a primer on Pluto, divine amplifier

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore.  Reproduction without permission is prohibited.  Thank you for visiting my blog.  If you would like to support my work, you can click on the ads below and visit my website at www.mkirbymoore.com

Astronomically, Pluto has been disparaged, dropped from the ranks of planet-hood and I suspect this reflects our society’s discomfort with Plutonian material.

What is Plutonian material?  What is Pluto’s influence in the astrology chart?  What is his rulership?

Pluto is the power behind the throne.  Pluto is one of the four power-hungry planets in the pantheon of the solar system – along with Saturn, the Sun and Mars.  For the most part, these planets are associated with the Fixed signs, which are also known as the Serpent Signs – Aquarius (Saturn’s previous rulership), Scorpio (Pluto’s present and Mar’s previous), Leo (the Sun) and Taurus is not exactly represented as Venus, its present ruler does not “seek” power but understands that true power lies in practicing abundant generosity and kindness and that when we love something or someone fully and maintain a low position (humility), then we have all the “power” that we need.  But more on Venus in a bit.  So Pluto seeks typically seeks power because of some mysterious unconscious yearning.  How it goes about that is indicated by the rest of the astrology chart.

What does Pluto do in the astrology chart?  Well we are talking about the ruler of the most complex sign in the zodiac (Scorpio), so this must be a complex answer.  But to over simplify things for the moment, I am going to write about the ways that Pluto amplifies whatever he touches.

Stepping off topic one more time…  Above I mention how our society might be hesitant (at best) to delve into Pluto’s material, well I want to remind people that esoterically, Pluto rules both the best of the light (wisdom, personal integrity, and compassion) and the worst of the darkness (polluted swamps of the unconscious).  I suspect Pluto has gotten a bad reputation – being discovered around the time of the atom bomb’s revelation, I think some people see a poor Pluto aspect and naturally cringe.  But that is not necessary.  Pluto is a binary planet system – Charon, a large moon of Pluto orbits it and from an esoteric perspective, this dual system gives Pluto rulership over the swampy depths of the psyche AND once we purify and come to a deep visceral understanding of who we are and what true power is, then Pluto is transformed like the phoenix (one of Scorpio’s symbols) into Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and healing.

Pluto’s constipating effects come about when we do not acknowledge who we are.  When we suppress our natural urges and healthy desires, due to upbringing, societal pressures, or whatever, we are pushing Pluto deeper into our subconscious.  And if we know our mythology, then we know that Pluto tends to erupt violently onto the scene, and this is certainly possible if we try to bottle up our powerful emotions for too long.  Eventually something is going to snap.  So it is best to get clearer about our needs and feelings now, rather than waiting to see how Pluto might manifest in his shadowy manner.  But we can never blame Pluto – rather he is a reflection of our psyche and our natural predispositions.

So why does Pluto tend to amplify aspects of our chart?  And keep in mind, depending on our karma, like I mention above, this amplification is oftentimes positive.  If we have poor predispositions in our unconscious, then these negative habits could be amplified just as easily.

(By the way, I am going to over-simplify these definitions below.  Therefore, do not read your chart and then say, “Oh my God!  I don’t fit on that hyper-polarized spectrum.”  Right.  There is a lot of gray area that I am not able to describe in such a short blog post.  You might want to call or email me to set up an astrology interpretation if you have questions about your astrological Pluto.  I consider myself quite knowledgeable on the subject.)

