Hired by a great spa

This is a post about my reaction to working in a spa along with Astrological reasons why I am having certain reactions to doing so. Enjoy!

I recently got hired by a great spa in Charlottesville. This is exciting for a number of reasons and it brings up another reaction which I will mention below.

First of all, this spa takes exceptionally great care of its therapists – offering money to buy health insurance with, paying half of my social security (payroll taxes take a major toll on sole proprietors – no pun intended!), and she even offers compensation for continuing education classes and workshops! Not to mention giving her therapists a fantastic commission on each treatment we give.

So all in all, I’m pretty sure I was hired by the best spa in town regarding how well she treats her employees. Which for a recent massage graduate is a huge blessing!

I will be doing Craniosacral Therapy, Acupressure, and Reflexology there to start as I don’t have my massage license just yet. I am however scheduled to take the national exam July 3rd – wish me well!

This is incredibly exciting! Working at a spa may not have been my dream per se, but if I must work in a spa, I have chosen a great one!

Speaking of that dream, this is where interesting reactions arise. Disclosure of a personal nature coming, by the way…

I have been doing Craniosacral Therapy for 13 years, Polyvagal Therapy (trauma resolution) since 2010 and since 2013 I have been studying Pre- and Perinatal Therapy, aka Birth Process work. So in my ideal world, I would have a private practice where I work with children, babies and parents and adults who want to work on their own birth dynamics.

However, while I am a great practitioner, I am not a good business person. I don’t like marketing myself or my work (holdover from past lives as a Buddhist monastic). I don’t even like requesting my full rate – at least half of my clients in the past have been on a sliding scale or have stuck with a lower rate (Sun, South Node and many other planets in my 8th house – meaning I was the tribal medicine person and I was always taken care of by my village – I never had to ask for money for healing work – blasphemy if I’ve ever heard of it).

And this is why a tiny part of me cringes when I think about working in a spa. Not only am I concerned about doing more than 10 massages / week (even though I am only part time), I am also concerned that my greatest potential is not being met. Yes I want to practice financial self care – I don’t think I have ever spent a full year focusing on my bank account, paying off debt and truly saving every penny I possibly could. It is time to focus on me – something else I am not good at. (Chiron is conjunct my MidHeaven – I am very good at healing OTHERS, but less good at taking care of myself on some levels, the Wounded Healer in all of his true self-less glory)

Hopefully within the spa setting I will get the chance to read pulses – I am learning a lot by taking pulses, taking down notes, and asking acupuncturists when I have the chance about new things I am feeling. I read pulses as a part of Acupressure treatments. Hopefully I can offer a number of modalities at the spa and not be too limited to massage (even though that is the quintessential reason people go to spas…). I will set the intention and I’m pretty sure I will be pleasantly surprised.

Either way, I will give it at least six months. I can always attempt to cultivate thriving and healthy private practice down the road.

As it stands, I will have a couple mornings / week where I can see my own clients. I do have several from the past. Now if I can just be resolute in my rates going up once I get my license…

I am not planning on offering anything at the spa that requires talking. I am not being paid enough to do trauma resolution at the spa, no thanks. So that is a boundary I can honor at least.

Thanks for reading about my diverse excitement to starting to work at a spa! I start on Friday – exciting and …!

Have a great day,

~km

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Wisdom Healing Arts

Got started on a facebook page for my business – Wisdom Healing Arts.

Here is the link if you are interested:

Wisdom Healing Arts fb page

Things are gradually coming together – seeing a few clients / week, in July I’m going to take over a few clients / week from a friend who is going on maternity leave and I’m interviewing with two spas (might as well get the best offer!).

And somehow I have to read about 300 pages of the national exam review book and take a bunch of practice exams – all in the next four weeks! Wow!

So if you are wondering what I am doing for fun these days.. basically it is swimming, spending time with animal friends, seeing a few friends, giving treatments and STUDYING as much as possible. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

~km

Hot Stones becoming my specialty

If you have not read several of my previous posts about the amazing Massage Program I just completed in April or about my working with Hot Stones since then, I would recommend going back through my posts. Or click here: Hot Stone description

In my personal astrology chart I don’t have much in the way of Earth signs tenanted. I have Saturn in Virgo and my North Node (of the Moon) is also there, plus I have Chiron in Taurus, but that is basically it. So I see my working with Hot Stones as a healing process for myself as well – or not healing process per se, rather a way I can ground and work with the Earth element more consciously and overtly.

