Category Archives: Astrology

Reorganization of Information

Posted on March 18, 2013 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

I am in the process of rethinking the organization of this website, and it really is a metaphor for what’s going on in my life. I need to change the order of presentation, for one, so that something else is presented when you first come to the site. I am also re-evaluating my masks and how I present myself as a healer and a teacher, courtesy of Raccoon. Interestingly, I recently came to the conclusion that I don’t have to make friends with my shadow self, because it’s already a fully integrated part of me. I would, in fact, argue, that I present my shadow self more as who I am in my personal life that I do what is probably my not-shadow self. ::shrug:: I’ve always done things a little backwards.

I am also giving serious through to reorganizing the Tools page, and breaking it down into smaller pages so it’s easier for find what you’re looking for. So, a page for books and readable media, a page for meditations and listenable media, a page for online classes (which are coming soon), a page for clearing bowls, and a page for oils and incenses (which I’m starting to make again). Possibly a page for jewelry, as I think that’s coming back into you repertoire as well. All of this is merely a way for me to make it easier for you to figure out how I can help you. Which means I probably need to sort out the Services area a little more, or at least make the site navigation more user-friendly. In the 3D, I am also looking for ways to be more accessible to my clients and students; this may mean being more accessible in the virtual world, as I can serve more people in this forum.

This is all part and parcel of the dredging up the river I did for the last month. We are now out of Mercury Retrograde (although still in it’s wake, don’t get too excited), so I can really look forward and create new methods of communication and new ways to make myself available.  I’m sure it will be interesting…

Posted in Mercury Retrograde, Musings, Personal growth, Practice, Tools

Today’s First Quarter Moon Energies

Posted on January 18, 2013 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

Today is a first quarter moon, an auspicious time to put effort and action into achieving your goals. It is a day for doing. You may experience some resistance along the way, as there is some energetic inertia, but focused perseverance is is likely to pay off.

If you find yourself in crisis today, and quarter moons can lend themselves to that energy as well, think of  it as a healing crisis, an opportunity for change and healing and new direction. Use the chaos and the turmoil to your advantage, letting it shake up that which is festering or has become stale.

Take charge of your life today! Grab the bull by the horns, and make things happen!

Dana Gerhardt writes

” I have a policy at the First Quarter Moon: I try to take at least one consciously courageous act. I do something that scares me. As I summon the courage to go forward, I imagine the lady in the Moon applauding my positive attitude, my instincts for timing, my First Quarter skill. I am cooking the alchemical intention to step out of my cocoon. Give it a try at the next quarter Moon and see how it feels. Don’t stop calling the personnel department until you hear an honest review of your resume. Be openly vulnerable… confess your love to someone. Write the first sentence of the novel you’ve been musing about.”

Above all, check in with your heart. Your head will lie to you, but your heart will always tell you the truth. When presented with choices and challenges, take a deep breath, ground, and gather your attention and focus into the center of your chest. find the seed of your joy, breathe into it, and ask for guidance. Ask for the truth of the matter. This month’s new moon was in Capricorn, which can help you manifest your dreams into reality. This is a path that should be heart-driven, not head-driven. Stay on target.

Blessings,
Ayamanatara

Posted in Astrology, Moon, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

A Fresh Look At The Wheel

Posted on December 31, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

I live in Southern California. Celebrating the Celtic calendar creates cognitive dissonance for me. As a shaman and a witch, I work to align myself with nature’s cycles, but those cycles, at least in my surroundings, don’t match up with the High Holy days. I’ve been toying for some time with shifting my approach, and now is as good a time as any.

Celebrating the Solstices and the Equinoxes still makes sense to me. They are, after all, very clear cycles; but they don’t match up with the beginning of the seasons here.  As it turns out, they’re not even the darkest and lightest day of the year. Likewise, I do see the thinning of the veils at the beginning of May and November, and it only makes sense to me to celebrate their counterparts at the feasts of Brid and Lugh. It’s the seasonal aspects inherent in the traditional celebrations that don’t work for me.