Pluto and the Sun: Here is one combination of two of the power-grasping giants that I touched on above.  The Sun is the overt, natural leader in Leo.  At its best, these aspects tend to amplify the Sun’s natural leadership abilities.  It increases ambition, a desire for recognition and our innate authority.  At its worst, it can make someone despotic and power-hungry, stooping to great depths to undermine opponents and competitors.  You must look at the rest of the chart to see how and where this authority and power extend (in Cancer it might be the head of a powerful family, in Capricorn it might be an ambitious CEO and in Scorpio, it would be an altogether different animal).  🙂

Pluto and the Moon: Here we have the lunar domain of the emotions and non-physical energies (psychic abilities, intuition, dreams, etc).  When Pluto and the Moon get together, it can be over-sensitivity (depending on the sign), emotional reactiveness AND/OR it can be emotional understanding and awareness.  It could be extremes in the way we express our feelings AND/OR an innate psychic ability.  If we delve through our neuroses and traumas, we can discover that Pluto’s influence on the Moon can be an emotional anchor in an uncertain world.  We can read people with an uncanny gut feeling and we can express our feelings with such ease and grace that others marvel at this skillful ability.  Of course the signs and houses involved matter a lot and the rest of the chart will indicate how far along we are on a psychological understand (or in our karmic evolution).

Pluto and Mercury:  Here is the god of communication – the link between the head and the heart.  So what you must ask yourself here is – does Pluto clear up that connection or sully those waters.  At its best, this is someone whose mental clarity and cogency is unparalleled – a great investigator, researcher and scientist (possibly).  This person would be a great teacher and a magnificent orator.  On the flip side, Pluto here can indicate mental confusion.  It can amplify the worst of Mercury’s qualities – impulsiveness, impatience and irritability.  There is the possibility that Pluto in a hard aspect to Mercury is indicative of early trauma and this in turn would gear up that native’s nervous system to no end.  Of course, whenever Pluto (who is strongly associated with the reproductive organs and sexual expression) is involved, we might consider skillfully inquiring about early trauma.  [Disclaimer – if you do not have seriously refined skills in dealing with early trauma, then it might be best to avoid the subject and let a professional handle it.]

Pluto and Venus:  As I mentioned above, Pluto can be in its lower manifestations or in his higher karmically-refined emanation as Minerva.  It is important to know which is the dominant force when dealing with any Pluto aspects, but no where is it more apparent than when perceiving Pluto / Venus contacts.  This is the person who could (rarely) be the saint who understands that we can love something without grasping at it (love without attachment is a beautiful thing!  Watch videos of great Tibetan lamas like Garchen Rinpoche if you want an example of this).  We can give love even to those people who spurn and reject it.  We can rest in equanimity and practice kindness toward all we come in contact with – not judging anyone.  But who am I kidding?  That kind of saint is very difficult to find.  Rather, Pluto can indicate that this individual is lustful, possessive and/or jealous.  Pluto and Venus is where some people tie power with sex.  And what is the best way to do this?  By connecting money and sex – have you ever seen the older wealthy oligarch who has a trophy wife at least 30 – 40 years younger than he is?  It happens.

I would personally recommend that one adopts an authentic spiritual practice though where we can start to get an understanding of our inner machinations.  Then, over time (in my experience, nothing comes lightning-quick), we can start to dispel inner delusions and mis-understandings and build in more loving-kindness and appropriate compassion.  But it must start with the self.  If we find ourselves grasping and clinging to someone or something, there is the obvious possibility that Pluto and Venus are working together (maybe manifesting an early, unmet childhood need) in a challenging manner.

Pluto and Mars: Here again we have a meeting of two of the power-hungry planets.  But as we all know, Mars rarely ever wins out in his hunt for power and hegemony.  Why?  Because he seeks to forcefully get people to do his will.  And this requires a lot of time and energy and supervision.  This is why Venus and Neptune are the innately powerful energies in the world – they are humble, understanding, generous, graceful and compassionate.  Be like water my friends (Bruce Lee), be like water.

When Pluto and Mars get together, we must be very careful and very wise about how we handle this powerful combination.  There will most likely be a LOT of energy expressed.  This is the person who is naturally gifted in athletics or as a soldier.  They are very hard workers and they can have great physical endurance.  There will be a strong discontent with the status quo – so again, are we looking at a Kali-like destroyer (lower manifestation), or are we looking at a reformer and passionate, non-violent activist working with Minerva’s guidance?  Most often you will wonder about this native’s forceful ways and powerful animistic energies – this person generally does not enjoy being told “No.”  Mars’ impulsiveness might occasionally emerge and there could be emotional storms, irrational displays of anger and irritability.  At its best however, this is the person who is striving every day, every week to know themselves better – whether through depth psychology, a ton of reading and introspection, working with a spiritual teacher or through process-oriented bodywork.  This would be the person who has come a LONG way in transforming their inner desires and passions.

