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Posts Tagged ‘spiritual growth’

LightofSamhainSmall

There have been a few posts on FaceBook in the last few weeks that have really caught my attention. These melded together when I saw an article in a small spiritual review magazine on ‘ascension’.

This article outlined the various stages of ascension, showing at as a progression, as a ladder, as something that you strive towards. This is nothing new. There have been books over the last 30 years that have echoed the same idea – lifetimes are thought of as linear, progression is a straightforward process of becoming ‘ascended’. The concept too, is that is you ‘fail’ at an level, you have to go back and start again. Mmmm…….

My first query is – what is ascension?
Most of us are aware of its meaning in a biblical sense, but in what way is it being used nowadays? The worst case scenario is that it is being used to describe a process that will get you ‘away from here to a better place’ – ‘here’, being the experience of being a human on planet Earth.

As Naisha Ashian beautifully put it a week or so back:
“Raise your consciousness and your vibration will take care of itself. High frequency does not mean “good” and low frequency does not mean “bad”.”
“When you meditate your actual vibration (frequencies of heart and brain) get lower.”
“Low frequency (for instance, 7.8 hz– which is a Schumann* resonance of the Earth) is extremely helpful to the body and assists with proper cellular regeneration (high frequency causes cellular mutation and cancer), circadian rhythms and proper cellular metabolism.”

(*Space vehicles have to be fitted with Schumann generators to keep the astronauts healthy)
Lowering your frequency helps to keep you in touch with the planet. Anything that takes you away from being here, now – is probably suspect advice.

Be here, now. Don’t try to run off anywhere else.

The second query – what is the effect that these articles, workshops and books are having on people?
Those caught up in the glamour inevitably start to see themselves as lacking in some way. The hype encourages people to embark on the ‘process’ of self-improvement mostly out of fear of being left behind, fear being the odd one out in a group or fear of being seen as a failure. Each step on the ladder is often being seen as a goal to be achieved.

You are worthy and valuable as you are.

The third query is ‘who’ or ‘what’ is ‘ascending’?
Many teachers over the millennia have tried to help us to understand that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. We have already reached ‘it’, but we are not aware that we have.
‘There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now but that it is yet to be obtained. What is got afresh will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That.’

(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

You are already ‘there’, but you may not be aware that you are.

The fourth query is – who is judging who is ‘ascended’?

The knee-jerk reaction is to see people who have a high public profile and are demonstrably spiritual people as automatically ‘further up the ladder’. Indeed some people in that category see themselves as such!

Oh….. if it were that simple!

In the grand scheme of things the differences between those who consider themselves ‘well on the way’ and those who are beginning their journey of self-awareness is miniscule.

Try not to compare yourself to others. They have their journey, you have yours.

The ‘ascension levels’ are often described as changes to the different layers of our being. As an astrologer for over thirty years I see these processes in people’s charts. There is no set order to these challenges (or initiations, if you like). You don’t ‘do’ the physical one and then move onto the ‘emotional’ one. They come willy-nilly, in the order that you ultimately have chosen for this lifetime to achieve personal goals or to gain experience. True, there may be issues that you do not complete or fully integrate and these may be carried over as unfinished business, but these are not failures. They are simply parts of the on-going process.

You do not have to strive for the ‘ascension’ levels as they will come to you at the appropriate time and in the appropriate type for you. When you encounter them, try to understand the core of what is going on and take the lesson on board.

Past or other-life issues are simply bits of you that are not in the present time. Rather than spending time wistfully thinking about or dreaming about these and what they mean, try to understand the core of the issue and embrace it.

Get as much of you as you can, into the here and now – embrace it, integrate it. The journey will take automatically you to your inner or higher Self.

Not so much an ‘as-cension’ process more if an ‘inward-cension’ or even a ‘de-scension’ into who you really are……

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Maat or Ma’at, was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law and justice.

Maat was also personified as a goddess who regulated the movement of the planets and stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities. In this way she set the order or logos of the universe. Egyptians believed in an underlying unity in the universe and that proper conduct in public life upheld that (21st century politicians please note!). In short, everything, everywhere was linked to and part of Maat.

