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Settling In
This phrase has been popping into my life since the New Moon and New Lunar Year. It seems it comes to mind every day as I write my Morning Pages. I catch myself writing it and wonder, what’s this about…
And I realized today, as I wrote it once again, that I am settling in. There are many aspects to this, not the least of which is settling in to the new energies coming in with the New Moon and New Year. It’s different. Is it just me who is feeling and sensing the difference? Do you sense it?
So, I am settling in to this New Year, the Year of the Wood Horse, or Green Horse. In the Chinese Medicine Five-Element system one of my dominant elements is Wood. With the New Moon we left the Water Snake Year of 2013 behind and moved into Wood Horse. There is an energy about this Horse coming in; some have said it is galloping in! And the Wood energy is hitting right on top of my Wood tendencies. What this means is lots of energy for me and I am finding myself needing to dampen it down; adjust. I am settling in to this New Year and I expect it to take more time. After all the Chinese celebrate the New Year for two weeks, until the Full Moon, which is still a week away. Maybe it takes the two weeks to settle in to the new energy.
We are also still setting in to our new home. We spent some time yesterday moving filling cabinets so we can more easily file and re-file paperwork for the business, church and personal lives we lead. We are still finding places to put things and still looking for things misplaced! Settling in.
And it occurs to me that this is what life is really about. We are always settling in. Do you feel this way? And it’s a good thing. Settling in is becoming present. It is sensing our environment and getting comfortable with it. It is getting in touch with our bodies and settling in. It is examining our emotions, our heart-feelings and settling in to whatever arises: joy, sadness, grief, gratitude.
There is also a settling in of our mental state as it ebbs and flows from alert awareness and high functionality to drowsy calmness as we get ready for sleep. I even find myself settling in to the rhythm of time, adjusting to what seems to be shortening days (can they really still be 24 hours long?).
And spiritually I am becoming very settled. No, not complacent nor dogmatic, not fixed in anyway but very open and always questioning. Yet at some level I am accepting that I will likely not find the answers to my all my questions in this life. I’m not settling for this as a final conclusion, but I am settling in to this possibility.
I have a greater sense of calm around this notion of settling in. I’m in this for the long haul – and it could be very long, if the reincarnationists have it right! So, why not settle in and enjoy the journey!
This phrase seems to be following me everywhere. Even in my yoga class last evening we were led to “settle in” to our bodies during shavasana. And I knew just what to do.
I hope you are not settling for anything. But do find some peace and settle in to your life; it’s so much easier that way!
Have a great weekend!
MONDAY’S POEM: Heaven and Earth
I don’t know about you but I’m still basking in the energy of the New Moon and the New Year! And it’s going to be a great year; just look at my post last Friday: ADVANCE!
I wrote today’s poem on Lunar New Year’s Day, the 31st, with references to the I Ching Gua I cast for the year and the “moonth.”
Heaven and Earth
Six line, three strong
Heaven below, Heaven on Earth?
Support for the Way
Wood Horse gallops forward.
Six lines, three weak
Earth above, Earth on Heaven?
Lifted upward, floating on water,
Flowing peacefully ever onward.
Six lines, auspicious Gua;
First Gua for the New Year.
Tidal Gua in its rightful place;
Rough ways smooth, returning.
Six lines, Advancing;
Auspicious for prosperity and peace.
Remember, Advancing leads to
Hindrance, Heaven above, returning.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
I Ching Gua for the New Moon and New Wood Horse Year: Tai-Advance!
I love my new “habit” of casting an I Ching Gua just after the new moon of every month (moonth). And with this new moon that we experienced yesterday (4:38 pm Eastern time), the new moon in Aquarius, we also ushered in the Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year which is the year of the Wood Horse. What better time to do a divination using the I Ching and the yarrow stalks I manipulate to cast a Gua or six-line hexagram to help sense the energies coming in to support our journeys?
And I am very excited by the Gua I cast. It is pictured here as three solid, yang lines on the bottom, the trigram for Heaven, and three broken, yin lines on the top, the trigram for Earth.
The Chinese word, Tai, is very auspicious. In fact Alfred Huang, author of The Complete I Ching writes: “Tai is one of the most auspicious words in the Chinese language.” It has many meanings, including peace, safety, security and good health. It originally meant “more than” or “most.” It indicates the condition of being “more than great.” Master Huang chose the meaning “advance” for Tai. The image he paints from the ideograph for Tai is one of “running water proceeding forward smoothly and with great ease.”
