Celebrated on February 1 or 2

Imbolc is the cross-quarter Wheel of the Year point following Winter Solstice. Also known as Brighid’s day or Candlemas, it marks the starting point of spring. Here you begin to subtly notice that the days are lengthening and, depending on the area you live in, you may actually start to see signs of spring. Here in Georgia where I live, the daffodils consistently open sometime around Imbolc, although this year they may be later because of a colder winter. When they do start the daffodils begin the steady wave of beautiful bloom that lasts through the glorious spring.

For others in colder climates, Imbolc may simply bring the promise of spring as the light of the sun slowly begins to increase. Tune in this year to the subtle shifts you notice in the air and light around and after Imbolc. What does it signal internally for you? What things do you get a renewed urge to do?

Imbolc is the time to call forth the idea seeds that have been germinating in the inner realm and that are now stirring with life, ready to grow during the upcoming cycle. A great opportunity exists during Imbolc to ceremonially create a “treasure map” or a creation journal, a collage of pictures and ideas that represents what you want to manifest in your life this year, a visual reminder of the creations that are ready to sprout, grow, and bear fruit. Or you may want to engage in some other creative project to make use of Imbolc’s powerful creative urges.

Use Imbolc’s energy of renewal for spring-cleaning of both home and body, to purify from the darker energy of winter. This point on the Wheel represents a potent time for creativity, invoking a muse, or starting a new project or initiation cycle.

Imbolc, means “in the belly” and is associated with ewe’s milk, the lactation that begins for the baby lambs at this time of year. The Celtic Fire Goddess Brighid brings healing, purification, renewal, fertility, and creativity at Imbolc. If she interests you, take a few minutes and Google her to find out more information. She is a wonderful Goddess to work with at this time of year, and she will bring you many gifts and blessings. Candlemas was the name given to Imbolc as the old ways gave way to the Christian tradition. The ceremonial candles for the year were customarily created at Imbolc.

Personal/Professional Creation Ideas to Activate Imbolc

Choose one or perhaps two depending on your available time. For more information on calling in Sacred Space, see p. 215-223 of Natural Rhythms ™.

~ Connect with the Goddess Brighid if she interests you and ask her to assist you with inspiration for your creative pursuits.
~ Set aside time for the spring-cleaning of your home/office and releasing what you no longer need.
~ Begin a cleanse for your body if it feels appropriate for you.
~ Do traditional crafts for this time of year by creating your intention candles for the year. Infuse your candles with energies for things such as abundance, fertility, inspiration, clear communication, etc.
~ Initiate projects that need to be taken on during the growing cycle.

To Learn how to use this window to boost your business,
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February 1, 2012 from 3-4:30 PM EST
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The solstices and equinoxes mark the extreme light, dark, and balanced points of the cycle of the sun. In the Northern Hemisphere we have the shortest day and longest night on winter solstice, and then the days slowly begin to lengthen again. This is important to you for several reasons:

1) After winter solstice the subtle growing light starts a fresh growing cycle for a new year. The more you align your creations with this growing cycle the more it boosts your ability to bring your personal and professional creations into form. You are aligning your creations with the increasing sunlight. Think about what that does for plants. It is the sun that springs the plants and seeds to life and it will do the same for your creations.

2) The days leading up to winter solstice are the darkest of the year and the darker days urge you to sleep and dream more. This is an important time to tune into the guiding messages you hear for your life. Pay attention to your dreams, and spend some time in reflection and journaling about what you want to grow in the year ahead.

3) Concentrating on reflection and creation between now and the first few weeks of January will make a big difference in your year. That is one of the reasons people make new year’s resolutions. A more effective thing is mapping out your creation plan. There are several tools on the website that can help you do just that, a creation journaling video, a post about directing your creation energy, a program I’ll be doing Jan 8 “Create A Dynamic Year 2012“, and a Free Online Winter Solstice Tele-ceremony and meditation. (You can sign up for the event at the bottom of this page.)

More About Winter Solstice and the Capricorn Sun

Winter Solstice means “Sun Standstill.” Solstice marks one of the most important points on the Wheel of the Year, functioning as a seed point for the solar cycle, just as a new moon does for the lunar cycle. Its impact functions in your life for a full year, a complete growing cycle.

During this darkest phase of the year, you are called to reflect on the past year, giving gratitude for all your blessings, and to dream and create the next stage of development for your desires and goals. How you begin this cycle influences the entire upcoming year.

Capricorn energy brings the need for solid, stable plans and structures. Its purpose is for you to design and create a solid plan for the upcoming growing cycle in every area of your life. During the next few weeks you need to be sure you create your foundation for the year ahead. It is important to dream your new growing cycle into being as a blueprint for what you choose to create.

This blueprint represents which life aspects you choose to place your intention and focus on during this growing cycle. As you create your blueprint, you don’t have to know how each item will come into being, you need only to connect to the blueprint, energize it, allow the elemental forces to inform you around it, and be in alignment with the rhythmic cycle.

The more your blueprint aligns both with you personally and with caring for the Earth, the more effective it becomes. Intentions aligned with caring for the Earth are in harmony with the natural world and therefore have more support from nature. Utilizing the rhythmic timings by energizing your desires with both Winter Solstice and the Capricorn Sun will powerfully impact your experience in 2012.

REMEMBER, only apply energy to what you want to grow. How you phrase your dreams, desires, and goals is very IMPORTANT. When you state what you “do not want” you bring that into being because that is where the energy is flowing. You want to clearly state what you choose to bring in, and to determine the action steps that you will need to make. Then, release attachment to the outcome.  That way Spirit, as it flows into our world of form, creating with the elemental forces, can work on your behalf.