This particular Hot Stones treatment includes working with some of the Chinese medicine / acupuncture energy meridians and it has been fascinating experiencing how various clients hold different “stuff” in their meridians and around the various bones that we work with in the treatment.

In the Chi Kung that we learned in Massage School, we got into some intermediate and a little bit of advanced techniques by working with Bone Breathing or Bone Marrow Chi Kung. That is where the practitioner imagines light flowing through and around their bones as they do the inner Taoist yoga. I love it. I’m pretty confident I changed my constitution entirely doing this practice (and I continue to do it obviously).

So my next exploration involving the Hot Stones and Chi Kung will be to imagine the stones as objects of light in my hands as I am working with clients. I’m pretty confident it will work well (the stones already are objects of light, just due to my karmic predispositions I see them as charcoal-colored soap stone or reddish-gray basalt or greenish jadeite or the opaque white of quartz / marble).

I’m excited to continue to deepen my relationship with the stones (which are crystal formations in their own right), to work with my own inner / outer light, and to gift my clients some of the deepest levels of relaxation they have ever experienced!

I am very grateful to be able to do this work and I love how most people who receive a Hot Stones treatment schedule another within a couple weeks!

Thank you for reading!

Have a beautiful day,

~km

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Astrological Yod Series: Introduction

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. If you would like to schedule an astrology interpretation, you can email him at kirby [at] mkirbymoore [dot] com. Thank you for visiting!

Hello dear readers,

I have been working with Yods in Astrological Interpretations and consultations over the past couple years (or more) and I am beginning to see how they are intricately tied into early early psychological processes. Sometimes Yods go back even further – showing us Ancestral Patterns that we have inherited from our families.

In this series, I will touch on each of these topics lightly. I say lightly because if you want in-depth you should schedule an interpretation with me or down the road (when I put it out there), take a series of classes that I am creating entitled Pre- and Perinatal Astrology (we will discuss Yods at depth in there).

What is a Yod?

for beginners out there, an astrological Yod is a relatively rare configuration of planets. It involves a minimum of three planets (or some people will pull in an Ascendant or MidHeaven to consider a Yod as being active in a Natal chart – however you better be very certain you have the correct birth time before doing this). One planet (the Apex planet) forms two simultaneous Inconjunct aspects or the Quincunx aspect (same thing – both are 150 degree aspects) to two planets (forming the Base). The two base planets also make a Sextile aspect (60 degree) to each other.

This shape is a narrow triangle pointing up toward the Apex planet. Hence a Yod is said to indicate a “Hand of Fate” or the “Finger of God” configuration. In future posts I will mention how the Yod is considered to be more fated – although I intend to unpack some of the reason behind this (which many astrology books do not do).

I personally only use a 2 degree orb for a Yod. This is because there are so many aspects out there which can be pertinent – for instance a double Quintile (144 degrees) is quite close to a Quincunx (150), so using a smaller orb is recommended. Some astrologers use a 3 degree orb – especially if it is the Sun or Moon.

[In case you are wondering, I don’t use a double Quintile aspect in my interpretations very often, I’m just saying there are many aspects out there to choose from, so keeping a smaller orb – especially on these more minor aspects is very important.]

Why should I care if I have a Yod in my chart?

– Did you read the part above about how Yods play a major role in early psychological development? And if we do not do much personal growth work – if we don’t have a meditation or spiritual practice and we don’t do much reading about psychological processes… then a Yod in your chart probably means that there is a glaring blind spot about something (the planet and house positioning of the Yod will say more). These blind spots can be lack of empathy to difficulty expressing myself creatively to assuming that hard work breeds success (no matter how many times I try – which also means I might not know how to relax).

Yods in our charts can mean many things. The planets involved will tell us more. However here are a few iterations of what a Yod can mean for you (if you have this rare configuration):

  • Sometimes, people with Yods in their charts see very transformative changes happen around them. For instance they might join a company around the time of a merger or a re-organization. Or they are the ones demanding change and progress. A Yod can be a revolutionary energy at times (e.g. Mars / Jupiter involvement).
  • Go Big or Go Home – sometimes a Yod can indicate a tendency toward extremes. These individuals can be a little reckless – whether financially, emotionally (romantically), or with their lives. I would say more about this in an interpretation.
  • OBSTACLES – people with Yods will often feel stuck (which by the way is the hallmark trait of someone with an invisible Double Bind – I will mention this in a future post). They have difficulty moving forward, they might have difficulty making decisions or they might be clear in their minds and hearts but then the outer world seems to be conspiring to stop them! I have seen all of this in my clients (and some within myself!). It is a fairly wild situation. Often these obstacles will raise their ugly heads around the time of Transits or Progressions to the Yod planets.

