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!

As my gift to you, this weekend only, you can download the MP3 of my guided Reducing Pain meditation. If you’re not already on my (low traffic) mailing list, it would be nice if you signed up, but I’m not even going to make that a requirement. If you do want to sign up, just drop an email to newsletter-subscribe@ayamanatara.com (it will email you back to confirm).

If you’re reading this post after the weekend in question, the link will be gone.

Have a great weekend!

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.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Beltane is here (or nigh, depending on how you calculate)! It is a time of fertility, a time when nature blatantly displays her beauty to being about the conception of life. Flowers and trees are budding, things are incredibly green, everything is alive and bursting free from the earth. The veils are thin, the boundaries between the otherworld and here are more mutable, and faerie energy is everywhere.

Astrologically, we are fast approaching the point at which we will all have to stand in our Truth, whether we thing we are ready or not. If you are someone who resists change, this is going to be a challenging time, but if you embrace change, this is a time to spread your winds and soar. Own who you are, change what doesn’t appeal or serve, and be Who You Are, in all your glory.

The second trimester of Matrix International University has just begun. I am one month in on an introductory series in Canyon Country on Faerie Magick. We are in the time of the Big Sun, when our activities and impulses flow outward and most of us are more social. Now is a time of action, of making things happen! Look for the magic and the miracles all around you, revel in the glory of nature, and dance the dance of change. Take walks, spend time outside, listen to the birds, talk to the trees. Enjoy!

-Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral

In Memoriam
Milagros Maria Valdes
February 3, 1964 – April 15, 2012 2PM

I walked in, connecting with the masculine Divine. My mantra was

The Love of God surrounds me
The Light of God empowers me
The  Arms of God surround me
The Strength of God protects me
Where ever I am, God is.

At the end of each round, I would pause in my walking so I could be as present as possible (sometimes a struggle for me). I did my best to really feel the Divine, in the ground beneath my bare feet, in the sunshine on my skin, in the breeze blowing around me, and in my heart.

At the center, I simply worked on creating an internal connection to the All That Is.

On the way out, I felt compelled to chant. Without realizing it (at first), the chant I chose was one that connected me to the feminine Divine.

Earth is my body
Water is my blood
Air is my breath and
Fire is my soul

I realized, not for the first time, that my attachments are what create a sense of “other,” what keep me from feeling God in whatever form I might need it at the time. That realization alone takes away the weight of the attachments for me and makes them unimportant.

I am definitely in an interesting chapter shift. I lost a friend of mine to cancer a few weeks ago. I had performed his wedding to another dear friend, and he was also a client of mine. A few days before he passed, I saw his tunnel open up. It was so startling that I picked up my phone to see if his bride had texted me.

Another dear friend and client is in the final stages of cancer as I write this. She and I are part of a community still reeling from the death of another member, also to cancer, only a few months ago. She and her family have done something truly amazing. Instead of isolating, as so many people will do, they have lived out loud, sharing the steps of their struggle with other members of the community, documenting it all along the way.

Earlier this week, I could feel her slipping away. She is under full hospice care now, and has support and loved ones (not always the same people) around her 24/7. I started a prayer flag project for her. I invited anyone and everyone from the community to put their hand print on a 1′x1′ piece of cloth and get it to me. As I read the the stories of her life and look at the pictures people are posting, I am sewing the flags to a ribbon with a binding stitch. When it is done, i will take it to their home.

I would like it to be done in time for her to appreciate it, consciously and in body, but I know that the energy of love and support that it holds is flowing to her already. I hope that the support is being felt by her family as well, as it is also intended for them. Making the strand is intense enough that I keep having to pause, shake it off, and eat protein. One of my colleagues teared up when I unfolded it to show her, so I’m going to assume I’m not imagining its power.

I have been overwhelmingly busy this past month or so. Many projects, many health & household challenges. We are approaching the anniversary of the death of my best friend. as well as my natal day, a date that is more traumatic for than it is for most people. I keep rewriting it every year, and it has been getting better, but I still get a bit frantic around it.

I don’t, as a rule, pay too much attention to where my life path will take me; I figure that’s not my job. I just try to focus on where I am and what the next indicated action is. I have felt called  to rededicate myself to daily practice, and my morning rituals have become more extensive, returning to my foundations. That’s fine, I’m sure I need it. But I feel something coming. I just don’t know what it is yet. In the meantime, I breathe.

I will still post the main content here, but it won’t look like this and it won’t have the special, announcements, or upcoming classes.

Spring Greetings!

“April showers bring May flowers.” While I’m sure that this was written by someone who lives where they have real weather, it is, in fact, raining as I write this. As much as it make my body hurt, I welcome the rain for the clean air it brings and for the nourishment to the earth. We here in Southern California haven’t had nearly enough rain yet this year, as I’d love to see things be green a bit longer.

At the end of April, the second trimester begins at Matrix International University. I really enjoyed teaching for first trimester; college level studies sometimes feel more in depth, and i can count on my students to complete the assignments, something that does not always happen in standalone workshops. I’ll be teaching Introduction to Magic (high and low), Psychic Protection, and Tarot. You do not need to be enrolled in the University to audit classes, by the way, although MIU is a marvlous place to get your Bachelor’s degree.

We are moving closer and closer to the moment of truth — I channeled a short piece on that for The Crystal Matrix Center’s April newsletter; if you’d like to see what SpiderWoman had to say, you should be able to see it here.

My goal for this month, in so far as the website goes, it to get the new ebooks and guided meditations up for purchase and download. I think I’ll be offering a new edition of 365 Days to Enlightenment as an ebook, as part of that collection. There will be a collection of pain management meditations as well.