As you align your dreams and desires with the unified field of all the elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, with Spirit flowing through all) sometimes an element needs to be strengthened, or an aspect of your mental beliefs or your old emotional program needs to be cleared. Just like growing a garden in your yard, sometimes rocks and roots need to be removed or fertilizer, water, or more sun need to be added so that your flowers and veggies may thrive.

Personal Creation Ideas to Activate Winter Solstice
IF YOU ONLY DO ONE PERSONAL CEREMONY ALL YEAR THIS IS THE ONE TO DO ~ Do this either in the Winter Solstice window or on the New Moon in Capricorn (Dec 24).
At any point during this process you may choose to call in Sacred Space, p. 215-223 of Natural Rhythms ™.

~ Create a yearly completions and blessings list from last Winter Solstice to this one.
~ Create a detailed one-year plan in life areas:
Personal
Health and Well-being
Financial
Social: Family, friends, partners
Career
Creativity
Home
Spiritual
Contributions to the Community or Collective (Give Back)
Green Dreams (Ways to be more Earth Friendly)
Other
~ Create a vision dream board for the year.
~ Elemental Journaling: Bring to this session a representation of each element. A stone or rock for Earth, a bowl of water for Water, a feather for Air, a candle for Fire, and your dream board and plan for Spirit, along with your journal and a blank piece of paper. Take the time to listen to each element and their message to you for the year in relation to all that you are bringing in.

Points for the Sun in Capricorn Window (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
~ This time of year creates the foundation for the growing cycle of the year ahead. Tend to the soil of your life.
~ Take any solid grounded steps that are needed for the functioning of your year plan.
Examples: Get your insurance, wills, and other foundational pieces in place. Create your yearly financial plan of both expenses and income.
Financial Affirmation: “I am Divine Power freely flowing through focused intention and grounded loving action in all my financial affairs.”
~ Make sure your home and office are in order for the new growing cycle. Handle any completions that still need to be done as soon as possible.
~ Develop procedures and administrative systems.
~ Attend to your physical world: body, home, garden, car, etc.
~ Apply discipline and structure where needed.
~ Plan well and then work your plan.

Winter Solstice Tele-Ceremony & Meditation

Join author, Lisa Michaels in a FREE tele-ceremony and meditation to honor this sacred time of year.  

Use this potent rhythm, as the darkest night brings the gentle birth of solar light, to activate your desires personally, professionally, and collectively.

Find out details about working with the Capricorn New Moon which falls on Dec 24.

Phone & Webcast

December 21, 2011 ~ 7pm Eastern Time

Sign up below to join us for this inspiring event.

Sign Up Below for this FREE Winter Solstice Tele-Ceremony & Meditation
December 21, 2011 ~ 7pm Eastern Time

Celebrated: October 31

The four cross-quarter days of the wheel of the year, such as Samhain, were considered very important by the ancient people who worked with the wheel. Many cultures have a sacred time during this cross-quarter point of Samhain (Sah-win, Sah-ween). It is also known as Halloween, All Souls Night, All Hallows Eve, with the Day of the Dead, or All Souls Day on Nov 1 or 2.

The medieval Irish word Samhain, means summer’s end. It is the last of three harvest festivals, as the growing season in North America comes to a close. This cross-quarter day begins the turn toward winter. The cross-quarter days fall between the solstices and equinoxes and signal the turn toward the next season. To understand the cross-quarter days more fully, go to www.naturalrhythms.org and download your free copy of Chapter 2 of Natural Rhythms™ by Lisa Michaels.

There is a very good article with more details about the ancient point of Samhain on http://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html.

This time of year when so many cultures honor the dead arrives just as the deepest darkness of the year begins in the Northern Hemisphere. The six weeks from Samhain to Winter Solstice creates the darkest time of our year. The solar “Sun God” traditionally is thought of as going back into the womb of the “Goddess” to gestate there, until his rebirth at Winter Solstice.

This creates a window that ends the old growing season before the new one starts again. So some  connect to Samhain as, both the end and beginning of the new year, and to others, it was the end of the old year and the new one began at Winter Solstice. Either way the “veils between the world” of life and death were considered thin here and traditionally you honored those who had crossed through death to the other side.

The ancestors are honored and celebrated with photos displayed and the lighting of candles on their behalf. These departed loved ones were also sometimes contacted for communication during this time. So take time here to appreciate all your ancestors, loved ones, and mentors on the other side, and all that you have harvested as this growing cycle comes to a close.

This window begins the inward turning time of the year. The time to reflect within in order to determine what you are ready to release or let go of and what you choose to bring into the next growing cycle. The action of reflection here forms a very important part of the creation cycle. In order to create the “new” most often something also needs to be “let go” of and the reflection to know what that is, as well as being willing to release is essential.

If you like any type of divination, this is one of the most potent times of the year to do it because the veils between the worlds are thin. So get out your cards, runes, or other tools and ask for guidance for the coming year.

If you want to see your desires in form this is a window of ceremonial opportunity to allow the magical creation forces of nature to powerfully assist you. Remember to give thanks and only energize what you choose to have come into form.

Ideas to Work with Samhain

Choose one or perhaps two depending on your available time.

Personal Suggestions:

~ Honor your ancestors and those who have transitioned that you love.
~ Tune into what you need to release and have a “letting go” ceremony or a big give away of things you no longer need.
~ Connect to anything you want to bring into form, energize the feeling of it’s completion, and give thanks.
~ Work with your co-creation journal or dream board, collage and energize what you are ready to have come into form. Remember that some things you want to bring in require a gestational time on the inner (just as a baby does in the womb) before they are ready to birth or emerge into the outer world.
~ Spend some time really listening to your inner guidance in every area of your life. This is a very important time to connect to elemental wisdom by working with each element (see directions below) and to listen internally to your feelings and guidance.
~ Review your year and ask yourself where you were successful with bringing in your creations and where you can apply yourself more fully.

