Create Time for Self-Compassion
Being Gentle with Ourselves

The more we are able to treat our bodies with gentleness, the more compassion we will call forth into our lives.

During those times when our lives are filled with what seems to be constant change and growth, it is important to remember that we need to be gentle with ourselves. Since it can be easy to use our energy to keep up with the momentum of our lives, we may not be aware of the fact that we are much more likely to run ourselves down. When things seem to be moving quickly, it is especially essential that we make a point to slow down and be gentle with ourselves.

It might be difficult to notice what is happening to us for we may be so caught up in the whirlwind of our lives that we lose sight of the direction in which things are heading. Being gentle with ourselves doesn’t mean that we don’t accomplish things. Instead it means that we honor ourselves on an ongoing basis and take care of the needs of our bodies.

This means different things to different people. For instance, it could mean having a session with a healer; taking a remedy, herbs, or vitamins; or getting extra sleep. Putting our energy into ourselves in this way helps create space for a more positive, loving, and accepting view of our lives. By setting the intention to do so, we will be more cognizant of our energy levels on a daily basis and more able to replenish them as needed.

The more we are able to treat our bodies with gentleness, the more tenderness and compassion we will call forth into our lives. Learning to understand and pay attention to what our self needs will in turn allow us to fill our lives with unlimited loving and healing energy and to truly take care of the things that mean the most to us.

Chip Conley: Measuring what makes life worthwhile | Video on TED.com

Chip Conley: Measuring what makes life worthwhile | Video on TED.com

Aries (Blue) Full Moon October 22-23, 2010

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Cathy Lynn Pagano (about the author) Page 1 of 3 page(s)
Become a Fan (36 fans)

opednews.com

For OpEdNews: Cathy Lynn Pagano - Writer

Aries/Libra Full Moon, October 22, 2010

"What would opposite be, if it were not true opposition? He who wants to accept himself must also really accept his other." Carl Jung, The Red Book

Soul Mates by Arttemis and Krystalle Keszainn

A full Moon occurs when the Sun is exactly 180* away from the Moon. They stand opposite each other in the sky and the Moon receives full on the light of the Sun. Since the Moon is receptive to the Sun's light, it shines it back, transformed through its lunar nature, into something totally the Sun's opposite: where the Sun is hot and fiery and seemingly stationary, the Moon is cold and dry and seemingly in constant motion.

The fact is our lunar nature is capable of taking in something completely foreign to us and making something beautiful and true of it. Your moon sign will show how you open up to another person, idea or place and reflect on them.

Our job at full Moon is to become aware of these two opposite but complimentary energies and find a way to integrate them. It is your unconscious, feminine receptive side that allows for this. So polish up on your intuitive, feeling nature and learn to say "this and that' rather than "this or that'. Libra wants us to learn weighing and considering, compromise and sharing.

This is very much like Shadow work, in that we usually reject that part of our nature which is "other' then our ego ideal, and so repress it. Full Moon awareness helps us integrate those shadowy aspects of our psyche. You can learn to experience the shadow as part of yourself or you can keep projecting it onto another person.

The trick to a fair and balanced relationship is to take the moot out of your own eye before you reach to take the speck of dust out of your neighbor's eye. This 2nd (Blue) Aries full Moon can be the beginning of a new self-identity (Aries) which acknowledges and honors the Other (Libra), both within and without. Our choice this full Moon is to choose between Love (Libra/Venus) and War (Aries/Mars).

It's hard to not retaliate when someone is attacking you or your beliefs. The other day on The View (yes, sometimes I watch it) Whoopi and Joy walked off the show when Bill O'Reilly got obnoxious I think he said something like "shut up and listen and learn something"!!! I would have walked off too. But Barbara Walters made a great point: we need to engage in civilized discussions about our differences and walking away isn't The Way! If I could re-write what happened, I would have Joy get up and sit down away from him, while Whoopi tells him how arrogant and disrespectful he is. Then she walks into the audience and lets them tell Bill how condescending and ignorant he is.

