There is nothing simple about the coming Moon Cycle because we cannot escape the lesson in how we use, or misuse, power. Let me give you an example of what I want to share. In college a friend was running for Class President. He was using all his time to hammer away at his opponent and getting nowhere. They kept running neck and neck. He came to me in frustration, not sure what was wrong.
I told him the old proverb about the Sun and the Wind’s contest to see who was stronger. They agreed that the goal was to triumph over a particular man in the coat. The Wind howled and whipped around the man trying to separate him from his protective covering. But the more he attacked, the more fiercely the man held on to his coat as his defense. Finally, the Sun said it was his turn. He gradually and steadily turned up the light and warmed the man to the point where he took of the coat, sat down relaxed and open.
My friend took the hint and stopped attacking the opponent and instead shared what he wished to do for the class if he was the one in charge. He won. Now that may not seem likely today, given the current climate in global politics. Yet the Truth is still there. Real power is when you help make it safe to stand together less guarded. Where do you make that possible for those around you these days or feel that way around others? This is the lesson we have in front of us the next six months. When we make the connections we have safer in how we manage our actions, the world around us shifts, one connection at a time.
Nietzsche wrote that the lust for power, the ‘will to power’, was stronger than the survival instinct. I rather see it as an extension of that particular hard wiring. It is certainly present these days. We live amidst a strong clash between those who wish for power over others and those who work on the power we have over ourselves. It’s not a pretty or easy picture, but then birth has force to it. We face collective trauma in feeling helpless and it’s all to easy to resort to having power over something or someone to feel back in charge.
Here’s what will help. Watch for the five common ways to tell you are in that Adaptive Child space and not the Wise Adult space. First there is the need to be right. Next there is the ventilating or ‘being honest’ as an excuse to verbally unload all you think on the other. Or you may have the control response (hint manipulating for a desired outcome fits here). Then again you may want them to feel as badly as you do so you retaliate. Finally, when you feel helpless you can withdraw and stonewall nursing a bruised ego and heart. Any of these common responses pretty much guarantee you are on a closed loop and will only circle back again and again over scorched earth.
You may want to check out the work of Ed Tronick on ‘The Power of Discord‘. He discusses how to use those ups and downs in relationship to build stronger, healthier bonds. When you work with a model like his where it’s there is natural flow instead of a right/wrong scenario, a natural optimism creeps back into view. Instead of a label on you, your partner or the situation, it is characterized more as the weather report. Stormy gives way to cloudy, gives way to cooler and sunny. What it takes is a willingness on each person’s part to mind the internal weather that adds to the external conditions and then be patient as the weather shifts.
Let the power you strive for be the command of your state of mind and emotion so what is good for you is also good for those around you. Because Pluto squaring Mercury won’t let those who want power over the many to succeed against the good for all. Temporarily it may succeed and history shows it cannot last. Those selfish ends inevitably bring their own demise, as the past shows us again and again. Often it comes at great cost. But better balance between the many and the few is the evolutionary dance of mankind. We play that out on an individual scale this next cycle. The Cards and Stars will help as you find your particular equilibrium.
Thank you,
Lisa Greenfield
10/20/21 Full moon queen of wands
This Full Moon Cycle lets no one off the hook for the power struggles in their life. You are part of whatever is happening and as a player, have a hand in anything that is created. The victim/persecutor/rescuer triangle is old and battered. It won’t hold up much longer, so now is a good time to find another approach to discord in your life. Even if the new feels a bit odd and unfamiliar at first. Courage is available to confront those darker corners of your personality that didn’t learn how to fight fair. Call on yours.
As we move out of the old win/lose dynamic and into a win/win, it takes courage to stand in your integrity and invite others to do the same with patience while they get there. What’s available is a rising tide of well being when you begin with what you feel and what the feeling needs, then expressing it without expectation. This means the person you express it to does not ‘owe you’ fulfilling it. Beware that scarcity mentality. Your needs and wants have a match waiting for you beyond one or two people.
Your job is to learn how to be open and more relaxed in order to see it rather than fuming, resenting or demanding that the person in front of you give it to you. The power play is within you. Practice being open, curious, and have a little faith that what you seek is seeking you. Learn to draw it to you with practice and skill. When you operate from here, paradise isn’t far off. This Queen is the promise that when you learn how to fuel the inner light first, your radiance attracts all you require and more. Plus the added brightness and warmth benefits all those around you.