Does it matter what planets are in my Yod? Yes.

The planets involved in the Yod, along with the signs and house positions, can show us a lot about Ancestral Patterns that we are (unconsciously or consciously) working with. I would even say that a Yod can show Birth Trauma or significant unmet needs from early developmental stages. And the planets and houses will show more about this.

So yes – the planets (the energies manifesting) make a big difference in working with Yods. A Yod with a personal planet in it – Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus or Mars will look a lot different than a Yod with all Outer Planets – let’s say Pluto / Neptune / Chiron (as far as Yods go, this one is more common considering it was in effect for portions of 1982, ’83 & ’84).

For beginners (disclaimer – this paragraph is attempting to refine a complicated topic down to a few sentences, just doing my best) – the planets in the chart represent the Energies – the What is Manifesting here; the signs represent the Quality of that manifestation – How is it Manifesting, the signs are the lens through which the Planetary energy gets perceived; and the houses are the Where – Where in my life is that energy manifesting?

Does it matter what house positions the Yod planets tenant? Yes.

See above – yes it makes a big difference. Remember how I mentioned sometimes Yods can even show us Birth dynamics – how was our own birth process? Well any Yod that has a planet close to the Ascendant will probably have something to do (among other manifestations) with our birth. I’m talking having a Yod planet within 8 degrees of the Ascendant on either side.

This is a decent start to talking about Yods. In future posts I will discuss how Astrological Yods have a lot to do with Ancestral Patterns and I will discuss Double Binds and how they show up in the astrology chart (hint – Yods often play a big role here). 🙂

Thanks for reading!

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working with Hot Stones “paying off” and more

Hello again dear readers,

I have been busy with clients, practicing modalities and studying to complete a final assignment for massage school, hence my not writing on here much recently.

With that said though, I have gotten in about 35 practice treatments in the past four weeks! Which is so great! While many people ask for Swedish Massage, I have actually been very fortunate to be trying out a number of the techniques I learned and more. I have done a lot of Integrated treatments involving multiple modalities. So each session (Integrated) is pretty much unique and extremely creative! Therefore I am loving this work!

No, I’m not quite sure where I will take this bodywork down the road. But one thing I do know is if I have a choice, doing Hot Stones massage will be one of my specialties.

When I am working with someone sensitive to energy (or crystals or stones or Chi Kung or Yoga or Craniosacral work, etc), I can literally feel the stones getting excited to go to work. They love to warm up and work with people’s bodies – energy bodies, physical, emotional bodies, etc. I have only done a handful of Hot Stones treatments since being back and yet I get the feeling (backed up by some sensitive clients) that the stones love working with me! And the feeling is mutual!

Considering they were mainly sitting in an office previously (I’m not sure how often they were being cleaned), I think I know why the stones might love doing this work. Its because I do at least five types of clearing / cleaning of the stones (once a month at least):

  1. Soak the stones in Epsom salts (after each use)
  2. Clean the stones with light, mild soap (after each use)
  3. Smudge the stones with Blue Sage (smoke – once / month)
  4. add a few drops of Palo Santo essential oil to the stones (very purifying and sacred oil – once / month)
  5. put the stones in a mesh bag and put them in a Chi-rich mountain stream for a few hours (once or twice / month)
  6. finally I allow the stones to soak up the rays of the Full Moon (if it is not raining – obviously once / month)

If you have not read previous posts in the past few months, you might want to go back through and read about my time in Massage School – where I deepened my connection to nature, to the Stone people, with Plant spirits and with the sacredness of offering bodywork in general. Which is a good segue into what I am going to mention next.

Giving the stones a chance is extremely important. They have much potent medicine in them. They can help to free up stuck energy (because the particular technique I was taught uses special tapping sequences along certain Acupressure / Acupuncture meridians), they can soak up tension and malaise as you lie on them and they can rub out worry and fear as we use various strokes with the stones.

What I mean by giving them a chance is that they can and will communicate with us if we are open to it. And fake it until it actually starts to happen if it doesn’t seem to be working! Rarely I will have an idea of where I want to put a stone – for instance tucking it under a thigh or foot, but then the stone will tell me it prefers to be somewhere else! (Rarely does this occur.)

So if you live in or near Charlottesville or Central Virginia, look me up, leave a comment here about setting up a Hot Stones treatment! I am offering discounted sessions for another few weeks – I need to get in another five practice sessions at least – help me out please! 🙂

Thank you for reading!

