Jessica Shepherd's Blog, page 19

This week, my energy teacher gave me an exercise that seemed custom- tailored Leo. We were having a conversation about thinking we want and need our partners to show up in a certain way, and the disappointment and resentment when they don’t. Instead of getting caught up in what they’re not doing, she said, the work of the new dimension is to focus on what we need, just as men naturally focus on what they need. Then, we discover, we won’t think we need it so much. Because we actually don’t. It’s nice when they show up, but its not a requirement for our happiness.

Then she said, “When you’re in your Divine power, you don’t need to be held, you got this, and you’re a fucking rock star. Because you are a fucking rock star.” (She’s a truth-telling Scorpio. I love this about her.) My Spirit began to soar at her words, but energetically my Ego immediately pushed back. Oooh, I don’t know about that, my energy replied. I had a really hard time taking it in on a deeper level.

“Listen, when you are really in your Divine power, it is true and doesn’t feel proud or bragging in any way. That’s the final level (of mastery), when you can say I’m a fucking Goddess, I am a rock star. Not with arrogance but with sincerity. And so is everyone else.”

This reminded me of a Lady Gaga interview. Gaga spoke about her journey to stardom and said she couldn’t have gotten here without recognizing she was a born superstar, and that everyone else is, too.

Oh, but how uncomfortable that is. It’s a habit, this staying small. We think it’s “self-absorbed” to give positive attention to our self because we confuse the Ego’s ideas of greatness (earning admiration and love from others) with the spiritual goodness of our own talent, skills, inherent worthiness. Blaming others for the happiness they’re not able to give us is another way we stay small.

So… the assignment.

Practice owning your Goddess/God/Divine power by saying it and feeling it. Then, when you get comfortable with that, “What’s the highest compliment that you fear the most?” Feel into the question, and feel into your energy when you receive that compliment. Imagine someone told you: “You are fucking amazing because you are so ____.” For me, “I love my sensitivities. They make me amazing,” caused me to hit my fear edge. Marinate in self-praise. Play with it over a few days. Play.

When we think of playing with stepping into our light on a much grander scale, we think of Leo. With the North Node now in Leo, we are individually and collectively tasked with leading from our heart, our true self, our talent and our light. To achieve excellence in any area of our life we need to first acknowledge it in our self, not in an oh I’m so serious way but more like, wait a second, who am I to not be amazing?

This is a Leo eclipse. It’s special, and you know it. Everyone is making a really big deal about this eclipse- that’s how we know it’s a Leo eclipse! But underneath the politics, media hype and eclipse viewing caravans, the three ring circus, what is happening? We are each unfolding our Divine Power. In small ways, like: remembering our partner doesn’t have to hold space for us; we hold space for us. In small ways, like: refraining from blasting someone with a piece of our mind, instead asking “What would love do? What would goodness do?” while still feeling our feelings. In small ways, like: making choices with our spiritual values (what feels good and honoring to me), not material ones (what pays me well, looks best on me, earns praise). In (seemingly) small ways, because paradoxically, to the Divine Feminine, these small unfoldings are a big deal. This is how we become the change we seek.

I know you’ve heard this one before, Mercury retrograde, and there’s no better time to listen again to Marianne Williamson’s profound words:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Happy Leo Solar Eclipse. You are a fucking rock star.

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P.S. -Want to know how August’s eclipses will impact you? Read more Click here to view more details">right here.

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Last December I did something bold, and something absolutely terrifying. I told my husband I wanted to move. Out of state. Away from California, our home for twenty years.

Actually, I had been telling him I wanted to move for months, but I wasn’t being received. He didn’t want to move. We’d lose his retirement benefits. Not the right time. Maybe in about five years. And the conversation was shelved.

But I didn’t have five years. I was desperately unhappy. Nothing felt good or right here, anymore, for me. I had changed, and I needed my environment to support me. I felt like a tomato plant trying to grow in an inhospitable, parched and dry, desert. I didn’t even know where we’d move to, yet…I hadn’t gotten that far. Heck, I didn’t know what was possible for us. We needed to explore options and places, together.

Yet I wasn’t getting through. It wasn’t what I was saying but how I was saying it. I had been complaining, not speaking as the Goddess. So I took a deep breath from the bottom of my vagina and said “We need to move by the end of 2017.” I said that if he didn’t want to move, because that was the message he had been giving me, then we would have to figure out a part-time living situation for me. Then I was silent. It was a bold move. And it terrified me, because all of my childhood and female programming flooded my system, reminding me that, historically, if I asserted, no, insisted on my True Self needs, I wouldn’t survive that fallout. That my very survival depended on the approval of the male figure in my world– and to defer and back down, right NOW.

Yet I was no longer a child, dependent on another for survival. I was a grown-ass woman capable of making her own decisions and I needed to be heard.

I knew I wouldn’t survive here for another 5 years. I knew we wouldn’t survive.

I suddenly became terrified, that our marriage wouldn’t survive my insistent self-assertion.

(I have a feeling that every woman knows what this feels like.)

Oh God, he might leave me. That thought hadn’t occurred to me before this moment, but as I was standing there it surely did. And in that moment, I could clearly see how by not taking this huge risk, I’d be betraying myself.

I set a big wheel in motion that day, though now its become way more fun and interesting. We are actively seeking new places to live. It’s now become apparent that a relocation wasn’t just for me, but us, as all the reasons why he also needs to leave unfolded in the months following. He hadn’t been able to see it then. This taught me a great lesson: When one half of a committed couple hears the call of Truth, it benefits all. If your Divine Self gently calls, and then more insistently bangs on your door, advising you that it’s time to make a bold and radical move, if you’re both committed to being together for the long haul, it will benefit everyone. Without exception.

It can only be right to follow the call of The Truth, which is another thing I learned:

The Truth is never MY Truth- that would make it of the Ego. The Truth is The Truth. People tend to say “I’m standing in MY Truth and it’s xyz…” which makes my truth sound like its different from yours, and that sets up a polarity that is basically an invitation for someone to argue with you. Nope. The Truth is The Truth is The Truth. You don’t qualify “the sky is blue”, with, “well, its blue… for me?” The Truth is what is happening, what is. The Truth was the simple fact we needed to move. Period (not question mark).

When I took that deep breath, I stood in The Truth. Not my Truth, THE TRUTH.

In the months ensuing, working through insecurities, questions, fears about the move, I’ve had many opportunities to keep standing in The Truth. Which, as I discovered, took pressure off my Ego from constantly having to defend itself.  It was such a huge relief to let The Truth have my back. Nope, not going there, not convincing, not reassuring, arguing, cajoling, questioning or backing down. I’m standing in The Truth now.

So.

At this Full Moon, what Truth is ready to make itself known, for you?

