Every time we open our arms
and embrace another who is in need.

Every time we seek out a person
in need, or respond to the call of those
who show up.

Every time we click “like” or
leave a comment on a blog.

Each time that we support and encourage another
is the opportunity to pass on the encouragement
that we have received. Or, the encouragement that
we have never received just as we would have *liked* it.

“I am so 100% loved, cared for; seen.

People derive value from my presence.

I have purchased their works.

The comment I made just led to the butterfly effect
of his or her perfect realization. It was the tipping point
that brought them to the place where they
succeeded in something they have been earnestly working for a very long
time.

My blog post, got someone thinking…
or triggered some healing in a deep way that
reverberates onward.”

While On the bus:

Every time we open our eyes, smile and
make eye contact. Connect.

Every time we give the gift of ourselves, our
time, our thoughts. Our presence.

These are moments where we take a risk
that something or nothing may become of it, and the
best part is, I hope both happen at once.
I want nothing and
everything to come of it. I want it to be simple, but it never
is.

I want to remain free, giving from the space
of openness in my heart that does not respond to
obligation but derives deep pleasure from
delivering a message,

for being a cog in the wheel,

for being just an ordinary being involved in an ordinary
process that neither myself nor my words put on their
special dress for.

 

*photo from wikimedia commons. I find this image inspires me.

 

Give me honey
Any day
And I’ll find a place for
Sweet to counter the bitter.

We move through our days
Trying to keep our stories
On the margin of our memories
Trying to be present to
What we encounter in the moment.

Then…
As I have,
We just move on.

Or is it that life moves on,
and we can choose at any moment,
to recognize that even if others don’t see it

everything is different.

The above image is an older sketch-experiment from the 1990s. In the days to come I will share some more pieces from my old collection.

Currently there are a few planets transiting through Taurus. We are embracing this New Moon in Taurus and drawing in conscious breaths, sending our roots deeply into the earth.

Today is a new day.

Meanwhile a few planets are in retrograde motion (Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto). I am sifting through my past, while moving forward, going simultaneously deeper into my past while further into my future. After a visit with friends and family in Pennsylvania, including my elder Italian relatives who immigrated from Italy, we continued on.

Today we are in Rome, having spent the last couple of days getting settled in.

 

 

Currently I’m bubbling up with the perfect happiness of anticipating my future travels, of endings and beginnings, and of the continuous flow. I expect ups and downs as the natural framework. Even there are times when I experience ’emptiness’ at points of achievement or success. I’ve come to become more accepting of these times.

Recently I completed a major milestone in my acupuncture studies with completing my first set of comprehensive exams. This was 10hrs + of testing following my final exams.  It’s a long journey, but the way I am doing it, it puts my spirituality and my living ‘beingness’ at the forefront.

Recently, I’ve had a lot of updates with my technology. These were near-mandatory updates due to malfunctioning equipment. Luckily, I got my phone replaced for free and only lost some data. Pre-Merc. Retro shadow. I think I have it mostly squared away now. Anyways, being away from the hustle and bustle of the net created the appropriate space for me to rest and recuperate – to return to the fullness of my own experience. My yoga practice feels deeper, my sense of presence feels renewed. Nature walks are more vibrant. The presence of in my toes, renewed! The breath is deeper, and returned.

Also recently, I completed the final installation of my Munay Ki rites and I’m integrating all these changes, and growing these seeds. I do not feel upset with my pace. I feel just fine; after a certain amount of energy work, the openings have different flavors, and I wouldn’t want to miss any aspects of these nuanced discoveries, however many times around!

My fire-breath practice (for regular readers) has been renewed again as well.

So where is Fiestaestrellas in all this? Where is the astrology?  Last week I attended an excellent presentation on sunset charts by Arthur Chadbourne. He’s a 3rd generation astrologer who has been working with a lineage since his great grandmother went to India and adapted her astrological teachings for the West. His presentation was enjoyable. I reflect back on the astrological book that I was going to write a few years ago, and I am feeling glad that I did not.  Mr. Chadbourne made a point of mentioning that Demetra George, among other authors tend to grow beyond their first several books and then look back and say, “Hey, I didn’t understand it then, now I do,” or something like that. After lunch with Mr. Chadbourne and fellow astrologers, Mr. Chadbourne gave me a hug and said “thank you for contributing.”  I’m not sure that I did contribute, or whatever he meant, but I do know this: People rarely understand me when I speak!  I felt like I was in company with my soul family, as usual.  So, if I didn’t understand him, well – that really meant something! Oh, we are both Leos!

Aside from some poetry here and there, I see Fiestaestrellas.com’s original function in astrological information is on hiatus. In place of that, there may be pictures and poems, maybe little token symbols embedded within. There may be nary a sound. I continue to engage in ceremony with every lunar cycle, but I’m tired of writing about it dedicatedly. I stopped doing it for the last couple of cycles. It’s a quieter period for me now. There’s a trillion and one blogs about astrology, anyways.

