love triangles coming out into the light, third parties changing relationships, etc. We can see all the spaces the divine feminine has been disrespected by what is coming up on the planet now for us to look at and heal.

This is about respecting Mother Earth, too - I just read that Ohio is connecting fracking with earthquakes (how this could be a surprise I don't know), so we get to decide again if money and power is really what makes us safe or if there is a better way - if maybe what really makes us safe is health and harmony. We can continue to ask "where is the oil?" until we have totally ravaged the planet or we can change the questions.

(now what we see in the world - and what I see is not what you see - is always mirroring ourselves, so since this is what I am seeing, this is a good time for me to be prioritizing health and harmony in my own life - changing ourselves and our own vibration is always how we change the world)

This lunar eclipse is not only conjunct Ceres and Vesta, but also the fixed star Arcturus. Arcturus is the lucky (4th brightest star in the sky) last minute outcome that no one sees coming! We all have access to this energy now. We also have the moon on the north node (Libra) and sun on the south node (Aries) now, so there is much karma (our beliefs) and patterns coming up for release.

The eclipse itself will be visible for about 3 1/2 hours (the total lunar eclipse is a little over an hour) in Australia and North America - except we are going to have rain here in the northeast so may not be able to see it - it is just as powerful and affects everyone anyway.
xo all

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

New Moon in Aries - Cardinal Cross - Action Jackson - NOW the New Year Really Starts ...

I will get back to my money series next week!

We have the first New Moon of the astrological year on Sunday in the "take no prisoners" sign of Aries. This has an energetic connection to April's once in a lifetime planetary activities for all of us.

(more on this next week)

Uranus is really calling the shots here. Jupiter is squaring it and Mars is opposing it, but Mars rules Aries and is hanging out in Libra (justice, balance, relationship). Uranus is about change. And we have Pluto in Capricorn representing the parts in all of us that are desperately trying to hang on to the stuff that is based in fear, the stuff that is crumbling, the stuff that is familiar.

Next month's activity is once in a lifetime, folks.

On Sunday let's set intentions and apply our focus to Aries stuff. Aries is the first sign so rules newness. What does it take to embrace the new? It takes courage.

Aries is very self sufficient. This is the energy of "me". The baby of the zodiac. They can't always see the other person's side of things because if they did they wouldn't be able to take quick, decisive action and that quick decisive action is what they are here to manifest.

Aries doesn't have the staying power of some other signs; he doesn't need it. Aries isn't the cross country race. Aries is that first powerful kick off at the starting line.

Aries isn't about winning or losing (maybe don't tell that to an Aries sun sign); Aries is about daring to start that race in the first place. Aries supports jumping in and taking action. He doesn't promise us that we will come out a winner or even come out alive (yes he's ruled by Mars and he's badass), but he does promise us we will have evolved from the experience.

This doesn't have to be about us jumping out of an airplane or starting a new job or launching a new business (although it could be) - this might be about us standing in the Home Depot paint aisle with a can of our old familiar Tender Taupe in one hand and Behr's New Shoot Green in the other and with a nod to our own Arian energy tossing that Taupe (be careful this stuff might be combustible because we are pretty much on fire now) back on the shelf where it will grow dust bunnies and cobwebs because we have started a New Shoot Green revolution!

And with every coat on our kitchen wall we are channeling the Goddess Athena and howling at the moon (we may hate this color later, who cares - we may repaint it, that's not the point).

The point is we are a different people now. We have evolved and that's what we're here for. We didn't come for the outcome, the outcome has already been decided. We all win in the end. We came for the experience. Aries knows this.

When deciding between familiar and new right now - we choose new and then we let the choice change us.

This is an excellent time for energetic support to make changes with things ruled by Aries : the head (headaches, acne, eyes, brain), the overall physical self, exploration, initiative, courage, leadership, strength, stubbornness, impulsiveness, temper tantrums, anger, stress from inaction - what do we need more of in our lives, what are we needing to release. Now is the time to set intentions for this stuff.

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a happy frame of mind - always make affirmations from a  positive place - write your affirmations down by hand in script, speak them out loud - I write my affirmations on strips of paper and burn them, releasing the ashes into moving water - then release your attention from these things knowing that your intention is known. Know these things are already yours.