Early records indicate that Maat is the status quo for nature, society, in every dimension. Her role in and after creation is to prevent the universe from returning to chaos. Pharaohs were often depicted with the emblems or images of Maat to highlight their role in upholding the laws of the Creator.

Maat was depicted as a young woman, usually holding a sceptre and ankh. Sometimes she is shown as having wings and nearly always has a feather as part of her headdress.

Her energy is often thought of as a combination of the planet Saturn (law, tradition, stability) and the zodiac sign of Libra (The Scales). The stone Lapis Lazuli has close connections to her.

She also had a role in Egyptian mythology as the person who dealt with the weighing of souls that took place in the underworld, after death. The departing soul (the heart) was weighed against her feather to determine whether the soul would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. You can find a list of the questions that the soul was asked below the main text. These questions are comprehensive and anyone telling the truth would answer ‘no’ to at least one, consigning the soul to another incarnation.

Anubis/Thoth would then weighed the heart against Maat’s feather and if the scales were balanced the soul was released into the afterlife.

Maat has a temple dedicated to her in Karnak and there have been hints in documents that suggest that there were at least two others ( Memphis and at Deir el-Medina)

Having done Kabbalistic pathworkings linked to Maat when much younger, I can vouch that when working with her energy one has to be clear about one’s motives, completely truthful and honest or all hell will break lose!

Here is a translation of the 42 Negative Confessions. Some of them may seem repetitive, but this is caused by the inability to translate the exact intent and meaning of the original language.

1. I have not done iniquity.
2. I have not robbed with violence.
3. I have not stolen.
4. I have done no murder; I have done no harm.
5. I have not defrauded offerings.
6. I have not diminished obligations.
7. I have not plundered the neteru.
8. I have not spoken lies.
9. I have not uttered evil words.
10. I have not caused pain.
11. I have not committed fornication.
12. I have not caused shedding of tears.
13. I have not dealt deceitfully.
14. I have not transgressed.
15. I have not acted guilefully.
16. I have not laid waste the ploughed land.
17. I have not been an eavesdropper.
18. I have not set my lips in motion (against any man).
19. I have not been angry and wrathful except for a just cause.
20. I have not defiled the wife of any man.
21. I have not been a man of anger.
22. I have not polluted myself.
23. I have not caused terror.
24. I have not burned with rage.
25. I have not stopped my ears against the words of Right and Truth. (Ma-at)
26. I have not worked grief.
27. I have not acted with insolence.
28. I have not stirred up strife.
29. I have not judged hastily.
30. I have not sought for distinctions.
31. I have not multiplied words exceedingly.
32. I have not done neither harm nor ill.
33. I have not cursed the King. (i.e. violation of laws)
34. I have not fouled the water.
35. I have not spoken scornfully.
36. I have never cursed the neteru.
37. I have not stolen.
38. I have not defrauded the offerings of the neteru.
39. I have not plundered the offerings of the blessed dead.
40. I have not filched the food of the infant.
41. I have not sinned against the neter of my native town.
42. I have not slaughtered with evil intent the cattle of the neter.

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ekajati2

Ekajati, whose name means ‘one single birth’, or ‘one braid of hair’ is probably one of the fiercest and most powerful of the ‘dark’ goddesses, mamos8 or dakinis9. She is found in both Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

She has a special place in the Tibetan traditions of  Bön1 and Dzogchen2 teachings as she is regarded as one of the three protectors3 or guardians the teachings. According to legends her right eye was damaged by Padmasambhava 4 so that she could help him deal with Tibetan demons.

In her Tibetan manifestation she is seen as having a chignon or bun of hair and only one eye – the latter being a nod to the legend that Padmasambhava pierced the other – but also indicative of non-dual vision, the lack of separation between the universe/creator and the self. Her single tooth shows that she destroys or eats through obstacles and the single breast feeds those who correctly follow the teachings and traditions that she protects.

Like many images of the ‘dark’ goddesses, she is depicted naked or sometimes wearing a skin (in softer imagery a tiger skin, but in more wrathful imagery – a human skin!) and dancing on the corpse of the ego. Her headdress if often composed of skulls as is her necklace. What she hold in her hands can vary – skull cup5, grigug6, khatvanga7 or  in some designs a  corpse of a perverter of the teachings as her sceptre in one hand and the heart of an enemy or betrayer in the other.