Business/Professional Suggestions:

~ Tune into what you need to “let go” of in your business/professional life in order to bring forth the next level of growth.
~ Take time to connect to your inner guidance around what is next to be created in this area of your life.
~ Honor and give thanks for your business/professional growth, development, and abundance over the last year. Determine the details of what you would like to bring forth during the next year.
~ Spend time in reflection around your business. Determine what needs gestation in order to full come into form in the next growing cycle.
~ Honor your business “ancestors” and do some divination for your business.

If you would like more support for your business growth with the elements then register for my complimentary program “Expert Success Secrets” Here.

Harvest blessings and love, Lisa

PS…I love hearing how you are using this time of year so feel free to leave a comment.

Autumnal Equinox, also called Mabon, occurs each year somewhere around September 21st or 22nd. This year the exact point falls on the 23rd. It sits directly across the Wheel of the Year from Spring Equinox and here again you find light and dark perfectly balanced. As the halfway point from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, Autumnal Equinox brings the awareness that change is in the air. At this time of year, you are called to let go of the growing phase of the cycle, allowing it to fall away just as the leaves begin to fall from the trees.

The Earth’s seasonal cycle can be likened to your daily cycle. One seasonal cycle to her is equivalent to one of your days. Spring represents her morning, summer her noon and afternoon, autumn her evening, and winter her night and deep sleep. She then wakes in the spring and begins her “day” all over again, just as you do. This time of year feels like dusk, as the sun begins the setting process, and things start to wind down.

Since equinoxes represent a time when the light and dark exist in sacred balance, it provides you with an opportunity to tune into the balance of your life. As the sun moves into Libra, it also brings the teaching of balance. As teacher of balance in relationships it shows you how to honor another’s point of view, balance opposites, and consider options.

During this window you can evaluate things that may need your attention in order to come into greater harmony and alignment. Notice if you need to balance anything in your life to more effectively bring your desires into being? Perhaps you need to balance your active outer world actions with more quiet restful energy or balance your time indoors with more time spent in nature. Or maybe you need to focus your actions to get some energy flowing. You can simply ask internally what is it in you that needs to be balanced at this time so you can begin making the necessary changes.

In addition to working with balance during this second harvest time you want to honor and celebrate all that you have brought forth during this growing cycle. Appreciation of all that has come forth provides you with energy to go forward in your creations.

Once you have fully honored your success then you can notice what its time to leave behind or let go of. You can ask yourself, “What things in life do I need to release so that they can find a new home or to a new life?” This creates a great window to give away unneeded items and release old unproductive ways of doing things.

Personal Creation Ceremonial Ideas to Activate Autumnal Equinox

If you need more information about calling in Sacred Space, see p. 215-223 of Natural Rhythms™.

~  Create a simple ceremony where you review your creational plans. Tune into each of the following areas and see what it needs in order to be further activated and energized. Journal your answers, connect to the elements below, and then energize your desires with playful action.

Personal
Health and Well-being
Financial
Social: family, friends, partners
Career
Creativity
Home
Spiritual
Contributions to the Community or Collective (giving back)
Green Dreams (ways to be more earth friendly)
Other

Points for the Sun in Libra Window (Sept 23 – Oct 23, 2011)
~ Add more balance to your life.
~ Look at your creations from all sides.
~ Appreciate your relationships.
~ Value the point of view of others.
~ Enjoy your social skills and social gatherings.
~ Be a good host/ess, partner, and companion.
~ Value your relationships as a path to the Divine.
~ Read the Conscious Heart by Gay & Kathyln Hendricks.
~ Practice your mediation skills.
~ Help balance the extreme polarities currently expressing in the world.
~ Deepen your relationship to peace.

Element: Earth

From the expansive fire sign of Leo, the sun now moves into the hard working and detailed focused earth energy of Virgo. If there is a time each year to take care of the details of getting organized, creating new systems, or getting a routine going, this is it.

Virgo loves order so the more you can handle completions and getting things around you in order the better. The sun will support your actions for those types of activities during this window.

It also creates a good time to do anything in the earthly realm that can use a more organized, grounded, and effective approach such as; taking care of your body, handling your finances, or simply cleaning out your house and giving things you no longer need to charity.

As the archetype of the priestess and priest, Virgo loves connecting to the sacred by honoring the seasons and cycles of the natural world. This would make a wonderful time to plan a ceremony for a life passage, the next turn of the wheel of the year, or simply because you want a deeper connection to the sacred in any area of your life.

Another key component of Virgo is being of service. If you have wanted to help out with a charity or non-profit this would make a good time to set that in motion by getting started adding your assistance.

The physical world holds the relationship to your finances. Three times a year, when the sun or new moon are in Earth signs, it is extremely helpful and important to focus on taking solid steps toward your financial goals. This quarterly energy of anchoring helps you to stabilize and support the other elements, so that they all work together effectively throughout the year toward your prosperity.

Virgo loves saving money through detailed price comparison and coupon clipping. It works hard toward a managing a budget and staying organized with its economic flow. Allow this sign to carefully support your financial goals this month.

Creational Ideas for the Sun in Virgo Window
~ Prepare your garden for fall planting or fall clean up.
~ Organize anything that needs it in your home.
~ Create a more effective routine to do anything.
~ Take note of what your body needs for you to take better care of it.
~ Clean out your car and get it serviced.
~ Review your finances and make sure your budget is in order.
~ Make sure your will, living will, and all forms of insurance are handled.
~ Handle the details of your life and business.
~ Create your business organizational plan for the next year.
~ Tie up loose ends by completing anything in your business or home life that needs it.
~ Increase productivity in any area.
~ Connect more deeply to the sacred.

Leave a comment of any ways that YOU use the Sun in Virgo Window

Celebrated on August 1 with the exact astrological point between Summer Solstice & Autumnal Equinox occurring this year August 7.