Right now, it’s bitterly cold and alternates between clear/crisp and damp. But that doesn’t really start until the end of December, and lasts until February-ish, when it shifts to a lot more rain. The rain goes until early May, generally speaking, and then we have gloomy fog until July, when it starts to heat up. The heat peaks in August and September, but doesn’t really start to get cool again until right around the end of October. It’s downright bipolar until December.

seasonal-wheel

So the seasonal references should reflect our wheel, not the wheel of the Celts (or anyone else, really). This means that the meaning of what we have traditionally called Harvest and Fertility festivals is going to shift. It means, too, that the time of the Big Sun and the time of the Little Sun shift. The height of summer is more aptly celebrated at Lughnassadh, or even the Autumnal Equinox. That means that the depth of winter is more properly celebrated at Imbolc or the Vernal Equinox. We are only starting to move into the womb of the wheel at Winter Solstice. The Summer Solstice is more like the start of Spring here in the Coastal Southwest.

I’m going to take this year to really play with this idea, letting “they way we’ve always done it” fall by the wayside, and just listen to what Nature has to tell me. I’ll continue to celebrate the New Moon, because that’s not seasonally dependent. We’ll see what happens with everything else.

Posted in Astrology, Musings, Practice, Seasons, Shift

New Moon, Eclipse, Retrograde, Oh My!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

There’s a lot of very interesting energy going on right now. One of my colleagues  refers to this period, between tonight and the lunar eclipse in two weeks, as a “wormhole.” “So, what’s going on,” you ask?

We’ve got a New Moon, in Scorpio, where the Sun, in full solar eclipse, and Saturn are as well. Mercury, Uranus and Jupiter are all retrograde. Mars is aligned with the galactic center (and goes into a storm configurationwith Neptune on Saturday). And we have a lunar eclipse coming in two weeks.

“Wow,” you say. “Wait, what does that mean?”

*New moons are great for setting intentions, because it’s a perfect time to go inside, gathering up our energies, and get ready to birth things out into the world. It is a time of darkness, silence, wisdom.
*Scorpio is about emotions and passion, catharsis, releasing, birth-death-rebirth, and the shadows. Sounds similar to the New Moon! So they bounce off each other a bit, creating a lot of turmoil, and calling things to the foreground that have been hidden in the shadows. Expect big changes.
*Solar eclipses are about action, doing, putting it out there.
*Mercury retrograde is a time to reflect on how you got to where you are and tie up loose ends, but it’s also a great time to manifest, because the energy slows down.
*The three planets in retrograde simultaneously may be causing you to reflect and evaluate how you approach your very survival (or money, shelter, sustenance, and love).
*Mars is asking us to shift how we approach our bodies. Make friends with it. Integrate it into your spiritual practice. Feel yourself in your body.

So, this is an evolutionary two weeks. If you can find the time, do a little meditating over the next three days.
*Draw inward. Go deep. Find your own center, even as Mars finds the Galactic Center, and know your very being.
*Allow that energy to expand outward, ever so slowly, bringing your more in touch with your body. What does it need? How can you work with it more effecgively? Do you honor it as your temple?
*Once that is done, expand your awareness further. How do you anchor yourself in the world? How do you approach money, shelter, sustenance, love? Is that the best way for you to do so? Can you improve your methods to bring your thoughts, your actions, and your spirit into alignment?
*What are you letting go of to make room for the new?
*And, finally, how do you want your life to feel? Focus your energies there for the next two weeks.

Namaste – You are the light of the world!
Ayamanatara

Sources for this article include:
Dr Michael Lennox
Molly Hall
Dana Gerhardt
Simone Butler
Colin Bondi
Anna at Llewellyn
Astrological Musings
Virgo Magic
Elsa Elsa
Astrological Investing
Elizabeth Peru
And these, which WordPress won’t let me link to for some reason…
Starcana
Starzology
Astrobarry

Posted in Astrology, Meditation, Mercury Retrograde, Moon, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

New Moon in Leo is Here and September Cometh

Posted on August 16, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

Leo is a magnificent sign. New Moon in Leo gives us the opportunity to reclaim our creativity, to get back into the present, to be passionate and joyful about our lives, and to put ourselves fully in alignment with our purpose. This is the perfect reset button, because we are moving quickly into September, which is, numerologically speaking, the most intense month of the year. Whatever your personal theme has been this year, whatever you’ve been working on and through, will reach its crescendo next month. So take the time now to stop and catch your breath. Find your joy, your passion, because you really ought to recharge your batteries.