It isn't that we have to put up with hatred, bigotry and just plain nastiness and stupidity. We have to meet it appropriately, and humorous shaming as well as explaining are good ways to go about it. If oppositions offer us a mirror of ourselves, then how do we deal with this kind of idiocy in ourselves? Kindly but firmly, rationally and with feeling, but most of all, humorously. We have to acknowledge our own darkness before it can be transformed outside.

This Aries full Moon will energize us to look deeper into our relationships in order to learn how to take in another person's point of view and grow beyond our own. Even if we have achieved a balanced viewpoint within ourselves, we can still grow into a new balance when we relate to an Other whose values are so opposed to ours. Going to the audience to respond to Bill would have empowered not only Whoopie but also the audience. Even if Bill never gets it (which says he's out of balance and not fair at all!).

That's the Libra balancing act - to provide a counter-balance to the Other. We just have to get this Aries Moon to go along with working in partnership rather than walking out or attacking back. And since it's the 2nd Aries full Moon this lunar month and occurs at 30* Aries/Libra, there's an excellent chance that we've learned some important relationship lessons since the 1st Aries Full Moon at 1* on September 23rd.

Let's look at the Moon and Sun signs, Aries and Libra. They are the first opposition in our zodiac, and it makes sense that they are concerned with self and other. If we don't know who we are, how can we relate to another person truthfully and therefore confidently? Whether to parents, friends, mates, bosses, co-workers, many of us are afraid to express our true nature or feelings and ideas.

And that's been the problem, hasn't it? We haven't been relating very well lately: men and women feel misunderstood or rejected, different political/religious viewpoints point the finger at each other, while the gulf between rich and poor grows. An economy built on greed cannot survive it's one-sided. Can we come up with a better model of life, one that entails a totally different focus and lifestyle? Can we get beyond self-satisfaction(Aries) to cooperate and work with(Libra) Mother Earth's agenda(Saturn)?

It's not hard to see we are in the midst of a big lesson concerning relationships. We're having a relationship disconnect, not very different from what went on in the 60s, when our parents didn't understand what we were trying to accomplish with our visionary dreams of peace and love. Now our compatriots and fellow world citizens are splitting apart rather than coming together to solve the world's problems. Perhaps this is because patriarchy operates in the "divide and conquer' paradigm, which values domination and power.

1 | 2 | 3

The Butterfly Effect Movie

The Butterfly Effect Movie: "The Butterfly Effect Movie"

Celebrate Global Oneness Day, 24 October 2010

The Happy Planet Index OCT 08, 2010 Video: Forget the GDP. There’s a new way to measure the good things in life. MORE »

Libra New Moon, October 7, 2010

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Cathy Lynn Pagano (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)
Become a Fan (35 fans)

opednews.com

For OpEdNews: Cathy Lynn Pagano - Writer

Libra New Moon, October 7, 2010

"Libra is the birth of the individual unit into the Greater Whole in which (s)he is thenceforth to operate as a cell. The fall equinox marks the decisive triumph of united action and social cooperation over individualistic self-expression and emotional self- centeredness. . . . The entire purpose is that of making more valid, more actual, more tangible the reality of human interchange, the reality of community, the reality of living together within an organic, stable, permanent structure of communal behavior." Dane Rudhyar, The Pulse of Life

Libra by Susan Boulet

Libra's scales: balance, equality, justice, partnership, harmony.

Libra's Scales are the only inanimate symbol in the zodiac. Originally a symbol of the balance of the Sun between the upper and lower worlds and between light and darkness, the scales belonged to the goddess of justice, Astraea, who weighed the fate of mortals. We find ourselves at a fateful moment in our history how will we weigh in? What does our collective fate hold in store for us?

If one person can change the course of history, what will you do to balance the Scales?