There were no changing lines in this Gua. Sometimes this can be inauspicious indicating stagnation in the energy. In this case I think what it means is we can expect the energy of advancement in a peaceful way for the entire year! It is a Wood Horse year after all with lots of energy coming to us for strong support.
Another indication that this Gua extends for the entire year is that it is a “tidal” Gua, which means it is associated with a particular lunar month of the year, the first month; in other words the exact month for which I cast it! Not only is the Gua itself auspicious, it is in an auspicious place, its natural place, for the year.
There is also a strong meaning of cooperation held in this Gua. Heaven, the lower trigram seems to be in the opposite place, below Earth, the upper trigram. The meaning here is that Heaven and Earth are working together to support humanity, just as Horse and Human work together for great productivity, advancement!
This energy is already beginning to play out in my life. Last weekend Rosemary held her first annual Possibilities Playshop, a gathering to create a guide book for the lunar 2014. She and I worked together to conduct and video the Playshop so we could share it with people who couldn’t attend in person. It was a great success and people who did attend gained great benefit, clearing blocks, gaining a guide for the year and laying out the lunar year, all 13 moonths, beginning with today. We are letting the moon energy guide us through the year!
And with this tremendously auspicious Gua, I am ready for a fantastic year!
Do you feel this “advancing” energy?
Get Ready for the Big Shift! – Richard’s Commentary
You’ve been hearing about this “big shift” from Rosemary, many others and me for a long time. We talked about it leading up to that momentous pivot point of the Winter Solstice of 2012. And we have been talking about it for more than a year since that point. Is it coming? Is it here? And most importantly:
Are you excited about taking a quantum leap forward in your life?
I am excited! And I do sense this is the time. Rosemary says this:
Now is the time! The world around you is showing you in not-too-subtle ways that you have turned the corner into the place where you are facing the biggest shift of your life. Are you willing to shift?
But notice something here: she is not talking about something on the outside; this is not necessarily a change that is coming at you. She says, “you have turned the corner.” Indeed we have all turned a corner and we now have to embrace what we have generated.
This “change energy” is an internal potential. The calendar has little to do with it other than to focus our attention and intention on a specific time. Yes, there are many factors pointing to this time as important: a Mayan calendar change, a rotation of the wheel of the Zodiac through to a new sign, other calendars, other potential physical shifts in galactic space, even a potential shift in the Earth’s magnetic poles.
But the shift Rosemary and I are talking about is a shift in consciousness. Yes, this shift may be influenced by one or more of these external factors. But, the important shift comes from within. This is a shift in awareness. This is a shift in who we think, and feel, we are as conscious beings.
So, the question of being ready does not motivate building a bomb shelter, stocking the basement with a year’s supply of food and water, getting all of our affairs in order or preparing in some physical way for impending earth changes. Preparation is an internal check-in; it is a matter of preparing our bodies, emotions, minds and spirits for the next phase of human evolution.
If you are reading this post you are a “cultural creative”, you are on the leading edge of expanding human consciousness. And you are key to this coming shift!
How do you get ready? That may be a personal question you must answer for yourself; you are likely already preparing, may even be fully prepared. Here’s what I’m doing:
I am meditating more – more frequently through the day and for longer periods of time. I am reading through the Kalachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Jeffery Hopkins. I am practicing yoga and qigong. I am practicing the six Transcendent Perfections of Buddhism (as best I can). I am attending to my body, speech and mind. And I am planning to attend the Kalachakra Initiation of 2014 in Ladakh, India this July.
I may not be ready for the “big shift” but I am “being the big shift.” I am practicing what I can to be prepared. And I am excited!
The Moon is new today at 4:38 pm Eastern Time. This marks the end of the old Lunar year and a shift into the Year of the Horse. I feel the energy gathering and galloping in. I am as ready as I can be for this shift and the bigger shifts to come.
I hope you are ready with me!
Monday’s Poem: Dark Lady
We are now on the downward slide to the new moon and the Lunar New Year. At the end of January we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year and move from Water Snake energy to Wood Horse energy. I am very much looking forward to this change. For one thing my dominant element in both my Chinese astrology chart and as determined by my personality and behavior traits is Wood. So, I am anticipating great things in 2014. But first we have some cleaning up to do. We have another dozen days to clear away, let go of the old energies and staleness of the ending Water Snake year. It’s time to use the waning moon energy to take away the dreck of 2013. Release the old to make room for the new!
And to celebrate this feeling of cleaning house and letting go, the shrinking of the moon to darkness, I offer this poem I wrote about four years ago, at another pivot point. From January 28, 2010:
Dark Lady
Companion of the night,
You lead the way down
Where the Moon hides in the Sun.