Ask yourself every morning for the next 14 days: “What makes my heart sing?”

The answer can change from day to day, that’s fine. But use that day’s answer as your metric for prioritizing your to do list for that day. If something doesn’t in some way bring you closer to what makes your heart sing, it’s not important. Another way of looking at it is this: if you have something you really need to get done, figure out how it brings you closer to what makes your heart sing.

You may also wish to examine what your theme has been for the year, so you are prepared for September. What have been the patterns? When you look back at 2012, what were the broad brush strokes about? What have your lessons and challenges been this year? Do your best to unravel them, so they can be resolved in September, and you can finish out the year tying up your loose ends and start 2012 with a fresh slate.

Posted in Astrology, Moon, Numerology, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

Clarification: Solar Activity

Posted on July 28, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

It was pointed out to me that I’ve been talking a lot about solar activity and might not be giving you the depth of information you’re interested in…

Example: I posted today on Facebook

Solar activity picking up… New sunspot AR1532 is crackling with M-class solar flares, including a brief but intense M6-flare on July 28th. So far none of the eruptions has been Earth-directed, but this could change in the days ahead as the active region turns toward our planet. (Source: SpaceWeather)

Let’s start with some foundational information. There are different levels of your Higher Self. At the highest level or vibration, that would be the Divine or, in astronomical terms, the Universe. The Milky Way would be a form of your Higher Self, but not at as high a level as the Universe. The star around which we revolve, generally referred to as Sol, or the sun, is another, somewhat lower level, manifestation of your Higher Self. Terra/Gaia/the earth is down another level. This is why I always say that it is your birthright, by virtue of being here, to access the limitless supply of energy in the earth’s core — she is you on a higher level, so it is your energy.

The higher the vibration of a body, the faster it can make changes, because things vibrating at a higher rate of speed move more quickly. So the planet shift or adjusts her energy faster than we do, the sun adjusts faster than the planet, and so forth. You may have experienced, during a massage or energy work, an abrupt energy release, usually manifested as a quick jerk of a part of the body. This is a direct result of a personal energy shift or adjustment.

We’re all going through a great deal of fairly rapid change right now. The global paradigm is shifting. We’re all feeling it on some level, and, if we’re feeling it in our lives, think about how much faster Gaia is experiencing it, and how much faster than that Sol is experiencing those same changes. Those changes produce solar flares, much like your limb might jerk during a healing. The flares hit Gaia’s aura (or atmosphere) and disrupt her electromagnetic field. They also affect your electromagnetic field.

Under normal circumstances, in balance, our personal vibration is supposed to be in harmony with the energy of the planet and with the energy of the sun. These shifts are producing dissonance, rather than harmony. If you’re remotely sensitive to energy, you can end up feeling exhausted, jangly, and/or off-balance. So the goal is to bring ourselves back into harmony with the energy of the sun.

The simplest way to do this is as follows:

  1. Ground, however you personally do that, but do it strongly and as palpably as possible.
  2. Open yourself to your higher spiritual energies. Some people will do an internal Kabbalistic Cross. Some people will sing a high, sustained note and imagine their crown chakra opening. Some people will pour opalescent white light energy over themselves. Some people will simply take the energy of their grounding and bring it up through the top of their head and all the way up into the heart of the Universe.
  3. Either with your arms or in your imagination, do the beginning of a Sun Salutation, reaching upward with your arms and grasping the energy of the sun, bringing it down, into yourself, and allowing it to mill about in your heart center, shifting your vibration, and then bring it all the way down into your feet. Do this three times.
  4. Seal it in to create a more integral field. The simplest way to do this is to imagine an eight faced crystal around you, allowing energies you don’t need to bounce off it, so you’re not bombarded by them.

Hopefully this clarifies what it is I’ve been talking about, and helps you move forward more comfortably.

Posted in Astrology, Meditation, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

New Moon; Mercury Retrograde; Mars and Saturn in Libra; Solar Flares!

Posted on July 18, 2012 by ayamanatara| 1 Comment

Are you feeling jangly? Emotional? Raw? Jumpy? Frustrated? Overwhelmed?

Congratulations! You’re right on track.

We just entered a three year cycle of breakthroughs, where we need to honor, acknowledge, and make friends with our emotions in order to change the world.