As one of the ‘21 Taras’ her energies are also seen as Mahachinatara (Dark Blue, Wrathful or Ugra Tara) and in Blue Tara (where she depicted with the head of a wolf). She is regarded as a liberator, with the power to remove fear and barriers on the path to enlightenment.

Mantras and practices linked to Ekajati are kept secret or only released after an initiation process as many teachers accept that working with her energy can be destructive if a practitioner does not have the capacity to handle the effects. Disrespect, carelessness and laziness will be dealt with by her destroying egos and pushing a practitioner onwards to ultimate realization. This may sound like something one would aspire to, but the effect, without appropriate guidance and support would likely be fatal!

Notes:

1Bon: is the native, ancient Tibetan practice that has its roots in shamanic and animist traditions and now runs parallel with later Buddhist practices.

2Dzogchen: translated from Tibetan as ‘The Great Perfection’, sometimes also called ‘Atiyoga’

3Protectors: Ekajati is generally considered one of the three principal protectors of the Dzogchen and Nyingma lineages. The others are Rahula and Dorje Legpa.

4Padmasambhava; also known as the ‘Second Buddha’ and Guru Rinpoche. He introduced Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.

5Skull Cup: Implement used in ritual to remind the practitioner of the impermanence of life.

6Grigug: Implement used in ritual to represent a knife used to remove skin from a corpse

7Khatvanga: a long staff with depictions of 3 skulls and ribbons of the 5 colours of the elements

8Mamos: Wrathful goddesses, usually pictured as furious, ugly women. They can be dakinis acting as protectors. Ekajati is their queen. If reacted to negatively, mamos appear to be aggressive, destructive and wreak chaos.

9Dakini or Khandro: Energy beings often but not exclusively in female form, messengers, bringers of wisdom .

ekajati

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VenusScorpio

I have been pondering the placement of Venus in my natal astrology chart over the last few days. My Venus is in the sign of Scorpio, 5th house, and is, at present, being influenced by the planet Saturn, as it passes though Scorpio (transiting Saturn conjunct natal Venus), Saturn takes about 28 years to complete one cycle through the zodiac, so this is the second time I have experienced this effect of Saturn on my Venus.

 The first transit occurred between December 1983, allowing for retrogrades, it left the proximity of my Venus, in September 1984. I can remember little of that time. My younger daughter would have been between 21 months at the beginning and two years 6 months at the end. It was probably one of the most financially secure times in my life. Emotionally and mentally it was also quite stable as I had had none of the postnatal depression I had experienced four years earlier. Spiritually it was time for reading and it was also when I resumed my studies as an astrologer. (I gave up whilst my daughter was very small, due to ‘baby-brain’!)

 If you look at standard astrological assessments for natal Venus in Scorpio, they are usually focused on the sexual and erotic nature of the Venus/Scorpio mix and often not that flattering! Having said that, several people in public life also share this placement with me – Leonardo de Caprio, Mahatma Gandhi, Hugh Jackman, Bill Gates, Demi Moore, to name a few, plus (Goddess forbid!), Vladimir Putin, with whom I also share my birthday! (His ascendant is 3 degrees Scorpio, mine is 18 degrees Cancer)

 In the superficial astrological blurb available, Venus in Scorpio focuses on the sensuality and passion of the Scorpionic energies – deep, not easy to read, stubborn, jealous and intense – all of which I can relate to though as far as jealousy is concerned not something I would easily admit to. It is not jealousy of others, their possessions or position in life, but a type of jealousy aimed when others take more than a friendly interest in my partner. I relate this to the ‘all or nothing’ element of commitment with this planet/sign mix, to the extent that one of my favourite quotes is ‘Do or do not  – there is no try’, attributed to Yoda in ’The Empire Strikes Back’. Commitment and loyalty are 100% until betrayal by another party, then I simply withdraw completely and walk away.

Venus in Scorpio is also considered to be a karmic placement for the planet with regard to relationships. The crunch is on the ability to love, accept and tolerate oneself and to have a sense of self-worth. Lack of these is often displaced onto other people as wariness, distrust and a need to manipulate. From a soul point of view, the destructive and transforming nature of Scorpio would activate in any relationship that does not help with the development of the higher self. (A good excuse if ever I heard one for giving a partner the elbow!)