The seasonal cycle called the Wheel of the Year, contains the major points of the solstices and equinoxes and additionally four more points that fall in-between. The additional four days actually begin the turn toward the new season and they are called cross-quarter days.

This week we experience the cross-quarter day that begins the turn toward autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere). Sometimes with the cross-quarter days there was a traditional day they were celebrated on and then the exact point where it fell between the solstice and equinox. In this case the cross-quarter day named Lughnasad or Lammas, (which falls between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox) traditionally celebrated on August 1, is exact this year on August 7.

Lughnasad, originally named after the sun god Lugh, is the cross-quarter Wheel of the Year point following Summer Solstice. Also known as Lammas, it marks the starting point of the turn toward autumn. To understand the cross-quarter days more fully, read Chapter 2 of Natural Rhythms™ by Lisa Michaels. Download your free copy in the starter kit.

Lughnasad is the first of three harvest festivals celebrated each year as the growing season begins to produce bountiful crops. Celebrating the harvest was an extremely important part of life that was deeply connected to the land and the growing cycle. Gratitude for the blessings of fruit and grain that would carry your community through the harsher days of winter expressed a heartfelt appreciation for the core of nature that sustains life.

The relationship between the abundant Earth Mother and the Solar Fire God is vital to the survival of the species. Those who honor of the Wheel of the Year connect to this primal understanding, showing their gratitude and giving blessings back to the land. Just as any other being appreciates your gratitude when they have bestowed you with a gift, Nature also loves receiving your power prayers of thanks.

Lammas actually means “loaf mass” and was named from a Christian mass for honoring the grain that we grind into flour and then transform into food for our bodies. This process of transformation provides you with a wonderful example of how you can integrate all of your experiences, regardless of how they felt at the time, into food for the soul, food that wisdom rises from in order to nourish your life.

This year during the week of Lughnasad take a look around your life and notice where integration and the blessings of transformation may be showing up for you. Be sure to give thanks, celebrate the bounty of your harvest, and work with this powerful window to enhance your creations.

Personal Creation Ceremonial Ideas to Activate Lughnasad

Choose one or perhaps two depending on your available time. For more information on calling in Sacred Space, see p. 215-223 of Natural Rhythms ™.

~ Ask yourself what you have to be thankful for in life and in relation to your creations. List all those things in your journal. Also ask yourself what desires have come into form that are now ripe and ready for picking.

~ Notice if there is a place in life where you are releasing the grain from the chaff or pounding your creations down so they rise again in a fuller form.

~ Lammas serves as a good time of year to pay attention to which part of the transformational cycle your creations may be in and perhaps honor them in ceremony.

~ Honor the abundant Earth Mother in some way. Thank the Corn Goddess for her fertility. Create an altar with corn, bread, flowers that bloom this time of year, grapes, and seasonal produce.

~ Create a ceremonial meal with seasonal vegetables, grains, and fruit. Serve it with corn bread or freshly baked bread. Finish it off with blackberry cobbler. Be sure to set a beautiful table and express your gratitude fully before and during your ceremonial meal.

~ After working with each element around your harvest, create an art piece to represent their messages from this point on the Wheel.

~ Elemental Journaling: Take the time to listen to each element and their message to you about producing a good harvest.

Give thanks to Earth and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a bountiful harvest?”

Give thanks to Water and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a bountiful harvest?”

Give thanks to Air and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a bountiful harvest?”

Give thanks to Fire and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a bountiful harvest?”

Give thanks to Spirit and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a bountiful harvest?”

If you have the Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle, you may want to draw cards for additional guidance from each element and/or add insight from other decks.

Now ask the unified field of all of the elements and Spirit for a unified creation message so that your creations may flourish.

Sending you beautiful harvest blessings for Lughnasad.
Much love, Lisa

Please leave a comment I would love to hear about what you are harvesting in your life!

Direct: Summer Solstice & Sun in Cancer
June 21 1:17PM EST

Window: Summer Solstice June 20 – June 22

Sun in Cancer Window June 21 – July 22
Element: Sun in Cancer, Water

Solstice means “Sun Standstill,” and summer solstice, in the northern hemisphere, brings us the longest day of the year. Find time to bask in the bright abundant light summer brings and enjoy the harvest as things begin to ripen around you. This is a wonderful day to consciously witness the sunrise and appreciate the blessings the solar light and fuel bring into your life.

If you have been working with the timings since last winter solstice and tracking your creations look back to see how far you have come since then. Make honoring your progress and celebrating your successes part of your summer solstice celebration.

One thing honoring the Wheel of the Year brings, as you work with it year after year, is a deep appreciation of each phase its cycles. This time of heat and light gives us the opportunity to enjoy the luscious taste of ripe fruit, splash in cooling waters, relax in the shade, and spend lot of time with family and friends. All perfect expressions of the family loving nurturing sign of Cancer.

Cancer sun provides a prime time for hanging out and connecting with family and friends over father’s day, the fourth of July, or the summer vacation. Time to refuel and rejuvenate with this water sign before the intensity of the harvest cycle gets into full swing.

With summer solstice, comes the ever so subtle shift of the days growing shorter. While it will be barely noticeable for a few months, the light gently begins its slow decreasing from this point through to winter solstice when it begins growing again.

In creation summer solstice brings the opportunity to evaluate your progress and add needed ingredients for a successful harvest. Especially with both the sun and moon moving into Cancer you want to apply liberal doses of love to every creation you are magnetizing into your life. Pouring love into your creation mix means also filling yourself up with the pure sweet essence of water’s primary power.

Only when your inner water is fully nourished by love and appreciation, can you magnetize your dreams from the most grace filled place. This window is the perfect opportunity to fill yourself up to over flowing.

