New Moon in Taurus: 5 Tips for Intention-setting

There's a new moon on the horizon today and it's in the sign of Taurus. Taurus is a sensual, earthy sign that likes luxury, loyalty, family and friends. The Taurus New Moon forms a useful Grand Earth Trine with expansive Jupiter in efficient Virgo, and potent Pluto in calculating Capricorn.

For we Aquarians, Rick Levine (astrologer) gives the following advice:

Aquarius - It's time to set a stake in the ground that can be used as a cornerstone for the foundation you are busy constructing. Although there will be a fair share of obstacles ahead, creating consistency in your life is crucial while the Taurus New Moon feeds your 4th House of Security. Ultimately, building on what you have already gained is possible as long as you feel emotionally safe. However, your future will be more uncertain if you are anxious about your present vulnerability. Stability is more important to success than brilliance when push comes to shove.

For the rest of the zodiac family, click here for your new moon horoscope.

If you haven't signed up already, I also highly recommend April Elliott Kent's Big Sky Astrology site where you can get her free downloadable new moon workbook in your email box each month.

Remembering that we have 5 planets in retrograde, this is a year where we're given an opportunity to look back and decide what's really important before we get shoved forward into a new life, which is definitely coming. I am grateful for the lessons of the day.

Here are some New Moon in Taurus tips for reconnecting with what's most important to you:

A walk in the woods- it's a scientific fact that a walk in nature (particularly in wooded areas) actually changes your mood and lowers your blood pressure.

Spend two hours in silence- this can be difficult for some of us, as we live in a world of sound-bombardment until we're so wiped out that we fall asleep. It's also been proven by scientific study that 2 hours a day in silence builds up brain cells and intelligence. This will help you in your decision-making processes.

Meditate to music- find something that carries you away. Get lost in it. See where it takes you. Write down your experience.

Light some candles and turn off the electricity. Candle light is not only economical, but it can put us in a more contemplative  and peaceful state.

Take a hot bath- try some epsom salts and a few drops of your favorite essential oil to help you relax. You could add a few candles and some music while you're in there.

Once you're relaxed, take some time to contemplate what you really want in life. What are the three most important things to you? Are you focused on those, or have other things distracted you? In what ways can you take action to return to your important things?

Write your ideas down. Put them in a sacred place (an altar, under your pillow, etc.) Then, go back in the morning and review/edit. Now, you can set your new moon intentions with clarity and be confident in the actions you can take to make them happen.

Sláinte (to your good health)!

   Kallan is a writer, adventurer, bibliophile, and baking enthusiast who      loves learning, science, religion, philosophy, geography, anthropology,  politics, peppermint, her children and grandchildren, friends and friends  who are family, being outdoors, animals,  walking, hiking, and the earth. 

Monday Meditation: Defining Personal Power

It's important for people to define what they mean by different terms. One person may not define things in the same way as another. For instance, when using the word "professionalism" in the business world, that could mean very different things to different people. By the same token, the term "Witch" may have a variety of meanings, depending on the individual. It helps to put context around what is meant in order to come to an understanding. Today's meditation will seek to define the term, "personal power" in order to address what it means to the individual.

There are several different definitions personal power available through a simple internet search. For example, The Business Dictionary defines it as: "Influence over others, the source of which resides in the person instead of being vested by the position he or she holds."

Here are a few others: 

Web Definitions:

"Power is a measure of an entity's ability to control the environment around itself, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power, perceived as legitimate by the social structure."en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_power

"Personal Power is based on individual characteristics that are acquired with varying degrees of difficulty and at different rates of development. Many performance skills are easily taught and can be rapidly acquired. Personality traits, on the other hand, take time to develop and can be difficult to modify." www.cda-acd.forces.gc.ca/cfli-ilfc/LeadershipConcepts-eng.asp

"Control over the environment used solely as a means of producing personal security. Destructive control over other persons." www.see.org/garcia/ethgl.htm

"is your power to control you and the environment around you. Most people realize that they are the only ones in control of themselves. While they may let others control them or persuade them to do things from time to time, each of us has control of our person." growandimprove.com/glossary/

My favorite definition of personal power comes from the book, "Witchcraft: Theory and Practice," by Ly De Angeles: 

"Personal power is a natural growth process that develops as a result of the life you live in the way of the witch. Others will notice you even when you do not desire to be noticed; therefore, personal power is the ability to disappear when you want to and appear when you want to. It is not an egoistical phenomenon! It is an energy (akin to magnetism){16}, a presence about oneself that will require a firm rein for the first few years. It will emanate from your physical body like a field phenomenon. This field is neither a conscious, nor consciously acquired, function, and you are to know and understand this.

Posturing and arrogance are its illusory counterparts. Personal power should not be treated as such (that will be the ego seeking to manipulate a natural force and that is both ugly and offensive). 

Personal power is a direct result of accessing the lifescape of magic and of living within its field. If you allow yourself to become glamoured{17} by it, in either yourself or anyone else, you disrupt the web of the worlds and the places of power will withdraw, oh, even just a little, from the access of those who seek to live within their wonder.
Personal power is an accumulation of awareness, preparation, intent, and your ability to focus, all through the vessel of the self."

That may seem too detailed a definition of personal power. However, it leaves no room for doubt as to what the author intends when she uses that phrase.  When defining a personal code of honor, or exploring what power means to an individual, or for those who have experienced the phenomenon of being noticed when all he/she wanted was to be a wallflower,  or those of us for whom watches don't work, street lights go out, this can provide at least a skeleton from which to build upon. 

It also  assists one in seeing his/her unique yet entangled connection to other living things, and the responsibility each person has to be full of care with it.

Your Turn!