Libra is the sign that's concerned with the structure of partnerships, the social forces that shape the rules of engagement between self and other. That's why Saturn is exalted in Libra it's all about the structures (Saturn) that support relationships. Not the emotions of passion, but the rules of engagement, which include romance. After all, Libra is an air sign, so it's about courtesy, the exchange of ideas, the steps that lead to union, the vital communication between two parties, the inevitable swings that occur when two people have to make compromises and create balance. Libra is concerned with developing a sense of social values and group obligations. It is the sign that asks the question: "How will my decision affect others?'

Libra's scales were first concerned with fair exchange. How much was a chicken worth? Or a doctor's checkup? What was the fair exchange for a pound of salt or a bolt of silk from the mysterious Orient? Libra's scales balanced the ledgers, made sure that you got your money's worth. How do we measure our worth against another's? Do our talents and our dharma bring something of worth to the collective? These are also the concerns of Libra.

This Libra New Moon has both Saturn and Mercury conjunct in Libra, squaring Pluto and the Moon's nodes in Capricorn and Cancer, challenging us to bring higher levels of personal integrity and social justice into our lives and our world. Mercury and Saturn in Libra want to open a discussion of our collective goals and ideals about equality between people and justice between corporations and individuals. How can we close the gap between what we say we believe in and what we actually do? How can we get over the fear of the "Other' both immigrants and people of other faiths and learn to trust ourselves and them? The Other is the stranger, the one not like ourselves. How can we find the courage to stand and face the unknown Other?

We are all in this cultural crisis together, and until we learn to see with new eyes and hear with new ears, we can't come up with new structures and rules for social engagement. Until we can learn to see the Other's point of view, we can't co-create a new cultural identity that isn't based on patriarchal domination and rules, but on Libra's dreams of courtesy, peace and harmony.

Now that Saturn is traveling through the sign of Libra, all of us will be posed questions about the realities (Saturn) of our relationships (Libra) and how we can achieve balance, fairness and harmony (Libra) in our lives and in the world. We can either be frustrated by what happens or we can take responsibility for what happens (both Saturn qualities). Saturn is the planet that symbolizes self-discipline and reality-testing through some form of limitation or frustration. In the sign of Libra, Saturn is concerned with partnerships and harmony, social justice, fairness and balance.

For the next two years all of us will be reality-testing how we deal with other people in our lives, as well as what talents and gifts we bring to the culture at this critical time in our history. With Saturn in the early degrees of Libra (responsible partnering with others) making connections to both Uranus in Aries (personal freedom) and Pluto in Capricorn (transforming our culture), we can be sure that what we accomplish in terms of personal relationships over the next two years will be important.

While those people who have their personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) in Libra will be most affected, Saturn will also affect us on a generational level as it transits the slower moving outer planets in Libra in our birth charts. Since the early 1940s, the outer planets have all moved through the sign of Libra, slowly bringing about a change in our perception of relationships, fairness, equality, beauty and peace.

From October 1942 to August 1957, Neptune, the planet of spirituality, imagination and compassion, moved through Libra. From October 1968 to September 1975, Uranus, the planet of revolution, awakening and individuality, moved through Libra. From October 1971 to August 1984, Pluto, the planet of evolution, personal renewal and cultural transformation, moved through Libra. And Saturn itself was in Libra from August 1951 to October 1953, September 1980 to August 1983, and now again from November 2009 to October 2012.

As Saturn traverses the degrees of Libra, people who were born during these generations will be affected through these larger transformative energies. How each of us responds personally to this transit will shape our collective future. The Neptune in Libra baby boomers will be challenged to bring their spiritual imaginations into their relationships and perhaps their artistic vision will once again inspire the world just like in the 60s. The Uranus in Libra generation will be asked to think outside the box about relationships and continue to experiment with how to allow others their personal freedom while maintaining your own. The Pluto in Libra generation will be asked to totally transform our ideals and ideas about relationships from the bottom up and from the inside out. Saturn will force you to engage in these generational shifts of consciousness by bringing these issues up in those areas of your birth chart that is affected.

1 | 2