ISAAC GEORGE

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.

October 25th, 2015
by Isaac George

There is another Super Duper Full Moon happening! I thought I could ignore the temptation to actually write about it. However, this momentary event isn’t the only bat banging around my belfry. There are many celestial alignments afoot, and as we move closer to All Hallows Eve (Halloween) we are coming into those influences one might call “the Astral” or Emotional Plane.

Our Sun has entered the realm of Scorpio, the home of raw and intense everything. Life, Death, Power and Passion, and all that comes with it - sexuality, obsession, compulsion, suspicion and great detective work to find secrets, and a penchant for secrets. The Full Moon will be in the polarity of Taurus, which is Fixed Earth and ruled by Venus (I just love chocolate chip cookies and woolly socks!). You get the idea don’t you? The focus on the surface is on security, cosy hearths, and a warm and well-stocked kitchen, and you have all the ingredients for domestic bliss. Or do you?

For you budding astrologers out there, the chart is posted below. Essential data is Sun is 3 degrees and 44 minutes of Scorpio and the Moon is at 3 degrees and 44 minutes of Taurus. The Moon will be inconjunct to Saturn at 3 degrees 35 minutes of Sagittarius, and the Sun will be semi-sextile to Saturn as well. The underlying theme from Saturn is “all that glitters may not be gold.” Truth or consequences indeed!

At first blush we may still be too hypnotized by the other significant energies that are upon us. The Venus-Jupiter communion at 15 Taurus may still have us lulled into a sense of altruism and congeniality. The easy trine to Pluto bespeaks a truce is in effect, but there are things that need attention.

The North and South Nodes (True Node method) are still virtually stationary at the Super Galactic Center degrees of 0 Aries and 0 Libra. Stuck there like a camera in the midst of a time lapse photo shoot, we are experiencing the drawing inwards of a huge dose of information that is laced in Light…directly from Headquarters in the center of our galaxy. This is the grist powering our mills…and it is filtered directly into our Soul Heart/Mind complex from the inside of us. From directly within our core identity it is pushing its way outwards, to our surfaces, like magma coming up through the Earth’s crust. As this occurs it is pushing ahead of it all of the karmic inertia from other lifetimes and genetic ancestral memories. Not pleasant for the most part, but a necessary clean-up is in progress in our cellular structures, emotional bodies, and etheric templates. The Full Moon in Taurus will be like a lightning rod, grounding these energies. It will be important to remind yourself that nothing is being done TO us, but is happening THROUGH us. If you’ve been twisting in the wind lately, don’t blame it on astrology, or the solar activity. Blame won’t work now…but compassion for self will, as well as compassion for the bystanders in your neighborhood…they’re mega challenged too (though they may deny it).

As we move closer to October 31st, there may be a few things pop up, or pop out, of those nearest to us. Or, they may pop out of us. This is a ripe time for folks to deliberately or inadvertently “spill the beans” about how they REALLY feel about this, that or so-and-so. There also could be a high degree of existential free-floating anxiety about money, resources, job, career, the economy in general or, if you live in the UK, uncomfortable thoughts of revenge against Chancellor Osborne. It may be essential to remove breakable items from the vicinity. There is very little diplomacy under Scorpio – it wants to say what it wants to say, to speak the power for Truth, or Truth to Power. However things turn out, we are sick and tired of bullying in any form, and as anyone will tell you, the best way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him/her. Perhaps this tyrant resides within you, telling you you’re not good enough, worthy enough or capable enough. Well, enough is enough, and with this energy around, you’ll feel a bit more than ready to slay a dragon or two. The secret is to voice your truth without attacking the antagonist. This takes consciousness. We were all bullied as children, in one sense or another, so we all have that brainwashing to contend with. The perps who did it were themselves also victims of it, so don’t spend any time in the blame game here either. This is our chance to stand for something, and it’s okay to be a wee bit selfish about it.