Tall order, eh?

Nurture yourself. Listen to your emotions. Stay away from people and situations that seem to be designed to push your buttons, unless they are unavoidable, and then be gentle with yourself. Remember that the people around you may be feeling very similar to you, and don’t take them personally.

Breathe. Slowly, consciously, purposefully.

Ground. Dig your feet into the sand. Lie in the grass if you have to. Plus yourself in to the outlet that is Mother Earth and allow her energy to flow through you.

Drink water. Preferably with a little pure, clear fruit juice in it. Drink a lot of it.

At least once a day, reach up to the sky and connect with the energy of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, and draw that energy into yourself, so that you are in harmony with the energies that are bombarding the planet.

Eat things that are as close to nature as possible. Cook your dark leafy greens a little so you get more nutrients out of them. Avoid processed foods and additives. Support your body with the fuel you give it.

Spend at least 10 focused minutes a day communing with Spirit, whether in meditation, contemplation, or prayer. You’ll feel so much better for it.

Remember that the next 4 weeks are about completing cycles, tying up loose ends, and acting as consciously as possible. If you try to go too fast, the Universe will slow you down. The more deliberately and consciously you act, the stronger your ability to manifest will be. Why not use this to your advantage?

May you weather the changes with grace.

Posted in Astrology, Health, Meditation, Mercury Retrograde, Moon, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

A channeled message

Posted on May 21, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

At the end of Psychic Protection class tonight, all this information started flowing out of me, after I’d turned off the recording, of course. I rushed home to try to capture some of it, to share it with a wider audience. This is what came out when I got home.

With all of the astrological events going on right now, this is an important time. If you have been doing any of the work, if you are trying to be conscious and raise your vibration, if you have been taking classes, this is the time you have been training for. This is the time when we get to be the people we’ve been waiting for, as it were.

When opportunities present themselves for you to learn new tools, to raise your vibration, to sit with a teacher, to receive a healing, please take it. Those of us who have been struggling to become conscious have a responsibility to help those who aren’t as far along. This is not intended to sound arrogant, it is intended to sound urgent or even imperative.

Obviously, you have to take care of yourself before you can be of service to anyone else, so do that. Do what you need in order to own your space, to be empowered, to be grounded and present. But then you have a responsibility to hold that space for others as well, to lead the way, to hold the light. People who haven’t been doing the work are losing their minds and it’s only going to get worse. So you need to be even more grounded, even more in alignment with your higher purpose, or it’s going to get uncomfortable for you as well.

Every astrological shift we have, take some time to really assimilate it, to tune into the new energies, and to feel where the changes are.

  • Yesterday we had an eclipse and a new moon, and Venus, which was already in retrograde, moved into Gemini.
  • On June 4th, we have a lunar eclipse.
  • 6:6 is an energetically important date, when we are at a midpoint of some shifting.
  • June 24th (which I originally typed as 244th, for you numerologists) kicks off a 7 year cycle of change with a series of Mars-Neptune exact squares.
  • We will have another solar eclipse in November.

Every astrological event, every quarter moon, every shooting star, every solar flare – they are all going to affect us that much more strongly now.

Drink a lot of water, preferably mixed with a little clear fruit juice. Eat as healthy as possible, and make sure your diet has a high protein ratio. Get enough rest. Meditate on a daily basis, even if it’s just for 10 minutes a day. Hold yourself to a higher standard. Avoid drama and unnecessary conflict. Own your actions, and keep your side of the street clean. And ground ground ground ground! You really need to be here now, or you may find yourself completely adrift, lost, and without direction.

You are made of stars. Connect with that energy. Feel out into the night sky. Connect with the energy of the sun and the moon and the stars. Listen for the songs of nature and of the spheres. Write, paint, sculpt, dance, sing – be creative! We are really in the time of the Elohim, of the gods and goddesses becoming, so the more creative energy we connect with the better. It will only serve to ease our passage.

Be true to yourself. If you don’t know what your truth is, now is the time to find out. How does your heart ask you to be out in the world? What feels the most natural to you? What sorts of relationships, partnerships, friendships resonate with you? Where is your truth? How do you honor your true nature? What makes your heart sing? Are you doing that on a daily basis? What defines healthy and self-nurturing action for you?