While you are at, reflect on your creations and see if they need any other element for an abundant ripening. As you align your dreams and desires with the unified field of all the elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, with Spirit flowing through all) sometimes an element needs to be strengthened. Perhaps an aspect of your mental beliefs or your old emotional program needs to be cleared for your creations to flourish. Just like growing a garden in your yard, sometimes rocks and roots need to be removed or fertilizer, water, or more sun need to be added so that your flowers and veggies may thrive.

Suggestions for Honoring Summer Solstice
~ Honor the Earth Mother.
~ Create a simple ceremony around fulfillment and manifestation.
~ Feel and express your passion and vibrancy for life.
~ Celebrate your abundance.
~ Work with the hot summer solar fire as an element of transformation.
~ Honor the veggies, herbs, flowers, and the green growing season.
~ Take a few minutes and watch this TED talks about the beauty of pollination.

Cancer Sun Personal Action Suggestions:
~ Bath yourself in love.
~ Go play in the ocean, lake, river, pool, or tub.
~ Nurture yourself with the intent of rejuvenation.
~ Treat yourself to a two-hour massage or your favorite love your body treat.
~ Honor Water and give thanks for its nourishment.
~ Spend time relaxing with your family and friends.
~ Love and appreciate the people in your life.

Cancer Sun Business/Professional Action Suggestions:
~ Connect to the ways your business needs to be nurtured in order to grow.
~ Spend time in deeply loving and appreciating your business and your customers.
~ Can you nurture yourself more in relation to your work? If so, how?
~ Notice what areas of your work life (or business life) need more love?
~ Are there ways your business could nurture the environment further?
~ Are there ways your business could make a greater contribution to the collective?

Click Here if you would like to join us for the Summer Solstice Creation Meditation Tues June 21.

WOW…Back to back on March 19 & 20 we have Sun in Pisces on 19th with the full moon in Virgo and then on March 20 the Sun moves into Aries on Spring Equinox.

Full Moon in Virgo ~ Sun in Pisces
Direct: March 19, 2011 – 2:10 PM EST
Window: March 18 – 20
Element: Full Moon in Virgo, Earth
Closest Full Moon this year so it’s very powerful.

Spring Equinox ~ Sun Moves into Aries
Direct: Spring Equinox/Sun Moves into Aries – 2011 – 7:21 PM EST
Window: March 19 – 21
Element: Sun in Aries, Fire

Work with these energies combined to activate sacred balance with the Earth and her natural rhythms.

(ASTROLOGY BUFFS: One of my favorite astrologers Cayelin Castell is calling this a once-in-a-lifetime spring equinox because the planet Uranus gets into the mix. If you want to know more about this she’s created a very helpful recording on this timing CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO HER RECORDING.)

Virgo Full Moon
This full moon in Virgo creates a great window for getting business handled and your work done. Virgo’s dedication to its sacred work makes it a prime time to attend to details of life in order to get a lot accomplished. With Virgo’s help you can finish your taxes, work on your budget, create a cash flow management strategy, all while honoring the sacred that flows through all aspects of life, including your financial life.

Work with your finances in a ceremonial way. Clean off and organize your workspace and put fresh flowers and sacred objects on your desk, maybe even light a candle. Get out your journal and some denomination of money. Then from a space of giving thanks for all you do have financially and in life, ask money to share with you any information you need in handling it right now. Write down in your journal what you receive. You can also do the same thing with preparing your resume or any other aspect of life that needs your attention.

A Virgo window helps you organize any part of your life that needs attention, so put it to good use. Notice what needs organizing or completion in order for you to be more effective or efficient.

Virgo creates a wonderful window of sacred space for ceremony and ritual. When you combine it with the deeply spiritual Pisces archetype, you have a potent full moon to connect to the Divine and anchor your new moon Pisces dreams solidly on the earth plane with a Virgo inspired ceremony. Use the power of this combination! Remember it only comes just like this once this year.

Listen internally to the area that most needs attention in your life to effectively determine the focus for your ceremony. You may want to send the energy of upliftment to the collective in order to help everyone work more effectively with the tremendous level of change we are experiencing.  Actively connect to Divine Source to access deep inner guidance to guide you in the days and months ahead.

Personal Action Suggestions:
~ Connect to the sacred and create a ceremony.
~ Organize.
~ Make completions.
~ Energize your exercise and health program.
~ Connect to the patterns, rhythms, and cycles of nature.
~ Spend time outside connecting to the Earth.
~ Give thanks to your body.

Business/Professional Action Suggestions:
~ This is a great window for business. Notice what needs attention.
~ If you are looking for a job, work with your resume and inner guidance now.
~ Notice ways you can increase productivity.
~ Connect to the sacred in your work.
~ Create a ceremony around your work. Infuse your business with the sacred.
~ Handle completion details.
~ Ceremonially work with your finances.

Spring Equinox
Spring Equinox and the Aries sun burst forth with the exuberance of the young, playful, and new. It’s time once again for the new solar growing cycle. Things start really heating up here as the active growing cycle begins, so get ready to actively plant your garden and your desires.

Fire, the action realm of energy and light, provides the life force that warms the earth and the crops for growth. It creates the excitement and passion for any endeavor and provides the spark needed to activate desire. As the solar force, it shows its yin/yang expression in the turning of day into night and night into day. The sun teaches you to balance your active, outward moving, daylight energy with the cool, restful, and reflective energy of the evening.

Since the equinox represents a time when the light and dark exist in sacred balance, it provides you with an opportunity to tune into the balance of your life. Here you can evaluate things that may need your attention in order to come into greater harmony and alignment. Do you need to balance anything in your life to more effectively bring your desires into being? Perhaps you need to balance your active outer world actions with more quiet restful energy or balance your time indoors with more time spent in nature. You can simply ask internally what is it in you that needs to be balanced at this time.