The consequences are always with us, no matter what the situation or how old it might be. Consequences could also be called “outcomes”, as they are the experience that reflects our attitudes, beliefs and unconscious habits. Nothing more, and nothing less, is needed to describe the effects of choice. How we choose to be responsible, or to be able to respond, sets the groundwork for a new type of outcome. Here’s the tricky part, where you don’t have “control”.  In any of what I’m describing above, the resonance or vibrational factor for aligning any experience you consciously choose to replace one that has been unconscious is, for the most part, an act of surrender. Yep, you got to let it go so it can come back to you in the manner that is most appropriate. That’s also the easy part, because as a microcosm of the macrocosm, there is very little chance that what you want or need the most, what is most important for you, could happen if you were trying to micromanage it from your ego.

One of the great parts about Scorpio energy is passion, with a capital “P”. I recall seeing the key phrase for Scorpio being “I Desire”. That about sums it up…I want what I want…and I want it now!

So for the balance of time that the Sun is in Scorpio, getting juicy about whatever floats your boat is full on, or should be. However, there’s a minor fly in the soup. Although Saturn just left Scorpio in September, as I write this we are experiencing the echo of when Saturn entered Scorpio three years ago. In fact, on October 25th, 2012 the Sun and Saturn met up at 2 degrees of Scorpio, only two degrees away from Tuesday’s Full Moon. Coincidence? Never! Only the appearance of coincidence as Carl Jung would say. There is a good chance that any prior wounding involving sexuality could be "up" just now, which is an opportunity to heal violations of trust and stolen innocence.

So, our passion needs to be guided by a higher notion in all of our dealings. I Desire balanced with I Love. That’s Taurus’ ruler, Venus, speaking ladies and gentlemen. True love with passion can heal. Passion without love is deadly, Love without Passion is bland. Stop settling for bland and safe, and stop being sucked into passion without consideration for your heart... and more importantly, your Soul.

Well anyway, that’s my take on it right now.. We are called to feel everything deeply…that’s the Pluto side of Scorpio. Use this time wisely.

Be gentle in your courage, be considerate in your truth-telling, and be compassionate with the consequences. We are here to hold another up when they cannot do it themselves. The next one needing that support may be you. May Love lead us. All is well.

With Love,
Isaac

by Isaac George
March 14th, 2015

This month has a load of astrological markers that are quite significant on their own, but it is the synthesis that is most intriguing. If you are not savvy with astrology terminology or the use of archetypes, the technical side can be a bit daunting and distracting. I’ll try to minimize the astro-babble and focus on the feel and meaning of these times, and more importantly, how best to respond to them. For those of you who do follow astrology, and know a bit about your own charts, the areas of highest sensitivity for this month are planets, asteroids or chart angles between the 8th to 17th degrees of Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn, and Leo.  

This is the second installment in a three-part series. If you missed the first segment, click here to read it.

Week of March 15th to the 21st – “Mission…Possible!”

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” Kurt Vonnegut

We begin the week fully in the energy of the 7th and final square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. This will occur this Tuesday, March 16th, at 2:22am GMT (UT). There are also some significant triggers preceding this point, such as Saturn turning retrograde at 4 degrees of Sagittarius yesterday (March 14th) and the Moon meeting up with Pluto in Capricorn today at 9:19am GMT (UT). This coming Friday there is a partial Solar Eclipse at 29 degrees of Pisces at 9:35am GMT (UT), followed by the Spring Equinox when the Sun ingresses into Aries at 10:46pm GMT (UT). All charts are provided at the end of this article. For more detailed information about the Solar Eclipse, just click here.

Now that that’s handled, I’ll flesh out my feeling/knowing about what’s happening…

We are all on a ‘mission’. Our souls have a big agenda, or we wouldn’t be here at this time on this world. One of the things about this notion is that it is essential to see that everyone else is on a mission too, so you have loads of company, and no one is better or lesser equipped than another; just uniquely equipped, as it were. I’ve titled this blog “Mission…Possible!” because in spite of there being so much change and flux and intensity, this is not a negative situation we find ourselves in. Sure, letting go of the familiar, even that which has been a fixture of love, attention, security or familiarity in our lives looks “negative”, or is viewed as a loss, as this is a judgment from our ego. Face it, egos dislike change….intensely. But the new landscape will be quite different from our old familiar territory.

