ISAAC GEORGE

by Isaac George
September 6th, 2016

About six weeks into the year 1994 I had some extraordinary events conspire to create an equally extraordinary experience that literally and figuratively changed my life. The esoteric version is that what seemingly happened to me was a classic case of a phenomena known in certain shamanic traditions as “being touched by the gods.” In the Hindu tradition it’s known as a kundalini awakening. According to Stanislav Grof, M.D (who developed the Holotropic Breathwork technique), it falls into a classification he refers to as “spiritual emergency, or emergence”. No matter what label one assigns to a massive and sudden shift in perspective (and one’s previous life circumstances) the actual experience is completely unhinging and full of unknowns. Within two months my wife at that time insisted that I go in for some sort of mental health help. This felt a bit embarrassing to me at first, but my newfound inner voice said to go with it.

During the next three months as this paranormal shift deepened, I launched into an investigation of my psyche and emotions. I saw my primary psychologist once, or sometimes twice a week. She also recommended I join a men’s group at the facility. The facilitator of this group had a pet saying to encourage us when we felt overwhelmed or became less than satisfied with our ‘progress’.

“The journey is the accomplishment”, he would intone, and suddenly the pressure would lift, and be replaced with a spaciousness that was remarkable. Within that spaciousness we became observers of our constantly shifting set of feelings, thoughts and perspectives. Of course, an hour or two later, back in the real world, some of this lucidness would succumb to the demands of life, but the effects became accumulative. By mid-June my primary therapist had decided to discharge me, as she felt that I’d become competent enough to steer my way forward without tripping up. All during this process, my inner voice would counsel me as well, indicating what was available to share in therapy, while carefully avoiding any of the more profound paranormal or spiritual experiences that may have triggered an intervention by the medical establishment that would be chemical-based. In the end, I felt much better equipped to cope and to move forward, and so I am grateful that I did engage with the psychological services at a time that I now refer to as my 3rd major awakening (and the most profound) of this lifetime.

Over the course of the past few days that spanned the total Solar Eclipse on September 1st I’ve became more acutely aware of the most precious gifts and skills that I have to share and how I can give them to others in a balanced and empowering way. Hopefully playfully as well. As of this writing my awareness is still unfolding organically about what it means, but for someone that has had so many careers, interests and skills over one lifetime, it’s sometimes very challenging to see the core of what it is at any given moment.  Perhaps the most important thing or quality that are unique to one’s own soul is always enticing us to keep going, to push on through to the essential meaning of ourselves. Using this knowing in order to express it in some effective way which can not only impact others positively, but transform one’s own direct experience at the same time, is now the task in front of my nose. The most important thing I feel to share with you here is that we scarcely have much of a chance in these times to take stock of where we are in retrospect with where we’ve arrived from.

We all have a story, a legacy of experience that stretches into the distant past. Our perception of time is the key to how we arrange this story. In fact, there is a distinct possibility that we are all involved in the creation and management of time. For an interesting read about this notion, click on this: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/04/27/time-felt-marc-wittmann/

Our stories are based on experiences in various times and dimensions, and perhaps for some of us, across countless worlds or dimensions. However, to keep it manageable, let’s just engage with our humanness, our earthly sagas. What was revealed to me post-Eclipse this past Thursday was not a concept, idea or philosophy. It was a visceral and immediate knowing about the sanctity and enormity about the struggles, growth and accomplishments I've been through over the past two years or so. Once the full impact of this was unveiled, I saw my whole life from my earliest years stretched behind me, and in a sort of fast-moving vignette I felt the power of my various successes and failures, joys and sorrows, ecstasies as well as times of depression and doubt, and all mingled into this was every person I’ve known and each relationship I’ve been part of. I was humbled...big time.