10/21/21 Page of pentacles
Today has change woven all through it. This Page asks you to tend your own inner state of being first, before doing or saying anything. For those who fear change, reactive outbursts are possible. It’s called offending from a wounded position. If you don’t get what your want, when you want it, there isn’t patience or trust to find where the right match is. Instead there are eruptions. Manage your internal dialogue, expectations and reactions. Those simple actions pay off handsomely and are good practice as you navigate the expanding possibilities in front of you. One step at a time, like mental gym practice, you build the muscle to hold the transformational tension without it taking a toll on you and those around you. It may even start to feel good, like a great work out does.
10/22/21 Seven of cups
Imagination is key when this seven appears. Today’s transits help fuel a dream of a better world than we live in at present. Pay close attention to the stories you feed yourself today with Mercury in Libra trine Ceres in Gemini. Be willing to see things with fresh eyes and an innocent view of what is possible, when you interpret what’s happening from a better point of view. Remember, what benefits you can also benefit others when you stay curious and open to conversation. This way you have allies in making things happen instead of hitting obstacles or enemies. Find common ground or work with differing perspectives as a way to map out a bigger picture.
10/23/21 two of pentacles
You simply can’t create and defend at the same time. One is the gas pedal, while the other is the brakes. You can be strategic, thoughtful and prepared, which feels much better. By all means, let what has been painful in the past contribute to your wisdom of today, but don’t let it drive the whole conversation. Focus on what you learned from past mistakes and failures instead of how to make sure you don’t get hurt again. Some pain is inevitable in life. The wiser path is to find ways to trade the right amount of pain for a healthy gain. Once again, it’s like the gym. To build muscle some soreness means you are building strength. Select carefully what helps you muscle up appropriately for the expansion you want to see.
10/24/21 Five of pentacles
It’s tempting to let obstacles and challenges get your fear brain going today. Watch and learn how the safety of the known can tempt you to abandon expansion and try to squeeze back down into safe space. Except there is no real safety in what you’ve outgrown. It’s okay to feel like you need to pause and recalibrate. Catch yourself and those pesky Eeyore moments where all you can focus on is what isn’t happening, what you don’t want, what you don’t like. Acknowledge that delays and detours can be a bummer and they be used to refine anything being done or source new support. Often scarcity is a lack of patience and creativity. If you find yourself in that bad neighborhood, patiently redecorate while you wait for the pathway out.
10/25/21 Queen of cups
The aspects combine with this Queen to show us the power of attraction. This lovely card indicates good fortune and happiness and invites us to add heart to the easy ability to imagine all kinds of fresh possibilities. Today is less about acting on things and more about a fertile imagination that paints pictures of what you’d like to create, but make them ones you love to look at, please.
Since water takes the shape of its container, today offers a window of collaboration with added insight on where you need healthier boundaries. Firm and flexible are the key words. Know what feels good to you and leave that centrally located in what you do. Then work your edges to allow for the wants and needs of those around you without abandoning the core of what matters. This collaboration is what allows the good fortune to rise and lift all those up around you.
10/26/21 king of cups
Ah, the combination of both the King and Queen of Cups together is a good sign of success when you work together from a heart centered space. This King signifies magic in the Tarot Deck. It acknowledges that the masculine of the King combined with the feminine of the Cups makes for a fertile combination where the unexpected can happen.
Watch for surprise of the delightful kind to well up inside of you when you discover how good you feel when you don’t need to be right, but rather find a way to common ground in a disagreement. Mutual respect, space to be yourself can offer benefits far beyond scoring one on an adversary that may have first been a friend. Defense is rigid and constricted by it’s nature. Creativity is adaptable enough to use whatever arises as fuel to build more. Be willing to let disharmony be only an invitation to explore it to build greater harmony together. When you do, things can shift as if by magic.
10/27/21 The emperor
This card is a good one to keep in mind as we walk through an emotional day. Tend to your own hurt feelings and needs before you project your story onto anyone else. Keep in mind today is a day where you may want to demand another pay a fine for their mistakes that far exceeds the actual crime. Accumulated hurts can surface from history. Suddenly the person in front of you represents all the past disrespect or unloving behavior. Pause.
