Dancing with my muse

Catching up on my Rainbow Dreams homework tonight.

Isha Lerner's gorgeous Inner Child Cards remind us to honour the precious gift ofthe memory of the muse in our hearts. To open to the joy of artistic expression.

The music of the universe is constant and flowing. The keynote here is the potential of joy -- your joy and the joy of life.

So, how do I satisfy the muse in my heart?

Well that's easy. I write, and have three blogs to prove it. But the writing which makes my heart soar is our virtual circle, Rainbow Dreams. I love the fact that it has created a community of like-minded souls, who walk beside me on my journey, and I beside them on theirs.

I have found Chakradance, which unites three of my passions, my love of dance, my spirtual journey, and my calling as a facilitator of spirit.

My Goddess Workshops also indulge my inner-muse.

Oh what a blessed life I lead!

Seed of inspiration

I'm a couple of weeks behind in my Rainbow Dreams journey ... but hey, that's all part of my journey I guess.

Each day there is a seed of inspiration seeking fertile ground to gestate and grow. These various inspirations and ideas are ready to be fulfilled within your life.

What is ready to be fulfilled within your life?

Oh, so much! So, so much!

I am finally discovering me. I know longer crave the approval of others, all that matters is what I want and think.

So what is ready to be fulfilled in my life?

For the first time in 12 years, I am emotionally available.

I have found myself on a path which I'm enjoying and which resonates with my very core.

I am looking forward to all the mystery and wonder the future holds.

When the goddess blushes

It was amazing to witness the lunar eclipse tonight.

The moon goddess blushed as Earth slid between the Moon and the Sun.

Tonight brings us a special full moon.

Vying for your attention on this Full Moon in Pisces is Sun (personal motivation), Mercury (mind), and the South Node (accrued knowledge) in Virgo (the healer/mentor) and on the other side Uranus (the awakener), Moon (intuition), and the North Node (knowledge seeking) in Pisces (the Bodhisattva). With Jupiter in philosophically-minded Sagittarius squaring Sun/Moon/North and South Nodes, I hope you are ready to step deeply into a celebration of the real meaning of commitment to the enlightenment of all sentient beings.

No doubt about it; this will be a very spiritually demanding Full Moon.

All phases of the eclipse are visible from islands of the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand and eastern Australia. Various stages of the eclipse are in progress at moonrise for eastern Asia. No eclipse is visible from Europe, Africa and western Asia.

Together the Mercury in Virgo, Uranus in Pisces and Mars in Gemini T-square and the Saturn in Leo /Sun/South Node in Virgo, Moon/North Node in Pisces, Jupiter in Sagittarius T-square, represent a revolutionary call to bring awareness to the condition of your emotional mind in an effort to uplift all other minds on this planet.

Mindfulness becomes extended to include attention to the quality of action and relationship.

So you think emotions are produced by the heart? Think again. Every emotion you have is sourced in your mind and mediated primarily through the production of neurotransmitters and enzymes in the brain.

Thankfully, the human body is wired so we feel our emotions in the heart. But actually the quality of what we feel rests solely with how the brain's synaptic and neuronal pathways are wired. The good news is the brain is plastic. So mindfully attending to the quality of our thoughts, feelings and interactions actually enlivens compassion, empathy, and depth of intention—and rewires the brain.

In fact, the Full Moon is perfectly set up to help you create a ritual that will move the group's mind as well as each individual mind toward the most evolved form of the Pisces/Virgo axis: sacrifice, service and enlightenment.

Pisces is known for its desire to let go of self-identification thereby allowing the soul to merge with its source; pure consciousness. What a finish to the last two weeks of waxing Moon work on our individual creative vision. This is the night to put into action all of your intentions and give your gifts in service to the enlightenment of all sentient beings.

So no messing around with those most devolved Neptunian/Piscean hedonistic fantasies. Don't waste this Full Moon mired in the negative spectrum of Pisces: partying the night away in a drug or alcohol induced haze.

This is the Full Moon to join with others and be lifted out of denial and ignorance. The world is suffering and we all need to wake up and do what we can to relieve suffering. Take responsibility for your own suffering and the suffering of others. Love yourself by loving others. Do what you can to stay in the present and in your heart.