In addition to working with balance, you can use the window of Spring Equinox to add energy to your creations, to fill them with the life force this period offers. Connect to the enthusiasm of a youthful, lighthearted spirit by honoring children and the child within at this time as well.

This Wheel of the Year point is named after the Earth Goddess Ostara or Eostar. Since rabbits and eggs were sacred symbols of the fertile Goddesses, you see these used in many Spring Equinox celebrations. If you feel inspired, decorate your altar with these images and fresh spring flowers, and connect to the fertile aliveness they bring.

Aries creates the first gate of awareness, through which it teaches the meaning of individuation. It is active, high spirited, and energetic. It loves excitement, adventure, play, and competition. As a sacred warrior, it will fight to defend its beliefs and protect what it values in life. It likes to go first, birth the new, get something started, and lead the way. It is courageous, trusting, decisive, inspired, and spontaneous.

Aries says, “Get a move on it! Either get going or get out of the way.”

Personal Creation Ceremonial Ideas to Activate Spring Equinox

If you need more information about calling in Sacred Space, see p. 215-223 of Natural Rhythms™.

~  Create a simple and fun ceremony where you review the one-year life plan you created at Winter Solstice. Tune into each of the following areas and see what it needs in order to be further activated and energized. Journal your answers, connect to the elements below, and then energize your desires with playful action.
Personal
Health and Well-being
Financial
Social: family, friends, partners
Career
Creativity
Home
Spiritual
Contributions to the Community or Collective (giving back)
Green Dreams (ways to be more earth friendly)
Other

Give thanks to Earth and ask “What is my activational message for this growing cycle?”
Give thanks to Water and ask “What is my activational message for this growing cycle?”
Give thanks to Air and ask “What is my activational message for this growing cycle?”
Give thanks to Fire and ask “What is my activational message for this growing cycle?”
Give thanks to Spirit and ask “What is my activational message for this growing cycle?”

If you have the Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle, you may want to draw cards for additional guidance from each element and/or add insight from other decks.

Now ask the unified field of all of the elements and Spirit for a unified activational message for this year’s growing cycle.

~ Now create a playful activation for any key areas that need attention. Light a candle, dance, sing, or drum; do anything that is fun to you and that gets your energy moving.

~ Fill your heart with gratitude for all that you have energized as fully formed.
~ Feel your desires in form, full and complete.
~ Turn your plan over to Spirit and give thanks.

Sending you activational blessings for this powerhouse creation window.
Much love, Lisa

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN ME IN A SPRING EQUINOX FULL MOON CEREMONY ON SUNDAY MARCH 20 TO ENERGIZE BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE, ACTIVATE YOUR CREATIONS, &  DANCE YOUR PRAYERS FOR JAPAN CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

Beautiful Goddess Brigid - Illustration by Prescott Hill - http://www.hillustrate.com

Ancient Goddesses each had special powers and areas of expertize that they could help you with if you respectfully requested their assistance. Often they were celebrated and honored at a certain time of year when they extended their magical abilities to help you bring your desires into being.

The Celtic Goddess Brigid (Brigit, Brighid, Brighde) was honored on a very important Wheel of the Year day called Imbolc. Very often the ancient Goddesses were turned into saints and their feast day’s transformed into another type of holiday. The Goddess Brigid was later called Saint Brigid and Imbolc changed into Candlemas.

Imbolc sits on the Wheel of the Year between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox and begins the subtle turn toward spring. At this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, as spring approaches, the land slowly awakens with the increasing light and the growing season gently begins. The Earth rises from her  long wintery slumber like you awaken on a new day from your own deep rest.

Just like you need a shower in the morning to freshly engage your day, Imbolc brings the urge to cleanse the heavier energies of winter and creatively begin the new growing year. Brigid’s day was considered a time to awaken your creativity and inspiration, as well as, purify your body and home from the darker quieter days of  wintery indoor living.

This year along with this potent Wheel of the Year point we have the beginning of the growing lunar cycle with Aquarius new moon. The air sign of Aquarius brings with it lots original ideas and innovative insights, a fabulous combination with the creative energies of Imbolc.

On February 2nd we have the exact point of the new moon and the day that Imbolc is traditionally celebrated. The window of this powerful aligned sun/moon timing extends from February 1-3. (The exact astrological point of Imbolc falls on the fourth so the entire four days Feb 1-4 is a great time to energize your creations.)

In honor of this dynamic sun/moon timing I will be hosting two events Feb 1st in person in Atlanta and Feb 2nd an on-line tele-ceremony. In both we will be activating your Divine Creative Muse to assist you in bringing in bountiful creative blessings for the 2011 growing season. To join me in one of these ceremonies (or work with the tele-ceremony replay) please CLICK HERE.

Below are some personal and professional suggestions for working with these combined energies:

Personal Action Suggestions:

• Brainstorm on any creation goal where you feel you need fresh ideas.
• Invite Brigid to assist you with creativity and purification insights for your life.
• Fine-tune your inner listening skills by really tuning in to all the ideas coming through internally.
• Expand your possibilities in all areas of life and open to quantum leaps.
• Find an effective modality to uplift your vibration when you need it. Try color, crystals, flower essences, homeopathies, singing, toning or chanting, prayer and meditation.
• Allow some time for Air and Imbolc to bring an expanded creative vision for your life during this three-day window. Simply sit in the quiet or enter into meditation and ask to see an expanded creative vision for your life. Write down any images or impressions you receive.

Business/Professional Action Suggestions:

• Aquarius new moon is a great time to learn new technologies and upgrade your skills.
• Enlarge your perspective on your business and expand your thinking.
• Tune into your business financial goals and open to the innovative ideas that will help them happen, allow for quantum business leaps.
• Work on expanding your ability to communicate and write.
• Listen to your thoughts and adjust your thinking if they are not supporting your vision.
• Align vibrationally with those already successful in the area you are learning.
• Open to new ways to market your business on-line and strengthen your ability to work with social networking, blogging, search engines and other air based modalities.Enjoy this magically creative window and allow it to support your success, LIsa

  PS…I hope you can join me for one of the two ceremonies during this window! (or work with the tele-ceremony replay)
  

  TO JOIN ME PLEASE CLICK HERE!