Waves of compassion for who I am beyond all of this was in harmony with the range of the experiences themselves, and I could begin to understand that these moments, all connected one to another, are the stuff our Souls are made from. We will always carry these memories with us forever, for they have molded and shaped Who We Are. To say there is only the Now is not entirely accurate. The past is still influencing us, and our present is always informing the formation of our futures. In the lyrics of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Future Games’ – “We create the future that we want to face…” So true it is. But without our personal Soul story, our His and Herstory, there is no Big Story within the Cosmos. We may well wonder what is the ultimate purpose of existence considering such a perspective. Perhaps its all just an experiment to explore and experience everything and anything that is possible, in order for us to eventually move to another mode of evolution in which there is even more to create and experience. Possibly. From this brief but powerful series of moments I felt the touch of the Infinite, and how it permeates all of Time, and the deepest most personal spaces inside of each one of us.

Between today as you read this, and the Lunar Eclipse on September 16th we have an opportunity to not just “let go” of what we deem no longer serves us, or which we see as obstacles that may be in the way of where it is we want to go, and who we wish to become. This process has nothing to do with the Moon's cycle, but is related to another one, the Saturn-Neptune square, that last exact moment of which occurs tomorrow. It's lasted almost a year, and has been a real challenge for many.

Perhaps what arises is just the recycled pain, trauma and judgment we have need of reconciling, after which we can then see the greater wisdom of our stories and how we are all heroes and heroines within them -  fearless and eternal…full of love, hopes, dreams and immense aspirations. I certainly desire this feeling I touched and which touched me for all beings, for I found within it the true basis for loving myself unconditionally, and all without any sense of shame or self-centeredness. In fact, it only awakened in me a stronger notion of my purpose and how much I desire everyone else to taste the true freedom they so deserve and desire. The freedom to just be…to just be all of themselves, full stop.

And here’s something that must be said at this juncture. Consider the possibility that all of this just…goes…on. Ad infinitum. Forever. No crossing a finish line or standing in the winner’s circle. No ‘retirement’ from being the being that you are being. How do I know this? I don’t, it's just a guess. However, that’s just part of the Mystery, isn’t it? We’ll get to find out…as we go along. And not one moment sooner. So perhaps the sooner we recognize this, the sooner we can see it’s all an experiment and we’re all just playing around. Or, something like that.

Take some time to reflect these next weeks, on the amazing journey you’ve been on. Take some time for self-appreciation and honoring your journey, and also those with whom you have spent time with during it. Take the time to sit with the enormity of what you’ve overcome or achieved, and have the greatest compassion for all those times you loved, and lost, or tried and failed. There is no such thing as real failure, and no true love is ever lost. Each and every one of our triumphs and our defeats, or good deeds and our mistakes, are indelibly part of the work of Soul Art that you are. Can you love all of it, all of you? We are all called to this most sacred of tasks, for in doing so, we love and honor that which created us from Love Itself.

This is the nugget of all things, and it resides in one eternal precept. The journey is the accomplishment.

With Love,
Isaac

I am an intuitive spiritual mentor, guide and evolutionary soul-based astrologer.  I am a catalyst for change and growth. I compassionately hold space for you to discover and celebrate your Soul-Self, your unique beingness. I specialize in the areas of spiritual emergence/awakening and assisting others to find ways to heal their relationship with themselves and with their partners and to fully embrace their sexuality. I currently reside in the UK and have a worldwide clientele spanning over two decades of service. If you would like more information about how I may assist you, or if you wish to book  a free Discovery call with me or have any questions about my services, please click here to visit my website, or email me at archariel@hotmail.com. UK Ph: +44 07875 123406. Skype @ dolphinboy999.

Thank you and I look forward to cocreating with you!

Lunar Eclipse – March 23rd, 2016

By Isaac George
March 22nd, 2016




"In true love, happiness is not an individual matter. There is no distinction between the one who loves and the one who is loved. Your suffering is my suffering; my happiness is your happiness. Lover and beloved are one." ~Thich Naht Hanh

The bookend to the Solar Eclipse of March 8th-9th will arrive tomorrow at 12:01pm GMT. This is a partial or annular Lunar Eclipse of the Full Moon, with the Sun at 3 degrees 17 minutes of Aries, and the Moon opposite at 3 degrees 17 minutes of Libra. As I recounted in my Sunday blog, “Creative Chaos”, there are strong connections to what happened six months ago during the Solar and Lunar Eclipses of September 2015. You can read or re-read that post here.  Suffice it to say that this is a fundamental reset of the “game”, and it will not only set the tone for the next six months, till the eclipses of September 2016, but quite conceivably for many months beyond that juncture. Time will tell, as it always does.