Soon I have some silent retreats coming up with Gurus that I’ve been following for some time: Mooji, Gangaji… that after I dig into my familial roots in Italy, and then engage with fairy forest lands.

I saw Matt Kahn recently. He hugged my husband and I and told us that we are awesome. I think we also talked about where we live briefly, and that was the extend of our up-close conversation. I even got my photo taken with him! I asked him if I could ‘pose him.’  He said, “Sure!” So we are pictured each giving a “thumbs up,” while my husband snapped the picture. What a journey that was, and what a delight – to share presence and live the truth is very relaxing!

This morning’s yoga class was interesting. My current teacher, Joe, said to me, “The first day I noticed it, you have this energy. It’s really good. I just wanted to tell you that.” I told Joe that I have a home here, in SD. I love that – and I have a home wherever I go, because I am at home in me.

I have no idea what he meant about the energy, but I do know that I’m always thinking: “I love this guy!” He’s so funny, and has been studying all the sacred arts for years and years and is so not pompous about it.

*******    ******   ******   ******   ******  ******  ******  ******  *******  ******

So Cheers! Here’s to my first blog post after a short break, and to the entry into reading yours again. While I’ve gotten my data issues somewhat worked out, I am completely uncertain about how or when I will post while in Europe. So, we’ll just be taking this step by step, Okay?

I LOVE YOU ALL!  ~ See Some of you Soon!

 

With the beginning of spring, now is the time of the first sign in the Zodiac – Aries, the ram. While domesticated sheep have an image as passive, docile creatures, in the wild a ram – a male sheep – is anything but passive. Rams are distinguished by the large, curved horns on their heads. A mature bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) can have 30 pound (14 kg) horns on a body weighing up to 300 pounds (140 kg).

 

Rams are known for fighting each other for dominance of the herd – including the right to mate with female sheep, or ewes. Rams fight each other with their horns, and even jump towards each other, ramming their heads together. This image of a ram jumping forward – headfirst – illustrates the energy of the first sign, Aries.

 

Aries energy is characterized by the 3 A’s: aggressive, ambitious, and assertive. Just as life all around us is “springing” into bloom, Aries springs into action confidently, eagerly, and perhaps even a little bit recklessly. Or perhaps very recklessly.

 

Individuals with a lot of Aries in their chart are natural leaders. They are self-starters who see an opportunity and go for it. If someone says “Can I have a volunteer to do something?” and you immediately raise your hand before you even know what you are signing up for, you may have a lot of Aries.

 

Once (4 years ago), at a poetry open mic, I was so eager to volunteer to recite a poem first, that I stood up without taking stock of my surroundings, and I knocked over a large plant that was beside my chair. Ka witnessed this, and she reminds me of this incident with a laugh. I have Aries rising, and this brings with it an impulsive energy.

 

I would be well-advised to be aware of this tendency so I can make use of its strengths – willingness and courage – but to temper this energy with the caution and prudence of Virgo (my moon sign). To be assertive is a strength, but to be so aggressive that it irritates others is a weakness. To begin a new project with energy and aplomb is a strength; it is also important to have persistence and follow-through, which are not strengths that Aries is known for.

 

When we talk about astrology, Ka always makes it clear that your birth chart does not create a prescription or destiny that is immutable and written in stone. We are all a mix of many energies and many signs, and it does not help us to over-identify with one sign. Rather, we should look at a whole chart, in order to have the whole picture of ourselves and all of our integrated parts. To paraphrase Walt Whitman, we are all vast, and we contain multitudes. Astrology gives us a tool, and a language of archetypes, that we can use for understanding ourselves. Thousands of years ago, the first psychologists were the stargazers and the storytellers. They told stories of many gods, titans, and heroes who coexisted, fought each other, competed, and journeyed to the ends of the earth. Likewise, the many aspects facets of our own minds (or psyches, to borrow a word from the Greeks) must coexist and work together. Sometimes the many sides of our personalities work together smoothly – like tempering Aries energy with Libra energy to be assertive in a balanced fashion. And sometimes the inner relationship may be less smooth and more like “Clash of the Titans.”

 

If you have a lot of Aries in you, celebrate its strengths during this time of year. Throw yourself head-first into your spring cleaning. But also be aware of Aries’ tendency to over-do it, and temper this tendency with non-Aries strengths such as diplomacy, a cool head, and follow-through. If you don’t have a lot of Aries energy, and you find yourself often being timid, now might be a great time to tune into that enthusiastic, confident energy that is blooming all around you. I wish you all a happy spring!

 

My thanks to my astrology teacher, Ka, for the inspiration as I wrote this, my first guest post. We had been talking about me writing a guest post for about two years, and it was just now that I rode the Aries energy into writing it. Learning the language of the stars is a lifelong process, and I feel grateful to be taking this big first step of writing this.

 

Credits
Author: Enrico Curioso
Aries is a painting made by Erika Pochybova, you can visit her at her site