How well do you say ‘no’? Before you rush to answer me, please include how well you say no to fearful thoughts, projecting those fears onto others and the lies you tell yourself about being powerless. By all means, give yourself credit for the hard places you’ve already learned to say no. Feed yourself balanced information and you’ve made progress. It’s just time to up-level your ‘No’ to match who you are in an unfolding New World. There is definition and a solid edge in that two letter word that is necessary.
You harvest rich insight on a much healthier ‘NO’ with a little help from the lights. Mercury Retrograde, in it’s own sign with the Sun and Moon means that out of darkness comes startling insight when you face your fears and unpack them with love. Because unpacking reconfigures how we belong. The blinders can fall off and suddenly you see where you trade your own individuality or another’s from conditioning that chafes and digs when you try to keep doing it. Yet if you view it without compassion, you simply add more fuel to the fire of criticism in our brains. It also means you serve up your ‘no’ like a sledge hammer or sword. Be sure to add a big dollop of kindness when you square off with your shadow and take a closer look.
Remember, we are first wired to belong and then once we do we need to stand out. This is part of the brain stem and we are shaped by it from infancy into adulthood. Hint, sibling rivalry is just one example of how this operates. Perhaps you lean more towards belonging and therefore you may sacrifice individuality in big and small ways as the price of belonging. The shadow means authenticity drowns under a million small compromises. You learned to love and be loved, by belonging at the cost of what you feel, want and need. It can make you resentful of those who don’t trade themselves away and expect them to do as you do.
Perhaps are more geared to stand out and need to do things your own way. The shadow comes in the form of wanting to belong by insisting others see it the same way or agree to do as you do. Authentic interaction with others is lost in subtle or not so subtle coerced and manipulated alliances. To you, love means that everyone agrees and sympathizes with you and how you do things. You want to see things your way and feel outraged or betrayed when another stands out.
We’ve all paid a price for being part of a tribe. Finally, it’s time for an upgrade or an evolution, if you will. We have unprecedented real global connection through phones and internet. Now comes the struggle to find individual identity in a changing world. For that we need smaller groups to test our selves. It takes practice and understanding to bring about our true ‘no’ so what we say yes to has the power of our whole selves in it. When life lives through you in this state of being, it gets bigger and better without a doubt.
Because in those smaller groups we can practice being ourselves while letting others do the same and instead of compromise we can discover true collaboration. How can you belong and stand out in a way that feels good for you an those around you. Mistakes are better received when you have your co creative tribe who is doing the same upgrade with you. Then it becomes an adventure where you can laugh together at the missteps and learn how to grow from each and every interaction. I imagine it’s what a flower feels like unfolding in the sun, easy, natural, delicious. Even the rough spots don’t feel so rough when you have a soft place to learn.
This Mercury Retrograde – a signal to go within – is in easy accord with Saturn Retrograde. They are positioned to enlighten us about healthy interdependence, like a flourishing garden. An eclipse is always the contrast between the dark and light but reversed. Out of shadow the light is revealed so you can do something constructive with it. Go from what’s visible in your world and track it back to what seeds (your thoughts and beliefs) were planted and where did you plant them (your tribe – or not your tribe). Lunar eclipses impact a six month period, while Solar eclipses like this one color the next three years. It’s your treasure hunt to find where your shadow keeps you from contributing more of who you really are and/or enjoying others being just as they are.
To help you do that, here’s the next two weeks daily Astrology/Tarot report. Do with it what YOU will…
Card of the Moon Cycle – The High Priestess
There is bounty for those who look within and see the whole truth, not just an edited version of who you are. Get to know your shadow because the very act of shining the light of attention on it will shrink it down to the size of your feet. Your desires are part of you. Own all of them without having to say yes to all that you want. Learn to feel what you feel and still govern and shape it within you. When you own your desires, they stop owning you. This also can stop you from projecting fears onto others and battling outside of you what you can instead govern within you. When your inner landscape shifts, the outer will follow in spectacular measure over time. One choice, one no, one yes at a time.
