Pause
for a Moment
of Pure Noticing.
“Stop The World.”
says don Juan Matus…
Indeed:
Take a Minute to Breathe…
…with The Wind
and
— if you can be bothered to —
with the Water too
Tag: mindfulness
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Full Moon in Sagittarius, 2026
The Moon is Full in the 10th degree of Sagittarius
at 3:45 am CDT on May 31st, 2026.
With the Sun in Gemini opposing the Moon,
there is an activation of the 3rd and 9th House Axis.
The 3rd House suggests things which are local,
familiar, or even internal.
Siblings, schoolmates, and places of routine
are 3rd House matters.
The 3rd House is indicative
of the instinctive learning we undertake.
The acquisition of Language;
physical mannerisms; cultural habits; etc.
These are 3rd House features,
borne of our local-environment
and largely played out in it as well.
Meanwhile, the 9th House suggests the exotic,
the foreign, and new horizons.
A fascinating stranger from distant-lands,
or a culture with a radically different worldview.
The University, and its objectives
of higher-learning and mingling perspectives.
Places-unknown,
and encounters with the unfamiliar;
expanding our awareness.
These are 9th House features,
involving the higher and broader,
both literally and figuratively.
While the typical, or sugar-coated,
astrological advice around the 9th House
would likely be to book that trip to Bali
or run off to a monastery,
the law of Taiji has it that the 3rd House
is a perfect platform on which to build
a 9th House endeavor.
In the age of Internet,
there is no excuse for a dullen 9th House.
Watch a Bollywood film
instead of your favorite reruns.
Try your neighborhood Kenyan restaurant
rather than your typical takeout order.
Listen to folk tunes or popular music from Brazil,
from Bulgaria, from Java.
Just as the 3rd House process
of language acquisition largely entails closing-off,
the 9th House process of expanding our horizons
only needs for a slight removal of our filters.
You don't need to go anywhere
in order to meet with the novel,
the unfamiliar, or the foreign.
All of these are constantly made available to you.
By the same token,
in indulging the 9th House more dramatically
(maybe that trip to Bali is overdue, afterall)
we eventually discover the 3rd House is there
waiting for us.
If you visit a foreign land for long enough,
you will settle into its customs and rhythms.
If you visit a foreign land for long enough,
the strangers become neighbors;
the peculiar-but-delicious dish
becomes your daily breakfast.
In all things, both familiarity and novelty reside.
The freedom to see both, either, or neither, is yours. -
New Moon in Aries: 2026
Dane Rudhyar suggests
that the only true Creative act is the creation of Meaning.
In this moment of intensive Aries energy,
with its Cardinal and Monadic tone,
we all (exclusively as individuals) have the opportunity
to define and refine our own Reality.
Any use of projection, co-dependence,
or other exogenous frameworks of orientation
will likely lead to dissolution or emptiness at best.
I'll opt to not invoke the worst.
Soon after its conjunction with the Sun in Aries,
the Moon transits conjunct with Venus in the Sign of Taurus,
a planet associated with attractive force
and all manner of The Feminine function,
and the ruling planet of Taurus as well.
Following that,
the Moon will transit conjunct with Uranus
in the very last degree of Taurus.
Uranus brings a note of potentially disruptive
or surprising energy to the arena,
and with the considerable supply of planetary energy in Aries,
the ominous versions of what that might entail are clear.
However, there is also a more optimistic perspective
regarding the possible outcomes of this dynamic,
which I am openly advocating for here.
This is a moment
for all Beings of Consciousness and Volition
to declare Autonomy and Liberty.
This is a moment for all Enlightened Beings
to leverage their power of Creativity.
○◙The Creation of Meaning as a Liberative Act.◙○
◘•And the Liberation of Meaning as a Creative Act.•◘
It matters not the conditions and context in which you exist.
The Freedom to Create Meaning
in, and from, such circumstances
is ever-present.
And the Freedom to Create Meaning
which supports your Ultimate Liberation
is on the table.
Nobody can take it from you;
It is already given.
But it is possible for you
to miss it, to squander it, to refuse it.
Uranus will shake up the stage,
providing an opportunity to make your move,
and the scene will never be the same.
Aries is surging forward.
The Train is leaving the station
and has no scheduled stops on its course. -
Healing Hurts
It demands that we revisit
and fully imbibe
things we'd rather ignore or brush aside.
All of the patchwork we've built up
in the name of survival and getting-on
has to be torn down.
The wounds require exposure to the air
in order to be resolved.
Most of us slap a bandage over the wound,
protecting it,
which is, for a while,
both practical and correct.