Two truths: We are all connected and there is no security; for all things are uncertain. We are nothing and everything; full and empty. It is time we relearn to care for each other and start living communally in love and peace. Pisces wants to transcend all perceived separations.
This Full Moon comes at the height of the Northern Hemispheres harvest season and foreshadows the coming of nature's transition into the winter months of rest and renewal.

If you were unaware of how much you have, hopefully a quick remembrance of recent natural disasters, unnecessary wars, and general poverty around the globe will awaken your sense of gratefulness and a need for recognition of the impermanence of all things.

On this Full Moon it is important to recognize the fundamental relationship between gratefulness and non-attachment. Use this Full Moon to look at what you cling to and your fear of letting it go. Do you spend most of your time grabbing and craving for more things; trying to fill your inner emptiness with a multitude of possessions? We come here with nothing and leave with nothing. Why then do we hold so tight to things that will not last? This is a great time to ask, "What can I freely give away? What can I share?"

Use this Full Moon to create a group ritual for your family, friends, and/or community that centers on healing anger and pain. Acknowledge your own anger and pain, take it in your arms like a baby, wrap it in compassion and let love work its healing magic upon your soul. Know that your pain does not define you. Find your true self in your compassionate heart and create the conditions for peace to grow within and without. Then seek to acknowledge the pain of others while acknowledging your part in causing them to suffer. Wrap them up like a baby with your compassion, allowing love to work its healing magic. Go to them; tell them how sorry you are. Allow them to reciprocate these compassionate feelings to you. Realize that what is done to one is done to all, and create the conditions for peace to grow.

The Pisces Full Moon uses an intuitive recognition of truth; with Jupiter in Sagittarius, we can have the faith to face what is painfully true about ourselves and our relations with others.
This is the Full Moon to practice compassion and selflessness by radiating peace and calm through group prayer and meditation. Unlike Virgo, its opposite sign, Pisces knows no distinctions or differences: it perceives the unity within the diversity. Pisces acknowledges our essential connectedness and realizes it through the practice of unconditional love and unwavering compassion. Pisces is Bodhisattva consciousness embodied in self-sacrifice.

Pisces' bottom line is to learn to love unconditionally, and to work for the collective enlightenment of all sentient beings; no matter how hard it may be or how long it may take.
Because Pisces represents unconditional love and compassion, it must also deal with anger and hatred.

If we waste our lives holding onto anger, resentment, and hatred, we will continue to create a world that reflects our own inner violence. Be aware that the hatred and anger in your heart is helping to feed the violence we see all over the world. It is time to stop the senseless killing we create all around us.

Give up the label of victim and embrace your own part in continued killing. It is the first step to becoming a peacemaker. If you fearlessly open your heart and let compassion be your guide, you will automatically become an active peacemaker. Love is the language of selflessness. If each of us would practice this language daily, violence would surely end.

I will print the Bodhisattvic practice of the Eight Verses of Though Transformation on this Moon Message, to open your mind to the full meaning of compassion and humility. If you wish to read more about it, I recommend the book "Transforming the Mind", by HH the Dalai Lama ©2003.

The Eight Verses on Transforming the Mind

With a determination to achieve the highest aim

For the benefit of all sentient beings,

Which surpasses even the wish -fulfilling gem,

May I hold them dear at all times.

Whenever I interact with someone,

May I view myself as the lowest amongst all,

And, from the very depths of my heart,

Respectfully hold others as superior.

In all my deeds may I probe into my mind,

And as soon as mental and emotional afflictions arise

As they endanger myself and others,

May I strongly confront them and avert them.

When I see beings of unpleasant character

Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering,

May I hold them dear-for they are rare to find

As if I have discovered a jewel treasure!

When others, out of jealousy,

Treat me wrongly with abuse, slander, and scorn,

May I take upon myself the defeat

And offer to others the victory.

When someone I have helped,

Or in whom I have placed great hopes,

Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways,

May I regard him still as my precious teacher.

In brief, may I offer benefit and joy

To all beings,both directly and indirectly,

May I quietly take upon myself

The hurts and pains of all beings.

May all this remain undefiled

By the stains of the eight mundane concerns

(gain and loss; pleasure and pain; praise and blame; fame and obscurity)

And may I, recognizing all things as illusion,

Devoid of clinging,

be released from the bondage of attachment.

Can you imagine if everyone committed to practicing this humble, heart-opening, mind-transforming way of being in the world? So much would change.