Have a nice weekend everyone! The world she is a changing. I just realized how many people I know who have broken or injured their feet or toes over the last few months - we are all trying to stand on shifting sand now, this is tricky stuff (also a lot of people navigating some depression) - remember this stuff is transitory as we move into a higher consciousness - this New Moon is really a continuation of the Libra New Moon in 2013 and the Capricorn New Moon in January - this is cardinal sign stuff - more on this next week. xo all

Using Astrology and Moon Timing to Launch Your New Product

Now, I do not believe in fortune telling (although these folks look pretty damn reliable, don't you think) but I do believe in right timing.

For anyone launching a creative venture - business, product, book, etc - knowledge of astrology and the moon can be extremely helpful.

The best and most accurate right timing would be personalized to our own natal chart and our business's chart, but there are some general things we can talk about here that apply pretty universally.

First off - unless you absolutely, positively must launch something creative when Mercury or Venus is retrograde - don't. I would try to avoid Mars retrograde periods also. These 3 periods cover almost half of 2014, so we can't always avoid them, but be prepared to be doing revisions and dealing with increased glitches and setbacks.

Of course, sometimes this is exactly the stuff that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls and makes us and our launches stronger - so if you must move ahead during these periods just move fearlessly and know you can do it! 

The muscles you are building now will be needed later anyway.

THE MOON:

The moon is fast moving; changing astrological signs every 2.5 days and working its way through its entire cycle in 28 days (through all the signs and from new to waxing to full to waning and back to new).

The Moon is ruled by the sign of Cancer. Cancer is the mother energy that is all about beginnings - tenderly nurturing and appreciating the newness of things.

The New Moon is the time when the skies go dark (the moon is between the earth and the sun). We can't see the new moon (until it forms a crescent later on in the week) - it is literally the time we are "in the dark".

Now, remember everything starts life in the dark as a thought (think seeds in the ground). This is the beginning part which only feels like the beginning part if we are paying attention.

This is the time of pure potential - use it well, but we don't want to actually launch something new at the New Moon (I know it sounds like a good time, but the moon is not so physically strong at this time). The moon should not be void of course either.

The best time to launch something new is the time between the new moon and the full moon - the time when the moon is waxing (appearing to grow larger in the night sky). Ideally we want the moon sextiling the sun or trining the sun - this would be 5 days after the new moon or 10 days after the new moon.

THE SUN:

The sun is strongest in a fire sign. The fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.

(now I am speaking generally here all sun signs have positive qualities that can work for creation)

The best time to launch something new is when the sun is in Aries (March 21 - April 19 and ruled by Mars the planet of action), Leo (July 23rd - August 22 and ruled by the sun) or Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21st and ruled by Jupiter the planet of good luck).

THE PLANETS:

Some planets are generally more important than others for your new business or product. Mercury rules communication so it is important. Saturn rules structure and hard work and the 10th house so he is important - there is no excellent placement for him, but some are better than others. If your creative venture is a creative venture you want to take a look at Venus (she rules the arts) - it is important she be well placed. Jupiter brings good luck and expansion so we do not want to waste her. I would shoot for a time when Jupiter is in the 1st, 5th, 9th or 11th house.

THE HOUSES:

Who is ruling the first house? The first house represents the business. Who is ruling the 2nd house? The second house is our values and our money. Who is ruling the 10th house? The tenth house is all about our reputation and status. Who is ruling our 7th house of customers and partners - I wouldn't want Saturn hanging out there and bringing me challenging customers who make me work harder. Also check where the natural rulers of these houses have landed - that would be Mars, Venus, Saturn Capricorn & Libra.

So, how do we time the signs and houses the planets are in when we launch?

Pull an astrology chart for the date and time you are thinking of launching HERE - even if you have no knowledge of astrology or interest in learning you can read about your creation as if it is a person (not in a businesses are people kind of way, but sort of) - is this someone you would like spending time with? Does this sound like someone who would offer value to the world? Think about what you are looking to do with your new business - does this sound like someone who could do it?

Use your intuition with this.

If you are able to compare your own natal chart with this new chart it would be a huge benefit. There are astrologers online who can do this. It is a bit of work so likely won't be cheap. The truth is though, that no one knows you and what you are creating with your life and your work better than you do.

Astrology is more about what events mean than it is about predicting them; feeling charts rather than studying them.

It is the emotional journey of planet Earth we are all here for, after all.