Into the Way Back Machine!

I’ve been looking back to when there were any lunations (New Moons, Full Moons) or eclipses in Aries and Libra between 2011 and 2013. I selected 2011, because Uranus entered the sign of Aries on March 11th, 2011…the day of the massive temblor and tsunami that devastated Sendai province in northeastern Japan. I found two charts, one in March of 2012 and another one also in March of 2013 that are very close to the one this is coming up this Wednesday, and is also strongly connected to the “Blood Moon” Lunar Eclipse of September 28th, 2015. In all of the four charts the Sun and Moon are tightly arranged between 2 degrees and 7 degrees of these two signs. I’ve included them with the chart for our Lunar Eclipse tomorrow at the end of this blog.

Finally, the last blast from the past to reveal was that there was a Lunar Eclipse at almost the exact same degrees of Aries-Libra as the next one this Wednesday (chart below as well). If you can reel in the years and go back to March 24th,1997,  reflect on what was happening for you at that time, it may put a huge spotlight of understanding on your current situation, and provide you with the wisdom and courage to act in accordance with your Inner Truth.

"With Aries-Libra, relating is the name of the game. The challenge is how do we balance the needs or desires of the Self (Mars-Masculine) with the needs and desires of The Other (Venus-Feminine)?  The seemingly eternal dance between these two forces makes for a lot of interesting poetry, music, art, fables…and tragedies."
​

Oh, You Again…”

Simply stated, Aries is all about the Self…”I Am.” Equally simple is that Libra is about “The Other.” There is always a relationship happening in everything…throughout the Cosmos, from the subatomic level to the galaxies themselves. Some physicists theorize that there are bonds and bleedthroughs between parallel Universes. Anyway, the Aries-Libra polarity represents the astrological version of The Lovers card in the Tarot, or the Sacred Marriage from the mystery schools. It manifests from the strictly personal level to the Universal Level.  Beyond the duality of form, they are Divine Principles that emanate into all manifest forms, and yet are completely fused in the Absolute and are completely indivisible. That’s big supra-metaphysical theorising on my part, but feels right as a model.

With Aries-Libra, relating is the name of the game. The challenge is how do we balance the needs or desires of the Self (Mars-Masculine) with the needs and desires of The Other (Venus-Feminine)?  The seemingly eternal dance between these two forces makes for a lot of interesting poetry, music, art, fables…and tragedies.  From an evolutionary astrological perspective for the past four years we have been on a revolutionary road of dismantling and reforming our psyches through the uncomfortable crucible of intimate and challenging relationships, and all of them have been steeped in a shamanic unravelling and healing of our relationship karma. When I use the word “karma”, I’d like for you to reference that word in a new way. Think “unconscious patterns based on equally hidden vows or beliefs”.  Throughout time and space, we have met ourselves again and again with many of our “other selves” and have sought to balance the eternal dance that is ultimately about realising Love as a state or condition of being.

"Perhaps the age of digital love is about to have a rude awakening, or perhaps we are awakening to the rudeness of digital socialization."

Is there a manual for this thing?

Okay, it hasn’t been easy, and it’s not a process that is culminating with Wednesday’s latest edition of Aries-Libra lunations/eclipses. I don’t have a crystal ball, or a road map, or even a factory issued user’s manual, but I do sense that this event on Wednesday may be a gateway to the final purification of eons of relationship trauma and drama. At least that’s what my instincts are saying just now. We are being given an evolutionary push to change our beliefs, and more importantly, our understanding about the purpose and potentials of human intimacy and conscious partnerships. It can be sometimes difficult to discern, but almost every challenge our species now faces, from how we care for ourselves or look after each other, to how we reinvent and reimagine our economic, political, scientific and societal structures… to how we end our mistreatment of the planet and her resources, hinges on how much we trust in ourselves and the ones we love the most.