So on this Full Moon, join with others to pray and work for peace. Allow Uranus, the awakener, in Pisces, to open your mind to alternatives. Utopia is a mindset that finds it source in the transcendent bliss of the nothingness/everythingness. This is your source; call it what you wish, but use this Full Moon to dive deep into source and open yourself to the interconnectedness of all things.

Back from Darwin

Well I'm back. I've been in Darwin for the past week for work. And what a week it was -- I worked my butt off.

But with such a beautiful tropical location, who could resist having a little fun. Besides, part of my job description this week was to have fun, so who am I to argue?

The sunsets were spectacular ... one evening I sat out by the pool and watched the sun set ...

... even the sunset across the beach was amazing ...

... and from an old schooner sailing the Darwin Harbour? Well ...

I caught up with an old friend ...

and hung out with some newer friends ...

I didn't have much time on my hands, that and combined with the fact that getting access to the net wasn't easy, prevented me from posting.

But I'm back for a few days, and then I'll be disappearing for another couple of weeks -- another trip for work, this time to Sydney, which isn't nearly as tropical or festive as Darwin.

Where's Mich

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know that I've been in Darwin since Sunday at a conference and this is the first chance I've had jump online.

I'll be back Saturday and will catch you all up with my adventures then.

New Moon in Leo 19º 51'

Though Leo can be shallow, caring most about outer appearances, it actually carries an inner vision sourced in a deep desire to powerfully express personal creativity.

More than any other sign, Leo rules creative actualization of the self; the ego. Ego is the self, knowing and creatively actualizing itself, in all its complexity and beauty.

The more we know about who we are the more complex our view of self becomes and consequently we begin to become more adept at skillfully dealing with a wider rage of experience.

This is what I call creative mindfulness: opening awareness to a deeper, yet broader experience of the ramifications of action. And in these last few weeks of Saturn in Leo, this New Moon finds Saturn in an exact conjunction with Venus (creativity and passion) and Trans-Pluto (point of fertility.)

If you have had some creative project simmering on the back burner for the last couple of years, this is a powerful time to take it out, dust it off and see if it still has juice for you. If so, start to work with it again during this New Moon cycle.

The Mercury/Moon/Sun conjunction in Leo will help greatly to give an added creative boost of energy to your project. With all these planets in Leo and Mars in Gemini providing the ability to put energy in more than one place simultaneously, great endeavors can be undertaken during this time.

Those of you who work day jobs to support your creative pursuits, and have accrued some vacation time, might do well to take this part of August off to work on your art. You will be glad you did.

Leo rules personal power. What exactly does that mean? In our world it usually means a kind of power-over, which expresses itself in everything from caring only about personal gain and exerting excessive influence over others, to war mongering, exploitation and land grabbing.

Pluto trine the Saturn/Venus conjunction and Neptune/Chiron opposite the Sun/Moon/Mercury conjunction, lead us all to question the deeper meaning of success and power.

Therefore, this is the New Moon to redefine personal power as a means to engender communal empowerment, coexistence and upliftment; in other words, true leadership.

Leo's most evolved form is the inspirational, full-hearted teacher/leader. Consequently, this is the perfect New Moon to look deeply at how much of what you say and do, is done to appease an inner need for attention and recognition of specialness, rather than a selfless, heartfelt, compassionate desire to heal.

True self-esteem is built by developing a calm center from which all decisions are made and all actions are undertaken. A real leader feels a tremendous responsibility to share their talent in an effort to make life better for everyone around us. Use this New Moon to look at how much of your time you share your talents to help others in need.

This is the New Moon for romance. When it comes to love, Leo loves romance; full-blown choreographed romance (even a New Moon in Leo with an exact Saturn/Venus conjunction.) If you are just not getting enough attention from your partner, or you are lonely and looking for love, this is the New Moon to create a powerful ritual to invoke and invite romance into your life. For those of you who have a partner, make the ritual a love-fest and pull out all the stops: candles, wine, roses, anything to awaken the senses. You might want to include your significant other in this New Moon ritual; especially if intimacy and romance is a big problem area in your relationship. With Sun/Moon/Saturn Mercury/Venus in Leo, Mars (sexuality) in Gemini (open-mindedness) and Jupiter/Pluto in wild-hearted Sagittarius, this will be an intensely romantic and sexual New Moon in Leo. And before you get the idea that this is romance without forethought, realistic and serious Saturn may make that ultra-romantic dive into the arms of your lover happen only after a serious discussion on long-term commitment.
All of these placements make this is a New Moon to put some serious work into mindfully paying attention to how you love, who you love, and the quality of the love that gets exchanged. For those of you who wish to invite love into your lives, do the same while envisioning "Mr. or Ms. Right" being right there with you. You can invite love into your life with clear intention and a strong desire to love and be loved.