~gratefully, KM

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a little update for May 2018

Hello dear readers!

I have been back from Massage school for over two weeks now (!!) And my bodywork practice is already picking up – hence not many posts here recently.

I am feeling several desires pulling at me, tugging, yanking, urging. One influence wants me to get as many days full of clients as possible (three clients / day is my current limit – in a couple months that might go up to four) and to schedule a few weeks out so I have a full calendar.

Another smaller timid subtle gentler voice wants me to rest and relax, to take a day off every once in a while, to go slow, to do Slow Eye Rolls – a technique from Zapchen Somatics which is very therapeutic and relaxing. It wants to exchange with a good bodyworker once / week at least to maintain some semblance of self care and it wants to find my own spiritual / self care practices which are extremely gentle, slow, and deeply resourcing.

And then yet another need is to study. I have one assignment left for massage school – but it is a big one (at least twenty hours left on it) and once I finish that, I can sign up for the national massage exam – the MBLEX. So I get in an hour or two of studying when I can. This is starting to become urgent however, so I’m guessing tomorrow might be a four or five hour binge of studying and workbooks and completion.

I also need to unpack my body mind and soul. My journey to Colorado was something powerful and special. I am noticing positive changes – bringing some of the Sacredness of Crestone Colorado back with me. Somehow in the midst of all this unpacking, I am continuing to see and treat clients! Like I said about two or three / day!

What I love about the bodywork I am doing, for the most part, every session is unique. Having a number of modalities under my belt allows me to do Integrated Reflexology or Foot Shiatsu, or 30 mins of Shiatsu blended with Craniosacral Therapy, or Swedish Massage with 20 – 30 mins of Acupressure. I love the creativity that is possible, I love how I don’t know what is going to arise, and I both love and internally cringe when a client says, “You know Kirby, you seem very knowledgeable about this, what do you think would be best for me?” I am being stretched in a good way!

Actually, I’m thinking I need to finalize an idea I have been toying with – that is to come up with a protocol of muscle testing to determine what is best for a client. Using muscle testing to discern what is the priority treatment(s) for them at that moment.

Oh – and I am doing a few astrology interpretations as well! Wow 🙂

If you miss me for a week or two, now you know what I am up to!

Feel free to drop me a comment or question.

Thank you reading!

~km

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Reaping the benefits of self-care and aspirations

Hello again dear readers,

I gave a Jin Shin Acupressure session recently that was quite profound. Let’s just say that with some people I can actually see how their “Chi tank” is doing so to say. What the heck does that mean? This person was fairly depleted and coming off a cold. When I worked with their feet, I could actually see how empty and hollow their feet were. As in, I could have filled their feet for hours with Chi or life-force or light energy.

When I practice Acupressure I imagine light is coming out of my finger tips and shining into my client’s body. It is a potent session. It also affords me the chance to do some Chi cultivation myself while I treat them – knocking out two birds with one treatment as it were! This is one of the ways our Massage School main teacher taught us how to make bodywork modalities into spiritual practices.

So what does the title of this piece have to do with anything? If we practice solid self care, doing a lot of personal growth work on ourselves and set some solid aspirations or intentions, then it is only a matter of time before we are able to provide quality healing facilitation treatments or to be a healthy enthusiastic presence wherever we go! 🙂

In Chinese Medicine, there is a concept known as Evil Chi. Don’t worry, its not as bad as it sounds. In fact, I would even argue that its name could be Heavy Chi or Distracting Chi or Aggressive Chi or EMF-filled Chi or Chaotic Chi. I say this because Evil Chi can be all those things – if we are around a fight or a highly charged argument or high-voltage power lines, these could all produce Evil Chi and we would not want to do Chi cultivation around them (or spend any time there in fact!).

Why do I mention Evil Chi? Because it can come from within us as well as from without. If we have maladaptive beliefs or imprints in our unconscious, and we are constantly keeping ourselves small to make others comfortable, then this would be considered Evil Chi as well. If we beat ourselves up due to some early imprints or unresolved unmet needs, that might also be considered Evil Chi – it can literally show up anywhere. This is why Chi cultivation is challenging for some people – not only are there outer obstacles to practice but there are inner obstacles! Ooph!

Therefore if you practice Chi Kung with a qualified teacher, someone who embodies the teachings, who walks with light and love, who has solid intentions and aspirations and experience under their belt, when the Chi sensations start to arise, if there are inner imprints and other obstacles being cleared, then it can be uncomfortable for a bit. But stick with it! If it is too uncomfortable then back off for a short while, rest, get some bodywork, pamper yourself, then go back in a few weeks and give it a try.

