Articles and Teachings Beyond the Physical - MARCH 22, 2023
Astrology Influences in Aries
by Allysa Taylor
New moon in Aries on March 21, 2023 and Full moon in Libra on April 5, 2023
Happy equinox! On this new moon we've got five planets in the sign of pioneering, impatient, adventurous, independent Aries! We could be feeling super motivated to take action wherever this stellium is happening within our chart.
This new moon seems pretty fun and spontaneous for the most part. Our minds are linked with our hearts, which makes conversations easier to have. We may be more focused on ourselves than on others.
We do still have Mars in cunning, restless, scattered Gemini squared to dreamy, illusive, intangible Neptune. Mars is the ruler of this new moon, which can put emphasis on this hard square. Be careful with yourself, your boundaries, your mind and body.
I feel like most of the collective can push through this mucky energy and can get started with what they intend to initiate, it just may not get done or turn out the way they thought it would at first.
Our words are aligned tightly with our emotions at this new moon making it easier to speak dreams into existence.
Jupiter conjunct Chiron is expanding wounds within us. However, we may be able to see these wounds from a different perspective now that we've experienced some hurdles within the past few months/years. We may have been forced onto a whole new path.
There are lots of endings and beginnings all happening at once during this month.
Venus rules over this full moon in attractive, kind, compromising, superficial Libra. Venus is at home in Taurus loosely conjunct Uranus. There could be uncomfortable spontaneity coming into our lives around this time. Sporadic emotions could catch us off guard. Our relationships with family or close partnerships could be making us feel inadequate in some way or other. We may want to stay in and cuddle on this day, feeling more emotional and sentimental towards our relationships. Taking it easy, rearranging furniture, sprucing up your home with pleasing aesthetics, cooking a nice nutritious meal would all feel satisfying.
There could be expectations that are not being met, past circumstances could be brought up and this all could make one feel depressed. Focus on your achievements, all that you have accomplished and followed through with. Try to work through the emotions and memories being brought up in an appropriate way. Libra isn't super emotional, but the moon is making a square to sensitive Mars in the sign of Cancer, which in itself can make words a bit touchy.
Overall, these two moons seem relatively pleasant as long as our minds are elevated! Time to try our best to stay positive, excited, and willing to accept new possibilities. It can be easy to be swallowed up by fear with Saturn newly entering into Pisces and Pluto dancing between Capricorn and Aquarius but focus and emotion are key to transform our lives in a great way!
Allysa Taylor, Is a Certified Astrologer, Licensed Massage Therapist, and a Certified Energy Healing Practitioner. She offers astrology readings for adults, children, and couples on her website, and she is offering astrology workshops. She is married to her high-school sweetheart and a mom of two beautiful human beings, Mila and Captain and one fluf baby named Liv. www.SpiritualJourneyEnergyHealingTraining.com
Reading Rituals:
Grounding, Framing, Shuffling
by Bee LaRosa
When I was starting to read tarot for others, I remember feeling clueless and concerned about what kind of rituals and practices I should be performing to open and close readings. Reading rituals come in such a vast variety, it can be hard to feel confident that you are doing enough or doing it competently. Rather than get caught up in whether or not you should be casting a circle or shuffling 11 times under a full moon, you want to make sure your reading rituals contain the following fundamental components: grounding, framing, and shuffling.
Grounding is a necessary part of any spiritual or intuitive practice. Grounding is essential to bringing spiritual energies or, for the more secular readers, your thoughts and ideas down to earth. When ungrounded, you may find yourself stuck like a deer caught in headlights while trying to give a reading. Reading also, in my experience, is significantly more draining without grounding appropriately. Giving tarot readings without grounding first can leave you feeling similarly depleted as pulling an all-nighter - wired and tired, anxious, unable to feel settled. So, how does one ground?
For those who are cautious of metaphysics, grounding is about ensuring that you are mentally present in and aware of your body. This can be achieved through mindful meditation. You may consider introducing sensory experiences such as incense or an ice pack to the back of the neck, which stimulates the vagus nerve to promote relaxation.