I hope this spring is treating you well and you are transitioning your changes with ease and grace (or at least without too much flailing).

May You Be The Light of the World!
Ayamanatara

Some sounds are more beneficial than others. Tonal healing is based on the idea that certain sounds will help balance out the energy in your body and foster healing and positive mood changes. Specific sounds and notes have been used for thousands of years by mystical practitioners during meditation. For example, a frequency of 256Hz will produce the note “C,” and will directly effect the root chakra, which is where your issues of survival lie; therefore, this note can actually refuse an overactive fight-or-flight response, calming panic attacks and soothing PTSD triggers.  A frequency of 341.3Hz will create an “F” note, hitting the heart chakra, and engendering an overall sense of well being and connectedness.

Some instruments are better at creating the exact right note for healing and meditation. Singing bowls, both metal and pressed crystal, are some of the best. Jonathan Goldman’s Crystal Bowls Chakra Chants and Deuter’s Nada Himalaya are two albums that are excellent for meditation and self healing through the use of singing bowls. I myself offer periodic live group meditation sessions wherein I play various singing bowls, toning bars, chimes and the occasional wave drum to create a soundscape that facilitates relaxation, journeying, and healing.

A singing bowl meditation is what I call a “passive meditation,” in that you are specifically not focusing on any given thing, such as a mantra or even the idea of being present. Instead, you allow the sounds to carry you out of your conscious mind, so that you can experience just being. People have reported feelings of joy and release, even bliss. The meditation experience has even been known to shift psychical discomfort for some people.

I really enjoy doing these sessions, because there’s something amazing about being able to “bliss people out.” I was offering them monthly, in several different venues, but my schedule is shifted and I am currently only doing one every other month up in Canyon Country. This may change in the future, but, for now, they’re a somewhat rare offering from me.

Ayamanatara’s next Singing Bowl Meditation will be this Wednesday, march 28th, at 7:30pm, at Kenneally Acupuncture and Healing Light Resource Center in Canyon Country. Please call (661) 252-4100 for reservations; space is limited.

“Great,” you say. “That and three bucks will get me a cup of coffee.”

Or maybe you’re less pessimistic, and you ask, “How can I access that power?”

Let’s understand what that power is, first. The entire Universe is powered by a combination of push and pull, or positive and negative polarities. Those polarities are sometimes described as masculine and feminine forces, which has nothing to do with gender, just as positive and negative in this case have nothing to do with value judgments. Push/positive force would be described as masculine, and pull/negative force would be described as feminine.

Each of us contains both of those forces within us. So when someone says to you that your masculine and feminine energies are out of balance, they are referring to those forces, not to your masculine and feminine traits or qualities.

Having said that, those forces do exhibit themselves through us in certain ways that we have come to ascribe to male and female tendencies. Masculine energy is about action, feminine energy is about receptivity. You can perhaps see how this might translate out in the world. I would like to emphasize, however, that both men and women should exhibit equal parts action and receptivity in order to be effective. If you have a control issue, and are always in “do,” you’re going to burn yourself out. Likewise, if all you do is receive (which can start to look like “take” to those around you), you are going to be disempowered, and have no room for new things to flow into your life.

Working with Archetypes is an excellent way to work through these imbalances. Aspiring to the energy of this Goddess or that God can help us shift our own energy to move more into balance. Archetypal energy doesn’t always fall into clear push/pull lines, however, so don’t be fooled into making it that simple. There are Goddess archetypes which do, and many God archetypes which receive. They just may do it in a different way. It is sometimes those differences that can really assist in shifting our own energy.

A number of years ago, Spirit gave me an affirmation that I call Becoming The Goddess, that helped me immensely in shifting my own energy; it even helped me get out of an abusive relationship. I have, over the years, shared this tool with others, with amazing results. People have overcome anxiety disorders, tapped in to their own personal power, changed careers to follow their heart song, and more.

Becoming The Goddess works on several levels.
•    It helps you understand that strength and power don’t have to be antagonistic or have an edge
•    It puts you in the flow and rhythm of your own energy
•    It is an affirmation that helps you enhance those things about yourself that you admire, or even bring in traits you feel are lacking
•    It counters the noise in your head that we all experience in such a way as to make the affirmation more effective

I will be presenting a very special version of this workshop tonight at Everyday Zen Relaxation Studio at 6:30pm, as part of the year of the Divine Feminine. Please call 562-424-2444 to see if there is still space if you would like to join us!

I started with paying attention to the sensation of contact and movement. How did it feel when my feet connect with the ground? What were the different textures of things in my path? How did my flowy pants feel brushing against my legs? How did the sun and the breeze feel on my skin?

Then I moved on to what I was hearing. What were the individual sounds? What was the concert of combined noise? I let it flow over me and through me, while not allowing myself to judge it or feel impacted by it.

There were scents. What did I smell? How did that change based on where I was? How did the various scents blend?

At the center, for contemplation, I checked in with each part of my physical form, being careful to not judge or push any of it away. I started with the soles of my feet and worked my way up. Any time I encountered discomfort, I breathed into the space, just being present to it.

On the way back out, the spaces between became more important. How did my fleets feel in between the steps, when they weren’t in contact with the ground? This may have been the most intriguing for me. It was fascinating to pay attention to the lack of contact.

Normally, my attention/flow/rhythm in the labyrinth is releasing on the way in, contemplation at the center, and receiving on the way out. I kept wanting to think about what I was receiving, but there wasn’t anything. Awareness, to me, just is, and the other stuff just covers it up. This was more about focusing on action (masculine principle) on the way in, and passivity (feminine principle) or lack of action and contact on the way out.

Subsequently, I have been very much in my flow and intuition this afternoon.

Namaste