Where can you give your Ego a rest from trying to be more convincing, articulate, clear for another in your communication, and instead of taking a defensive posture about what you want, step boldly into THE TRUTH?

How are you holding your self back?

Are you ready to get out of your own way?

Aquarius Full Moon is about leaving behind the shackles of old conditioning keeping us from a delicious, orgiastic freedom that can only arrive through being authentic and true to you. Often that freedom is achieved by saying yes when you mean yes, and no when you mean no (waffling, being a pushover, indecisive will harsh your authenticity/freedom mellow). Other times we are unwitting participants in ingrained, conditioned childhood patterns – holdovers from long ago. We want to say yes or no, to make a change… but that would mean we’d have to stop catering to someone else’s insecurities. Or, we want to follow the call of Truth…but to place our Divine Self’s knowing above all else, and be willing to risk everything? Whoa, what self-love, what courage, what compassion.

This is an eclipse, which is like an Aquarius Full Moon, with exclamation marks. Eclipses are game-changers, wild cards that tend to move us ten paces forward on an issue. They can quicken internal drives that accelerate our evolution. With eclipses, we have an ability to see patterns, and change them. With Aquarius (or any Uranus transit), we are ready to break free from unhealthy habits into greater authenticity, and this may mean disappointing another’s version of reality, shaking up their expectations, initially surprising or shocking them.

But the beautiful thing about THE TRUTH… it will set you free. I experienced this big time, that day. The old pattern of deference, poof!, gone. The old childhood fear that my needs and desires wouldn’t be taken seriously, that I didn’t matter? I moved at least a hundred paces ahead on that one. I continue to experience uplifting whooshes of freedom in big and small ways, from being honest with myself about a social obligation being out of alignment for me, to an energy that’s affecting me, which, once honestly acknowledged, clears.

THE TRUTH will set you free. Can you let this in, deeply? Not just understanding this intellectually, but knowing and experiencing it in your body? In the coming days, allow THE TRUTH to surround, guide, hold and protect you, embracing you like a mother’s warm arms. An Aquarian mother, maybe -necessarily detached from what other people think or feel, whose true warmth is her sparkling authenticity, and whose love is Divine liberation. She’s a palpable Goddess energy field, THE TRUTH, as real and clear as the blue sky you and I share.

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P.S. -Want to know how August’s eclipses will impact you? Read more Click here to view more details">right here.

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We’re in the eclipse zone, that concentrated period of time surrounding two eclipses, and a time when some people who know just enough astrology to be dangerous, grow really afraid. As Steven said in his newsletter, the only thing seasoned astrologers fear about eclipse cycles is the number of emails we receive from people who are in anxiety about eclipses. As you read the myriad web resources available about this very special time, or any astrological event, pattern or aspect, let’s remember several things:

1) Human Egos write this information -not a Diving Being (though Divinity shines through more clearly for some, than others)- and their writing is being run through personal belief systems and conditioning. Know that some people hold a more deterministic or fatalistic viewpoint of astrological events, while others hold a more fluid, spacious, open space.

Learn to recognize this. Pay attention to what resonates for you, and how. Ask, How does this information make me feel? Does it make me feel fearful? If so, it’s not based in love, it’s based in Ego/fear. Some astrological writing can stimulate the Ego’s hyper-vigilance — the primal part of you that is always on alert for some eventual threat. This can appear obvious, for instance, fortune-telling about potential negative outcomes, but it’s not always about the words. It’s about the feeling, the energies, transmitted through the words. Humans write astrology, and words carry energy.

Remember, it’s your job to take care of your mental health, and not create unnecessary distress by reading material that will send you into a downward spiral. Just as you know not to eat junk food, don’t consume astrological writing indiscriminately. 

2) Notice when a message carries a neutral energy, but stimulates an insecurity. Discern the difference between someone else sending you fearful messages/ energies, and your projections. If I say, “Pluto is the planet of death, crisis and transformation. Death is one of many forms of initiation into change…” and you say, “Oh my god, someone’s going to die! Will it be my grandma?” that’s your fear. Almost always, the problem is not the messenger but the lens through which you are viewing information. Actually 100% of the time its the lens; you have the power to dismantle another’s negative message by changing your lens. Clean your lens. Watch how quickly you jump into a negative, fearful interpretation, at the mere mention, and how that compromises your power.

Take responsibility for your fears. Don’t project them onto astrology.

3) Understand why you’ve become so fearful about astrology. Determinism is, to a degree, rooted in our craft. From the moment that people looked up and made correlations between the heavens and what happens on Earth, human Egos have been confusing correlation with the ability to predict. They are very different things. If I see a grey sky and know that sometimes that means rain, I’ve made a correlation. If I think because the sky is sometimes grey when it rains, that it will rain, I’ve made a prediction. The moment the Ego realized it could make educated correlations with astrology, and sometimes be accurate, it leapt into predicting outcomes. Since the Ego is often afraid, this makes controlling or predicting events an attractive prospect. But this will always be a probabilities game, a gamble, and will keep you in a perpetual state of hope or fear.

Astrology is so much better at making correlations.

If you want to get back to the time when astrology was simply a validating and helpful mirror to your truest, deepest self and to the energies available to you at any given time, my advice is: Stop thinking that astrology can predict anything at all.

And when something you or another thought could or might happen actually does, be delighted that, yes, sometimes when the sky is grey, it rains. How cool is that?

3.) Be clear about what astrology is capable of, and what it is not. It is not good at fortune-telling. It is not good at telling you what career path you should take, whether you should be with this or that person, or whether there will be an earthquake. Get clear on your personal philosophy. Want to share mine? Astrology is an excellent mirror for your conscious evolution, and the energies at play in your life. In practice, this looks like:

-Instead of asking, “those blue lines (trines and sextiles) are good, right (and therefore I’m going to be okay, right)?” ask yourself, how am I using those harmonious aspects? Use it as a mirror to your potential, not a crutch for your hopes and fears.

-In relationship astrology, instead of going “oh, our Moons don’t share any aspects- that must be bad!?” use that information to observe the energetic lunar interplay between you. Use it as a mirror for the energies you experience with another. How does that work for you?

-With transits, use it as a mirror for what growth wants to take place right now. Pluto transiting your second house doesn’t mean you are doomed to poverty. If you interpret it in this way, it means you are afraid you will be doomed to poverty. You’ve just discovered your worst fear, and your assignment. And that is Pluto’s job – ha!- holding a mirror to a wound you need to clear.

Astrology is an excellent mirror for your consciousness and energies. Nothing outside of you controls your destiny- not even the hardest planetary configuration you can imagine.