If you tend toward the Leo drama-queen spectrum of emotional expression, you could use this Moon to do some powerful healing work with your inner "enfant terrible". Reality-check Saturn in Leo makes this a very good New Moon cycle to take a hard look at your own emotional reactivity; especially if you suffer with mood swings. It is possible to love deeply, feel deeply, and create deeply, without wreaking havoc in your own life and the lives of those around you.

All the planets in Leo make this an especially good New Moon for the artist in you. If there ever was a New Moon in Leo to deepen your artistic vision and increase your creativity, this is it. The New Moon in Leo is all about discovering your personal aesthetic and finding the right modus operandi for expressing it. Those of you who are artists can use this New Moon to start a new project or initiate a new direction in your work, build a stronger belief in your own vision, or bolster your ability to handle the vast amount of rejection most artists face at one time or another. And by the way, creativity is freed up tremendously when the mind is calm and focused.

Leo wants us all to understand that our lives are one big canvas and we get to fill it with whatever we want. So dream a little…all right, dream a lot. The way of Leo is big, big, big! Think, "Big-budget Hollywood". It might be a bit harder this year with Saturn in Leo and Mars in realistic/no-risk Virgo, but try to consider what your life would be like if you embraced the risk-taking romantic that lives inside of you, buried deep beneath the weight of all your worldly responsibilities. Pick one area of your life and give it over to this part of you. You'll be amazed at what can happen!

Leo often gets hooked into the importance of keeping up appearances (especially with Venus (beauty) in Leo; how we look, what we own, what we do, become, for many people, the definers of self. More than anything Leo wants to be noticed and appreciated. But the goal here is not to simulate a fashion model or movie star. The idea is to allow your appearance to reflect the beauty inside your heart, soul and mind. Healthy lifestyles are extremely important, especially with no much obesity around. So if you need some inspiration to get in shape and feel better, this is the right New Moon to start a diet and exercise program. Some of you may just want to experiment with a new hairstyle or try a new look. This is good time to indulge a little, by gifting yourself with healing treatments for your body. Live a little and treat yourself to something special.

Leo rules our perception of physical beauty. Most of us have a very unhealthy relationship with the process of aging. There is little acceptance of the beauty and wisdom inherent in growing older. Though this is an especially hard issue to tackle on a Leo New Moon, Saturn, the ruler of mortality, should lend seriousness to any consideration of what it means to age gracefully. Saturn calls up all kinds of fear around becoming old, ugly, frail and useless. This would be a good night to read myths and stories about older, wise women and men and then imagine yourself at 70, 80 or 90. What will you look like? What will you wear? How will you be spending your time? What will our world look like and how will it receive or reject you? What gifts will you be giving to the younger generations around you? Hopefully this exercise may inspire you to commit some of your time and talent to nurturing the elders in your family or community.

So enjoy this powerfully creative New Moon cycle!

©2007 Lisa Dale Miller

Oh, the things we do ...

I turned 41 today. So how did I celebrate my day?

Well, while I didn't exactly pamper myself, I did something that is going to make my life a hell of a lot easier in the long term.

I know this is going to gross you out Boho!

My morning started with a chemical peel, and was quickly followed by a day of cosmetic tattooing.

I started having my lipliner (with bleed). I picked a gorgeous Cranberry colour.

Then the make-up artists decided she hated my eyebrows, and well, I agreed with her, and now I've got new eyebrows ... she kept half my eyebrow, plucked the rest and replaced it with ... yep, you guessed it, a tattoo.

I finished my day of 'beauty' by having my eyeliner tattooed on (top and bottom).

At least I had a girlfriend who went through the process at the same time!

I have to go back in 6 weeks for another session, and the last session will be just before Christmas ... then I'll be stuck with this for the next 10 years or so!

So my big birthday night was spent having pizza back at her place and sipping wine through a straw!