All secrets are revealed.
Lover of darkness,
You show deep shadows
Where the Sun cannot reveal.
The unknowable rests there.
Wife to my healing spirit,
You carry me down
To discover there, together,
The deep Truth known through all time.
©2010 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
I CHING GUA FOR THE NEW MOON IN CAPRICORN
We not only rang in a New Year at midnight on January 1, we also experienced a New Moon at 7:14 AM Eastern time on the First. Lots of new energy to begin the year!
As one of my practices I cast an I Ching Gua (a hexagram of yin and yang lines) on each new moon to “read” the energies that are coming in for us. The I Ching or “book of change” can be used as a divination tool, not so much to predict what is coming but to get a sense of the energies of change that may be coming up through the month. This is another of the many “intuitive tools” that are available to us to help us sense beyond the usual three-dimensional ways through our five senses.
To help with the interpretation of the Gua I rely on a book by Taoist Master Alfred Huang: The Complete I Ching. I find his translation to be thorough, detailed and clear. Of course there is plenty of room for my own reading of the Gua because the words and meanings of the I Ching can be open and obscure.
For January the Gua I cast using a 50-yarrow stalk method generated this hexagram:
The “x” and circles through the 3rd, 4th and 6th lines indicate they are “changing lines.” Master Huang recommends reading only the middle changing line when there are three. So, only the 4th line is used to generate a new, changed Gua as pictured below.
But first we need to understand “Hindrance.” This Gua is made up of two trigrams, Earth is the lower one and Heaven is the upper. This is not a particularly auspicious Gua because Heaven is above and drawing away from the Earth. There is a block here against progress. It is the opposite of “Advance” which is the preceding Gua in the I Ching sequence. But this is a natural flow: after advancing there comes hindrance. And, naturally, after a time of hindrance there can be further advance.
For me the energy here is to pause, for a short time. The Hindrance-Energy is on the way out with 2013. (Note the volatility of this initial Gua with three changing line.) Yet, there is no need to leap into anything big early in the New Year.
Using only the middle line, the 4th, as the changing line yields this Gua:
The Guan here is the same word as in Guan Yin the Goddess of Compassion. The literal meaning of her name is “Watching Sound.” In this sense Guan means meditating or concentrating.
The message for me is to meditate on any actions for the month and proceed with caution. In all things be an example. Watch yourself and also remember you are being watched by others. Contemplate before action. This Gua is approached from Hindrance. While the energy barriers are lifting and Hindrance is shifting there is no need for haste. Be considerate.
A further way to interpret a Gua is to form a new one from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines as the lower trigram and the 3rd, 4th and 5th lines as the upper trigram. This yields the “mutual gua” – in this case Bo, Falling away. This too holds a sense of warning energy. Conserve what you have. This New Moon will wax to fullness and then wane again. Proceed with caution during the waning moon.
Hindrance quickly yields to Watching early in the month. Meditate on all action. As the Chinese say about Pi: pi ji tai lai, which means: “Out of the depths of misfortune comes bliss. At the end of Hindrance appears Advance.”
Enjoy this moon-cycle and the start of this fabulous New Year however you wish to interpret the energies captured by the I Ching!
PS: My friend and astrologer, Gloria Hesseloff, had this to say about this Capricorn New Moon: “2014 invites us to continue ‘planting the seeds’ for the next 26,000 years, or at least the next few generations.” Planting seeds for generations certainly requires thoughtful patience!
I Ching Gua for the New Moon in Sagittarius
There was a New Moon this past Monday, December 2 at 7:22 pm when the Moon moved into alignment with the Sun in Sagittarius. As I like to do during these important celestial events I cast an I Ching Gua, the hexagram of open (yin) and closed (yang) lines. Reading the I Ching each month is a great way to learn this ancient divination tool and offers insight into the shifting energies as we move through the calendar, the wheel of the Zodiac, the Sun’s position as we progress around it and the Moon’s position relative to Earth and Sun. All these incredible influences are at work in our lives whether we choose to believe in astrology or not!
As always the energies and the yarrow stalks I use to cast the hexagram (gua) are in alignment and reveal significant information about how I am relating to these energies. My hope is that you too can relate to the gua, the sense of their meanings and how you see the alignment of your own processes with all these influences that surround you.
Here is the initial gua I cast. Heng meaning “long lasting,” consists of Zhen (thunder, the top trigram) over Xun (wind, the bottom trigram). Notice that the bottom line is a 6, meaning it is a changing line moving from a yin line to a 9, or yang line. This is where the change occurs, remembering that I Ching means the book of change.