4) Stop thinking of any astrological situation or aspect as either good or bad. Eliminate those words from your vocabulary right now. There is nothing, ever, bad or wrong. Everything is Divine. Waste no time thinking your twelfth house Venus, or your seventh house Saturn, or any aspect is in any way limiting you. It is creating an opportunity for you to learn and evolve in a certain vein, and your soul wanted this path- otherwise you wouldn’t have been born with this particular chart. Using the words good or bad prevents you from other, richer, more exciting options available to you.

5) Do not use your astrology as an excuse to be a victim of your life. Plenty of people do this. It comes, in part, from the information you have consumed that have given you fatalistic interpretations of your chart- but honestly this highlights any tendency you have around being a victim. Listen to the way you talk about your self, via your chart. Are you using astrology as proof of your limitations, an excuse as to why you can’t have a good relationship or happy life, or are you using astrology to open up to possibility?

If you’re using your astrology as an excuse, just stop it!  If you think you need years of therapy to change this, try Bob Newhart’s revolutionary 5 minute therapy (LOVE!!!).

Astrology can be a tool our Ego uses to try and reinforce its hopes or fears, or it can be a magical prism of possibility. I suspect you fell in love with astrology for the latter reason.

If you want to help your self un-do all those years of deterministic conditioning and superstition embedded in our craft, if you want to stop compulsively consuming astrological information in late night Google searches and wake up with a nasty hangover the next morning…  Be empowered around how you consume astrological information.

The post Stop Using Astrology to Scare Yourself Silly appeared first on Moonkissd by Jessica.

On the way back home from our camping trip in King’s Canyon this June, we visited a Big Cat Reserve. As we toured the facility and were educated, the lions, panthers and leopards, lazily lounged in the hundred degree heat. Despite the wire cages separating us from them, it was clear who was in command: the Cats. Confident, alert, relaxed -they were the main show, watching us watching them.

When I got home I looked at Obi, my little house cat with big cat energy, in a new way. I better understood his nature. When he corners scorpions, plays cat and mouse with mice, and tours the territory of our property like a warden looking for parolees, my cute cuddly cat turns big and fierce, territorially claiming his space. When I want him to be a teddy bear, he plays when he feels like playing. With his playful bites and mews, regal Obi tells me enough when he’s had enough. This cat demands respect. In fact, every cat household knows who is really in charge: The cat. And the cat gets his way because the cat is utterly comfortable in it’s way. It’s as though he were born knowing exactly what to do, to be a cat. No self-questioning, no self-doubt.

An emblem of Leo, whether house cat or Lion, Leo was born to share their self with others, which means learning to live without apologies, second-guessing and worrying about reviews. On the surface Leo folks (and planets) express their selves so boldly, brilliantly, all we see is confidence. About what you think, the cat appears utterly unconcerned. However, that’s not the entire story.

At the cat reserve, the main attraction, the famed Bengal tiger, was away doing a publicity fundraising tour down in Hollywood. Bummer. We wanted to ooh and aawh over the Bengal tiger’s star power. We admire the famous for their fierce creative power and their noticeability but sometimes we mistakenly believe that fame is a sign of luck, merit or actual greatness. In an era of faux fame, when the loudest voices (not the brightest) get the most air time and attention, it’s almost too easy overestimate others and underestimate our selves. We can also mistakenly believe that fame somehow makes them invulnerable to human frailties. For instance, many famous actors suffer panic & anxiety, when onstage just minutes later we see only a flawless five star performance. Under pressure, even big cats get scared, as our guide pointed out a black leopard who had an unusually short tail. Placed in a stressful environment that made him anxious, he chewed off his own tail. The group cringed; we know how anxiety can gnaw at us to the point of self-abuse.

We can all understand insecurity of worrying about our worth, abilities, what others think; Leo doesn’t hold the patent on that. We each have a Sun, a sensitive Ego.  We know how difficult it can be to raise our hand in a class or meeting, or to go on a date with someone new, and trust that our ideas, our voice, our request, our very self (because, honestly, that’s what we’re putting on the line) won’t be rejected. It takes tremendous courage to put our self out there, to trust we won’t be rejected for who we are.

That insecurity, for Leo, isn’t fictional. Karmically, they have been rejected. But the cure involves going right back into the lion ring. Being sensitive to the nuances of being an effective performer, yes, but also not giving a damn. Bravely daring to put their self out there again anyway– and this time, experiencing the delight of being received and adored.

Again, we don’t have to be a Leo to tear a page from this playbook. We are in an astrological period of intense Leo activity for the next month. On 7/23 we have this first New Moon at zero degrees, and a second New Moon Solar Eclipse at 29 degrees Leo on 8/21. While Leo born are being cosmically prodded to let go of more of their worthiness fears and insecurity, to shine a little brighter, and to receive the rewards of doing so, so are all of us. The area(s) these New Moons fall in your chart, especially the Solar Eclipse, are massive catalysts for letting go of old conditioning about worth, lovability and rejection. For many, it’s time to learn just how appreciated, wanted, worthy and loved you are.

However, there’s one thing you need to do. You must dare to show up- on the date, at the interview, on the page or stage – and to risk rejection. This first New Moon is conjunct Mars, planet of courage, daring. You don’t heal old fear of rejection wounds by laying around, licking them. You get out there. As Steven Forrest has said, “To perform for the world is to trust it. That unquestionable trust in life is Leo’s Holy Grail.”

Where can you practice putting your trust in the world by daring to perform, to create, share yourself, be spontaneous, open your heart wider and shine brighter? Look to where Leo falls in your chart. Here you can do something self-daring, self-affirmative, creative, fun and self-risky. Even if it falls in the more internal houses, say, the fourth, eighth or twelfth houses, where listening to your heart and unraveling its fears, may be the most daring act of all. But…What if I fail? What if I bite off more than I can chew? What if I’m rejected… This will come up. It’s time to let those old tapes go. Because Solar Eclipses are designed to move us forward in evolution, the second New Moon Solar Eclipse will be particularly potent for breakthroughs around all Leo issues. And of course, because eclipses have wider influences of time, this energy has already begun to appear in our lives.

During these dual Leo New Moons, celebrate life by unapologetically saying Yes, this is who I am! This is a self- affirmation that says yes, it’s safe, and it’s good, to be me. As hiding your true self, in all of its facets, becomes a price that you’re no longer willing to pay, when you dare to show up, to reach for your heart’s desire life will show you how easy it is to receive strokes, adoration, love and praise. During Leo season: Say Yes to You.

