Tag: spirituality

Power and Pause

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

July 8, 2026

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.

May 29, 2026

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.

March 27, 2026

8 Minute Sound Journey with Gongs and Chimes

February 11, 2026

Full Moon in Leo (Feb 1, 2026)

On Feb 1, at 4:09 pm CST, the Moon opposes the Sun from the 14th degree of Leo. Leo carries themes of self-expression, creativity and joy, and the child-like radiance of being (among others). As the natural 5th House, these Leo themes can present as literal children, romantic activity, and the experience of play.

The ruling planet of Leo is the Sun, the only true luminary and the center around which the aptly named Solar System revolves. Indeed, Leo is an energy which centers, focalizes, and sometimes demands attention. Aries may be the Sign of the Individual-Self, but Leo is the Sign which brings that Individual-Self into a centered and coherently-embodied being. Physiologically, Leo is correlated with the heart, spine, and solar-plexus. All of these are unifying and centralized phenomena, among the few aspects of the Human body which are not bi-lateral features.

The lion is the symbol of Leo, ruling over the sun-soaked savannah and the pride comprised of its kin, which fittingly brings many of these themes together.

While those with strong Leo qualities can indeed be self-centered, many express the inverse and can be strongly other-centering. Leo loves a spotlight, but doesn't necessarily desire to be in it. Leo is the energy of centering as such. It is the Fixed Fire, initiated by the spark of Cardinal Fire, and focused into a singular flame.

This Full Moon in Leo arrives in between two major transits featuring that Cardinal Fire sign of Aries. January 26 features the Aries ingress of Neptune, and February 13 features the Aries ingress of Saturn. The shift of these two slow-moving outer planets into Aries begins new cycles of approximately 165 and 28 years, respectively.

Fire requires Air, and this Full Moon has ample supply as the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, as well as Pluto, are all traversing the Air Sign of Aquarius. The ruling planet of Aquarius, Uranus, also features in this dynamic as it stations direct on February 3 and begins its journey back into the Sign of Gemini, adding even more Air energy to the picture.

While the Full Moon in Leo and the transits of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars are relatively fleeting (though likely plenty powerful and profound), the slower moving transits of Saturn and Neptune in Aries aspecting Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini will be longer-term dynamics which are only beginning to unfold.

While Air is necessary for Fire to burn, it can also blow the flame out or spawn an uncontrollable blaze. The innocence of birthday candles, and the stoic destruction of a wildfire. While there is much enthusiasm and excitement in the zeitgeist about the forthcoming New Moon lunation and its signaling of the year of the Fire-Horse in Chinese astrology, the Saturnian aspect of Aquarius and the power of Air may prove to be the more prescient dynamic in determining how this era of Fire plays out in our lives.

"Without the Bender, a rock will not throw itself! But Fire will spread and destroy everything in it's path if one does not have the will to control it!" -Jeong Jeong, from "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

If you would like support in exploring how this New Moon or other transits might affect you, please schedule a reading HERE

January 30, 2026

2026 = 1

In accordance with basic numerological principles, 2026 is a year of 1.
Numerology, in its most basic use-case, entails reducing numbers (as well as words through alphabetic correlations with numbers) down to a single integer.

2+0+2+6 = 10
20+26 = 46 and 4+6 = 10
202+6 = 208 and 2+0+8 = 10
and of course, 1+0 = 1

I don't claim any meaningful expertise on the subject, though I do pay it ample attention in my daily life. As often as not, when I see a double-digit figure my brain will run the math to reduce it to its single-digit form.

Although there are different systems and traditions, and thus some variation and surely contentiousness about what is correct or useful, the system I was initially introduced to numbers the alphabet as follows:

1 - A/J/S
2 - B/K/T
3 - C/L/U
4 - D/M/V
5 - E/N/W
6 - F/O/X
7 - G/P/Y
8 - H/Q/Z
9 - I/R

1 is, naturally, an energy of initiatory impulse. The energy of beginnings, of individuality, of the monadic principle.
2 is the energy of Taiji, or the Grand Duality. There is counter-balance here, and contrast, as well as relativity and partnership.
3 is an energy of dynamism. It is Mercurial, in a meaningful sense, and suggests flow as well as integrity given that triangles are notoriously sturdy.
4 is a stable energy. It indicates structure and form, or manifestation but can also signify stubborn rigidity or obstruction.
5 is an energy of change. The WuXing philosophy nods to this, describing "Five Phases"; there is instability and unfolding.
6 is an energy of responsiveness. From the constant of change there are endless choices to be made, hence the basic Existentialist crisis of Being.
7 is a progressive energy. The necessary follow-through and will-power to make good on decisions and choices is represented here.
8 is an energy of cycles. Karmic law, repetition, discipline or dedication, action and reaction; the inertia of circulation around the infinity-loop.
9 is the energy of completion or fulfillment. The end of the cycle, the final form, fruit falling from the vine; an ending which begets new beginnings.

It can be quite compelling to reflect on previous years which carried the numerological resonance of 1, noting if any themes or patterns emerge.

1945, 1954, 1963, 1972, 1981, 1990, 1999, 2008, 2017, 2026, 2035, 2044
are all examples of years which carry the resonance of 1.

January 1, 2026