Rebirth – Day 979

Bat Front Approaching – Photo: L.Weikel

Rebirth

It just so happens my Medicine Card* ‘pick’ for the day today was Bat/Armadillo. Simply stated, Bat is often associated with the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The single key word given for Bat in the book that accompanies the Medicine Cards is ‘rebirth.’ But truth be told, no one ever gets to rebirth without first experiencing ‘death.’ And that’s simply not a truth our culture feels comfortable acknowledging or accepting.

The fact that Bat showed up for me today felt affirming, to be honest. I feel surrounded by messages and signs of impending death or the crumbling of systems, norms, traditions, and foundations at not only personal but also cultural, systemic, and global levels.

Yeah, I’ve written periodically about the ‘theme’ of this year (2021) being tearing down the old structures and foundations in order to usher in radical transformation. Mostly I’ve addressed this in terms of how this is reflected in the stars (technically, the planets). Specifically, I’ve suggested that Saturn ‘squaring’ Uranus three times this year is the ‘tell’ for this cataclysmic shifting taking place on our planet and in our lives.

I’m not saying the movement of these planets and the way they’re aspecting each other is causing this to happen here on Earth. But perhaps the adage ‘as above, so below’ plays a role here.

Patterns, Sequences, and Harmonies

I’m suggesting that the movement of these huge outer planets is reflecting an energetic interaction or pattern that’s playing out on many levels of magnitude, right down to the microscopic, here on Earth. “From the macrocosm to the microcosm,” as they say. My approach to all of this is that the Universe provides us with a vast array of roadmaps and suggested operating procedures to help us navigate through our lives and through the millennia.

So when those who study the movements taking place within our solar system suggest that the underpinnings of many of our institutions and beliefs are going to crumble or be destroyed and replaced with concepts or approaches that feel like radical transformations, like ‘lightning bolts out of the blue,’ we might want to stop for a second. Look around. Pay attention.

What’s happening all around us? Fundamental concepts are being shredded. Institutions we thought inviolable are being violated. And on a personal level, perhaps, beliefs and relationships we thought were true and forever are also struck by lightning and either shattered or energized in a whole new way.

In fact, we might even want to consider whether the ‘foundation’ of pooh-poohing systems of study such as astrology needs to be torn down and replaced with an open-minded willingness to consider there just might be something to these recurring patterns.

Bats, Death, and Rebirth

It’s time to publish this post and I feel like I’m only scratching the surface of my contemplations. Late this afternoon I was reminded that I’d picked Bat today when I saw this huge one looming on the horizon. This Bat brought torrential rains, flooding, and a clearing of the way for something new.

Perspective on the Bat Front – Photo: L.Weikel

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(T-132)

Today’s Number – Day 888

Framed Brilliance – Photo: L. Weikel

Today’s Number

I barely pay attention anymore to the quantity of posts I’ve written. After all, it doesn’t matter where I am exactly in my 1111 Devotion. What matters is that I show up. But if you’ve read my posts for any length of time, you know I notice and pay attention to patterns. So I guess it’s not a stretch to imagine I’d sit up and give a nod to today’s number.

Today I’m on Day 888 and tomorrow there will only be 222 left to write in order to fulfill my homage to our son. It’s funny; I often feel like an alcoholic as I write these each night: honestly, I can only contemplate fulfilling this devotion one day at a time.

So when people occasionally ask me if I intend to keep writing posts after I reach my goal, I can only, in all honestly, shrug my shoulders. Heck, I’m not counting my chickens about reaching the goal; how can I predict with any credibility at all what I may do if and when I finally get there?

Today’s Photos

I’ve mentioned before how utterly impossible my 1111 Devotion task would be if I couldn’t take photos each day and easily upload them with my iPhone. The visual cues that remind me of each day’s magic are probably a bigger and perhaps better reflection of what really matters to me than the words I write.

Hmm. As I reflect upon that statement, I have to admit it’s not entirely accurate. The reason for that is because I so rarely post photos of the people in my life. And the people with whom I interact in my life, my family and friends, of course – but also my clients and the people I encounter on a regular basis and honestly care about, and even the random people who cross my path (or whose path I cross) in life  – matter to me.