Take a moment and nurture yourself. This way you don’t want the person in front of you to make up for a lifetime of accumulated pain. You can do this and it feels so much better than the old wounded story. Check in on what you feel and what you need. Ask for it and see what happens when you keep an open hand on how that need is met.
10/28/21 Temperance
It’s a bit of an up and down day that requires balance. Reflection on what the last three week’s have held is a good use of time. Every so often the rear view mirror has valuable information. It’s just hard to get where you are heading when all you see is that backwards view. It’s not just what is behind you but how you use that information. Be sure to include where you learned to flex, where you held your ground and did it with more openness. This is a day to measure progress, not perfection. Give yourself credit. Appreciate those who are stepping up to try and meet you in new space, with a little grace for those who still struggle.
10/29/21 Four of cups
Emotional drama is the result of not being taught how to hold complex emotions. So storytelling with big sweeps and flourishes of heroes and villains happens. Or people get overloaded and like a breaker switch they go numb. Fours offer a promise and a caution. The promise is stability with a bit of effort. Like the four corners of a house, aim to get your feelings on firm foundation. The caution is it’s worth double checking to make sure you are not walled in with defenses. The image of four walls with no doors or windows is a good visual of what to avoid. You may be safe but you certainly aren’t living. It takes ten minutes for an emotional wave to travel your nervous system. Breathe and sit with your feelings before you do anything.
10/30/21 The hang man
The Hang Man is a timing card. It is a reminder to weigh matters of the heart above that of the head. There is a push forward, pause first energy today. There are important insights bubbling up and new information that requires action. But not yet. Allow a fuller picture to emerge as the day unfolds. Your direction may have subtle or not so subtle shifts by nightfall. More importantly, you get to practice letting insight come in and hold the pressure while it reveals a bigger and bigger picture. Fear often has us rushing to take a small step now instead of a bigger one later. This is the time to practice a few stretch steps instead of little ones.
10/31/21 prince of pentacle happy halloween
The theme of patience paying off continues today. Let yourself enjoy the day. Find the moments that make you happy, even if they are brief. Toxic stories won’t sit well today and if you try to feed yourself those nasty bites, they come right back up. So be selective on what you think about yourself, any situation or person. This is one of those practices that pays off more as you keep doing it. It gets easier and the return on your effort increases geometrically. Find your favorite sweet thought and indulge regularly.
11/1/21 Ace of swords
Watch your words today. This Ace can cut you free from thorns and chains and it can also cut deeply. Do some inner thought pruning to use the aspects and the cards wisely. When you turn it on others you have much greater risk of misusing your power. Remember the theme of this Moon cycle. How do you work with your knowledge, insight and ability to make it safer to be you and also keep it safe for others to be themselves. If you apply the sharp edge to freeing yourself of what stands between you safely connecting with others, then you reap the full rewards. Like any skill it takes practice. You’ll get some opportunity for that today. Gear up and make it a contest with yourself. You’ll win just by making a concentrated effort.
11/2/21 Six of pentacles
Okay the goal today is to NOT measure who did what. The path to correct inequality is rarely one that is fixed by simple redistribution of what you lack. Instead of being caught on the old seesaw of what you didn’t receive, or didn’t want, take inventory of your current needs. When you feel disempowered best to go to the root. Being willing and able to excavate the past and how it shapes the present gives you back a measure of power. Empowerment is there in your quality attention to what you feel, want and need now. It may not be what you first assume. Learn how to separate wants, needs and update them to where you are now. Then ask for what you want and/or need from a cleaner place that can be met more easily.
11/3/21 Seven of pentacles
Okay this seven continues the theme of patience. You cannot pull a flower bud open without destroying it. The same applies to how you use power in your life right now. Whatever comes up, go inward first. Be curious. Spend time on YOU. Don’t waste time turning your connections into scorched earth. Like a gardener, you are responsible for your part. You cannot do the flowers’ work, nor the Sun, or the soil’s work. You keep doing you. Do it well, with allowance for your learning curve. You get to support yourself and encourage yourself the way you wished other’s had done. When you make that a habit, you have abundance waiting to bloom.
