self knowledge Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Tomorrow’s Full Moon

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like it’s been an especially long two weeks. I’m talking about the two weeks it’s been since the new moon in Aries when we planted all the seeds we wanted to manifest in the weeks and months to come. With tomorrow’s full moon, we’re going to want to check on our sprouts to see how they’re coming along – and make a concerted effort not to yank them out of the ground if they’re not growing as quickly as we’d hoped.

As I do every now and again, here’s a link to Chani’s assessment of the main attitudes we’ll be feeling and confronting with this full moon in Scorpio. Make sure you read both your sun sign and your ‘rising’ sign (known as your ascendant). Pay attention to which one seems to more accurately describe you and your feelings or approach to life. It just may be that your ascendant holds a more accurate key to understanding yourself and your position in life than any reading of your sun sign will ever yield.

Ascendant and Moon

Just in case you’ve forgotten what sign your ascendant is or where to go to find out, I want to remind you that it’s important to know your time of birth. Once you know that, it’s pretty easy: just go to astro.com and create a free account. (You can always look up everything as a guest – but if you create an account, you can save all the different charts you create when inserting birth information about yourself, your family, and people you’re interested in understanding better.) Once you start piecing things together for yourself, trust me: you’ll become ‘curiouser and curiouser’ about all the other people in your life.

Once you’re into the website, click on “Free Horoscopes.” On the far right side, you’ll see a link under “Drawing and Calculations.” The top link is “Natal Chart, Ascendant.” Plug in your birth information there and you’ll be well on your way to understanding yourself better. Plus, you’ll know precisely what two signs to read first whenever you run across a website or article like Chani’s.

Another important placement for you to discover in your natal chart (the position of the luminaries – sun and moon – and the planets at the time of your birth) is the sign the moon was in when you were born. This information, too, will be found on the chart you create on astro.com.

A Rehash

I realize much of this information is a rehash of stuff I’ve written about in other posts. But this basic information is important for all of us to know about ourselves. It’s extremely helpful to know your ‘rising sign’ (ascendant) and moon sign as well as your sun sign (which almost everyone seems to know). Tracking this information and the accuracy of its application in your own life only serves to help you know your own self better.

Intention

It wasn’t my conscious intention to focus upon the fundamentals of astrology tonight. But here we are.

I’m guessing at least some of you will benefit from this refresher and a little nudge to remember who you are, what the cosmos looked like at the moment of your birth, and what that means for you today.

It’s as if the cosmos are reaching out to put their arms around you in a big, loving hug.

Cloud Being Swooping In With Arms Extended – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-215)

The Blank Page – Photo by L. Weikel

Dispelling Illusions

Yeah, I know I waxed rhapsodic over my new journal last night. I assure you, it was heartfelt. Truly.

I’m also a real pain in the behind with my clients over keeping a journal. I must bring it up about 15,000 times during a session, and if not quite that many times in the session itself, then most definitely in my follow up correspondences.

I’ve witnessed first hand the myriad times I’ve benefited from having written down my internal observations and feelings. Truly, those times are virtually countless. From documenting details that have served me in great stead to recall, to purging myself of emotions and accusations that could easily have led to vast heartache and further misunderstanding had they been expressed outwardly, to another person, my journal is in fact my very best friend.

Making Connections Helps Us Make Sense of It All

I’ve also seen the proverbial light bulb go on above people’s heads (usually my clients or students – most being both, turns out) when they experience that zing of excitement when a message or experience from the past (which they wrote down) somehow links with an experience or encounter now – and the dots connect in ways that reveal something much greater than they ever would have imagined (or even remembered, had they not written it down in the first place).

It’s in the details. It’s part of honoring our process. And our process includes feeling our fears, figuring out what we want, describing and immersing ourselves in our really sad and depressed days, expressing our dreams, and reveling in our triumphs – both inner and outer.

I can’t declare more passionately how essential I feel it is to our own self-awareness and growth that we capture on paper (ideally) (but electronically will suffice) (beggars can’t be choosers) (I’ll take a win where I can get it) (I’ll stop speaking in parenthetic phrases now) our innermost understandings of ourselves.

That’s why I keep coming back to the importance of journaling again and again.

Revelations Often Come Within a Single Entry

One of the fascinating things about the transformative nature of journaling is how, more often than not, at least in my experience, the transformation actually takes place within the journal entry itself. Meaning it’s not over a series of journal entries that major shifts take place. That happens for sure, sometimes.

But time and time again, I have sat down with my journal and felt something – some emotion, perhaps, or held an exceedingly strong belief about a particular subject – and by the time I have allowed myself to sit and write and contemplate and perhaps write down all my options, or given voice to all the possible reasons why something may have unfolded the way it did, I notice a distinctly different feeling within myself.

Usually I’ve achieved a sense of peace. Almost always, even if I still have no idea how I want to move forward or what I may be walking into next, I know who I am and how I feel in that moment.

My Journal is My Best Friend

Journaling helps me know who I am. It helps me understand why I think, feel, and behave the way I do in any given moment. And because of that, I think journaling helps me love myself.

Quite honestly, I can’t think of a greater gift I can give to anyone else. That’s why I recommend it like a broken record to anyone and everyone I live with, work with, or care about.

So with all of what I’ve just written, knowing that I have some 63 journals on my library wall and a fresh brand-spanking-new journal just waiting for me to initiate it, you’d think I would have christened that baby today, wouldn’t you?

Well, let me dispel that illusion. In spite of my best intentions…there’s always tomorrow.

(T-1044)