There are no outcome guarantees with anything we do, so we always want to be moving toward what makes us happy. And obviously we can have the most spectacularly fertile ground for a launch and it we do not then water the ground, rake out the weeds and provide lots of sun and attention even the strongest seeds will not grow. It surely isn't a bad thing to check the soil first though ....

I believe the most powerful and soulful business technique we can nurture is a quiet mind.

I know from my own life when I am unbalanced and "trust my gut" I come from a place of fear (think : knots in your stomach, things we can't stomach, eyes bigger than our stomach) - I always attract exactly the crap I am trying to avoid.

When I am actively quieting my mind on a regular basis and "trust my heart" I come from a place of love (think : heartfelt, heartful, know by heart, change of heart, close to your heart) - things always go smoother. There is a total guarantee of happily ever after with this because this kind of happiness is not circumstance dependent.

Play around with the times for your location and really think about what you are looking to create within your own life with this launch - I am especially liking the days of April 4th (Friday ruled by Venus - art), April 5th (Saturday ruled by Saturn - business) and April 9th (Wednesday ruled by Mercury - communication - unless you are an over-thinker, Wednesday's child is full of woe and worry after all). Of course we still have Mars retrograde so if you can wait until he moves direct - or ideally wait until July when all the retrograde energy is past - that will be even better!

What does launch mean? Well, that is really up to you because our beliefs and intentions are key here. I once sat outside my county business office waiting for the right time to register my business name (this is inexpensive and a great way to establish a launch date, time and place). If you sell on Etsy you can certainly determine a good time to press that list button. You can not go wrong with this kind of mindfulness.

NOTE - I give this advice and all advice on this blog with my usual disclaimer:

Disclaimer - I cannot be held responsible for any actions you might take from reading any of my posts - please keep this in mind if you end up in your parents' basement obsessed with pinterest and green tea.

(unless of course, this would be an improvement over your current living situation, in which case, I take full credit)

Sun Moves into Aries - Happy Spring Equinox Everyone!

my Aries locket 15% off thru 4/30 with coupon code BRAVE

The astrological year begins in Aries. We are definitely all ready to begin again!

(after this winter weather and all these retrogrades we are really ready for spring here - Mars, Aries ruler, is retrograde until late May, so if you are still feeling a lessening of interest, initiative and enthusiasm, hang in there!)

Aries is the initiator sign - the baby being birthed from the womb of Pisces. Think about how fearless a little baby ventures into life. We all have that power within us.

Aries in our chart shows us where, in our journey, we have reached the space where we need to get braver.

Aries sun signs are here to face their fears - to learn the lesson of the warrior.

This is not the energy of the general who plans the army's every move; not the guy who thinks strategically. This is the energy of the soldier who runs into battle with his sword held high (think Braveheart's Scottish warriors with this one).

These guys may have been running to their deaths, but for their Aries energy this was more rapture than suicide.

Aries is the initiator; the first one to shrug their shoulders and jump into the untested, murky water. If Aries jumps in (now they may or may not come out alive although they probably do more than any other sign) - they have evolved, regardless of the outcome (remember we are not here for outcomes we are here for experiences, Aries energy teaches this, too).

And this jumping in is what they are here to do over and over again.

Aries growth is always found after we do "that thing we are afraid to do".

Playing it safe will never work and the space Aries resides in our natal chart is the space where it will not work for us to play it safe either.

Let's say we have Aries (or Aries natural ruler Mars) in our 7th house of partnership. Well, there are many ways this could play out to allow us to get braver. We might attract partners that embody this warrior energy and force us to be brave to stand up for ourselves and deal with them. We might have to make fearless choices within relationships. This stuff can happen in our 5th house with our children and our creative work. With Aries or Mars in our 6th house we can learn about bravery from our pets (think of Caesar Milan's calm/assertive training for pet owners for example). There are thousands of ways.

We are born with this energy and it is going to play out, but what we do with it when it does is always up to us.

With this transition into the Aquarian Age we are all experiencing the opportunity to learn more about our relationship to fear. For the next month during the Aries sun it's time for all of us to embrace our fearless warrior! xo all

MAKERS - heads up, we have an Aries new moon at the end of this month. Now, Mars will be retrograde so things started then will probably need some revisions and experience some lag times, but when Mars moves direct in late May they will really take off. Start thinking about this new moon now - Aries is great energy to initiate new stuff and this one has some powerful Jupiter and Uranus aspects that could really create some magic if we are launching something. I am going to do a post on launching our makings with astrology before the end of the month.