Our egos (our little kid) have been under a lot of pressure during the Uranus-Pluto cycle, which really began in the summer of 2012. We must deal with all the hurts, disappointments and injustices it suffered over the decades since we arrived here. All this got really triggered after the 6th Square, around Dec.15th, 2014.

Secondly, it does not like feeling abandoned or ignored. It has NEEDS, and we better listen to it or else we’re going to find ourselves dragging a squirming tantrum into the future with us. None of us will be able to afford that bill as this year progresses. In order to fully manifest and realize our purpose for being here, we will have to integrate our unconscious bits quite dramatically, and also very lovingly and compassionately.

Part of this work centers around redefining our view about our natures. We are human, and we do possess a spark of divinity, a quality of self-awareness and imagination. However, we are also human animals, and do share a connection to the Gaia, the planetary consciousness, and all of the other biological forms here. Our planet is also known as the Magna Mater – the “Great Mother.” Actually, that’s an old Gnostic term for Nature in general, no matter where it arises in the Cosmos. They also called her “Sophia”, the Wisdom Goddess, and wisdom is a weapon we’ll need after the major shifting we currently find ourselves embroiled in.

We are all interconnected in a profound way, as if we were one organism, with each person constellated in such a way as to provide a particular service or gift to all other parts of ‘us’ that are in need of such support. This is the basis for real communing, or community. It is touted as the primary quality of the coming Age of Aquarius.

One aspect of the Solar Eclipse this Friday is that the Sun and Moon meet at 29 degrees of Pisces, the ultimate end of a Zodiacal cycle that began around 200 B.C.E. In other words, the imminent end of the Great Age of Pisces may be upon us. Look at the glyph for Pisces…two Fish swimming in opposite directions. This represents the rise of self-reflection, the expansion of the ego, and the sense of separateness from Nature and each other that has marked this Age. Perspectives were “either/or”, and hardly ever, “both/and”. It gave rise to Darwinian Theory, competition, scarcity and poverty consciousness, etc. One might argue that this began when agriculture was invented, and we stopped living in small foraging tribes. However, during the last 2,200 years we really excelled in creating a power over, victim-perpetrator game that has brought us to the edge of ecocide, and species extinction. Our psyches are exhausted and trying to catch up with the evolutionary pressures brought to bear. We are extolled to “evolve or perish” now, and it is imperative that we do so to avert disaster.

Years ago I read a book entitled “The Coming of the Feminine Christ”, by Dr.Niamh Clune. The standout quote from this work was “only the Awakened Heart can avert the apocalypse.” I strongly feel that is a truth worth reflecting upon as we encounter the planetary agents of change in our midst. Our hearts must awaken, our souls must be given reign over the egoist concerns of survival and personality. This is the test of Uranus in Aries, which is the Sacred Warrior of the Aquarian principle facing up to Pluto in Capricorn, the defender of the Established Order of the previous Age. Each archetype has a light and shadow aspect. On the dark side Uranus is change at all costs and Pluto is ruthless about power. The enlightened side of Uranus is community, and the expansion of “Yintegrity”, or doing what you want when you want to. The shiny side of Pluto (is there one?) is deep and profound shamanic transformation, leading to lasting change, whether you personally like it or not.

New opportunities are before us. We are called upon to own our mastery, our mission. I am coming to view the term “mastery” in a new way, more like a kind of Jedi Knight. Instead of some impossible ideal of divine-human perfectionism, this mastery is about full authenticity and vulnerability. Sometimes we can flow with the Force, and achieve amazing things. Sometimes, the Force does not cooperate, and we need to just grow still, nurture ourselves and listen. At other times we can wield the power within us at will, and at other times, it’s Will with have its way with us. Wisdom comes from listening to the ebb and flow and responding, rather than pushing and shoving.

Trying to do 'power over', with all the inherent abuses, is not going to work anymore. Everyone is becoming too sensitive to the amount of fraud rampant on the planet right now, and any attempts to use power to gain an advantage over another will boomerang. Let’s just say that karma may be instantaneous, and leave it at that.