Long lasting here means endurance; it can refer to a marriage of long endurance, a mature marriage or relationship. However, because the initial line is a yin or weak line in a beginning place (the bottom of the gua) it may be premature to expect a long lasting situation or relationship to appear. Patience is indicated. Master Alfred Huang, whose book, The Complete I Ching, I use as my main reference, says: “Everlasting relationships take time to cultivate.”
The approached gua, the hexagram that results when the bottom 6 moves to a 9, or yang line, is Da Zhuang meaning “great strength.” This hexagram retains Zhen or thunder on top and replaces the bottom trigram with Qian or Heaven. Thunder here indicates movement and Heaven below indicates strength; together they indicate strength in motion, or “a positive advance for further achievement.” Strength here does not necessarily mean physical strength but moral strength. From Confucius’ commentary on the decision we read:
What is great should be righteous.
When righteousness is great,
The truth of Heaven and Earth can be seen.
Use great strength wisely and cautiously. Don’t overdo it; rely on moral rather than physical strength.
It is interesting to note that for the last New Moon in Scorpio I cast Da Zhuang as the initial gua which then moved to Guai or “eliminating.” (See the November 4 post). The mutual gua for the approached gua this New Moon in Sagittarius is Guai. We seem to be moving in a tight circle about Great Strength!
PS: a wonderful astrologer friend, Gloria Hesseloff, posted this about the New Moon in Sagittarius: This is the time to question our basic assumptions and be open to new revelations and possibilities. It can be so much fun to look at life with new eyes! Doesn’t this New Moon fit so perfectly with the momentous times we are experiencing during this Shift of dire beauty? I love this phrase “shift of dire beauty”! As we examine our beliefs and assumptions the I Ching seems to be telling us to eliminate old beliefs that no longer serve, enter into new beliefs cautiously and let them grow and become long lasting with patience; they will become strong through perseverance.
MONDAY’S POEM: The Cave
On November 18 I published Journey that begins “Beyond the cave.” Today I thought I’d give you a glimpse into the cave!
The Cave
The hollow in the earth
Where it all begins.
The journey to the center,
The space of origins.
The skull, the hollow ring
Of laughter lighting the
Empty eyes with the flame
Of the echoed fire.
The journey, cycles within cycles:
Fodder to food to energy;
Far flight, running, hunting, swimming
Shape-shifting through the chain.
The conference, the High Self
Acting as Guru – Guide for
The long return to source,
Cycling back to the beginning:
The skull, my Guru
Always laughing at life,
Echoing the mirth I feel
At my own stumbling progress.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
PS: The New Moon in Sagittarius is tonight, Monday December 2 at 7:22 pm Eastern. I’ll be casting an I Ching Gua to read the energies for the coming month. Stay tuned!
Love Energy + 3rd Eye Energy = Transformation – Richard’s Commentary
Several confirming and affirming events conspired last Friday to give me a boost on my journey. We all need boosts (kicks in the pants) from time to time. These are reminders of who we are and why we are here! They are what might be considered the “little transformations” in our day-to-day lives. And sometimes the little kicks build up to a big one, as we experienced on Sunday with the New Moon and Eclipse in Scorpio.
The events of Friday leading up to the New Moon were the publication of Rosemary’s Ezine in which her message of yesterday’s post here was first published. Then we hosted a Conversation with The Other Side that evening. Here are the key paragraphs from the Ezine that provided the first boost:
And, as every entrepreneur knows, working on yourself is working on your business. Everything boils down to personal transformation and the continuation of a path of personal growth.
Relationships depend on growth or they stagnate. Careers, businesses, parenting skills, partnerships, education – all require that there be learning and growth to succeed.
“Personal growth” is required for anything and everything to succeed. I cannot succeed in my purpose if I fail to keep growing, changing, transforming.
Then Friday evening during the Conversation a male bald eagle flew into the room to greet me and remind me to fly – to treat myself more lightly so I can fly – fly with him! I knew this eagle; I fly with him when I journey to the lower world. I took part of his message to mean I needed to return to visit him. I had not journeyed for a couple of months!
I do not ignore the call to my spirit guides! I journeyed and there I flew with Eagle surveying the lower world in all its splendor. And I also joined Mama Bear on this journey, another of my “familiars.” She took me deeper and into myself where energy rose up my spine through her powerful connection with the Earth. This tremendous power and Earth energy collected in my Heart. There it created a gravitational field that began to pull light and energy from the Heavens, Celestial Beings down to the Crown of my head, down through my 3rd Eye and Throat where this energy too collected in my Heart.