Ah! The things we do for vanity!

Randoms

Patti posted this on her blog a little while back and it really peaked my interest. She found these prompts in the Sunday paper.

1. I am obsessed with - blogging.
2. I can't live without - my friends, they're my lifeline.
3. I am petrified of - failing.
4. I am proud of - who I am.
5. I really need to - get my act together to get fit and healthy.
6. I don't get why - supposedly intelligent men have to use war to resolve conflict.
7. I think alternative medicine is - great when combined with traditional medicine.
8. I relax by - meditating.
9. My worst vice is - emotional eating.
10. My fridge usually contains - ice tea
11. My teenage years were - were focused on ballet.
12. My family is - crazy, warm, loving.
13. My favourite thing is - cuddle time with Trinity.
14. Friends don't understand why - I'm not in a relationship.
15. Attitude to exercise is - a work in progress ... I used to be a gym junkie ... I need to find that part of me again.
16. My relationship with my body is - love/hate.

Knock, knock, knockin' ...

This week's Rainbow Dreams once again asks me to look deep within to honour and recognise the opportunities that are knocking on the door to my heart.

I have faith in myself and the changes I am making at this time.

I move with this energy by speaking my truth and making the necessary changes to set myself free from the confines of the past.

The opportunties knocking at the door of my heart include:

• the opportunity to let go of past behaviours and grow
  
• I am now emotionally available ~ I am at peace and have let go of past relationships


• self acceptance ~ I really am enough!

Mirror, mirror ....

Original Photo by Leonie Allan 2006 Warholized in 2007

The past week has been very powerful for me.I saw Gayla last Friday, and it stirred up so much for me. It was incredibly confronting, but at the same time empowering.

Light bulbs have been going off inside me for over a week now, interestingly though, I lost my voice.

Now being a student of the chakras, I'm quite aware that often when we are not speaking our truth, there is something that we're not saying in our lives, it often manifests as a physical ailment ~ in my case I believe its because I've been procrastinating on commencing some homework Gayla assigned me.

It seems pretty simple. She asked me to list 5 things which identify me. Sounds easy huh? Well no. I have found this task something I have found easier to run from than face it head on. But I guess if I want to find my voice again, both figuratively and literally, its something I must face.

So let's start with the definition of the word 'identity':

Main Entry: iden·ti·ty
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -ties

1 : the distinguishing character or personality of an individual
2 : the relation established by psychological identification

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

There are many words I can use to describe myself. I am affectionate, cheerful, and caring. Others see me as passionate, playful, gentle and confident.

While these adjectives describe me accurately, they are only abstract versions of me.

Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I acknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world.

It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have, in the way I have.

My identity is something only I can define.

Think of a stacking doll. Each outer doll removed reveals another; smaller and more vulnerable than the previous. With each section combined there is a whole, but with only a section you cannot see the doll in it’s entirety and it is impossible to see whether another is hiding inside.

One's identity is similar. With little knowlege of a person it is impossible to know what is inside and whether there is more to see.

Identity is broader than one word definitions, different aspects such as feelings and memories contribute. In order to get the full sense of who a person is, the inner layers must be revealed.

The outer layer is how people see me, but the problem with characterisations and first impressions is that I don’t give an accurate perception of the real me.

Its not that I don’t like who I am, it’s more that I don't like what others think I am.

I used to spend my time focusing solely on work. Late last year I realised that I based my identity on who I was at work, what I achieved and how well-liked I was.

But one day it dawned on me that I had lost my identity and was left without any particular interests or characteristics that stand me apart.

That realisation scared the hell out of me. I literally woke up one day and realised that work took the place of my passions, and I relied on others to make me happy.

I had lost touch with myself. I let others shape me. This was certainly not my identity.

One of my favourite quotes is from Marianne Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world...As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

The part of me that sums up my identity best is not the adjectives given to me by family and friends, or the faults I find in myself.

So what are the five things that IDENTIFY me:

1. My identity is my desire to better myself
   
   
2. My identity is who I want to be and what I do to accomplish my goals
   
   
3. My identity is the feelings and emotions I pour into my journal every day, and the way I feel when I do something right.
   
   
4. My identity is not what others think of me or what I think of myself after a bad day.
   
   
5. My identity is the love and confidence I have in myself, and the beauty inside.