Yes, practicality will be required. Getting your hands dirty and working hard will definitely be required. That’s Saturn for you. The next cycle we enter is Saturn-Neptune, and it will require discernment, hard work, and also a respect for process of bringing ideas and ideals into form. Not everything you want, or think you want, will be necessarily good for you or for others. This is the Neptune part…releasing your dreams and desires to your Soul for a more balanced manifestation to materialize. As previously stated, we still have to contend with the Old Order, the 1% who refuse to give up their greed and ‘power over’ game. Be careful it doesn't infect your heart’s true desires.

Our Response-Ability:

There will be a bit less pushing and shoving with Saturn going into retrograde. That doesn’t mean you will be idle and contemplating your navel till August 2nd. What it means is that this is a time of review. Your course may be cluttered with pictures of reality that no longer serve you, or others. The past may be incompatible with your present and your vision (mission, desire) for the future. This is like “remedial lessons” time for some folks…another chance to tidy up loose ends before really moving into your Soul’s direction.

Uranus-Pluto will ask you to move from horizontal reference to vertical reference. Connect within, and connect to Galactic Core (7th Chakra) and Sophia-Gaia-Earth (1st Chakra). You are an embodiment of Life...not a struggling human (that’s the old Piscean mentality of divide and conquer, sacrifice and abandonment). It will also empower you in such a way as to finally leave old contracts and commitments that no longer serve you.

The Solar Eclipse is also about realizing your innate power and gifts. This is a time to really shed some skins around the old “no power” or “abuse of power” syndrome most of us have had imprinted in us. As Saturn moves deeper into Sagittarius next year, it will begin to expose more of the false power matrix, especially in politics and religion, and then the true effects of embracing our innate power will have the potential for hammering out real social change. It begins with one person at a time, and then multiplies exponentially. The Eclipse is sort of a death-knell for organized politics and religion anyway. Saturn will expose much, and the remaining energy of the Uranus-Pluto square and this Eclipse will continue the crumbling of static and outworn structures, from the personal level to the global stage.

One note of caution – eclipses are tricky, and since there’s a Lunar Eclipse at 14 degrees of Aries-Libra on April 4th it could distort some of the things you thought you were previously clear about. In other words, no final decisions about some things will be available until after the Saturn retrograde is completely resolved – around mid-November. I’ll address this in more depth in the final installment of this series this coming Saturday, March 21st.

Check out the flower essence and article suggestions below, they may help.

Keep putting one foot in front of another. We’re all together in this journey. Ask for help…it’ll be there, from within and without.

Blessings,
Isaac

For information about the Isaac’s Services, please click here. 

Special Offer: 20% off any Transit Reading for the rest of the month. Click here.

Contact: Email: archariel@hotmail.com, or call: 
Ireland: 00353 (0)870 978204. United Kingdom: 0044(0)7875 123406

Resources and Practicum:

Flower Essence Strategies, as recommended by Ariel Elohim

Scleranthus – for uncertainty/ indecision/ vacillation, fluctuating moods.

Walnut: assists in adjustment to transitions or changes, e.g. everything that is going on fast and furious right now.

Olive: fatigue--drained of energy.

White Chestnut: for persistent unwanted thoughts. Pre-occupation with some worry and/or mental arguments.

Bach Flower Essences or any other reputable source will do.

Ariel Elohim offers practical spiritual guidance and counseling services. She resides in the eastern United States. She may be contacted at trinityariel@verizon.net. Her motto is “Live Heaven! If it doesn't look like fun, it's probably not.”

Related Articles:

https://dancinginthetao.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/just-one-thing/
https://dancinginthetao.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/changing-consciousness/
Lynda Hill’s Sabian Symbols podcast about the March 20th Eclipse: http://sabiansymbols.com/

“If you cannot directly face your sexuality, you will never discover your true spirituality.” - From the Taoist text “The Bamboo Immortal” c.1748.*

The river of Life has, and is, creating a torrent of change in my own personal universe. Since publishing Part 2 of “Finding Love – The Purpose of Attraction” on July 14th, I had originally titled the third part of this series as “Sexual Healing, Eros and Heart Therapy”. But now I’m having a laugh…for Life does intrude when you’re making other plans. Obviously the times have changed since mid-July, and so has the title. I too have changed, and so have my personal circumstances. Nonetheless, the way is clearer within and without to bring this particular series of articles to a close.