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Have you seen the picture of Beyonce with her twins? The pictures likeness to Virgin Mary, mother of Christ, reminded me of Ceres the Great Mother Goddess. I looked it up and sure enough, Beyonce’s Ceres is in Virgo conjunct her Sun -which means her identity is fused with the archetype of nurturing, loving Earth Mama. While her public face has been primarily as the creative artist (Venus in Libra), she has been very vocal about how motherhood has given her a sense of purpose (Sun). “I feel more beautiful than I’ve ever felt because I’ve given birth, I have never felt so connected, never felt like I had such a purpose on this earth.” This fits with the mythology of the archetype: Ceres/Demeter’s primary identity is mother, and her primary relationship — the relationship she derives the most satisfaction and fulfillment from– is not with her spouse, but her child or children.

But Ceres isn’t just about motherhood. How well do you know Ceres, in your chart? Astrologically, she represents how we care for our self, our attachment to, and loss of, people and pets we love, and our ability to make peace with all cycles of life. She is the archetype that introduces the awareness that winter always follows spring, and so loving others must always include a process of letting go. She can have issues, galore, and rail against loss, at first, but a healthy relationship to Ceres aids self-acceptance and self-esteem.

As an astrologer, working with Ceres initially posed a practical problem. I adored Demetra George’s book Asteroid Goddesses when I first read it, but had no idea how to integrate the asteroids into an astrology session. As Demetra said in her book, until recently Ceres, along with Pallas, Juno, Vesta (feminine healing and creative intelligence -Pallas; power sharing in partnership -Juno; spiritual devotion -Vesta) have been dormant voices of the feminine.  I knew their issues were important. How would these voices ever be included if I didn’t attempt to speak them? So I’d open the conversation by relaying her myth.

The myth is interesting (it’s a long myth; I tell it in pieces, depending on what’s occurring in a client’s life). Ceres’, the (Roman Demeter) Goddess of Agriculture and mother to Persephone, myth revolves around the abduction and return of her daughter, and her response to it. When Persephone disappeared (or was taken), Ceres stopped eating and bathing. She wandered the land and neglected her duty- to provide food. As time went on and people began to starve, Zeus intervened and made a deal: half the year Persephone would live with Hades underground, and the other half Persephone could visit her mother. Thus, the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, autumn and winter being the times when Ceres made the world barren with rage at her daughter’s loss.

As this part suggests, Ceres can show compulsive behavior related to unhealthy attachments to others, food, and self-neglect.  In some retellings, Ceres denied adolescent Persephone’s growing independence and that’s why her daughter had to be taken away from her. Sometimes Ceres mother types can be overbearing, and frankly, codependent; insisting only she can provide everything you need, she can make others dependent on her. And just as depressed and grieving Ceres withheld food from herself and others when unhappy, food is an issue for some people with Ceres placements -either too much or too little (especially connected to Taurus, or Moon), sometimes to the point of a severe disorder. I’ve observed a difficult Ceres in charts of people with eating disorders. When food is equated with unconditional love, in its absence we can try to fill the void with food, or deny ourself nourishment. However, food is only one form of nourishment.

At first, me telling you “how to feed yourself” sounded a bit silly– but as I thought about it, how many of us in modern society struggle with how to deeply and authentically nourish our selves? Ceres instructs us to go beyond food as love and expand our definition of what it means to nourish and love our self. This classically belonged to the planets — we look to the Moon for our happiness, nurturing and self-care needs, and Venus for self-esteem, but I’ve found Ceres offers specific information on how to lovingly accept, care for, provide for and nourish our self, and equally, how we may deny our self those same things.

To figure out how to feed your self, first, what is your Ceres sign? You need to “eat” your Ceres sign. For instance, with Ceres in Sagittarius, I nourish myself through high level thinking, the search for meaning and pursuit of enlightenment. Ceres also shows what you enjoy “feeding” others. I enjoy offering what I discover on my journey, as nourishment, for you. Ceres in Gemini finds information exchange, writing, talking and educating nourishing, and offers what they have in that vein to others. Beyonce’, with Ceres in Virgo, nourishes her self through the hard work of crafts-womanship, then shares it with us. Ceres doesn’t hoard the harvest for herself, she shares.

Your Ceres aspects deepen the story. A more harmonious aspect from a planet offers its unobstructed energy to the nurturing urge. There’s a flow there between the energies which enhance your ability to care for your self and others. Challenging aspects offer you a picture of any early conditioning or blockages to being “fed”. A challenging aspect to Ceres indicates how you may deny your self nourishment, as Ceres did.  You may need to go beyond your inadequate early conditioning, to integrate more self-compassion.

For instance, with Neptune conjunct my Ceres in my second house, for some periods of my life I denied myself second house Sagittarius – possibility, independence, higher education, the pursuit of enlightenment and wisdom- because these qualities were absent or discouraged by my early nurturer (Neptune-Ceres). Interestingly, I often used the excuse “I don’t have the money” (Neptune in 2nd). I also found spending money on food “a waste” -though now clean, whole food has become my highest value. This makes sense because I also dealt with neglect as a child; Neptune-Ceres can indicate a situation where nurturing/food is denied due to illness or mysterious reasons. When I gave myself permission to spend money on intangibles, like delicious food, classes and teachers who expand my mind and soul, I realized I’d been a flower in a desert in dire need of water! “Feeding myself” with things that inspire and lift Spirit, is my Ceres form of self-love.

Ceres teaches that self-acceptance is a verb -it’s the way we compassionately relate to our self, what “food” we offer our self, when we are hungry, lost, sad, and in need. When we do this, we discover there’s been a harvest there all along: our self-acceptance. For instance, with Ceres in Aquarius, individuality and differentness is the path to self-acceptance. Any encouragement there goes a long way. For instance, a client has Ceres in Aquarius in the sixth house of mentorship; she’s been learning astrology with me for about 10 years now. For Ceres in Virgo, self acceptance arises from feeling competent, useful and helpful, etc.

In practice, I’ve observed that outer planets transits to Ceres often included loss: of a mother figure, child or pet. My grandmother died while Saturn joined my Ceres. A dear girlfriend lost a child in labor, and several client’s lost beloved pets died – all while Pluto transited their natal Ceres. I take no pleasure in making these types of connection for a client, and yet I also do, because in retelling Ceres’ myth it allows me to gently address a taboo topic in our culture -death. To talk about death in a feminine way, with less fear and more naturalness, takes it out of the realm of horror and normalizes it as part of the human experience. Which is what Ceres would want, as she was ultimately assigned the leader of the Goddess cult of Eleusis, which had rituals to demystify dying. When active by transit, her scythe may be a painful cutting action, but as an initiator of loss, she wants to help us face our fears about dying and loss. Do we believe this life is all there is? Is death really something to fear? Don’t we experience little losses, daily?