For those that are more comfortable with energetics, grounding is about one’s connection with the Earth through our energy bodies. You can achieve a grounded state by visualizing roots from your feet, or the base of your spine, anchoring deep into the ground or the core of the Earth. Also, consider visualizing protective shielding around your aura, whether that is a literal shield or a shell of light. There are many ways to accomplish this, and guided meditations for grounding and shielding are abundant on YouTube for free. Do whatever makes you feel centered, aware of your body, and safely connected to Earth and your surroundings.
Now we come to what I’m calling framing. Framing is important for opening and closing readings. The purpose of framing is to set clear boundaries, especially energetic boundaries, around the reading. These boundaries are important for providing yourself containment, which promotes a sense of security and safety. Even for secular folks, framing rituals are powerful and important for preparing the mind to perform a reading and informing the unconscious that a reading is over so one can disengage and move on. Good framing rituals set the stage and mood for a reading and clearly define when the reading has ended.
To frame your reading practice, you’ll want to set aside a sacred space for the reading. This can be accomplished through the use of a reading cloth, but you don’t have to limit yourself to reading cloths. You can create a sacred reading space even if you only have room to spread a clean towel out on the floor of your bedroom - ensure the space is clean, free of dust and clutter. Consider adding candles or arranging crystals to form a boundary around your reading space, whatever helps you feel the magic. A framing ritual should also include clearing your mind with meditation or cleansing energy (in addition to, not instead of, grounding!!), especially at the end of a reading.
Whenever I read tarot at fairs, I start and end my day cleansing myself with sage, but I use an aura spray made of essential oils in between readings. Whenever a reading has ended, I like to visualize sending the
Continued in next column.
person’s energy back to them and my energy returning to myself. You can even say out loud, “The reading has ended, all my energy returns to me now, and all energy that belongs elsewhere now returns home.” The important thing is to remember to concretize the closing of your reading in some way. This ensures that your mind will be able to disengage from the reading and that your energy will be cleared of the other person’s energies when you are reading for another person, or your question involves other people. Even if your reading only involves yourself, it is a good idea to clear your energy.
Finally, consider what shuffling method you would like to use in your tarot practice. To choose a shuffling method, it is important to understand what the purpose of shuffling is. One purpose is to introduce randomness into the order of the cards so that you are not merely pulling the same cards every time. The other purpose of shuffling is to clear any lingering energies from previous readings. Another, for me, is to convince the ego that the cards that come out during a reading are not there by mere coincidence. An unconvinced ego is one of the biggest barriers to giving a good reading - accessing our intuition requires bypassing the logical mind. The ego has to surrender in some way for that to happen, so you need to get it on board with the reading.
With that being said, there are many shuffling techniques out there. Most people are familiar with hand-over-hand and riffle shuffling. I prefer the Mongean shuffle method (reorder by moving cards to create new deck) because it keeps my cards from bending and it is very effective for randomizing the cards, especially if you do some hand-over-hand shuffling in between. It doesn’t matter how you shuffle or in what order, as long as you are sufficiently randomizing the cards and you are convinced the cards are sufficiently randomized.
I hope that you feel more confident preparing yourself to read tarot now. As long as your reading rituals fulfill the purposes of grounding, framing, and shuffling, then you can be sure that you are “doing it right.” There are no hard-lined rules for practicing tarot. What matters is that the practices you utilize are creating conditions that support the spiritual dimension of life. Thank you.
Bee La Rosa is an intuitive professional specializing in tarot, Vedic astrology, and dream interpretation. She draws upon Jungian psychology, eastern thought, her 10 years of experience in social services, and her own healing journey to guide others to wholeness. She releases astrology and tarot videos on her YouTube @moonlodgemystic . See https://moonlodgemystic.com/ for more information.
Darcy J. MacPherson owns Silver Thread Gardens. It is a business that does consulting about plants and what they can do for us spiritually, emotionally, and physically. She is an author, a plant mythologist and photographer. Her books are Tree Spirituality and Weaving Color
silverthreadgardens@gmail.com
