7.12.14

Moon loosely conjunct Pluto ~8 degree orb

Sun loosely conjunct Jupiter ~9 degree orb

Jupiter @ 29 degrees Cancer and about to ingress (enter) Leo.

Active grand cross in Cardinal signs

Discipline

My contemplation lately, my personal journal, and my astrological reading for the ‘Full Moon’ in Capricorn has been centered around this idea of “discipline.”

What is discipline other than to “show up” for what you signed up for? Stick-to-it-iveness. I mean to be really ‘present’ with your goals, devoted. I’m sure this thought of mine evokes some of your own thoughts. I do hope you will share them below.

I think discipline is also based on the word “disciple.” One acts as a devotee to something, even if nothing but to the process itself – the inner development. In other words, I think of discipline as being devoted to the process of self-development, relationship development, and/or community development. I’m sure I left out some other possible scenarios.

Often a disciple is devoted to God, Spirit, whatever source a person chooses to recognize as the provider of all there is. I’ve seen references to Self with a capital ‘S,’ to set it apart from the ephemeral-natured self of persona/ego. I’ve also seen people choose to be atheist while offering their services to humanity with the deepest respect and reverence for life.

Interestingly, this particular full moon is known to many Hindus and Buddhists as Guru Purnima, the full moon of Guru. It is a time to honor the removers of ignorance, the teachers. Historically it was a celebration for Guru Vyasa, writer of the Vedas, the 4 sacred Indian texts. It is the idea that it is the Guru’s job to bring us to God. That is, the guru (teacher) removes the obstacles from recognizing God, and/or obstacles along the path to Buddha/Bodhisattva/Enlightenment.

In popular American culture, Gurus of certain things are experienced persons that help people get past the “entry stage” or newbie-hood of a particular Tao/Dao Way or ArtScience. Say, it’s the Love Guru!

You can also work on the development of other internal/externals: your garden, your art, the health of your animals, building your dream house, writing your book, building your audience. What are you currently developing?

Really, there’s no limit to potential options – unless you make one. Which is where Saturn comes in – the ruler of Capricorn. Limiter of all things: Chronos, time. Slicing the pie into bite-size pieces. The astrological pie is made up of approximately 2 hours per astrological slice/sign, or 30 degrees!

When is setting limits a good idea? ……It can create more choice.

I feel like people have a lot of opinions about discipline and responsibility. I find that beliefs and values around religion and spirituality are also cultural values expressed around the ideas of responsibility. Often people say “I can’t” based on perceived or real obligations and limiting factors. But what about the limiters that you can choose that result in more choice for you?

Time is the natural limiter

We only have so many resources, a certain amount of time. What do you want to do with your piece of the pie? What if you chose to sell it so you could raise the funds to make more pie and offer it to more people? There’s no judgment here, it’s just a metaphor, and I’m just curious. Please tell me. Some would give away their pie, and then the pie would be eaten, and enjoyed by another. Some would eat their own pie, joyfully. Why not? Some people don’t even like pie, and would rather see no one eat it. Maybe others could trade pies – in a scenario where that was possible of course! What scenarios have I missed?

You get the point, we all get the choice of what to do with our lives; and, it’s probably a good idea not to choose for others what they ought to do with theirs. But, how about providing choice? Capricorn is known as the sign of “business,” and a certain doggedness, a loyalty is evident with this sign. Capricorn wants to see concrete results. Think of the very visible rings on Saturn – the planet that rules Capricorn.

Thoughts about Failure

How well am I performing? If I’m trying as hard as ever, and I’m still not getting results, what do I have to change or modify? Usually, this is when we may or may not realize we reached our very non-specific goals. We were successful at being vague!

It’s having specific goals that brings up the possibility for failure.

Making certain, definite goals is actually quite terrifying because it always means that failure lurks. But why should failure lurk? Even failure is information, and a possible chance at success once unpacked and understood.

