Dearest Tribe:
As 2016 takes its last breaths, we can honestly say that this year has left its mark on everyone. Every year has a unique energy and vibration to it and turns out 2016 translates into a universal nine which equates completion. While the page on the calendar may feel very predictable, on 1/1/2017 we will be entering a year of the universal one so the classroom we walk into will hold assignments aligned with new beginnings.
The last quarter of this year was so challenging and tense, and for many reactivating past trauma, it’s difficult to remember all that occurred throughout the entire year. To assimilate the deeper meaning of the experiences, it can be useful to review this walk around the Sun in its fullness. The timing of this Mercury retrograde cycle helps us with this assignment, as does its companion, the tiny but mighty planet of Pluto which is traveling along side Mercury to make sure all of the unspoken or hidden undigested aspects of this year be brought to the surface so nothing is taken with us into 2017 without our consent. As we learn over and over again, we cannot control what occurs in much of life but we can take control over how we react and dance with it.
Like many of you, I woke up on 11/9/16 afraid to put my feet on the floor only to find out that the ground had moved – it felt like a natural disaster had happened and the world would never be the same. What helps me the most and I suspect some of you, was knowing that my family, my sisterhood, those I looked to reflect my reality and share my primal confusion, was right where I left them – next to me. Together we have processed the shock, the fear and the outrage. As I look to the Sun and Moon as gatekeepers of each day, they never disappoint – with each Sun comes a mini new beginning and with this simple Earth honoring wisdom, I take heart and find hope. If any part of me was asleep, I am awake now.
This New Moon on 12/29/16 offers a perfect moment to release that which your true self needs to separate from – empty out the pockets and the drawers within the psyche and the heart – so we can step into this completely new nine year cycle open to the curiosity of possibility rather than a continuation of a new version of the same lessons. Engage in any rituals that offer self reflection minus judgment or doubt and collaborate with the energies of true source love and wisdom to help you detach, release, dissolve and forgive anything that obstructs the vision of this new emerging life-scape. Allow yourself to invite one intention to reveal itself for the New Year so you can be open to what you discover as a co-creator rather than put too many demands to have it all figured out. This year our vision boards might be more powerful if they held one phrase – show up and trust your knowing. Once we get realigned and vibe with our soul GPS, we will guide ourselves in the direction that will be in greatest alignment with our higher truth.
When trying to sort out some navigational tools for this very uncertain time the political climate has placed us in, I remembered a story told that passes around the circle fires as it always offers a powerful message:
Long ago, a village in need of rain invited a powerful medicine woman to invoke the thunder and lightning spirits and make it rain. When she arrived she asked for a hut to sit in. Days went by and nothing happened, it remained dry as a bone and then suddenly she emerged. As she came out of the hut, the sky turned dark and the rain came down with intensity. The village chief was thrilled and asked the woman what she did. She simply replied, “nothing, the village was so out of balance that I became out of balance and so I had to meditate. As I got into balance, the village came back into balance and the rain came.”
What ever created the imbalances of our world, and there are many over many years, we are now all out of balance. The only way we can be of service to this collective moment is not to continue to stay in shock and confusion but rather to restore balance within. Just like the medicine woman, it is through that individual recovery of harmony and rhythm, we can approach life with authentic loving strength and begin to be influencers and change makers within our communities dedicated to that which enhances a renewal of hope and enrichment of life.
As this new energy is upon us, the programming at Everyday Medicine Woman will be reflecting this inspired call to action via new seminars and completion of that which has grown to its fullest form. Our beloved Thirteen Moons will be starting its Thirteenth Year so while 2017 offers a new cycle it holds the span of another one that is coming to completion in its current form. We consider you a vital part of our community just by opening our emails and treasure your unique expression of self-evolution as a powerful reminder that in sharing our journey with one another we are all stronger together.
Deepest heartfelt wishes for love, abundance and joy as we walk on this bridge to 2017 together,
Susan
Written by: Susan Lipshutz, LCSW, Founder
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For more information about Thirteen Moons, our monthly seminar series honoring the spiritual life cycle of a woman, please visit our website.