We pump the message that we need to love ourselves, and yet we are starving for connection. In his cynical and disenfranchised tone, Elliot, the hacker in the new television drama “Mr Robot”, bemoans the current state of human love: “[…is it because we’re] spamming with our running commentary of bullshit masquerading as insight, our social media faking as intimacy?” Perhaps the age of digital love is about to have a rude awakening, or perhaps we are awakening to the rudeness of digital socialization.

"I feel that real spiritual love, one that is rooted in mutual respect and deep honesty, is extremely romantic. It gives us that sense of “coming home” that we all long for…and know we deserve."

The Rest of the Story

While the foreground is the Sun and the Moon in the Lunar Eclipse, the background cast is equally important.  The day after the Eclipse Saturn will station retrograde in Sagittarius. He will move direct on August 14th at 9 degrees of Sag, and be very close to Mars at 5 Sagittarius. The upcoming Mars retrograde in Sagittarius and Scorpio is a story in and of itself, so I will save that for an April post.

On the day of the Eclipse Saturn will be in a stressful T-Square with Venus and Neptune in Pisces, and retrograde Jupiter in Virgo. I feel that having this happen just before Saturn goes into inward (retrograde) motion is a phase of reviewing and integrating the energies and lessons of all the previous eclipses, and indeed, or all the Aries-Libra contacts of the past four years. It’s a time for introspection, and it won’t work to be doing hard-nosed analysing (Virgo) about matters of the heart and soul. The Venus-Neptune conjunction will be the main energy here…asking us to be compassionate and forgiving, and to also re-image a Higher aspect of romantic and intimate Love. I use the word romance not in a story-book way, but in a way to celebrate the “lift” that we experience with romantic love. I feel that real spiritual love, one that is rooted in mutual respect and deep honesty, is extremely romantic. It gives us that sense of “coming home” that we all long for…and know we deserve. I highly recommend this amazing video clip to get a better feel for what my poor words are trying to express. True Love and the Four Elements of Love – Thich Nhat Hanh. The first seven minutes carries the nugget of the message.

Mars in Sagittarius will be trine the Sun and is sextile to the Moon. This adds a strong but egalitarian tone of asking that we tell the Truth…to ourselves and whomever we’re currently partnered with. Even if we are not with a significant other, our intention towards emanating compassion and love to those we are in connection with, in whatever form, will still have a potent effect. Ending conflict both from within and towards others is the idea.  Mercury will be conjoined to the Sun as well, so there may be an impulsiveness to ask questions in a very rapid-fire style, like a special interrogator questioning a suspect in a crime. Uncomfortable but necessary truths may suddenly come to light. The juxtaposition between Mars and Mercury will be daunting, and a bit paradoxical. You may be thinking, "Do I stick to the hard facts only, or do I allow leeway for compassionate understanding?" I suppose the answer to that will depend on what type of information is unearthed. If there is no longer any resonance with your current situation, then this eclipse may signal that it’s time to move on and open to a higher more resonant partnership that is based on true love, transparency and equality.

The asteroid goddess Juno is retrograde (inverted) in Scorpio, and will be in a harmonious flow with Venus and Neptune. The need for passion within our partnering is denoted by this placement. Juno typically is associated with the traditions of marriage, but in Scorpio, marriage is elevated to a sacrament through passion and sexuality. There can be no true intimacy without being naked in body and soul to the Beloved. This is soul Tantra, and is something we all possess, but has been civilised out of us and forgotten. Tantric practices were invented to reawaken us to the primal truth that is in the divine nature within our bodily forms. Ecstasy is a natural state that exists when we are in harmony with Nature, with the Goddess.

"We all deserve the love that we give away, and the love that we receive. The union of hearts will be a potent power for changing the course of the future. Give freely…it all comes back to you in some way, and at some time."