June 10, Five of Swords Solar Eclipse
Five is the number of Creativity and swords represent the mind. This Five speaks to the self doubt that can cripple individual contribution. You hesitate, you don’t speak up because your inner editor whispers in your ear whatever is most likely to keep you safely small. Or you contribute and then go to war (mentally or actually) with anyone who does not support what you offer. Memories of past failures, your own or others, inform your choice. First, do not make yourself wrong for this behavior. Witness you, see you and put a loving hand on your own back. The better your feel about yourself, the more capable you are of risk.
Not every risk succeeds, even when you do everything correct. This is the place, the time to decide what you will spend your creative capital on in your life. What is worth being seen, just because it comes from you. You have something unique to add to the world, it’s why you have the desires you do. Discover where to add it. Not too much force, not too much hesitation. Moderation is a valuable skill. Especially while you learn where and how to add more you to the mix. See what keeps you from doing it a present. Who’s opinion limits you? Who’s approval matters to you? What criticism do you fear most? Spend time there. Put together a bravery blueprint so you can counter those critical voices. Build your tribe of believers, not in your perfection, but in your authenticity in what you offer the world. The critic in you head is the one you work with first. Learn to soothe it with promises of performance not perfection and the outer critics will dial down in volume.
June 11, Lovers
Ah, the choice in this card. Where do you talked yourself out of what you love? Where do you talk others out of what they love? To love is to risk failure and loss. We twist ourselves into pretzels trying to avoid that loss. The Moon in Cancer today in agreement with Jupiter in Pisces means it’s easy make peace at any price. That price may be too high in the long run. Use those good feelings to check in on what you want and need. Good. Now share that with someone who maybe expected compliance. Gently, but do take that risk. Pay attention to the stories you feed yourself about their possible reaction or actual reaction. Those stories are the heart of the problem. Tell a better one that you and those you love can upgrade your connections together. True bonds can stay cemented regardless of differences.
June 12, Three of Cups
Today hold your hurts with a light but loving hand. It’s not another’s fault to adapt so you don’t get wounded. You can ask for what you want and need – and here’s the catch. Can you do it without the story? In this moment, feel what you feel but say no to a big story around what it means. Instead honor you history with love and make a fresh choice. Let this moment be just this moment and you may get a happy surprise. When you ask for what you want or need, free of tangled past mistakes, it lands lighter and is more easily met.
June 13, Ten of Pentacles
We start the day with our guard up since the Moon in Cancer opposes Pluto. All the better to see what we love and what we fear losing. When you train your mind to take a backseat and let yourself be present for what you feel, what you need, without demanding or expecting another to meet it, BREAKTHROUGH. When we were infants, our needs not being met meant we died, which is why it can feel so threatening as an adult. We became timid or bullying in varying degrees rather than connecting with what is true for you. The stars help shine a light for you today and this ten is an empowered one with a fresh start who’s time has come. Celebrate the milestone with your authentic ‘no’ which means you also receive an empowered YES.
June 14, Four of Cups
Today is the second of three Saturn/Uranus squares that happen this year. When these two titans get together down through history it is the herald of big changes. Saturn is the authority figure, Uranus is the freedom from authority. In this tense relationship, things have to change. Remember that the planets can be symbols for our internal process. Where does the outside authority of your childhood still dictate to you today? Time to release any conditioning that no longer applies to your life. It kept you safe then, so thank it. And, it’s no longer needed, not the same way. Fours are either foundational or blocking. How can you let what you feel be your inner guidance system – without a set of rules you inherited and still follow now in order to belong? You are on a whole new playing field now, you set the rules. Think about that… build your foundation on that and shed unnecessary defenses while you do.
June 15th, The Star
It’s highly likely that your inner critic pops up today. When we expand into unfamiliar territory our fear brain kicks in to limit that expansion. Yesterday’s cosmic ‘aha’ continues today with the Asteroid Eris. She’s the one who kicks up a fuss when she is left out. So the parts of you that have been ignored may make an appearance. Eris has support from the Ego so you are strong enough to say ‘no’ to bad behavior on your part or anyone else’s part. This card, this day, more than any so far invite you to incorporate a healthier ‘NO’ into your world to help make your dreams come true. Look before you leap means look at yourself first! Take a good look, a long one. Understand your motives, your patterns and then work with that desire to put it in a better vehicle than the one you’ve been driving in so far.