What is your definition of personal power? How does this help you in your daily life, both magically and in the mundane? Post in comments or hit me up on Facebook!

Sláinte!

16: See the Art of Invisibility, Part Three

17: See Glamouring, Part Three

Thursday's Child: Empowering Women Now?

Throughout the history of human existence, whenever a group of people live together, rules have been established to assist them in peaceful coexistence. It's an integral part of societal living, yet there is also a certain amount of brainwashing that goes with it. Men and women today are continually sent messages as to how they should look, act, and behave in order to gain success, a partner, and happiness. This plays out in our social media every day, and there comes a time when those messages become counter-intuitive to that societal peace.

Case in point:

I ran across this meme the other day from a group called "Empowering Women Now". It's a complete contradiction to that phrase.

Too often in western society, women have this message shoved down their collective throat on a daily basis. We're supposed to want a "fixer-upper", an "unfinished product", someone who is broken and can only be mended through our unconditional love. This is dangerous, not only to women, but to men as well.

 Women are given the message that broken men need them from a young age. How many times have young girls been told that boys who hit them, kick them, pull their hair, tease them, etc.. are just doing it because they like them? Society sets women up to take abuse and see it as something beautiful.

Young men are taught that women are weaker, and that being emotional is something for which they should be ashamed. "You hit like a girl!" "Run away and cry like a little girl!" Making the message clear that little girls are not to be emulated or admired.

To say that a woman is "afraid" to date a man who's a work in progress is outrageous. This is the exact type of message that so many feminists (both male and female) have been trying to overcome for so long.

So, this wild witch is going to empower both sexes right now with some words of hard-earned wisdom.

Young men: 

• No one is responsible for your happiness but you. All human beings are a "work in progress", and you should foster your own intellectual and spiritual curiosity in order to mature and grow. 

• Hitting, kicking, punching, teasing, and/or bullying young girls/women is for cowards. Be willing to express yourself through words. In truth, women have always loved the poets. 

• It's not only okay to cry, it's highly encouraged and a physically/emotionally healthy thing to do.

• Little girls hit and run very well. If you're ever accused of hitting (a baseball, preferably) or running like one, say, "Thank you!"

• As you grow older, if you want a partner in life (male or female), find the things you have in common and do not expect this person to serve you or your needs. He/She should enhance your life, not complete you. You are complete as you stand right now.

Young women: 

• Do not tolerate abuse from anyone. Boys who hit/kick/shove/tease you aren't worthy of your attention. If they can't use their words to talk to you, they aren't ready for someone as amazing as you.

• Being a girl is a wonderful experience- don't allow anyone to tell you differently. You can be strong and sensitive. You can hit a baseball out of the park and run like the wind. You can cry over the death of a butterfly and sing its soul to the Otherworld. If someone thinks that's "silly" or "crazy", he/she isn't worthy of your time.

• All human beings are a "work in progress"- what you really need to know is if his progress is on par with your own. You want a partner, not a project. 

• You are needed- by the world, by your family, by your friends, by society. You're needed to be whole, strong, sassy, or silent as it suits you. But, you are not needed to be someone's doormat, punching bag, scapegoat, or emotional dumping ground. 

• As you grow older, if you want a partner in life (male or female), find the things you have in common and do not believe that you have to fix this person or if you just loved him/her enough, this person would blossom into the guy/gal of your dreams. That's not how this works- it's not how ANY of this works. 

Empowering women now means teaching them not to fall for emotional blackmail, shaming, and worn-out societal memes that tell them to fix someone or support a partner who can't support him/herself. Men and women both need to be empowered to be strong and sensitive; and to continually strive to improve themselves as individuals first, then to find partners who are on the same wavelength. This is how a society is strengthened and improved. This is how we can live in peace.

Monday Meditation: No Apologies, No Regrets

There once was a television series entitled, "Lost." It ran from 2004-2010. One character in particular, Mr. Eko, had a profound effect on a paradigm shift for me. According to his story arc, he had lived a hard life growing up in Nigeria, trying to feed and protect his little brother. He was forcibly recruited by Nigerian guerillas in order to protect his brother, Yemi. He became a drug smuggler and warlord. Yemi became a Catholic priest. Eko attempted to smuggle drugs out of Nigeria using the cover of being a priest, and Yemi ended up getting shot and killed for it. Eko takes over Yemi's position as a priest as a way of making it up to his brother.

 Eko, at the end of his life, is confronted by his dead brother's spirit and asked to confess his sins.

Eko says something profound:

 "I ask for no forgiveness, father, for I have not sinned, I have only done what I needed to do to survive. A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man, if I could answer him now I would tell him, that when I was a young boy I killed a man to save my brother's life. I am not sorry for this, I am proud of this. I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given none the less, and with it, I did my best. "

I want you to re-read that. I want you to contemplate that for your own life. Many of us have regrets; poor decisions that affected the lives of others as well as ourselves; wishing we had taken a different road; wishing we hadn't wasted time; wishing we had lived a fuller life, etc... Many people will say, "I have no regrets. Everything that has happened has made me who I am today." And, I applaud you- if you're being truly honest and not hiding behind a mask. If you are hiding, then I want to give you a way to take it off, be genuine, and face those regrets right now.

I want you to stop and think about Eko's words. You did not choose the life you were given, and I believe that you have done your best to survive. There are many things you have accomplished for which you are proud. You have done what you needed to do. You have done your best.

You have nothing to confess, nothing for which you need forgiveness. Drop the baggage. Let it go. No more apologies, no more regrets. It is time for you to heal, to move on and to continue to do your best.

Live free from those things in your past that weigh you down, and make you feel "less than".. you have nothing to confess. Be proud of who you are, and LIVE.

Sláinte!