The Next Steps

Between now and the next set of eclipses in September I feel that it will be a time of greater movement and greater clarity in our understanding of ourselves, of others and what our hearts and souls truly desire to create in this world. Everything is connected, and the arena of our interpersonal relationships echoes throughout the human and planetary construct. If we truly wish to have a different future, then the ghosts of our past must be confronted and lovingly and empathically embraced. We cannot cure prior wounding without acknowledging our held emotions and deep longings. The relationship issues we had with our parents are reflections of all of our previous bonding experiences with each other as lovers, spouses, siblings, parents or even just workmates and friends. To change the story of our personal and collective past is to alter the future.

We have the potential to live the life of our dreams. I suggest that those dreams include others in many ways. To balance our needs with the greater needs of our entire species is the way forward. Everyone has a right to clean water, good food, warm shelter, comfortable clothing and personal safety. And everyone needs closeness, affection, recognition and love. Dr. Dean Ornish’s book, “Love and Survival” is a wonderful testament to the power of connection and what it means to be fully human. I recommend it to you as one of many potential guides to how we can imagine and create new and sacred ways of relationship, ways that don’t cause us to fall back into martyrdom or self-effacement. More importantly, we can end the cycle of heartache and heartbreak that is at the core of our spiritual wounding…the false sense that we are separate from our Source, and from each other.

Move forward into the sacred marriage with your inner Beloved and invite that Beloved into your purpose for being here on this planet at this time. Let your deepest dreams and yearnings be expressed. Begin with yourself, then with your beloved, then in communion with others of your “tribe”, then in wider community. It grows exponentially when we choose love, collaboration and cooperation.

We all deserve the love that we give away, and the love that we receive. The union of hearts will be a potent power for changing the course of the future. Give freely…it all comes back to you in some way, and at some time.

With Love,
Isaac

I specialize in mentoring and coaching for singles and couples in the arenas of relationship and self care.  I love to work with people and give them the tools they most need to navigate these times and to create more satisfying experiences in their lives. For more information and to make an appointment for a FREE Discovery call, just click here.

by Isaac George
11th November, 2015

Well, it’s 11:11. This date is etched in my memory for many reasons.

By November 1994 the spontaneous kundalini awakening I had been experiencing since January was finally calming down enough that I could start socializing a bit. I ran into an old friend who invited me to the first channelling event I had ever been too. Some ex-investment banker named Loren was channelling an entity named Jabbar. I was clueless. The night of November 10th, 1994 I was in the audience. The channelling began, and this big hulk of a man seemingly turned into a shuffling character that reminded me of a Chinese Shaolin monk. Speaking in an odd accent and time signature, he addressed that packed meeting room about “ascension” symptoms, like seeing triple digit numbers on clocks and license plates of cars…seeing 4:44, 5:55, 1:11, and especially, 11:11. He talked about it being 11:11 the next day. As I sat there transfixed, I realized that my cheeks were wet with tears. I’d been having these experiences for 11 months now, and here was a roomful of 50 people all going through the same thing? I didn’t know what to think or say.

Now I am going to fast forward to 1998. I’d moved to Sedona, Arizona the previous March, and without wanting it to happen, and in fact resisting it every step of the way, I began channelling a being named Archangel Ariel. My first public event was on November 11th, 1998. I sat among another 50 or so people and I don’t recall much of anything that happened. It do remember it was recorded, and people afterwards were wowed and grateful. What followed on from that was six years of road travel to facilitate private sessions, group presentations and workshops, and also having my newsletter -based channelled messages published in New Age publications worldwide.

My long-running tour pretty much culminated during the week of November 11th, 2003 on the Big Island of Hawaii. For two consecutive years I had been invited to Kailua-Kona to co-facilitate Dolphin Swim Seminars with Joan Ocean. These were magical times for me, and very powerful too. The Harmonic Concordance was happening on November 8th, 2003, and I was slated to do a public channelled event at the Royal Kona Resort on the night of 11:11. Another magical night, made more so by that fact I met the woman that evening  I would marry the following September…in Scotland!