We all are looking for love and a sense of belonging and security, and so seldom do we find it. Or when we think we’ve found it, something always seems to be missing or it all goes awry. We are now being exhorted almost daily to love ourselves instead of looking outside for fulfilment or happiness in our relationships. “If only I were more spiritually-minded, and more self-sufficient, or loved myself more, I would be happier…”, or so the spiel goes.

The very innate human desire and longing for meaningful connection with not only other humans, but also with non-human life and the wider Universe is at the core of our souls and awareness. We are inherently capable of behaving in a kindly and loving way, so why is happiness and the experience of love that we know we should experience seem so elusive?

To deeply surrender to Love that occurs in a seemingly serendipitous way requires a certain degree of ego death and a temporary relinquishing of our usually strong sense of self-identification, and that can cause big problems. Fear enters the picture. Projection replaces perception, and whoever has the most ‘self’ to lose will tend to retreat hastily back into the safety of the familiar. A dear friend and professional therapist describes this place as the abode of “comfortable uncomfortableness”.  Then, when the coast is clear, these souls will come out of their shell and gradually wonder what it was that may have happened, followed by a sense of grieving or relief. Usually, the searching for ‘it’ starts all over at some point in the future.

Now this is an oversimplification of the nature of Love, and I don’t mean to imply that all encounters with Love that have a capital “L” are predicated on meeting one’s soul mate or twin soul. However, this notion cannot be dismissed entirely and nor should it be held up as the only way that any human being can come in contact with Love or Eros as part of The Mystery.

Indeed, many have touched the face of Love, or shall I say been touched by it, during some of the most ordinary moments one could imagine. Moments in Nature or just staring at the stars in the night sky can evoke a sense of awe that is a prerequisite for entering into the sublime state that the Mystery of Love offers. We all long for that which will take us out of our small selves, and expand us into something greater than our sense of “I”, and we do sometimes desire it to be a shared experience with another human being. This is where real poetry comes from. And the “Other” in song, prose and poetry is just another “you” after all. Though some may view the human fascination and need for deep bonding as co-dependent, I prefer to recognize in it the core of interdependence that underscores and validates the very web of Life.

 “The Sin of Original Guilt”

I coined the above term for a chapter in my book “What Really Matters: A Guide for Spiritual Awakening” in 2007. It means something different to me now, as I’ve been shedding many belief systems over the past year. A good example of this turn of phrase is covered in Wilhelm Reich’s book “The Function of the Orgasm”, which wasn’t just about the potential for human beings to realize and accept their sexuality and capacity for pleasure. It was a vivid and impassioned condemnation of salvation-based religions and the patriarchal notions that gave birth to it. He equates the deliberate suppression of our sensuality as the main cause for the rise and existence of fascist tendencies and movements. To believe, even in the slightest, that we were ‘born into sin’ is to make a grave error that ends only in paroxysms of shame and guilt. We feel like victims of circumstance, which is not a very healthy state of affairs. Even worse, we then find that we are now separate from our own natures and Nature itself.

As a species, we seem to have inherited a manipulative program, a deception that colours how we perceive ourselves and our relationship to love, to each other, and to the Life Force itself. Think about it; if you have to be ‘commanded’ to love, as we are told in Christianity, then why? When you love someone or something, you are just responding to what love is and does. You don’t need commandments, or threats of punishment, in order to make you a good and loving person. So, the trick of shame and guilt that has been handed down to us for over seventy generations has done immense damage, to our psyches, to other humans and life forms, and it is now this distortion threatens the very biosphere itself. So, how do we heal ourselves…how do we end the suffering, depression, violence and confusion?