But it is possible to walk in beauty, to be a living breathing divine connection between Father Sky and Mother Earth. It is possible to feel the love story that is Chi Kung happening in your body, allowing the bliss and ecstasy to unfold as you melt resistance with solid practice. It is possible to walk with light, to visualize mandalas of light going into the Earth with each step you take, each breath you breathe. It is possible to remember who you are.

Thank you for reading and I hope this was at least a little helpful.

~km

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Pre and Perinatal Astrology

Hello dear readers,

I still have the intention to work with (learn, teach, study, practice, dream) the above topic (title). PPN Astrology.

In fact, I just did an astrology interpretation (continued from a previous session) today that was mainly a PPN Astrology session. It was primarily educational. With that said, we mainly talked about Double Binds, Compensation Patterns, Tension Fields, Astrological Yods, what-healing-looks-like-on-a-larger-level, Outlet Dynamics and more (he was pretty far along in his inner-resource/resilience skills). Oh my word! – I should check with my client and see if I can type up a transcript of the 90 minute conversation. It was pretty epic!

So I just wanted to post a teaser… errr… I mean update about how we are doing with this Pre- and Perinatal Astrology endeavor.

Well because I am just back from a rockin’ Massage School program (a Heaven and Earth school), that means that I am slowly building up my bodywork practice in the area again AND studying for the national exam AND taking advantage of this incredible spring weather to go biking and hiking AND taking advantage of being so close to pure clean mountain air and streams where I can do Solar, Water and Tree Chi Kung with such ease and bliss…

So it might be a little while before PPN Astrology really lifts off. I’ll keep you in the loop however!

<little bit of a secret – let’s keep this between you and me how about?> About 11 years ago I was doing a personal Tibetan Buddhist retreat at my home, I believe I had a week off from school and I wasn’t working much at the time, so I did a little bit of Ngondro practice. Five fold path of Mahamudra Ngondro that is (basic preliminary practices). Anyway… I took my friend’s advice and sort of read ahead in the text – way ahead… Not unlike the sorcerer’s apprentice in Fantasia. (I didn’t lose control entirely, but I pried open my mind in a way I had never done before.) I kind of got a glimpse of the future and saw this wild, dynamic, potent Astrology modality I was meant to teach. I believe what I saw was Pre- and Perinatal Astrology.

It must be beneficial and powerful. Therefore I am abiding patiently until the right time, when there is a right teacher (I’m not ready quite yet), the right location, the right students and the right conditions. We’ll see if and what unfolds over the next few years. But I expect we won’t be bored!

As usual, thank you for reading!

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Some additional resources for people struggling to find deeper answers, to gain clarity about stubborn inner obstacles…

This is a list I compiled for a client, but I figured I would share it here as well. These are some of the more potent modalities for unearthing our subconscious or unconscious obstacles – whether imprints, beliefs, attitudes, conflicts, dichotomies, etc.
These go in order of what I see as most potent and insightful to slightly less so:
Pre- and Perinatal Therapy, aka PPN work, aka Birth Process Work – major teachers who I respect thoroughly are Ray Castellino, Myrna Martin, Kate White, John and Ana Chitty (and a few others including Janet Evergreen)
Ray Castellino’s site for his PPN training:
by the way, Myrna Martin was just in London doing a Womb Surround Process workshop just a couple weeks ago – so great stuff is happening with this PPN in numerous countries right now!
Ancestral Healing is powerful work that gets into potential inherited Ancestral double binds. I have only brushed the surface but I am looking eagerly to dig deeper into this powerful modality:
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy is an amazing form of bodywork – but it is more than that – it is holding space, it is contemplative for the practitioner, meditative for the client, it is connecting with deeper levels of healing than most people ever even acknowledge.
The Karuna Institute with Maura and Franklyn Sills is a great teaching institution (there in England). They produce some awesome practitioners and teachers. Take a peek at their recommended practitioners:
Somatic Experiencing is powerful Trauma Resolution work – it is mostly therapeutic / somatic based talk therapy but they also have some tools for touch.
Finally Polarity Therapy is a powerful tool as well. It integrates several modalities it seems into a dynamic approach. I have not taken any classes in this modality yet but it is on my list (slightly lower on my list). I believe the Karuna Institute either offers or used to offer these classes as well.
Thank you for reading and I hope this list benefits many beings!

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Hi dear Readers, Help me buy tea so I can continue blogging. So if you enjoy what you are reading, please make a little donation. Thank you very much!

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