]]> http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/new-moon/bountiful-blessings-with-your-divine-creative-muse/feed/ 0 http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/earth/wheel-of-the-year-earth/powerful-creation-window-on-winter-solstice/ http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/earth/wheel-of-the-year-earth/powerful-creation-window-on-winter-solstice/#comments Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:10:34 +0000 Lisa Michaels http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/?p=4422

Wow, what a line up of powerful planetary influences that all come together on Dec 21st this year! Joining in the sky is a full moon total eclipse in Gemini that happens early on the morning of the 21st and later that same day is the Winter Solstice point with the sun moving into Capricorn.

Full Moon in Gemini Total Lunar Eclipse:
Dec 21, 2010 – 3:13 AM EST

Winter Solstice Direct:
Dec 21, 2010 – 6:39  PM EST

Full Moon Solstice Window:
Dec 20 – 22

Sun in Capricorn Window:
Dec 21, 2009 – Jan 19, 2011

Full Moon in Gemini: Air

Sun in Capricorn Element: Earth

According to Yahoo News the last time there was a total full moon lunar eclipse on Winter Solstice was 1638 and the next one won’t have another until 2094. Anytime the sun and the moon line up in dynamic positions on the same day like this it creates a very potent creation window.

The sun subtly begins the active growing cycle for the next year on Winter Solstice with the full moon releasing into its reflective phase. Add these two together with a lunar eclipse and you have a great time to let go of any shadowy beliefs or thoughts that will prevent you from fully creating your dreams in 2011. You have three days to work with this exceptional planetary line up to exponentially boost your ability to take a quantum leap toward bringing your creations into form.

Solstice means “Sun Standstill,” and it is the darkest night of the year. Winter Solstice births the sun for the next cycle and, as the days grow longer, the light slowly begins increasing. Solstice marks one of the most important points on the Wheel of the Year, functioning as a seed point for the solar cycle, just as a new moon does for the lunar cycle. Its impact functions in your life for a full year, a complete growing cycle.

During this darkest phase of the year, you are called to reflect on the past year, giving gratitude for all your blessings, and to dream and create the next stage of development for your desires and goals. How you begin this cycle influences the entire upcoming year.

Capricorn energy brings the need for solid, stable plans and structures. Its purpose is for you to design and create a solid plan for the upcoming growing cycle in every area of your life. During the next few weeks you need to be sure you create your foundation for the year ahead. It is important to dream your new growing cycle into being as a blueprint for what you choose to create and be ready to anchor and energize it in the Capricorn New Moon window Jan 3-5.

This blueprint represents which life aspects you choose to place your intention and focus on during this growing cycle. As you create your blueprint, you don’t have to know how each item will come into being, you need only to connect to the blueprint, energize it, allow the elemental forces to inform you around it, and be in alignment with the rhythmic cycle. I hope you can join me to “Create a Dynamic Year” on Jan 2 or work with the replay sometime the first couple of weeks in Jan.

The more you create a solid plan and your blueprint aligns both with you personally and with caring for the Earth, the more effective it becomes. Intentions aligned with caring for the Earth are in harmony with the natural world and therefore have more support from nature. Utilizing the rhythmic timings by energizing your desires with both Winter Solstice and the Capricorn Sun will powerfully impact your experience in 2011.

REMEMBER, only apply energy to what you want to grow. How you phrase your dreams, desires, and goals is very IMPORTANT. When you state what you “do not want” you bring that into being because that is where the energy is flowing. You want to clearly state what you choose to bring in, and to determine the action steps that you will need to make. Then, release attachment to the outcome.  That way Spirit, as it flows into our world of form, creating with the elemental forces, can work on your behalf.

As you align your dreams and desires with the unified field of all the elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, with Spirit flowing through all) sometimes an element needs to be strengthened, or an aspect of your mental beliefs or your old emotional program needs to be cleared. Just like growing a garden in your yard, sometimes rocks and roots need to be removed or fertilizer, water, or more sun need to be added so that your flowers and veggies may thrive. See more on the Wheel of the Year and Winter Solstice in the excerpt section below.

As for more about the full moon total eclipse in Gemini with the sun still in Sagittarius, it creates a creative combination dedicated to expansion and freedom. It may bring the winds of change in areas of your life needing expansion or simply a shift in perspective. Gemini needs fresh ideas and change in order to gain inspiration to fuel fiery Sagittarius’ growth and expansion. Couple this with Winter Solstice and the sun in Capricorn to look at where you need to release old beliefs, get a shift in perspective, or create change in order to solidly anchor your growth and expansion in the year ahead.

Full moons total eclipses add magnified intensity to any energy they are amplifying, so be sure to take a deep breath, center yourself and focus your energy clearly in the present moment. Allow Gemini to bring fresh creative ideas and perspective to your life for any changes that may be occurring to support your growing year ahead.

Seek out new inspiration for your own growth or the expansion of your projects or business in the year ahead. Think about where you need to apply creativity to any area of your life and brainstorm on possible ways to express it. If at all possible view this rare full moon eclipse on Winter Solstice. Listening to the messages from the full moon tremendously assists you in your personal development.

Ceremonial Ideas to Activate Winter Solstice & Full Moon in Gemini Total Eclipse Window

If you can plan to join me on Dec 22 7pm Eastern for a Free Tele-Ceremony!