She may challenge our attachments but Ceres is also present when we’re called into care-taking roles. A prominent Ceres, say, in a Solar Return can indicate a year of satisfaction through care-taking and nurturing. I adopted my dog during the year Ceres was conjunct my IC. Another client became a foster mother to a series of cats when her Ceres was astrologically active with Pluto- (so Ceres/Pluto isn’t all difficult news –she did endure some wicked trials surrounding those pets, but she is still fostering to this day). Ceres doesn’t ask us to become a mother, but that we find an outlet for our nurturing instincts. Fostering animals -and plants- is a fabulous way to do this. A client of mine works for the forest service. I love this: She lives on her astro-cartography Ceres line!

Which introduces the idea of step-parenting and foster parents. As a stepmother myself I often wondered what planet to use as a significator for a step or foster parent. What planet would tell me more about my relationship to a stepmother- or my role as stepmom? The Moon didn’t seem adequate, especially when there’s more than one mother figure in one’s life. Enter Ceres. In myth, after she lost Persephone she disguised her Goddess aspect and went into a village where she was hired for a job as a nanny. In other words, she stepped into the role of mother for another’s child (this could also be fulfilled by a grandmother, a “manny”, or foster parent). So transits to Ceres can tell us more about our relationship to our step-in nurturers, a likewise, our Ceres to our experience as step-nurturer.

I also noticed themes of “empty-nesting” and self-sufficiency at Ceres times. Children leaving home for college can be harrowing, an empty time for one whose identity has revolved around being a mother. It’s natural to ask, Who am I without my children?, grieve or become depressed for a period. During these times, Ceres is often active by transit for the mother- or primary caretaker. One way of dealing with loss of a mother role is to find someone or something new to nurture, as Ceres did. One of my clients literally re-enacted this part of the Ceres myth exactly when the last of her three children left home and she decided to become a mom coach to new mothers. Of course, it’s also ideal time to nurture the self. To envision one’s identity as more multi-faceted than mother, an all-consuming role, is one of the biggest challenges a woman can face at this time.

Equally, Ceres is a symbol for self-sufficiency- how good we are at taking care of our self, and others by extension, because that’s just what the Great Mother, and nurturers do. A newly divorced client was facing the question of how to support her children as a single mother for the first time. Natal Ceres in Capricorn in the second house was being transited by Pluto. I suggested this would be a time that she could develop new income sources, out of necessity, but that it would feel good to do so. She did exactly that. I imagine that difficult aspects to Ceres can also point to patterns of extreme self-neglect, too.

In summary, Ceres is worth taking the time to get to know. With Neptune conjunct my Ceres, for a long time I didn’t even know she was there (it’s odd how often that happens with Neptune involved). Regardless, many astrologers don’t use the asteroids because they haven’t been worked into our shared language, yet. Unlike transits to Pluto, Jupiter or the Moon, “I’m having a transit to my Ceres” telepathically often conveys nothing. But I hope this helps with that. Just as she was for me, she could be a missing link, for you, helping you to understand how to accept and love your self more deeply and authentically.

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When we consider Pluto, our minds tend to go to the darkest places. It’s not unwarranted; after all, Pluto shows us our deepest wounds, the places we’ve been disempowered.

Yet in giving Pluto/Hades the limelight, we’ve overlooked the Goddess (again). Persephone. Persephone’s story is about innocence lost.

In the divorce, death, abandonment, betrayal, illness- the Plutonian event- we too lose our innocence. Of course it doesn’t leave us, it never does. Every effort we make to heal (and the healing modalities that work) is about getting back to that place of purity and innocence within our self.

Psychologists have long noted that children blame their selves for “bad things happening”. Adults can, too. Even if we’re enlightened to see the meaning behind a loss, often a smidgen of self-blame lingers. As we wrestle with loss we go back to that first time our innocence was lost, to the child who thinks her parents shortcomings were hers or his, who blames her self for the divorce, loss of a loved one. Maybe it was my fault…

That we must have been at fault (otherwise why would we be reeling, hurting and keening in this way?) is a relic of Goddess shaming, and eerily similar to the way rape victims are shamed as somehow causing the attack. The childlike feminine soul, in her infinite kindness, looks for a way to justify something so heinous. So she blames herself.

In Divine reality, we are all eternally faultless, blameless. This is a mature Goddess perspective. Unless we hold a mal-intent to injure another, we are forever innocent. No one, ever, is to blame. So how do we restore our innocence?

I was subconsciously pondering this while driving when a song came on the radio. “No One Is to Blame” by Howard Jones. Minutes later, I saw a deer sitting in the middle of a parking lot on a busy street, curled around herself, grooming. My heart lurched. It was a vision of innocence and spoke to my feelings of vulnerability living in this strange concrete world of loud cars, people, energy. The animal symbolism of deer is gentle sensitivity. I could befriend the deer, instantly hold her with compassion— could I do this for myself?

Animals put us in touch with our innocence. My pup, Magnus, does this every day. I look at him and feel my own innocence, touch into my own Divinity. I was reflecting on this when an email arrived from Soulsign astrology. It spoke about an event with JP Sears, emotional coach and creator of those wonderfully wicked Ultra Spiritual YouTube videos. When one of the audience members asked him how to get over the death of a pet, this was his reply: My wish for you is that you never heal completely from your broken heart. Our pets open us like very little else can, especially when they pass on. I believe our animals may represent an innocence we believe to be lacking or lost in ourselves that we project onto them. Their time with us is a blessing that reaches its peak when they leave. They leave us when they feel we may be ready to own that part of ourselves once again. The grief of their passing opens our hearts and it is only through an open heart that we can find our way back to what we thought was lost.

Isn’t that just beautiful?

Our innocence is never lost, only waiting to be reclaimed.

Animals help! So can playing with a niece or nephew, sitting in your flower garden (and your Divinity), or doing something you loved as a child, like roller skating or horse riding. Do things that make you feel good – because that’s the part waiting to be reclaimed. The Goddess loves to restore our innocence through nature, animals, children, joy.

Here’s another strategy: sit in our innocence, and insist, like a Goddess, that it’s our right to be as good, kind and pure as we are. No person or event ever has the right to take that away from us. This is stepping into the healing power of the Divine Feminine. To do this, let that feeling settle into your pelvis and travel through your body. Although it can feel fierce and empowering to the Ego to do this, you want to go beyond that. The goal is to practice this until its no longer a reflexive Ego defense against pain (or anyone) but is integrated deeply into your gentle core Shakti so that “I am innocent” “I am kind” or “I am good” feels peaceful and true, and is a part of your very being.

During any Pluto transit, if old stuff and baggage tends to get churned up as it may, think about ways you can touch into your innocence, again. You may still need to clear other old energy, but this time when stuff comes up, include: I am innocent. I am kind. I hold only good intentions. I am loving. I can never do anything wrong.