From a holistic viewpoint Venus in Scorpio has the capacity to change the vibration of energy, like a rheostat does in an electrical circuit, stepping up and stepping down the power. The capacity to heal is therefore powerful but it needs to be harnessed in a way that the amount of energy given out or taken in would not damage the healer or client. Physical therapies would therefore be attractive, if there was a mechanism to do this within it – like I found in several of the therapies I trained in. The ability to see into the murky depths of any person or situation does give an unnerving skill to see to the truth or possibilities available. This can be used in psychological investigations, counselling and mentoring. Venus in Scorpio is very much the ‘Lady of the Lamp’ who can show the soul the way forward.

I think the depth of perception is what makes many people scared of me, both men and women. I always thought this was because of the strong Uranian energy that I carry (the rebel, the square-peg-in-a-round-hole who never fits in and was never meant to!), but now I am not so sure. Having learned the hard way to ground and anchor my personal energies to keep me safe, I forget how this must come across to others, especially those I do not know well.

So what of this Saturn transiting natal Venus in Scorpio? Certainly, this time, the financial security is not there (downturn and all!). Other areas of life are steady, at the moment. The current trend with Saturn started at the end of January 2013 and leaves my Venus at the end of October 2013. Saturn will be here to anchor the Venusian energies, allowing them to become manifest in the world. It is also certainly marking a time of reassessment and reappraisal.

Being well into my ‘crone years’ it may be no surprise that I have been drawn back to exploring the nature of what are called the ‘Dark Goddesses’, those creative embodiments of merciless clarity, reflected in what I see as the ‘Venus in Scorpio’ energy. They give the ability to wield power with compassion to heal and transform oneself and then maybe allow anything that is left to ooze out, into the world.

 Over the coming months I will be blogging on the Dark Goddesses from differing cultures and belief systems – so watch this space.

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My book ‘The Sovereignty Year’ * (linked to the Sovereignty Essences**) describes the facets of the Goddess for each of the 4 solar stations of the year and the 4 quarter-days between. In the book the facets are given Celtic or Arthurian names, but each has a resonance worldwide.

Spring Equinox (20/21st March)

The archetype in Arthurian Grail legends is Kundry where she is described as a wild woman, an ugly crone who challenges Gawain. She also appears in Wagner’s ‘Parcifal’ in a similar role. The name ‘Kundry’ itself is derived from the German for ‘news’ or ‘information’ (Kunde). Indeed although depicted as an ugly woman she is also described as wealthy and learned.

In many Celtic tales she is referred to as the ‘Loathly Damsel’ whom the hero is often required to kiss. When he does, her ugly form will then dissipate and she is transformed into a beautiful woman. As a facet of Sovereignty (the Goddess of the Land) any aspiring king or knight must embrace her in her worst aspect in order to have the authority to rule. This can also been seen as a need to love the Land in winter, which allows the flowing season of spring to appear!

The Loathly Damsel also appears in the folk songs, like ‘King Henry’first recorded by Steeleye Span in 1972

Click Here

In this song ‘King Henry’, Henry is challenged to do the ugly crone’s bidding, which he does, to the letter, and is rewarded.

“Take off your clothes now King Henry
And lie down by my side,
Now swear, now swear you King Henry
To take me for your bride.
Oh God forbid, says King Henry,
That ever the like betide,
That ever a fiend that comes from hell
Should stretch down by my side.

When the night was gone and the day was come
And the sun shone through the hall,
The fairest lady that ever was seen
Lay between him and the wall.
I’ve met with many a gentle knight
That gave me such a fill,
But never before with a courteous knight
That gave me all my will”

This type of ‘challenge’ made to men is present in many cultures and many legends and reflects the ancient tradition of women holding the power and ‘ownership’ of the Land. In Egypt, for example, the pharaohs only ruled by the power of Maat – the goddess of judgment and balance. If he did not meet her requirements, he did not rule.