IF YOU ONLY DO ONE PERSONAL CEREMONY ALL YEAR THIS IS THE ONE TO DO ~ Do this either in the Winter Solstice Full Moon window or anchor your plan for the year on the New Moon in Capricorn (Jan 3-5).

~ After reading this tune in and see what is most important for you to do in this powerful window.

~ Create a yearly completions and blessings list from last Winter Solstice to this one.
~ Creatively review your life areas and ask yourself where you need to release some old belief or perspective in order to expand and bring in what you are choosing in that area.

• Personal
• Health and Well-being
• Financial
• Social: Family, friends, partners
• Career
• Creativity
• Home
• Spiritual
• Contributions to the Community or Collective (Give Back)
• Green Dreams (Ways to be more Earth Friendly)
• Other

~ Create a vision dream board for the year.
~ Notice what areas of your personal, business, or professional life are changing and open to the new ideas, insights, directions, and creative solutions that can come with change.
~ Elemental Journaling: Bring to this session a representation of each element. A stone or rock for Earth, a bowl of water for Water, a feather for Air, a candle for Fire, and your dream board and plan for Spirit, along with your journal and a blank piece of paper. Take the time to listen to each element and their message to you for the year in relation to all that you are bringing in.

Give thanks to Earth and ask “What is my expansive creation message for the year ahead?”
Give thanks to Water and ask “What is my expansive creation message for the year ahead?”
Give thanks to Air and ask “What is my expansive creation message for the year ahead?”
Give thanks to Fire and ask “What is my expansive creation message for the year ahead?”
Give thanks to Spirit and ask “What is my expansive creation message for the year ahead?”

If you have the Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle you may want to draw cards for additional guidance from each element and/or add insight from other decks.

Now ask the unified field of all of the elements and Spirit for a unified creation message for the year.

~ Fill your heart with gratitude for all that you have energized fully formed.
~ Feel your desires in form, full and complete.
~ Turn your plan over to Spirit and Give Thanks.

Points for the Sun in Capricorn Window (Dec 21 – Jan 19)
~ This time of year creates the foundation for the growing cycle of the year ahead. Tend to the soil of your life.
~ Take any solid grounded steps that are needed for the functioning of your year plan.
Examples: Get your insurance, wills, and other foundational pieces in place.  Create your yearly financial plan of both expenses and income.
Financial Affirmation: “I am Divine Power freely flowing through focused intention and grounded loving action in all my financial affairs.”
~ Make sure your home and office are in order for the new growing cycle. Handle any  completions that still need to be done as soon as possible.
~ Develop procedures and administrative systems.
~ Attend to your physical world: body, home, garden, car, etc.
~ Apply discipline and structure where needed.
~ Plan well and then work your plan.

Excerpt from Natural Rhythms™ by Lisa Michaels
Pgs 93- 95 Natural Rhythm Cycle: Wheel of the Year

Each element possesses a natural rhythm cycle. Every day, every night, every month, and every year dances to a rhythm. The Wheel of the Year connects the sun’s journey to the earth’s cycles. In many cultural views of the Wheel of the Year, the sun was seen as carrying the masculine principle, called “Son” and “God”, while the earth was viewed as the feminine principle, named “Mother Earth” or “Goddess.” The Earth Goddess has many names, varying across cultures. In many myths, the relationship and connection of the Earth Goddess with the Solar God was honored with the changing cycles. The Earth Mother Goddess stays alive throughout the year, changing from mother, to partner, to sovereign Goddess. The solar, sun, (son) God energy is born from the Goddess, grows to full Godhood, becomes partners with the Goddess, and then dies each year. The Wheel teaches you the natural cycle of death and rebirth, as one year’s cycle gives way to the next.

Through the seasonal Wheel of the Year, light and dark work as a harmonious whole. They constantly move together in a dance both sacred and essential to your well-being. Living in continual light would burn out your systems, because you would have no time of rest or quiet. Conversely, with too little light you would tend to get depressed. You need the balance of both light and dark to achieve a state of wholeness.

The same holds true in your inner world. The light time of your inner world is filled with doingness and activity, just as in the outer world. This busyness requires balance with beingness during the quiet rest in times of darkness. Your inner darkness serves as a void, a place where you are receptive to the inner voice of Spirit, and where seeds of your desires are planted, developed, and grown. In this place, you connect to All That Is and in the dark, rich, fertile soil new awareness grows to full expression.

The seasonal cycle reminds you of your need for balance through every turn of the Wheel of the Year’s quarters: the winter and summer solstice points and spring and autumnal equinoxes. As those four sections divide again, creating the cross-quarter days, each of these eight points of seasonal change are a “power day.” Each is honored and celebrated for the energy they bring to the year.

Winter Solstice marks the place on the Wheel where the sun, which went deep into the dark space of the womb during Samhain, is reborn. You begin here with the gradual day-by-day increase in light until it reaches its peak at Summer Solstice and begins, once again, its turn toward the darkness. Winter Solstice, also known as Yule, typically falls between December 20 and 23 and is the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

Winter Solstice is seen as the time when the Goddess gives birth to the “sun,” or “son,” the masculine principle. The light of the sun emerges reborn out of the darkness year after year. Thus, traditionally you honored this point on the wheel by bringing evergreen trees into your home to represent the everlasting nature of the Earth Goddess. They were decorated with images representing what you wanted to bring into your life for the coming year. Gold balls represented the life force of the sun, icicles symbolized rain, paper money or coins stood for abundance, pinecones and acorns implied fertility.

At this festival of light, during Winter Solstice, you give deep thanks for the bringer of light, the sun, and all it contributes to your life.  You hang lights from your home to illuminate the darkness and recall the rebirth of the light. Most cultures have celebrations during this time of the year, a time of the holy days and holidays.

Bountiful blessings on your growing cycle ahead.

Much love, Lisa

PS…this post is an example of the Natural Rhythms Community Membership Rhythmic Timings.