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I bumped my elbow walking out of my office this morning. It hurt. My first thought was, Well, Jessica you shouldn’t be walking out of the office while still getting dressed. Do one thing at a time, huh? As my elbow throbbed, I paused and felt the real sting. This reprimand stung more than the injury itself. Why wasn’t my first response to a bump on the elbow, tenderness? A memory of my grandmother surfaced, who, as she faced the difficult inevitabilities of aging -forgetfulness, lack of coordination and balance- would exclaim,Now that was dumb Ella Jean! Why would I do something so stupid!? Then she would laugh the sort of laugh that has no smile in it. It pained me so to hear her talk this way about her self. I loved her.

Yet, here I was, in unconscious self-aggrandizement. Where did I learn to do this? Was it simply modeled to me throughout life, and I absorbed it passively? It’s a self-response based on the idea that life should, or I should, be different than it is. But when is that ever true? What if we’re always exactly where we’re intended to be at any given moment? What if the only thing ever required of us is loving-kindness?

My grandmother had Pluto in Cancer square her Aries Sun. I have Pluto in Libra square my Cancer Sun. There’s a tendency toward harshness with this aspect, one which many astrology books express as a warning about being ruthless, controlling, uncompromising -especially related to other people and external ambitions. I never identified with these statements, until I applied these adjectives to how I treated me. These books clearly weren’t written for the feminine, because the feminine generally won’t hurt other people -we hurt our selves. I notice this also with clients who have Pluto square the lights (Sun and Moon), especially: the presence of an occasional but persistent aggressive intruder. A vulnerability to the energy of harshness, unkindness, to tearing our self down.

It comes in subtle self-judgments that have an edge to them. I’m retelling a story and I say, “I didn’t listen to my intuition… I was being careless.” I listen to my own retelling of it. Careless. There’s a judgment there. Was I careless, or did I just get caught up in an energy? It can get more blatant. As with one of my clients, a beautifully sensitive soul, who referred to herself as a selfish jerk (I was stunned into silence).

There are a million ways to say: I’m wrong. I must be wrong. I should have done something different. I should be different. There are a million small and subtle ways we judge our self- even as we pretend we’re not doing exactly that. Like a laugh with no smile in it, the tenor, the feeling tone, reveals everything.

It’s a Pluto paradox. Pluto tears down, but only to destroy falsity. When the Ego turns that on our self, when we use that to tear down our very self, this powerful energy destroys our self-confidence, centeredness, gentleness. It’s the opposite of gentle. It is also untrue. Your Ego’s interpretation of Plutonian energy (because its been trained to regard harshness as a reasonable response) might try and tell you that when you are hurting, you are suspect and have oodles of shadow work to do before you get to feel good. Not so. The truth is: You are good. You are, like my sweet grandmother, the embodiment of what’s good, right and true in the world. When we really sink into that, when we allow that message about how good we are travel from our head to our belly to our feet, and into Mother Earth, we align with our True Nature, kindness. Aggression cannot coexist with this energy.

Capricorn Full Moon brings up our sharp edges. Pluto opposes the sensitive Cancer Sun, sensitizing our emotional responses, our bodies. Our sensitivities are heightened to any harshness we harbor, especially related to imagined “shoulds”, perceived failures, irrational levels of responsibility – Capricorn turf. Who is the voice that whispers, “Gee, I should have handled that better?” (Even though you did fine. Your self assessment and self questioning makes it uncomfortable. The way you resisted how you felt, the way you kept thinking: I can’t handle this, or I’m not enough, made it hard.) Who is the voice that says “I shouldn’t be feeling this”, instead of allowing the feelings to flow exactly as they are? Who created this SHOULD that is so big it’s a palpable presence, a shadow looming, waiting to measure out infractions with sharp, edgy precision? When the real precision is the perfection of becoming more precise about what’s really true?

This morning, after I hit my elbow, and listened to my response, I intuitively knew what to do. I sat on my yoga mat to do my loving-kindness pose. It’s a pose I made up, as far as I know, and I call it that because that’s what it feels like to my energy body. Loving. Kind. Accepting. Compassionate. It helps me to reconnect with me. If, at this Full Moon, you notice your self in an unkind self-response, you might ask, How can I say this in another way? How can I feel and respond to this moment differently? The exact moment you’re hurting, the moment you feel afraid or edgy, is the right time for kindness.

You can also try out my loving-kindness pose. Sit with your feet on the ground, back straight, knees bent and your hands wrapped around the front of your shins just under your knees, with your eye gaze relaxed and looking forward. Spend a few minutes in this pose… and receive your good, kind-hearted self.

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It’s Cancer season. If Cancer season had a soundtrack it would be that of waves gently lapping on an ocean beach. If it had a taste, it would be sweet ripe berries. As the Sun warms the soul, when nostalgia beckons from the corner of our memories, this is the season to seek soul-contentedness because when it comes down to it, in a sweet and sorrowful way, summer stimulates our desire for happiness – be it a nostalgia for happiness past, or the happiness we want but don’t have.

I’m reminded of the way America, a Cancer Sun nation, puts a premium on “happy”, as if it’s something that can be purchased or had; mostly, chasing elusive happiness is used to make us feel bad about our lives. If you’re interested in the secret to happiness, study the Moon. The Moon is the fastest moving planet in our astrological system, it governs our changeable moods and tides, and yet astrologically we look to it for inner stability, happiness. There’s something to that lunar logic. Emotional security isn’t had from having things nailed down, but learning to flow with constant change. Happiness isn’t gotten from life events, but is the result of heeding our inner voice, feelings and whims.

Turning the Ego’s attention away from cultural pursuits of happiness -chock full and loaded with expectations about the life one should lead, look, or how one should be feeling, and toward a more intimate inner relationship with one’s true feelings, can be daunting. There’s a sort of dark romance, we have culturally, with our darker emotions. This pressure to feel and be a certain way, and reject our darker emotions, reflects the way the world regards the feminine. We believe we need to feel a certain way, and if we don’t, that there is something wrong with us. We torture our selves for having those feelings, instead of honoring their value. This is the lie that keeps us powerless, and always looking outward for sources of stability and happiness, instead of right here, inside.

What if we gave our self permission to feel what we feel, to want what we want, to like or dislike our experience, as we pleased — but to feel it fully?

What if we ditched self-judgment and offered our self compassion beyond our wildest imagining, instead? 

I did something radical, recently. I had struck up a relationship with someone, and just as it got going, it started feeling energetically off. I noticed I felt slightly stressed whenever we interacted, but in the time it took me to realize that big plans had been made. I knew if I pursued the connection it would compromise me. What to do? In the past I would’ve agonized over hurting their feelings, judged myself for not catching on sooner, and felt obligated out of loyalty to finish what we’d started. I would’ve created drama and stress. Sound familiar? This is how many of us torturedly relate to our uncomfortable feelings (otherwise known as the greatest source of our internal knowing — our intuition!!).