Yet I rarely post photos of people. Mostly, I guess, because it doesn’t feel right to do so. There have been a couple of exceptions, but those were usually more of a ‘crowd’ shot than a personal statement or revelation.

But while the people in my life do matter to me, it’s the gifts of Mother Earth that are the treasures that never cease to provide inspiration and hope. And occasionally even some insight – almost always courtesy of my encounters with winged ones or other Beings.

A Bright Spot

Karl and I spent yet another day going through ‘stuff.’ I think we kept hoping the sun would come and out and coax us into taking a walk. But no. The sky remained overcast the entire day, sporting just a tad of a chill, too.

Finally, though, we tore ourselves away from our tasks and set off for a walkabout (the four mile trek). We both knew we needed more than ‘just a two.’

As we rounded a corner on one of the legs of our journey, we gasped at the splash of color that appeared in the midst of not only the gray and dismal day but also the haphazard arrangement of sticks and briars and the dark edge of a forest at dusk.

“Ah,” I said out loud. “There’s something to share on my blog.”

And so I am.*

Photo: L. Weikel

*And what this has to do with today’s number, I’ll never know.

(T-223)

New Moon Reflections – Day 851

Dragon in Repose (Patient Dragon?) – Photo: L. Weikel

New Moon Reflections

We’ll be experiencing a new moon this coming Saturday morning at 5:21 a.m. ET. This new moon will, of course, be in Pisces because when a moon is ‘new,’ it occupies the same sign and degree as the sun, just as when the moon is ‘full,’ the sun and moon are in signs opposite each other on the wheel of the zodiac. As the cycle of the last new moon (which occurred in Aquarius) comes full circle and reaches completion, it’s time to engage in new moon reflections.

The new moon in Pisces is almost always a particularly fecund one, since it’s in the sign of Pisces and has all that dreamy, creative, just-shy-of-spring energy associated with it. With the new moon occurring early Saturday morning, it’s an especially good time to seriously contemplate what aspects of your life yearn to burst through the ground like a seedling singularly focused upon reaching for the sun. What new growth yearns to be given life through you and your skills or passions?

I’m mentioning this now in order to give us all a day or so to consider the goals we wish to set or the projects we want to initiate. (Or maybe, quite literally, the seeds we wish to plant in the Earth!)

Reflection and Assessment

This is when I remind myself (and all of us) to check in on the ideas, goals, or projects we began at the last new moon. The last new moon was on February 11th at 2:06 p.m. – and it was in Aquarius. If we launched a new product or idea on or around February 11th, has it blossomed by now? Have you taken the steps required to manifest the vision you had? If it hasn’t reached its fullest expression, was it a project that will more likely take six months to realize tangible progress on?

It’s important for all of us to remember that some things take longer cycles to come to fruition than others. It can be helpful to check to see whether your longer-term projects are progressing.  You might, therefore, want to check back in your journal to see what dreams or intentions you held and you set in motion six months ago. Are they close to reaching their fullness?

Cycles and Patterns

Nature is incredibly precise in so many ways – and yet almost reliably subject to chaos. There’s a paradox, huh? When we take the time to look deeply at life, it’s hard to miss the many extremely predictable ebbs and flows. Some of the longer cycles are harder to notice than others, though. Mostly because they’re so long, we forget what it was like when they weren’t precisely as they are now.

Speaking of cycles and patterns, tonight on our walk I saw a Dragon on the horizon.

I just did a search of my posts to find out when the last time was that I saw and posted a photo of a Dragon in the sky. Lo and behold, as I sit here and write about monthly cycles and six month cycles, didn’t I see a spate of Dragons six months ago? Yes, indeed I did; when the sun was in Virgo (the opposite of Pisces).

Cycles and patterns. Everywhere we look, there are cycles and patterns.

Dragon from afar (looks like it’s casting a shadow!) Photo: L. Weikel

(T-260)