Now is the time to be the people we’ve been waiting for.
Now is the time to be the children of the Sun.
Now is the time to become the gods and goddesses.
Now is the time to be the light of the world.

Blessings be upon us.

I also wrote the Spirit Speaks for The Crystal Matrix‘s June Newsletter, which has further information that may be useful. That should be posted on their website by the end of the month. - Ayamanatara

Posted in Astrology, Channeling, Meditation, Musings, Numerology, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

Here we go!

Posted on May 18, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

On Sunday, we will have a full solar eclipse, known as a Ring of Fire eclipse, which will peak at 4:47pm (West Coast of the US). This is the first eclipse visible form the US since 1991. This eclipse is the first of a number of major astronomical events of 2012. June 4th brings us a lunar eclipse. On June 6 Venus cross the surface of the sun, creating a brief alignment for us with the center of the Milky Way.June 24th kicks off a series of Mars-Neptune squares, setting up a 7 year pattern of revolutionary change. And then we have another total solar eclipse on November 13.

Some astrologers, including Elizabeth Jones, are talking about the fact that earth is moving out of a cloud in the Milky Way and into a place where we are much more directly affected by the sun. A sort of ‘coming into the light,’ if you will.

On a more directly personal level, Venus has gone retrograde, and moves into Gemini on the day of the eclipse. Venus’ retrogrades are  potentially hard on relationships, but this one will be especially hard on relationships where love is approached as if it were a formula.

Solar eclipses themselves are about global change. Some people feel the patterns suggest earthquakes, but, because of the eclipse’s relation to both a star in the Pleiades and the Archangel star Formalhaut, I suspect it’s going to be much more storm-related, as both of those stars are associated with water. Since water is associated with the subconscious and emotions, this eclipse also has the opportunity to create great emotional and karmic cleansing for each of you on an individual level. The eclipse also speaks to the climate, again suggesting storms, but also possibly toxic spills. A typical new and full moon have about two weeks of influence, while eclipses can have an impact for six months or more. We will see the effects of this particular eclipse through the end of 2015.

And, of course, it’s a new moon. Time to set your intentions for the coming cycle. But which cycle? The lunar cycle, the next 3 ½ years, the next 7? That part is up to you. But because of the strong, strong energy we’ve got going on right now, I recommend you go big.

In order to create revolutionary change, it is necessary to break up the old patterns and strengthen our connection to our higher selves. The necessity of this shift is making a lot of people irritable, restless, cranky, or downright angry. We dislike change in general, and core changes like this frequently bring all the uncomfortable to the surface.

The easiest way to launch yourself consciously into this change is to connect with the energy of the sun. From a meditative space, feel yourself reaching up and embracing it, and draw that energy down into you, connecting it to your own inner sun in the space behind your heart. Allow that energy to illuminate your old patterns and break them up, so that you can more clearly hear your heartsong. I recommend doing this several times a day between now and Sunday. For best results, do it every time you feel uncomfortable.

It’s time to be the light of the world!

 

Posted in Astrology, Meditation, Moon, Personal growth, Shift, Tools

Moving into Truth

Posted on May 10, 2012 by ayamanatara| Comments Off

On June 6th, the Sun, the Earth, and Venus will all be in a line. This will kick the pattern that we have been working toward, an opportunity for change on a grand scale, an astrological pattern not seen since the late 1960s. We are all moving towards this moment in time, when we will be asked to stand in our Truth. And it’s less than a month away.

Now is the time to look into the shadows in your own self. What is still holding you back from being awesome, spectacular, an agent of true change out in the world? What are your fears? What in your past are you still carrying around with you? What hides in the darkness, waiting to trip you up? What are the aspects of your character you would rather not have, or even look at? What haunts you?

Once you have done that, you need to look into your own shining light. What makes you uniquely *you*? What are your skills and talents? What does it seem like you were made for? I challenge you to find 100 things you like, admire, or respect about yourself. Because, until you find those, you will not be able to step into your most Divinely created self, not fully.

If you can complete both of these assignments, you will know your Truth and you will stand in it, consciously and willingly.

If you don’t, you’ll get there anyway, but it won’t be as pleasant.

 

 

Posted in Astrology, Personal growth, Shift, Tools