I am going to pause here as this post is getting quite long!  Thank you for reading and let me know if you have any questions.

a wish

I just received a powerful bodywork treatment.  It involved group work, which amplifies the intensity.  We attuned with the person whose turn it was, excellent information was discovered.

The essence of my session is that May all sentient beings’ confusion dawn as wisdom clarity.  Just that.  🙂 I don’t have much time and I want to let this much settle before saying more.

Thanks for reading.

in case you were wondering where my blog posting went…

I have had my head in the books as it were.  I am studying Anatomy and Physiology in order to get into (and do well in) nursing school.  So wow!  When people say that it is a heavy science course, good grief!  They are not kidding.  I already had a bit of a science background – having taken a couple of neuroscience courses at UVa plus my limited knowledge of A & P through studying Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation.  But those modalities barely brush the surface when it comes to learning all the processes and the tiny little details involved with the spinal cord for instance!  Oh my goodness.

from A & P lab
from A & P lab

photo 2 photo 3

So I have to study 1 to 2 hours per day minimum to do well on the multitude of tests (8 for the semester in both class and lab).  It is basically like I am in two full classes.  For now, whatever I am doing is working considering I have a high “A” in the class.  But tomorrow’s test is the hardest of the semester, so I still have much to prep!

Wish me luck!

Spiritual Processing, Craniosacral Therapy class, cutting cords with love

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore.  Reproduction without permission is prohibited.  Thank you for visiting!  If you want to support my blogging efforts you can click on the ads below or you can visit http://www.mkirbymoore.com to purchase Astrology Interpretations and see what else I offer.

For anyone new to my blog, in addition to writing about Buddhism (Dharma) and Spiritual Astrology, I also write about Healing Facilitation work as I have a private practice offering Process-Oriented Bodywork, Reiki, Craniosacral Therapy and trauma resolution.  This post is about the latter modalities.

I just participated in a class today where I was the teaching assistant.  I have taken hundreds of hours of Craniosacral classes, dozens more of other bodywork courses, so the teacher allow me to sit in her class and hold space for the students.  I occasionally coach them if they need it, but not so much today.

The class was Craniosacral level III – so all the participants are fairly advanced in their practice.  One or two of the students already have practices where they offer massage and / or craniosacral work.  Considering I am coming to this class from a very busy life – doing school (prepping for nursing school), working full time and trying to be present for a romantic relationship when I am able…  I needed to hit the brakes quick and this class provided just what I needed for that.

Due to this being a more advanced class, the teacher dove right in and started with some deeper topics.  Today the topics were two-fold: cords and the correlation of the physical vectors of the body, the energetic chakras of the energy system and the Hara or Dan Tien (of the deeper subtle body) – these three correlate to the three tides of Craniosacral therapy.  I could and probably should write an entire post about the tides, but suffice it to say that there are varying rhythms of the body’s energy – sometimes it is more relaxed and this might be a mid-tide (chakra correlation), or we might be in a go-go-go mode and this would be the short time, a.k.a. the Cranial rhythm (vector correlation).  And then if we are lucky enough to experience a deeper state of relaxation than most people are able to attain on their own (serious meditators can get here, or people who receive a lot of bodywork would also be able to drop down into deeper relaxation) which is known as the long tide, then this correlates with the Hara.

I realize I should probably unpack a lot of those words from that paragraph.  If you don’t follow, don’t worry, you will probably catch more in this next section.