Allow me to illustrate: in an attempt to save my draft as a draft and not to publish my post immediately, I ended up setting up a password. The thing I didn’t realize is that a “password protected” post would get published. But, I’m glad that I didn’t publish it outright, because I wasn’t ready. Whoops! I’m not actually trying to limit people from reading my posts! Ever since Mercury went retrograde and then stationed direct but is still in retrograde shadow, well, I have been trying new things. They don’t always work out! But, in the end, I’m just glad that I made it to the writing table.

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Full Moon in Capricorn: Driven for concrete results

Moon loosely conjunct Pluto ~8 degree orbSun loosely conjunct Jupiter ~9 degree orb (Jupiter on final degree of Cancer and about to ingress (enter) Leo.

Discipline

My contemplation lately, my personal journal, and my astrological reading for the ‘Full Moon’ in Capricorn has been centered around this idea of “discipline.”

What is discipline other than to “show up” for what you signed up for? Stick-to-it-iveness. I mean to be really ‘present’ with your goals. I’m sure this thought of mine evokes some of your own thoughts. I do hope you share them below.

I think discipline is also based on the word “disciple.” One acts as a devotee to something, even if nothing but to the process itself – the inner development. In other words, I think of discipline as being devoted to the process of self-development, relationship development, and/or community development. To God, Spirit, the source a person chooses to recognize.

You can also work on the development of your garden, your art, the health of your animals, building your dream house. What are you currently developing?

Really, there’s no limit to the focus – unless you make one. Which is where Saturn comes in – the ruler of Capricorn. Limiter of all things: Chronos, time. Slicing the pie into bite-size pieces – actually approximately 2 hours per sign!

When is setting-limits a good idea?

I feel like people have a lot of opinions about discipline and responsibility. In fact, it’s an area of life where I find that many people tend to express or cast the most judgment – for good and/or for bad–especially about others. It’s also an area where we internally tend to be the hardest on ourselves, especially in terms of living up to the expectation that we perceive that others are placing on us.

Thoughts about Failure

How well am I performing? If I’m trying as hard as ever, and I’m still not getting results, what do I have to change or modify? Usually, this is when we may or may not realize we reached our very non-specific goals. It’s the specific goals that bring up the possibility for failure, after-all.

Making certain goals is actually quite terrifying because it always means that failure lurks. Why should failure lurk though? When failure is merely a perception, and it is merely feedback. If failure is feedback, then you’ve got yourself progress-in-the-making!

All-in-all, I find that devotion is a private matter, spiritual even, especially because you may or may not see its effects externally. This is precisely why you are devoted, you appreciate the outside support – but you have found something beyond the eyes of others, yourself even…that calls you further into deeper stretches, beyond knowingness.

Sometimes you can see that someone is working very hard and expressing themselves diligently toward great tasks. Sometimes, in my experience, this work cannot be seen by another! It goes on behind the scenes. Behind the scenes, behind the actor is the Self, there, directing. It takes grace and kindness and compassion to experience the Self. That’s how I perceive God/Guru/Source as grace.

Noses to our work

Most of us have our noses to our work. We are working away at our goals, and/or admire others for how well they focus at their own goals. We can inspire one another by sharing our process. We can help one another when they lose direction, or simply, just be there in your own Self with them, and in oneness.

One of the opportunities of WordPress is share this process with others. For example, I have been visiting Susanwithpearls blog on a regular basis to share in with her contemplations and daily guiding thoughts. I recognize myself in her process of deep-diving. I also decided to visit her blog regularly because she provided a schedule that was easy enough to follow, and didn’t require a lot from me – only as much as I was willing to put into it for myself.

Whether good or bad/right or wrong about particular aspects of scheduling and planning, ultimately there’s a challenge, I think, when working on projects to find the balance between “pushing the wheel” and getting the ball rolling. Ultimately, if we have to keep pushing the wheel, we are going to get tired. So, we have to plan for that.

Ideally the process of life and living could be less fixed (as in the fixed signs of Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus) and more mutable or flexible with the mutable signs (Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius, Gemini). Finally, the best recipe (at least in my world) is a balanced one – so let’s remember the cardinal signs for giving us a sense for direction and trajectory (Capricorn, Cancer, Aries and Libra).