“Return to the Garden”

“Religion protects man, so long as its foundations are not revealed.” - Rene Girard, “Violence and the Sacred”

A major part of our growth will be to learn what it means to love ourselves. That cannot happen if we still are invested in the false story of humanity, about its so-called “Fall” and it’s Redemption through some non-human extra-terrestrial means. We must reforge our connection to the planetary sentience of Gaia, through Nature, and refute the doctrine of the victim-perpetrator bond that is at the core of redeemer-based religions. Our sexual and spiritual healing must come from more than immersion in Tantric practices, techniques and philosophies, as these are still human inventions that arose out of a culture steeped in patriarchy-based spirituality, and which carries the seed of the belief that we must transcend the flesh in order to realize our inherent divinity. The body is the Soul, expressed.

In terms of so-called ‘modern’ or contemporary spirituality, there have been some recent but minute shifts away from transcendental philosophies that regard Nature, the physical body and material world as impediments to self-realization and holistic living. The New Age, with its obsession on ascension and merging into some elevated super-human state of mastery, misses the mark entirely. The Anthropos, the genomic core of human identity, is already divine, already connected to the divine spark that is both Goddess and Earth-based. It is already in harmony with the benign and generous Originator that dreams and emerges through all that exists.  

Upon closer examination, non-dualism is another strategy…a lofty view that holds material reality as inferior and illusory. It is the mirror image of another aberrant belief...split-source duality, the belief that evil and good can come from the same Source.

It is interesting to note that the original meaning of ‘Maya’ is not illusion. It is the appearance of illusion. Bump your head and you will feel it! And the more you try for stillness, the more you will encounter the Life Force…in constant and passion-filled motion. Underneath the quietest landscape the telluric currents of Life are swirling. We can become still to observe it, but we cannot and should not endeavour to distance ourselves from it. This is one of our core errors, the religion of self-reflection, which has been useful, but which we now need a bit less of if we are going to discover our true natures. The world needs less mindfulness and more soulfulness.

“The Future of Love”

What I can recommend to you, the Reader, is to start where you are and look objectively at all of your belief systems, sacred cows and cherished pets. Are they really your core structures? Do they feel liberating or stifling? Can you change them, and if so, what would you change to? Ask yourself, really honestly, what your role might be in the repatriation of your humanity to its original intent. How would that look, feel, sound, feel or taste like? Where are you avoiding being embodied? Where do you retreat to when you feel ‘less than’ or shameful, and do you feel weak or inferior when you cannot deal with uncomfortable emotions or challenging people and situations? For your own sake, don’t feel like you have to be supermen or superwomen, and think you ought to be over this or that. Seek out help and counsel if necessary, as we are not designed to operate as closed systems of consciousness.

Love a lot…whatever that might be. Nurture and be nurtured. Fall in love, get and give cuddles, cook and enjoy food, dancing, sunrises, walks on the beach in bare feet, your sensuality…just connect with whomever or whatever and be fully present, fully engaged. To fall in love again and again is not an error. Only not learning and growing from your mistakes leads to error. The future of Love depends on our expression of it, both towards ourselves and outwardly towards others. In actuality, there is no ‘falling’ in love. What falls is our resistance to Love.

Love is always there for the finding, because it always seeks Itself. Soulmates are proof of that.  The Garden of Eden is a state of happiness. Happiness is possible to a heart that is open and believes. Gaia is awakening and wanting the best outcome possible for Her children, for all of us.  Yes, it will feel like work...hard work, at times. And yes, you will notice more happiness as you shed the skins and the veils fall from your eyes, and the emotional scars heal. Then the Garden will be seen…in all of its glory and sweetness, within and without.

I leave you with the lyrics of from this old song, and recommend you have a good dance along with it when you have a chance.

“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden.” – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Woodstock)

In Love,
Isaac

Links:
Finding Love - Part 1
Finding Love - Part 2: "The Purpose of Attraction"

Isaac offers spiritual counseling sessions worldwide via Skype and is available in person in Cork City and West Cork, Ireland.

To make an appointment contact Isaac via email: archariel@hotmail.com, or call in Ireland: 00353 (0)870 978204. In the United Kingdom call: 0044 (0)7875 123406.

www.isaacgeorge.com