And there I sat, traveling with the drum, absorbing and absorbed in the powerful grip of Earth and Heaven energy, all while riding astride Mama Bear. And I realized the message was one of Love. Love is the force; Love is the glue; Love is the creative energy; Love is the power to propel this personal growth we are called to embrace. Love is the purpose. Love is the source. Love is the goal.
And here’s Rosemary’s question:
Are you committed to your own personal growth and transformation? Do you know how to do that? Are you willing to ask for help or start learning some new ways to grow?
I do not ignore the call of my spirit guides. And I do not ignore their message. Love yourself enough to accept your call and grow!
PS: Are you looking for messages about your personal growth? Every 3rd Saturday, at 7:00 pm Eastern time, Rosemary hosts Satsang for all who would join her in the exploration of evolving consciousness. It’s an excellent opportunity to ask questions. This event can be attended in person and online using video-conferencing services.
Get more information and sign up here The next Satsang with Rosemary is November 16 at 7:00 pm Eastern.
I Ching Gua for the New Moon in Scorpio
We have had quite a time of it! Halloween, the last day of the Celtic Year, Samhain; All Saints Day, All Souls Day, The Day of the Dead, Diwali, New Moon in Scorpio and to top it all off, a Solar Eclipse! This has been a powerful time; if you are feeling a little “winded” from all this celestial activity, you are not alone!
To help myself come back to earth from soaring with the Moon, I really enjoy sitting with my yarrow stalks to consider the incoming energies with the New Moon, to see what the month ahead might look like. If you have been reading this blog for a bit you know I do this divination as close to the New Moon as possible. (And if you are a new reader, search back on “new moon” for previous I Ching readings.) I did my work Sunday morning, just after the eclipse and New Moon at about 8:00 AM Eastern Standard time.
My yarrow stalks did not let me down; the energies they revealed are exactly in line with all the other divinations and readings I have seen about this time; from numerology to astrology and to the channeling from Rosemary’s sources, all energies seem strongly directed to Transformation!
The hexagram I cast is Da Zhuang which means Great Strength. It’s pictured here. Beginning with Great Strength is very auspicious but this does not mean that immediate action is required. In fact it is better to “stand your ground” at this time. The initial weak yang line (a 9 which is a changing line) indicates an infirm base. There is no need to move out quickly; be patient. Yet there is great strength here, a solid and imposing Gua of power. There is high energetic potential here. The power needs to be used wisely.
In Da Zhuang the upper trigram, Thunder, is yang energy on top of the lower trigram, Heaven, which is also strong yang. Remain solidly passive holding the inner strength.
Notice that there are two changing lines in the hexagram, the first (bottom) and the fifth. The bottom line is a 9, a weak yang line which can change to a yin line. The fifth line, a 6, is a weak yin line which can change to a yang line. Master Alfred Huang recommends reading the yin changing line. This means that Da Zhuang changes to the accomplished Gua, Guai which means Eliminating. It’s picture here.
The built-up potential energy of Da Zhuang can be held in check no longer. It is time to use the power, the Great Strength, to Eliminate darkness. Shine the light into the shadowy places. Yet, even as this great potential is built, there is need for caution to be sure everyone is onboard with the program. Consult the constituents. Proceed with the energy cautiously.
This action can happen later in the month. Again, there is no need to rush into this. Nevertheless, great outcome is possible. The power can overcome the dark. This is very auspicious.
There is one more Gua that can be derived from this cast. The Mutual Gua, which holds a secret or inner meaning, is created from the 6 inner lines, taking lines 2, 3, and 4 as the lower trigram and 3, 4, and 5 as the upper trigram creates Heaven over Heaven. The hexagram with all 6 yang lines is Qian which means Initiating – Transformation! The conclusion of all of this celestial energy in Scorpio, here at the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of a new cycle is – Transformation – with Great Strength to Eliminate whatever is in the way of the New.
And just to confirm there are other indications that this energy is with us, here’s a snapshot from Gloria Hesseloff’s newsletter on the New Moon in Scorpio:
Scorpio is ruled by our beloved and respected Pluto. Thus, the higher levels of Scorpio include nothing less than TRANSFORMATION. This is a call to restore back to sacredness that which has become taboo. This includes our Shadow. Scorpio represents our shadow. We usually think of the shadow as our lower frequency qualities. However, the shadow also holds anything we have repressed, including our talents, our authenticity and our light.
It will be quite a month!
Men and The Goddess 