The time signature of 11:11 also figures prominently in another year around November 10th-11th, 2013. I was attending a conference in London that weekend about lucid dreaming, out of body experiences and shamanic practices. The “moment” of significance was the keynote talk by Tim Freke on the evening of November 10th, and a flurry of correspondences with a dear friend that happened the next day – November 11th. It was the start of many huge changes that would proceed from that weekend to the present time.

Today is also a New Moon in Scorpio, at 19 degrees of Scorpio at 5:47pm GMT. The Sabian Symbol for this is 20 Scorpio, which has current significance for me, as I’m about to spill the beans about a major change in my work. The Symbol is:

“A Woman Drawing Aside Two Dark Curtains That Closed The Entrance To A Sacred Pathway”
(from The Sabian Symbols by Lynda Hill)

So, what this is saying to me is so timely, I can hardly believe it. For about four years now I have been putting myself out there as an astrologer, a soul-based or evolutionary astrologer to be exact. I’ve always been into astrology, and it was a major part of my healing journey in the wake of my spiritual emergence/Kundalini awakening 21 years ago. I enjoy it immensely, and felt that it would be a natural replacement part for my old channelling/counselling function, so I could use my intuitive abilities in a different context. However, just recently it came to my attention that; 1) being an astrologer wasn’t financially supporting me,  2) there are many more people who are out there doing astrology for a living than there were five years ago…the market is a bit saturated, and 3) it is NOT, professionally speaking,  my first love. It does utilize all my natural listening, counselling, intuitive and psychological skills, but something’s been missing.  The past two weeks, the missing components have been returning.

I don’t intend to go into giving you an entirely new CV right here, but I have come to realize something very important. I have been hiding out…been keeping certain parts of who I am in the shadows all these years. With all the talk of showing up as authentically as possible, I am now repatriating some of the biggest gifts, skills and genius that I’ve always had right there, just where I could tap into them if I needed them, then conveniently put them out of sight again. My first love is Love itself. What I know goes with that is my intense desire and passion to help others break free…to live from authentic passion…and yes, with Desire.

My Kundalini experience was multi-fold. It was triggered by some astrological transits, I know that, but the ignition point was love. Love of the Divine Feminine and Nature, and it was spiritual, cosmic, intimate, sexual, emotional, and very transformational. It reminded me of the “I” within, and has taken me back to Nature and the knowing that this planet is a living Entity. My First Love includes relating, relationships, communication, communing, feeling our feelings fully, sacred intimacy with safety and boundaries, the merging of the senses, Spirit and Self, to assist others to live in the way that is from their truest and greatest vision of Who They Are. And, it’s about returning to our nature, and to Nature. This is the core of all our healing work.

This may all be sounding and looking like a hodgepodge at the moment, but it will get more concise as I work with it. This past week has been some of the most profound reconnections to inner guidance that I’ve had in ages.  I’m receiving visions and direction on how to revise my work, and how I want to share it. It is a work in progress, but it is going very fast. Thanks for you for your patience, as this is just writing itself at the moment.
 
So, the website is undergoing changes already. I’m going to get out in front of people more. I was going to teach an online introduction to astrology course, and although I love to teach, this subject is so broad, so deep and complicated, that I am feeling to let it go in favor or a series of webinars and podcasts on key subjects (which I love and know inside and out) that I know you will be most interested in. Then I will begin crafting courses with practical applications that yield real results! I will continue to use my astrological skills in the context of coaching, mentoring and some group work and webinars. It is relevant, but I see that there are many other very important ways in which I can create a greater impact and love what I do more, and not (hopefully) have to strive to make a living to express my unique Genius. If I can help a few of you do that too, then it’s all worth it.

Look for more in the next few blogs…I’m going to be enjoying seeing what happens next. Whatever happens, it will be done from the heart.

Have a blessed 11:11, wherever you are. I love you.