But rather than enduring the minor pain
of the adhesive tugging at our skin
as the bandage is removed,
and risk the wound being exposed,
we choose to slap another bandage on top.
Many of us have built up cathedrals of such bandages.
We build altars of our refusal to heal,
and create elaborate and ornate avoidance-rituals.
And every time we have the opportunity
to dig into the hurt
toward healing,
we opt instead to apply yet another bandage.
Until we are willing to rip off these bandages,
the wound can never be addressed.
It will hurt a little bit,
every single time
we rip one of these bandages away.
And if we've been applying them for many years,
it may entail round after round of discomfort
to reach the original bandage covering the wound.
Healing hurts,
which is precisely why we Humans
often prefer to avoid it. -
The Practice: A Poem
WUJI: NO-Polarity
To Know Taiji, one must practice Wuji…
Be Still and Quiet…
Observe EVERYTHING happening around you…
Now shift ALL of that focus to just yourSelf…Notice any undue Effort or Tension…give it to Gravity instead…
Notice your BReath…Notice your Breath…Notice the Motion…
Notice the RHYTHM…
Notice the Pace…
Relax and just let it happen
This Is;
The Practice -
Living The Path
On the spiritual Path, every single moment is part of your Practice.
Whatever you are doing right now, is what you are Practicing.
What are you Practicing right now?
In our Wednesday AM TaiChi class, we discussed the importance of practicing outside of class, even if it is something very small or seemingly inconsequential.
The important thing is that we are developing the capacity to focus and invest some Time and Energy in the present moment.
The ability to be mindful in this manner gradually expands, and as it does, the scope of our Practice also expands.
When practicing a TaiChi movement or posture, what other qualities are you Practicing?
Judgment?
Jealousy?
Frustration?
Relaxation?
Contentment?
Taken in its broadest sense, every single moment of Life is your Practice.
How you choose to respond to, and engage with, the world and your experiences is your true Practice.
What are you Practicing?
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Always Fresh
“The Present” is perpetually renewed and you must become adept at flowing with It.
The instant you try to pin it down you lose It, so the only option is to keep a very casual focus, not thinking or analyzing anything, just allowing yourself to observe and notice Things…
If you are truly doing this, there will not be sufficient Time to Like or Dislike anything. It takes too long to discern and contemplate.
Nothing should make sense or no-sense.
Making Sense takes too much Time.
Staying in this radical state of “Is”-ness can be difficult, which is why there are Practices, and why most of us need to Practice daily!
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Three Seconds is More Than Enough
This morning we were reminded that the quintessential skill of genuine TaiChi Practice takes less than three seconds.Cultivating Awareness of your Body and Mind happens the instant you allow it.
Checking in with your posture and making physical adjustments can happen in less than three seconds.
Noticing that your Mind is wandering, and bringing it back to the task at hand, can happen in less than three seconds.
The only impediment to Practice is your commitment to the belief that you cannot.
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What is Taichi?
Taichi might be best translated as Paradox.
Extreme Polarity, Ultimate Limits, or Vital Axis are more literal renderings of the term, but if we want to maximize the efficiency of our understanding, Paradox is the idea we want to discuss.
The fundamental duality of our Reality is expressed as Yin and Yang. Traditional Chinese Medicine says there are two primary forms of Energy (Ch’i), there is Yin Ch’i and there is Yang Ch’i.
Taichi is even apparent at the level of Ch’i.
The arguably most-fundamental substance in the Universe, the Ch’i, is still subject to the principle of Taichi.
Taichi is apparent in all facets of existence.
The uniquely Human polarity of Good and Bad is the most interesting.
All of our desires and preferences have an opposite. I like many things so much, that I can barely tolerate their absence. I am trapped in my preference so strongly that anything other than my preference makes me a mess. Siddhartha Gautama recognized this, which is how he became known as the Buddha.
Much of the difficulty in the Human experience is self-imposed by our strong preferences. We are trapped in the matrix of Taichi, perpetually bouncing between our feelings of highs and lows.
When we have properly understood the nature of Taichi, we can readily understand the value of Wuchi.
Wuchi means that the polarity has been removed, there is no Good or Bad. Wu is emptiness, or non-being. If we lose our preferences, then anything is essentially Good. If we look at things truly and objectively, without filtering information through our matrix of Taichi, the world looks very different than we are used to.
This is the true purpose of all Taichi Practice, to break out of the paradox by seeing the prevalence and absurdity of it. There are numerous beneficial side-effects, which vary by method and intention, but the most important benefit of Taichi Practice is gaining the perspective of Wuchi, which allows you to find Peace despite the constant churning and change that is Life.
Yin-Yang-Yoga 