It has only been since the balance between male and female was lost, that men have taken over that role of ruling and ownership alone and in the process have tended to subjugate and denigrate their role to bolster their own. Regrettably many religions, business and goverments continue to regard women in this lowly way.

The energy behind the goddesses of the Spring Equinox epitomises knowledge, challenge, teaching and destiny.
Kundry is regarded as a guardian of tradition and has no qualms of getting down to do the most difficult of tasks. She has clarity and compassion, but is also thought of as wrathful or ‘black, indicative of the amount of power she wields, rather like Kali of the Mahavidyas and Hindu mythology.

Kundry represents the voice of the Earth and therefore the voice of Sovereignty. When approached in the right way she has much to teach much about how we approach experience. One way is to embrace everything and look at life as a play of the Elements, another is to study theories. One way is to know things intellectually and the other to know things from the center of our being. This reflects the duality of the spiritual path, a recognition of the balance of male/female within.

The Spring Equinox energy also has close links with serpents and dragons, with all the mythology that both entail.

Visualisation from’ The Sovereignty Year’

Kundry’s Dragons

1. Begin by settling your body into a comfortable position.
2. On each outbreath relax your body
3. Imagine yourself in a small clearing within a wood, surrounded by trees with spring flowers bursting from the ground beneath your feet.
4. Follow that pathway before you and begin to walk into the wood.
5. The further you go, the more rugged the ground. You come across a stream that is running very fast.
6. Centre yourself, and ask for help from the Earth elemental energies, to enable you to cross the stream.
7. Before you, stepping stones emerge from the waters and you can then safely walk across.
8. Continue following the path until you come to a place where a veil of ivy bars your way.
9. Sweep away the ivy and you see before you a tree stump, framed by two other trees.
10. As your vision clears, you notice that there is a silver dragon entwined around one tree and a gold one around the other.
11. On the tree stump you can see a hologram of moving and changing lights and energies, and you draw nearer for a closer look.
12. In the ever-moving spherical hologram you see people, places, the future and the past.
13. Centre yourself once again, closing your eyes.
14. When you open them again, the hologram has changed to a view of far-off galaxies that move to engulf you.
15. Concentrating on the trees around you, you become aware of the dragons speaking to you.
16. Stay here for a while. Listen first to the gold dragon, then the silver. Listen to what they say and look closely at anything that is offered to you.
17. When you are ready to leave, thank the dragons and see them merge before your eyes and dissolve into the galaxies and stars.
18. You find yourself, once again, on the shores of the fast running stream. The stepping stones are still visible, but as you use them to cross over, they disappear from sight.
19. You retrace your steps to the clearing in the wood, noticing the beauty of the flowers.
20. Stay still for a few moments and then bring yourself out of the visualisation.

* Hardcopy version of ‘The Sovereignty Year’ is available from:
greenmanshop.co.uk

*PDF version is available from TreeSeer.com

** Essences are available from: greenmanshop.co.uk

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I have always has an ‘interesting’ relationship with snakes.

My initial difficulties stem from an early age. We lived in a street called ‘Adderbury’ and I was aware that in the summer there were lots of adders (the only poisonous snake native to the UK) at the bottom of our garden.

I can clearly remember walking down a narrow alley, near where I used to leave my bike whilst at school and having to jump over a small coiled snake. I was really scared and never used that short cut again. I know now that the snake I saw was a female adder, often more brown than the striking and classically marked male.

An episode at a Girl Guide camp in the New Forest did nothing to ease my fears. Whilst walking in the woods quite close to the camp I saw a huge grass snake (non-poisonous), with a body about 20cms diameter, curled up, sunning itself on a tree stump. I ran like hell!

My next significant encounter was during a visualisation/meditation as part of my yoga-teacher training in the late 1970s. Part of the visualisation was set beside a lake and we were asked to meet a creature that was to be your helper. Immediately a snake appeared. We were instructed to walk with the creature down to the water’s edge….. Yeah! Right!   The snake curled up my lower leg and I limped down to the lakeside, thinking to myself ‘this is stupid’! The next instruction was to pick up a bucket and full it with water. Then to let your creature carry the bucket back to the clearing……. Oh Yes! My imagination is now working overtime with various cartoon images of snakes carrying buckets with handles in their mouths; me limping away from the lake….. It was all too much and I started to giggle. At the end when the tutor checked with everyone he was at a loss to explain ‘why a snake?’ He had never encountered this before and I wasn’t the only person with a snake as a helper that day.