Instead, I bypassed all of that and simply asked my energy, is this right for me? NO. I politely thanked this person for their time, and remained peaceful throughout.

This is what self-compassion looks like. This is what honoring the feminine looks like: Allowing your deep truth arise, from deep inside, and acting from that place. Feeling things, things that you are tempted to judge, disregard or overlook. Understanding that the only person who pays the price of silencing your uncomfortable feelings is you.

This is the season of the Moon, of the Witch. The Moon, like Hecate, knows the world too easily discards what’s valuable, leaving it for trash- the nagging intuition or dark feeling, the lingering energy that won’t clear. Hecate wandered lunar landscapes; she was often found at garbage sites, graveyards – sites that the solar world discards, devalues, ignores.

Be alert for incoming messages from Hecate right now.  The first thing she requires is a quality of inner attentiveness that only you can give you. We may need to sit with our self, on a rock, or at our favorite spot. We may need to cancel our plans for the day, and just be. We need to set the intention to be there for our self, feel into our interior space – that sacred place of truth that no one else can influence – and allow our truth to bubble up. If it’s a particularly uncomfortable feeling we’re feeling, we vow to love our self even more.

We can develop new levels of intimacy with our inner life, connect to our soul’s whimsy, and intuition, during Cancer season. Moon Goddess Hecate instructs you to look at what you too easily discard at your own peril: An annoying feeling. An uncomfortable emotion. An off-energy. This is your soul, la luna, speaking. This is your treasure (not your trash). This is the Divine feminine asking to not be ignored.

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To listen, click the arrow above or download right here.

As sometimes happens, in tune with the planets, we have experiences of energy that filter into our consciousness wanting to be cleared. This week, with Neptune changing directions and Saturn opposing the Sun, a theme has been persecution. One client said she has been told, by three different psychics, she was once burned at the stake and now her boss is torturing her, similar to her father. Another said, after running into someone she once represented in a law case, she feared this person was coming back to hold her accountable. She said, over the years every time she heard this family name she’d have a physical response. I associate the energies of persecution with Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

While attending the Steven Forrest apprenticeship during my training, I recall him mentioning that there’s an unusually high number of people in his programs that have the astrological signatures of persecution -as the retelling of their past life stories featured. There have been many kinds of witch hunts over the years, designed to quell outliers and maintain a status quo aligned with the seat of power. Who are outliers but those of us who are different in some way from the power structure? Those of us attracted to healing arts?

The Energy of Persecution

I’m not trying to make you paranoid. Neither do I want to talk about the astrology of persecution, I’m just putting it out there for you to reflect on both your chart and your feelings, how often you encounter feelings of fearing punishment or people who might persecute or make you wrong. You can look at your own chart around the planets named, and also the charts of people you’ve had this experience with.

I’m more interested in talking about the energy of persecution, how to clear it from your being, so that you no longer have to keep experiencing this uncomfortable pattern.

The first thing is to understand that when someone feels something is wrong for them, their interpretation of another’s behavior or style, it means it is not resonant with their worldview, with the design of their Ego structure. On an energetic level, it is unfamiliar to them -with dis-resonance or abhorrence, or other less than savory emotions appearing, because of that unfamiliarity.

If someone’s Ego structure, for instance, won’t allow them to feel good in life, anyone who claims feeling good as a right will feel anything from foreign to threatening to that person. If someone’s Ego structure is rooted in logic and linear thinking, abstract concepts like spirituality or art may feel threatening. Our Ego structure can be seen in the birth chart in large part by the planet Saturn. You can look to Saturn in the birth chart to see what threatens a person.

The minute that wrong-ness is externalized onto someone else as wrong – say, you – the minute they say what feels unfamiliar to them is wrong altogether, shame is experienced. Many of us have had this experience, especially in childhood. Though one episode is enough, ongoing shaming can lead to a person experiencing energies of persecution throughout their life. Or replaying that energetic pattern in their self.

What If You Feel Persecuted?

It helps, first to understand this as an Ego structure, as I’ve been saying, it’s an energy thing. It’s not about you. It never was. If someone is telling you how wrong your being is, shaming is the culturally condoned way they know how to communicate the depths of their unfamiliarity. It is socially and religiously condoned to be punitive toward others when we are confronted with what’s unfamiliar. If you’re honest, you might notice you even do this to your self, say, when you don’t fit into a cultural norm, beauty standard or you don’t live up to your own massive expectations. Perfectionism, in its relentless and most masochistic, is also a manifestation of this.

Persecution has roots in religion, the way its been culturally sanctioned for ages to shame. In Christian religions it is reinforced that a mistake (sin) isn’t a human trying to figure things out but is someone falling short of Godliness and subject to punishment. How many people grew up in church and absorbed passive conditioning that what feels wrong or different to me must also be morally condemned? That the person who is the instrument of this should be persecuted?

The Human Ego has trained in lifetimes of this conditioning. So can it be blamed, really, for playing out this sadly moralistic and sadistic script?

What’s the Solution?

People usually aren’t aware they’re doing this. That’s the funny thing. Yet we need to see through it. We can choose to see through the Ego that shames, judges another as wrong, persecutes. We can see that its not their fault, they’re not awake to it, and know that they are in charge of their own awakening, and we may only pay a passive role in that. The role we have the power to play is the one who chooses to not take on that energy. We can make our inner world so inhospitable to it, that when receive condemnation in any form it has no home, no place to anchor itself.

To do this we must be really clear in our self about what’s ours and what isn’t. We are not, never have been or will be guilty of wrongdoing. Ever. Unless we have consciously harmed another in cold blood, we have never said, behaved or acted wrongly in our entire lives. We are having human learning experiences, with people who are incredibly different from us, in environments designed to challenge and test our ability to be loving and kind and aware at every turn, and the kind thing to do is love our selves through it, every step of the way.

Yet we can never clear the energy of someone pointing the finger at us and telling us we are wrong if we believe we are wrong. If we have even one-tenths of a percent of doubt about our self, we will keep attracting the persecutor so they can show us what we’re ready to release and heal. There are no victims in this scenario, only opportunities for releasing what is not ours. This is the path of waking up, waking up is hard, and that’s why so many of us feel we are on a hard path. Yet what’s the alternative? We feel everything so we can release what’s untrue and ascend to new levels of our Divinity, where we get to feel good and centered all the time. Once we release our self from the false belief there has ever been anything wrong- that we deserved punishment or recrimination, from even our self- we are free.

Energy Exercise

If someone is showing up, making us wrong, reminding us of the persecutor that was once our father, mother, it’s not because we are wrong but because we are ready to release another layer of energy that was never ours to begin with.