Peace,
Isaac

Venus Retrograde in Virgo/Leo – July 25th to September 6th-7th, 2015

By Isaac George
July 24th, 2015

 “One birth was given to you by your parents, the other birth is waiting. It has to be given to you by yourself. You have to father and mother yourself.” - Osho

This month we have a four planet pileup on the celestial motorway, and a fifth vehicle is approaching the scene of the accident and she is too busy texting her boyfriend on her smartphone to notice. Prepare for impact!

I’ve been reading too many other astrology posts about the Venus Retro, and so perhaps I should get that out there front and center. Instead, I’d like to take a different tack regarding astrology, the current spate of retrograde planets, and Venus in particular. 

Between July 25th and early October it’s going to be one thing after another, and since I feel to wander into the nether regions from my usual astro-babble in this report, it might still be useful to provide you with a map of the roadside attractions over the next few month or so. Try not to linger too long at any one of them though. The term “tourist trap” definitely applies here, along with cheaply made souvenirs and questionable snack foods. My focus next week will be on Uranus in Aries retrograde, and then I'll be back in mid-August with a more in depth examination of the action coming up in September.

As we begin, please keep in mind that Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, Chiron are already in retrograde motion.

For your entertainment, I present the line up between now and August 31st –

1.       July 25th: Venus at 00 degrees of Virgo stations (stopping) in preparation to go retrograde (time for review!). (Note: this is also the “Day Out of Time” in the Mayan Long Count Calendar)

2.       July 26th: Venus is now  retrograde at 00 degrees, 45 minutes at 9:56am UT (10:56 BST).  Mars at 21 Cancer trines Chiron at 21 Pisces, and squares Uranus at 20 Aries. Mercury is conjunct Sun at 6 and 3 degrees of Leo. The Moon and Saturn are almost exactly conjunct at 28 Scorpio. Uranus is stationing to go retrograde!  (Note: July 26th in the Mayan Calendar is the first day of their New Year)

3.       July 27th: Uranus goes retrograde at 20 degrees Aries.

4.       July 31st: Full (Blue) Moon at 7 degrees of Aquarius.

5.       Aug 3rd: Saturn goes direct at 28 degrees of Scorpio.

6.       Aug 5th: Venus and Jupiter at 28 degrees of Leo will be in a waning square to Saturn at 28 degrees of Scorpio. Remember – Jupiter expands the effect of this square!

7.       Aug 14th: New Moon at 21 degrees Leo, Venus conjunct at 23 Leo.

8.       Aug 29th: Full Moon at 6 degrees Pisces. Neptune conjunct Moon, Jupiter conjunct Sun.

9.       Sept.1st: Mars conjunct Venus at 14 degrees, 55 minutes of Leo, quincunx Pluto at 13 degrees, 6 minutes of Capricorn, trine the Moon at 12 Aries (Uranus not far away at 19 Aries), and Pallas Athena at 14 degrees of Sagittarius. Sun and Neptune almost exactly in opposition to each other at 8 degrees Virgo and Pisces respectively.  The Nodes are at 2 degrees Libra-Aries, and getting closer to moving into Virgo and Pisces, and the South Node is now in a loose out-of-sign trine to Saturn in Scorpio – old patterns from past lives emerge. A very active day!

10.   Sept. 7th: Venus goes direct in Leo at 14 degrees, 24 minutes. This is close to the same degree Venus was at when it entered the shadow period just around the Solstice on June 21st.

As you may surmise, the next 35-40 days are going to be quite a journey of discovery…in many guises. I would like to remind my readers that the overall tone still in effect during all of these transits is the Uranus-Pluto cycle recently completed in March. This still rings on through all of this…a fundamental note that our inner ear is listening to regardless of the noise levels in the foreground. The subharmonics to the Venus Retrograde are Saturn, Pluto, Uranus, Neptune and Chiron all retrograde as well. A change of consciousness is taking place, but is it all that we are hoping for? Here is where I may diverge from the conventional path regarding the nature and values we assign to Venus.