A short while later I had a lucid dream where I was bitten by a snake. I woke up sweating and in panic.

A year or two after that I had a similar dream. This time there was no panic. The thought was ‘no problem, there is a homeopathic remedy for that’.

Sometime later there was yet another similar lucid dream. By this time I had started to understand what the dreams meant for me.  This time the reaction was  “Oh b****r! That means another big spiritual transformation and shift! Damn!’.

The fear left over from my childhood has evaporated and replaced by fascination and curiosity – I even managed to touch a python about ten years ago at Paignton Zoo. I have seen snakes in the wild in the UK, Nepal and Japan,  in situations where they are seen as a blessing and signs of good fortune.

Dragons and nagas (serpent-like earth guardians) are now very close to my heart and are one of the main personal links I have to the subtle energies of Nature.

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During one of our earlier visits to Japan, as a break from our teaching schedule, our hosts took us to the Shinto Shrine of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu at Ise.

The name ‘Amaterasu’ can be translated as ‘shining in heaven’. The story goes that she had two brothers – Susano (Mmm ….interesting link there!!), the summer storm god and Tsukuyomi, the god of the Moon and night. (Another fascinating note that the idea of the Sun as female and the Moon as male has its roots in several ancient systems including Tibetan and Norse.)  Amaterasu split with her brother Tsukuyomi after he killed the goddess of food, the break-up giving rise to the division of night and day. She had problems with Susano too, which led to her retreating into a cave, effectively removing the life-giving Sun from the earth. The other gods did all they could to lure her out and when eventually she did emerge, she returned to the sky.

Japan has a long tradition of being linked to the sun. Historically referred to as ‘The Land of the Rising Sun’ Japan continues its link to Amaterasu through its national flag and the items linked to her – the mirror, jewel and sword – that comprise the Japanese Imperial regalia.

We arrived after dark at our hotel for our first night’s stay. I was not at my strongest as I was recovering from the Noro stomach virus. As I rested before going to sleep and probably because of my weakened condition, I slipped into ‘other’ awareness very easily.

I found myself gasping for air. I was up to my neck in water and the ceiling was just above my head. The water was continuing to rise and I knew I was about to drown. There was no panic. I focused on where and who I was. I knew that I held a religious post with many responsibilities and that at least one person I am close to now, was a colleague, and they had already died. I realised too, this was a tsunami and with that I simply let go.

The following day we visited the famous shrine of Amaterasu. There was a familiarity about the place that was a little unsettling, even to being able to find small hidden shrine, tucked away down a narrow pathway. We were rewarded by a gentle breeze that moved the shrine curtains, a sure sign that our presence was noted. We went from there to Mikimoto Pearl Island to learn about pearls and to watch the amazing ‘ama’ the lady pearl-divers, do a demonstration on how pearls used to be collected. How fit are they!

That night, as my consciousness slipped, I became aware of a huge pearl. Apt, I thought, given where we had been that day! I then realised that there was a claw holding that pearl. The pearl then raced away from me, down and down into the earth. I followed it until I came face to face with an enormous dragon. It scared me, it was so BIG. Nevertheless I stood there, holding my ground and now holding the pearl. The dragon roared and flames engulfed me. But I was OK. Shaken, cleansed but definitely OK. I then jolted back into full consciousness.

The next day we went to Meoto Iwa where the famous ‘husband and wife’ or ‘loved-one and loved-one’ stones are found just offshore, joined together by a heavy rope of rice-straw. We were there at low tide (as you can see by the image below), as at high tide the sea fills the gap between the rocks.

In the summer the sun rises between these stones and aligns them with Mt Fuji, in the distance. Whilst fondling the bronze sculpture of the huge frog and looking to the stones, my awareness slipped again.  This view was SO familiar, yet from long ago. I could also see people doing ritual bathing in front of the rocks. Later, I discovered the ritual bathing still happens here.