The most poignant topic for me was about cords.  An energetic cord is a connection we have with someone but it is most often not a positive connection.  For instance, if our mothers used guilt trips on us as kids in order to get us to behave, there is a chance there is a cord lingering from that relationship.  Or if we felt the need to humor our fathers as children because we wanted to try to make him happier, we might easily be corded to him.  Here is the thing though – if there is an energetic cord to someone from when we are young, then even if that person leaves our life, that cord sticks around until we purposely heal it and release that energy (often less-than-ideal energy).  So if we have a mother who constantly energetically merges with other people (psychological merging is when, for instance, she can’t stand on her own – she is too flexible and is easily swayed because she “becomes” the people around her – and men can easily learn the less-than-ideal habit of merging as well) and she merges with us as children.  Guess what?  We will probably be merging types ourselves, no matter what our gender.

So what does this have to do with me you might ask?  To share a bit about myself, I am / was a merging type.  My astrology chart reveals this.  One of my parent’s is a merging type.  I learned it easily from them, not knowing any better.  I can easily charm people because I can feel what they are thinking, what they are needing – because their needs become my own.  How bad does this sound?  Well you are correct if you though that.  It sucks.  Period.  And I have spent years working to strengthen my psychological boundaries.

And I still have much work to do.  What I did not mention above is that if we have the pattern (the cord) ingrained in us as youngsters, then we will continue to do it as adults until we fully and completely heal it. And this can easily take years.  It depends on how deeply ingrained it is and how old we were when we learned it.

Also what I did not mention is that we will continue to attract that type of cord-like person into our lives until we heal it.  Say my father was a merging type.  Well he has not been in my life much in the past 18 years.  But someone will definitely come along to replace him until I lovingly cut, release and heal that cord.

You might ask what replaces a cord if we cut it – positive resources replace it.  If we do enough personal growth work on ourselves and on our developmental patterns, we are definitely working through some cord material – whether we say the word “cord” or not.  We are building in positive beliefs about ourselves, we are confronting uncomfortable emotions around that situation (if we have a hidden, deep reservoir of resentment toward our parents for smoking when we were tiny babies, then trust me, this is not comfortable to work through – but it is definitely worth working through it!!!).

It is also interesting to look at ways in which we react to different types of people.  When someone is angry, what is my first response?  Do I pick up their anger with ease?  Can I stay centered?  What is someone is down, sad or depressed?  Do I feel a strong yearning to pick them up – whether they ask for help or not?  This might be a cord from the past.  What is someone seems like a strong authority figure?  How do I react around them?  Can I hold my own energetically?  Can I stay confident and in alignment?

These were all questions I found myself asking in this class today.  What do I need to stay present, in my belly, in my Hara, in my chakras, in my heart and in my head in any situation?  What would happen if I said less and took more time to notice my inner process – even in novel situations?  How does it feel hold a higher (more empowered) frequency?

These questions are able to be answered through some spiritual paths.  And they are definitely able to be answered if someone chooses to do Process-oriented bodywork, or Spiritual Processing, or Somatic Experiencing, or Craniosacral Therapy.  I hope you get the chance to dip your toes into this subtle world one day.  🙂

Thank you for reading!

slowly discovering my purpose on this planet

I am a 36 year old caucasian college-educated male from a middle class family.  And I am so much more than this.  It took me at least 27 years to see and then another three years to realize that I am a spiritual being having a human experience.  And I am still unpacking what exactly that means.

In this post, I am intending to stay focused on my “profession.”  I have that in quotes because I do many things.  So I am slowly discovering what I am meant to give back to humanity, in the form of what I do for the energy known as money, a.k.a. my profession.

I have explored many complimentary medicine-type avenues – I have certificates in training in several modalities – Reiki, Biodynamic Cranio Sacral therapy, BodyTalk, trauma resolution, visceral manipulation and more.  I have studied Spiritual Astrology since 2003 (Western Astrology through a karmic lens), so that informs what I do.  Most of these modalities come easy to me – I’m not trying to brag, but rather, I want to explain that I’m not sure if I have found “the one” modality which ties many of my interests together AND challenges me enough to enjoy it and to continue growing in its knowledge.

