Hi everybody

I almost didn’t write a newsletter this week, due to what feels a bit like a tidal wave moving through my life. Without going into the details, on deep reflection, I’ve realised that this often happens at this time of the year for me and when I look at my personal astrology chart, I can clearly see the cycles and areas that need to shift.. so watch this space!

On my retreat in Cape town this coming weekend and in my March Art & Soul  workshops,  we’ll be working with the theme Ebb and Flow, and exploring the cycles of our lives, how to understand them and move through them with grace (not always so easy for us human doings – and I speak for myself here!).

I used to be married to a surfer, who spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours on and in the ocean.  One of the most valuable things he ever shared with me, was his take on the sea’s rhythms, which are echoed in some way throughout the natural world, which includes us!

At any point a surfer is:

• Hanging out, waiting for a wave (in the trough) – surfers spend a lot of time doing this!
• Paddling like crazy to catch the wave (climbing) – a test of strength, courage and determination
• Riding the wave (enjoying) – a time of exhilaration, when all the waiting, effort and hard-earned skill finally pays off.
• And I’m going to add a fourth one… being dumped by a wave and feeling as if you’re in a washing machine, not knowing which way is up.

He also said that if you feel yourself being washed out to sea, the best thing you can do is to stay afloat and surrender to the current, because eventually it will bring you back to the shore again, probably in a different place, but back to solid ground nevertheless.

And of course his final pearl of wisdom was that “This too shall pass”. Whether you’re waiting, struggling, being tumbled or blissfully riding the wave, it will  change. “Good”  or “bad”, the cycle you’re in has to end and a new one has to begin! It’s a natural law!

Even though we know this innately, we often tend to forget this important fact and spend a lot of our time and energy attempting to ride the crest of the wave all the time, doing our utmost to avoid the waiting, efforting or heaven forbid, the tumbling.

We favour the light above the dark, prefer the highs to the lows and avoid anything resembling a void, at all costs.

And then, if we do go through a time of struggle, we tend to think that we’ve done something wrong, that we’re being punished, that  it shouldn’t be happening. This is where the resistance starts and due to what we resist persisting, the struggle cycle continues… and around we go again.

Even when we know in our heart of hearts that something needs to be changed or released, we  often tend to hang on to it for dear life and then wonder why we’re depressed, stuck, sick, angry or resentful.

Imagine if a tree were to hang onto its leaves in autumn, or if a bear refused to hibernate, or a snake raged against shedding its skin, or a worm tried to prevent itself from dissolving in the cocoon and eventually becoming a butterfly!

 Sounds crazy right?  But we humans are masters at trying to fight natural cycles. We even fight aging, trying desperately to hang on to our youth. Is a red/orange/yellow, mottled leaf uglier than a green one?  Could it be, dare I say, more interesting…. ?

Are age spots and wrinkles REALLY so ugly that we have to erase them or smooth them out?

Much of our society has no value for the elderly whatsoever, actually looking down on them with disdain. How very sad this  is. This  clearly shows our abhorrence of life’s cycles.

When the sun moves through Pisces every year, it’s a cyclical message from the Universe to clear the fields of our souls, so as to prepare for the planting of new seeds when our Solar Power enters Aries and a brand new astrological year begins. Full Moon March Virgo

The tail end of our annual cycle can be accompanied by lethargy, exhaustion, hopelessness, feelings of overwhelm, extreme sensitivity or confusion. It is also a time when we are more open, more intuitive, more fertile and more ready to receive insights and signs from unexpected places!

Right now, we have FIVE planetary bodies in Pisces–( that’s a whole lot of oceanic energy right there), so we’re really being encouraged to release and surrender in no uncertain terms.

FULL MOON IN VIRGO

To help us to do this, in the early hours of Friday 2^nd March, we have a Full Moon in Virgo, providing us with a very welcome dose of earthy pragmatism. The role of Virgo is to discern what’s working and what’s not, to separate the wheat from the chaff, to bring pragmatism, practicality and some strategic thinking to our lives.

It might help to think of this full moon as a sturdy, well-crafted  life raft, which we can hop onto and see what’s going on, before adjusting our course for the year ahead.

On the day of the full moon, use her Virgo energy to discern what needs to be released, and set active steps to set this in motion over the next two weeks.

Here are some prompts to assist you with this:

• Where, who or what are you holding on to that is robbing you of your life force, restricting you, preventing your light from shining?
• Where might you be resisting change, to the detriment of your heath and well-being?
• What areas of your life feel chaotic, messy and confusing and what might this be telling you?
• Where in your life are you ebbing, waiting, flowing or being tumbled and what is this telling you?

After the moon has reached her fullness, she will enter her waning cycle until the New Moon on 17^th March, giving us  two weeks to release what needs to be released, before the new annual cycle begins.

See this process over the next two weeks as weeding the fields,  so that you can start planting seeds for  a new crop, starting on the new moon.

Clear the fields well, plant new seeds on the 17^th March and they will start sprouting at the Autumn Solstice on 20^th  March when the sun enters Aries (more about that in my next blog)

ART & SOUL WORKSHOPS

You might like to consider joining us on Saturday 17th  March for the Ebb and Flow Workshop (or on each Wednesday morning in March) . This is an  opportunity to bring understanding to the cycles you are experiencing, to release what needs to be released and to dream in the new! Email me for details. 

 ASTROLOGY UPDATE

If you’d like to explore what needs to be released and where new seeds need to be planted, book an update session with me and we’ll look at where this energy plays out in your personal chart.

In light and life cycles

Michelle

I’ll be sharing some insights on this theme on FACEBOOK over the next month. Please join in the conversation

Copyright Michelle McClunan – please share with links to this post