I thought little more about this until my return to the UK. As an astrologer I was very aware that my natal chart was ‘active’ at this time with transiting Pluto conjunct my natal Mars. On a whim I looked up the correspondences to the Mars placement in (A T Mann) Tad Mann’s book ‘Divine Plot’ (available from Amazon as pre-owned). In this book Tad Mann correlates natal planetary placements to past- life/other-life timings. My Mars placement correspondes to around 1707 AD. To quell my curiosity I googled for tsunamis in Japan at that time.

SHOCK!

On 28th October 1707 at 2pm the largest earthquake at 8.6 (until the recent one in 2011) occured At Hoei. The subsequent tsunami caused thousands of deaths. The landfall of the wave would have included  the Toba/Ise/Meoto Iwa area. It is also thought that it may have triggered the last-known eruption of Mt Fuji in mid-December that year!

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The lunar eclipse of the 4th June 2012, 11.14 GMT is partly visible over part of the USA and Canada and fully visible in Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. It provides a neat link between the powerful solar eclipses – one in May 2012 that started in Hong Kong and arched through Japan, to Alaska and down to California and the one that will occur on November 13th from Australia, New Zealand to the coast of Chile & Peru, South America.

This lunar eclipse relates also to the solar eclipse of August 1999, which had a ‘Grand Cross’ of Fixed Signs (Leo, Scorpio, Aquarious and Taurus). Planets involved here were Sun and Moon in Leo,  Mars in Scorpio, Uranus in Aquarius and Saturn in Taurus – all between 14 and 18 degrees. Fixed signs, like the name suggests, have qualities of stability and resistance to change. This solar eclipse heralded the beginning of the changes we now see around us.

The lunar eclipse on the 4th June also has a ‘Grand Cross’, but this time all the sign are ‘Mutable’. These signs – Virgo, Sagitarius, Pisces and Gemini all share qualities of flexibility and adaptability. the planets involved are Mars in Virgo, Moon in Sagittarius, Chiron in Pisces and The Sun (and Venus) in Gemini – all between 10 and 16 degrees.

This lunar eclipse lifts the stagnant, hard-to-move energies of 1999, bringing flexibility and abilities to adapt to changing circumstances. A welcome shift after 13 years of frustration and opening windows of hope in people’s minds.

Added to this, is the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun on the 6th June. These combine together to bring new harmony and creative communication. However,  Venus is in its esoteric home, the sign Gemini. This would suggest that harmony will only be forthcoming when diversity is embraced. Trying to hold on to rigid ideas of what should or must be will be fruitless. As said today in the wonderful blog,  ‘heroesnotzombies’ , there are always options, just maybe not the ones we or our political leaders want!

The astrological energies show the continuing need to be vigilant and not to get caught up in the spirals of negative thought and lost hope.

The speed of modern-day communication shows us that truth can be revealed to those wishing to listen and see.

We are as trapped or caught by circumstance as we allow ourselves to be. Change our thinking and we change our world!

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A group of tutors from the UK, Spain and Greece were invited to present a conference in Kuwait in the autumn of  2009 and I  guessed we were in for something special as the weekend was not only Samhain/Hallowe’en but there was also the Full Moon.

Twenty years previously Kuwait had been invaded by Iraq and many people fled to Saudi Arabia to safety. The invasion resulted in the Sovereignty of Kuwait (the goddess of the Land) being damaged and one of the reasons for the conference was to try to bring some healing to Kuwait.

On the first day I in Kuwait tried to contact the Sovereignty representative of Kuwait and to try to find the main dragon energy. This was not easy. Eventually a young woman in her 20’s appeared, initially with the full, black clothing we associate with women in some Islamic countries. I sat with her for a while and then her dress changed into something more traditional and akin to Bedouin clothing, but mostly brown in colour. I asked here where her dragon was and she cried, saying she had lost it.

The second session involved my trying to find the dragon. I did eventually, thanks to someone from the UK dragon group who emailed me to say she thought the dragon was buried. It took a while to extricate it, but it was a dark green colour interspersed with others colour – a bit like the crystal labradorite. It was not injured in any way. So with the Sovereignty Representative and the dragon together, the first job was to check the Kuwaiti borders. They were faint to non-existent in places, but with some clearing and focus they gradually became full of light.