Here’s an exercise to help you with this. From this space of understanding and mindfulness, sit quietly with your self. Allow the different threads of false beliefs about your self to gently surface. This is a cognitive exercise. Listen to the mind, the Ego’s voice of self-judgment, recrimination while recognizing that they were given to you by an Ego structure that doesn’t know how to allow your beauty, glory and differentness into its reality simply because it was foreign. Whether this is an energy from a person in your past you can identify, or from the Collective Ego pattern that seeks persecution, atonement, perfection acknowledge that this isn’t yours, and gently set the intention to release this energy pattern from your being.

Then allow your Divinity to surface.

This happens spontaneously, if we listen. We often see this in moments of meditation, contemplation, walking in nature, when we are battling it out with the voices in our head when suddenly a happy image appears, an aberration to the conversation we were having. Like a picture of someone who loves us unconditionally. Or a voice that says, “you did your best.” That’s the Divine Self trying to guide you home. The more you anchor the Ego into this voice, the more access you have to it. The more you remember to listen and to connect, the less you’re pulled off center.

We Only Deserve Love

This is the new paradigm we are striving to anchor right now. A return to acceptance of everything inside and out as right and good. It is a way of gazing on oneself and the world, as a loving mother would, and never breaking that gaze no matter what we are shown. We do this within our self, first. We just keep returning to our Divine Self. We keep helping the Ego understand that there’s a better way of seeing and responding to life.

Once we embody this state no one can shame or harm us because all we see is the truth of who we and they are. All is instantly forgiven – and we realize, finally, that there was nothing to forgive in the first place. All is permanently well.

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Simone Butler’s sumptuous new book Moon Power quietly arrived on my doorstep as if brought by fairies (our road is closed, and we rarely have the luxury of door to door delivery anymore, so this was exceptional). Many of you know Simone from Mooncircles.com, where she shares her monthly musings, or perhaps you’ve seen her articles on Astro Feng Shui appear in The Mountain Astrologer and on her website Astroalchemy. I did a little email Q&A with Simone to bring some love to the beloved planet of both she and I — we both happen to be Cancer Sun signs– the Moon.

Jessica: Moon Power is primarily about using the Moon as a guide to ritual work. The Moon also governs our emotional attitudes, how we feel on a day to day basis, what makes us happy, our karmic path and even our sexual nature – all of which you explore, by sign. I’m curious about the sexual aspect, as that’s rarely talked about in astrology books. How does the Moon relate to our sexuality?

Simone: The Moon represents our needs, first and foremost. And sexuality is a basic human need. Although Venus shows how we express our love nature, and Mars reveals how we go about pursuing our sexual needs, the Moon is our primary (often unconscious) magnetic attractor. That’s why we tend to draw in partners and experiences that mirror our early upbringing, which is shown by the Moon’s sign, house and aspects.

Jessica: I’ve practiced ritual for years. What do you get out of ritual, personally?

Simone: Doing ritual heightens my mundane experience of life and gives me a broader perspective. It reminds me that I am always co-creating with the Divine, and that helpful forces of nature are conspiring on my behalf – especially when I remember to ask for and affirm their help!

Jessica: I am in 100% agreement when you say that by nature women are emotional beings, but the culture we live in has taught us to disown our nature, to pretend we’re calm when we’re terrified, to act like things are okay when we’re actually outraged.  So many of us struggle with allowing our self to have our feelings- and when they are not accepted and experienced they appear threatening, more ominous, bigger! This has huge ramifications in our emotional health, and our relationships. You mention one of the ways you work with this is by giving yourself a wide emotional range to respond to different scenarios spontaneously and in the moment –perfect for your Gemini Moon. What are some ways other Moon signs can fully embody our feeling side?

Simone: One of the best ways any Moon sign can embody her feelings is by setting aside sacred time to experience them. I call this process Excavating Your Feelings. Inspired by Regena Thomashauer’s “swamping” exercise, it’s especially helpful when you’re upset or just feeling stifled or exhausted. Find a piece of music that mirrors your emotional state – I often use Erik Satie’s intense piano solos. Put on a ritual garment like a black cape, turn on the music and take 15 to 30 minutes to weep, rage, yell or dance it out. You don’t even need to know what you’re feeling or what it’s connected to – just give it a voice and you’ll feel so much better and more connected to yourself.

(Jessica: Incidentally, right after I sent Simone this question I received this fabulous blog about risking to feel in my inbox, from Mama Gena aka Regena Thomashauer!)

Jessica: You have a section called “Your Lunar Superpower,” the idea of which totally appeals to my Aries Moon! The Moon and the word “power” aren’t usually in the same astrological sentence. How can you help us see our Moon through this lens?

Simone: I wanted to call the book Moon Mojo, but my editors thought the word mojo (which basically means power, but with a kind of sexy tribal vibe) might scare off potential readers. Yet if you’ve ever drummed at the Full Moon or done ritual at the dark of the Moon, you know that Luna’s power is deep and primal. She awakens forces in us that have lain dormant for millennia. Each Moon sign channels this energy in a different way, which is why it’s helpful to understand your basic emotional nature and power.

Jessica: Do you feel the astrological Moon is important right now, at this point in our history?

Simone: Goodness yes! The Moon has often been disparaged both in astrology (seen as energies from the past that we need to put behind us) and the Tarot (which tends to portray the Moon as big, scary emotions and even madness). The deep feminine, with all her passion and power, is being unleashed and hopefully reclaimed in both women and men, and that means learning to honor all things lunar as ancient people did. If we don’t do this, the world will probably not survive much longer.

Jessica: Finally, I love my Ancient Aries Moon Goddess- the (inspirational) mother of Wonder Woman, Hippolyta. I recently watched the movie Wonder Woman and realized I am constantly honing the same lessons she learned while training with the Amazons: self-trust, holding my ground, staying centered in myself as external energies are flying at me. It was so cool! The mythic is a great place to turn for female role models. What mythical and real-life Goddesses are your personal faves?

Simone: The well-known women I’ve profiled in each Moon chapter, such as Meryl Streep (Taurus Moon Goddess) and Helen Mirren (Aquarius Moon Goddess) are personal favorites of mine. They are inspirations to us all. I’ve had several intense initiations with Isis, the great Egyptian Moon mother. I’m also a daughter of Oshun, Yoruba Goddess of the river. Lakshmi, Hindu Goddess of abundance, is a favorite of mine as well – I have a gorgeous tapestry of her above my morning altar and honor her, as well as the others, daily. And I can’t leave out Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god of overcoming obstacles, who’s saved me countless times!

Thanks Simone!

Click here to power up your Moon with Moon Power by Simone Butler

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