Venus isn’t just about our love life, or money, or creating a beautiful living environment. In the sign of Leo, it is not just about love affairs, frivolity or fun. Leo can also take itself too seriously, as in trying too hard to be the center of attention. Venus can be lazy and lackadaisical…inattentive and selfish. There can be a tendency with Venus in Leo to become narcissistic or obsessive with the reflection of others (“oh yes, your Highness, you ARE beautiful!). This is the archetype of the Dark Queen in the fairy tale of Snow White. Who the heck is the fairest of them all! Above all, this transit will test all of us in one particularly sensitive area – the wounded or immature Feminine within all of us, whether male or female.

I would like to illustrate this point by quoting from a recent article about  Venus Retrograde from astrologer Sarah Varcas. I was particularly touched by her following words…

“The challenge of this Venus retrograde is to bridge the gap between isolated self-reliance and nourishing interdependence. We do this by embracing those Virgoan nuances. Venus cannot live only within and remain happy, healthy and whole. She needs connection, comfort, affection and attachment to thrive. Venus fans the flames of love and brings us together to share it. She naturally reaches out to connect, not within to detach.” (Read the full post here).

With Venus moving retrograde from staid and analytical Virgo back into Leo, there may be a danger of spending too much time in self-reflection. Yes, it doesn’t help to constantly seek attention from outside of ourselves, and demand the loyalty and admiration of others. Nor is it healthy for us to feel that the only way to feel empowered and safe is to look at our outer relationships as inferior or as a threat to our independence. People will test us, and our patience, during this time; however, I would caution against making any snap judgments or taking any unilateral action to wholeheartedly embrace or strongly disengage from anyone.  Regret is not something you want to be fiddling around with come the middle of September.

There may be painful relationship memories arising, or some long lost love from the past may show up that will activate these patterns. Someone new may enter your life to complete unfinished business that looks and feels like someone from your past. Caution: is this in your best interest...or will there only be more tears?

Perhaps you are in a relationship that is teetering on the brink. Decide if it is worth staying in or getting out, but don’t take any firm action until after Venus moves direct on September 6th-7th.  Or better yet, make a plan, and don’t make it real until after October 9th, when Venus moves out of the retrograde shadow period. This doesn’t mean remaining silent till the last minute, so engaging in dialogue consciously to discover what is really in the hearts of all parties, especially your own, is certainly appropriate. Honour yourself first, but respect the feelings of others as much as possible.

I feel we are just now learning how to merge and unmerge consciously with each other. Empowerment does not include distancing from, or exiling yourself or the other. Merging does not have to mean a loss of self, at least not in the old way. However, unless you are willing to relinquish some control, you cannot even know your larger Self, or the Self within the Other. 

I wonder if some of our current focus on authenticity and empowerment is in some way caught up by our egos attempting to assert even more control. As most spiritual disciplines teach, only a reduction of ego can accompany a corresponding degree of realization of our real “self”, which is inimically connected to the entire Web of Life and all beings in it. We need to  become more aware and self-compassionate, not more egocentric.  We are in the midst of re-parenting ourselves, and we will need others to assist us in this quest for sanity. Life is not at war with itself…except in our own minds. An inner marriage will also have to have its counterpart in the outer…it must in order to demonstrate something different to human consciousness. This is how we learn and evolve…we observe and emulate from something that looks and feels better.

Ultimately, this is a quest for Love…love that is real, sustainable and fulfilling. True to the nature of Leo, it’s all about the Heart. A lion is fierce, protective, and diligent. The opposite polarity of Leo is Aquarius, so it is essential to be mindful that this work of the Self is bound up with and benefits, or harms, the wider community we belong to. What we think, how we express our thoughts and feelings, and how we act upon them in our lives touches everyone at some level. We must be just as eager to receive as to give, to be nurtured as to nurture. What that will look like and how you desire for it to show up in your life, in equality and in tenderness, is completely up to you.

Let us be courageous as is possible. Don’t fear Love, for Ecstasy is our natural state of being. But first, we will have to be surrendered to it.

With love,
Isaac

(I give a nod to Diva Sarah McClachlan for the inspiration of this blog title)