June 16th, The Hanged Man
Pause… that’s today’s key word. Every exhale requires a healthy inhale for balance. You’ve had a busy couple of days. Time to take it in and let it land. The Sun is square Pallas, meaning your mind is too busy, too full to help you. The Hanged Man puts the head underneath the heart in priority. It’s easy to slip back into thinking your way through today; mind is not helpful. So pause. What does your heart require? You get glimpses of it and then it may hide in the fog again. Patience, give it time to reveal the bigger story of what’s in your heart.
June 17th, Nine of Swords
Today you’ve got a front row seat at your Fear Play. Your worries will parade around in full costume begging for the spotlight. Your job is to acknowledge them, give them their due AND remember it’s a play, not reality. Nine is the number of mastery. So you get practice on managing those fears and right sizing them. Fear almost always overestimates the threat and underestimates you, it’s survival strategy. Feel your way forward with the balance between expansion and contraction when you remember, your mind is the servant, not the master. If you can work in a good laugh at how great your mind is at terrifying you, then you’ve indeed mastered the mind.
June 18th, Eight of Wands
You simply must be able to give yourself recognition for the changes you make. Without proper encouragement, like fuel for the fire, transitions become grueling. This is not an endurance contest. If you can acknowledge yourself, be your own cheerleader then disappointments don’t knock you off balance. Today offers both moments to give yourself a pat on the back and places where others may not yet follow your lead and do the same. Don’t worry, just keep your fire burning. Fuel yourself. Others will take their guidance from how you treat you, or they will fall further away. To use a catch phrase, your vibe will attract your tribe.
June 19th, Prince of Pentacles
Like an itch you can’t quite scratch today is a lesson is patience. As irritations come up, it’s a chance to see how you take care of those issues. The results are NOT the goal today, the process is. Begin as you mean to go on is the maxim for today. Slow sustainable change is the tortoise that will get you across the finish line a winner. Watch out for quick sprints and irritable bursts. Get underneath the impatience to face the fear that drives it. That is the real prize today.
June 20th, Prince of Swords
There is a celestial stew today with Jupiter beginning it’s long journey retrograde. Mercury, Saturn and Pluto are already retrograde, turning up the stakes. This Knight signals separation. The mind is the great observer and is opposite our heart, which dissolves boundaries and connects us. So this is the beginning of a process to refine your thinking, your tribe and your way of belonging to it. How do you belong, to whom do you belong and are they still a good fit? What’s outside of your takes on the color and shape of how you relate to yourself. Any external situation that is hard, painful, ugly points out where inside of you needs peace and healing. Don’t rush to judge, carefully and patiently be willing and let the Truth emerge.
June 21, Seven of Wands
Today holds the promise that internal strength finds less resistance or opposition than you fear. As soon as you realize you’re on higher ground than you imagined, you no longer need to overplay your hand. You can offer grace, patience, understanding to yourself and anyone else. Most conflict is not only unwelcome, it’s unnecessary. We create more drama when we don’t see ourselves accurately. We can’t hear another, we hear and fear monsters are coming for us. Breathe, center, trust the light in you is more than a match for any shadows inside or out. Let conflict resolution come.
June 22, Two of Wands, Mercury Direct
Mercury stops its retrograde in a cloud of aspects that may hide the shift in energy. Look more closely. You will see where you can dial up or dial down the light or darkness in any conversation. We affect each other with what we bring to any exchange. When you are confident in your ability to impact what’s unfolding it gives you courage and confidence to break new ground. Have fun with it, like a tennis match. Volley the inspiration back and forth, find those who want to play there with you. It opens all kinds of doors.
June 23, Six of Swords
There is a calm ahead as you sail out of the mental storm that’s been served up. Today you benefit greatly when you doubt your doubts. This Moon cycle has definitely pulled back the curtain on our fearful minds so we can see the patterns that keep us in our head and at a distance from our hearts. Now, step by step, you pull out those weeds in your mind that create a thorny unkind path and let what you love help you find your place in your tribe. Don’t try to make anything happen says this sailor’s six. Let it emerge out of the storm of your mind and steer into clear waters ahead.