At this point I also spoke to a colleague from Scotland who had also travelled out to Kuwait to present at the conference. She had taken her crystal skulls with her and I noticed that the jade skull was the same colour shades as the Kuwaiti dragon. She confirmed that she too works with dragons. On the final day of the conference she did a presentation which involved some drumming. When the drumming beat settled into something I could journey to, I found myself immediately in a large circle of women, two or three deep, around a small campfire. Behind the women were the glowing eyes of dragons. In the centre, on her own, dancing around the fire was the Kuwaiti Sovereignty. It was a very beautiful sight, so timeless and so important.

At the time we thought it would be interesting to see what happened over the next month and then over the next 13 months as something started at a full moon often takes a lunar year to really activate.

Well, a year later I was invited back, with my husband, to Kuwait for a week’s teaching and part of the programme we gave was an evening working with Preseli Bluestone. (Preseli Bluestone has strong links with all dragon energies and is a useful earth healing stone.)

We completed our lesson plan and decided to finish with a meditation. The group decided that the focus would be Kuwait, the country, (interesting given the work we has all done the previous year!). We decided to employ one of the patterns we worked with a few weeks before near Exeter. We had 18 people in Kuwait and moved their chairs into a teardrop shape with an empty chair with a single stone at the narrow end. At the centre of gravity of the teardrop we placed an Earth Protector/Earth Goddess energy card on the floor.

We talked the participants into a relaxed state. We then asked them to put their awareness into the stones they held and then to focus on the card.

The result was spectacular.

Nearly everyone either felt or ‘saw’ a vortex open up going into the earth and light pouring into the Land.
People reported they could feel the ripple effect of the energy. Indeed several said they could still feel it a couple of days after.
Many in the group decided to do regular Land meditations, like this, to continue to help to heal Kuwait. As someone said – Kuwait lost its heart after the Iraqi invasion – which considering that had its roots in British Colonial meddlings in the past, it was appropriate that energy from the UK should help with the healing………

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Episode 3

During my first experience of ‘shakipat’ in the 1970s (see previous blog), I was very aware of a point in the process when I realised that I may have to give up that which was most precious to me, at some point in the future. As a young mother my ‘precious’s’ were my two children. It never occured to me that it would actually happen. Eleven years later, following the break-up of my first marriage, my three children went to live with their Dad. This was mainly because I didn’t want them to grow up in a household short of money. I wanted them to have the school trips, treats and clothes that I never had in my teenage years.

A different ‘price was paid’ in the few weeks following my encounter with the Goddess energy of Maat, but before I left the group. We had another exhibition at a stately home. After a busy day of readings a small group of us were wandering through the grounds in the early evening, following a pathway around a lake. I started to feel very faint and dizzy and fell onto my hands and knees near the edge of the water. As I refocused my eyes I found myself looking at somebody’s ornate golden slippers. I tried to lift my head to see more, but the golden light was too bright. Sudddenly I felt a hand on my head and a pulse of strong energy travelling down my spine. Years of yoga had left the central energy channel of my spine relatively empty and I was conscious of the energy passing through me and out to the other members of the group.

It was all over very quickly.

We tried to talk about it but were too spaced out. I was used to dealing with energy but over the coming weeks it took everything I knew to keep myself together. Clairvoyant friends said I looked like a christmas tree with all its lights on! Having a young family helped. It gave me physical things to do and routines to follow. Gradually I integrated and absorbed the energy. Nevertheless the stress on my physical body was considerable and I lost a lot of weight. My thyroid function has never fully recovered.

The others in the group had emotional crises and minor health problems for a while. One of the group though, was completely unbalanced by the incident and was sectioned (admitted to a mental health facility).

Looking back I recognise this as an encounter with a Lady of the Lake, an aspect of Sovereignty.

It is a salutory reminder of the damage that can be done by incidents like these. I never sought these out and yet they arrived (maybe that is why they arrived!). This lakeside encounter up-ended my life and that of those close to me. Though to some, these events early in my life might seem to be glamorous and exciting, the immediate effects were shattering.

Revisiting the experience now, I can see the logic, the years of preparation and the somewhat scary inevitability of the changes that were created and the work those changes have led me into.

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