Having laid the foundation of my complimentary (read alternative) therapeutic background, enter my three years spent at the University of Virginia acquiring my bachelor’s degree in Psychology.  This is a very conservative and traditional college, very research oriented and empirically driven.  So it goes without saying that I had to keep most of my interests to myself as I went through classes.  One might guess that I would not enjoy my time at UVa, but you would be wrong   🙂    Because I felt it was a form of mind training to be there.  For my intuitive, I-love-what-comes-easy-to-me mind, stepping outside my comfort zone was just what I needed.

I gained one of the most important tools a functional human being can have in their repertoire – a critical, analyzing, empirically-based mindset.  I learned what is true science and what is opinion.  I learned that occasionally our intuition is not accurate – but rather it is fear or an imagination gone wild.  Therefore when you say that a study proves something, and it is peer reviewed and it is replicable, then you might be onto something.  The best part is that I got to blend my already blessed intuitive and emotionally-aware mind with a critical understanding.  It might sound strange that it took three years to learn (or unlearn poor habits), but maybe that is typical.

And now I don’t exactly know what is next.  I stand on my next precipice.  Perhaps my next step will be a short step downhill toward an easier destination or maybe I will be challenged nicely and head upwards.  I have applied to nursing school.  And I am already loving the classes I have had to take – Microbiology and Anatomy and Physiology.  The more I learn about the human body, the more I am reminded of a metaphor.

As an astrologer, I sit on the sidelines and spout wise sounding advice.  And if I have experience in the particular area someone is asking about, then it is actual wisdom.  Sometimes I might channel a bit of wisdom from another source.  But nonetheless, I am (or was) on the sidelines.

Now as a potential health care practitioner, I will be licensed with a specific scope of practice, with serious responsibilities and duties (and inherent consequences).  As opposed to sitting near a lake and describing it for someone, without ever having swam in it, now I am dipping in my feet and I am about to take the plunge.  And it is awesome (and of course not knowing exactly where I am heading or how I will blend complimentary modalities into what I will do is a bit disconcerting, but it is apart of the unfolding mystery of life).

As I know more, I will keep you post.  Thanks for visiting!

Time for a spring cleanse?

I have been researching the best time to do a spring cleanse and of course I personally prefer using a method of cleansing that is relatively gentle.  If a cleanse program suggests inducing vomitting (even if just once), I avoid it.  If a program recommends a lot of colonics (enemas), I would most likely avoid it.  One or two colonics a year is healthy in my opinion (I do not receive this many), but going beyond that may start to impair your body’s natural elimination processes.

Some cleanse regimens recommend going completely off of meat and oils for a week or more, and I’m not sure if this is necessary either.  Remember – first and foremost – we are all unique individuals with unique situations.  If you work a physically demanding job that requires for you to take in many complex proteins and high amounts of calories, then maybe you should simply consider drinking some organic lemon juice in warm water in the morning and/or before bed.  But otherwise you should obviously keep up your protein and carbohydrate levels.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to take a week off of work (maybe you work from home or you are self employed), then you might consider taking more intense actions for cleansing – like going strictly vegetarian for a week or cutting out gluten completely during that time, etc.  So, most importantly, figure out what you can handle and what will be gentle for you.  If you eat meat everyday, and you suddenly go for a whole week without it, you might experience a cascade of symptoms and this would not be gentle.

One article (and practitioner who I trust) is Dr. Isaac Eliaz, a medical acupuncturist.  He has a nice article on spring cleansing here: http://www.faim.org/guestwriters/seasonal-spring-cleanse-protocol.html

Good luck and try to be kind to yourself!

Thanks for visiting.

 

Take care with what you put in your mind stream

I just got out of the movie, the Kingsmen, not too long ago.  It was a corny, fun, fast-paced spy movie with lots of gratuitous violence.  And I mean LOTS.

I knew what I was getting myself into with the movie, but what really got me were the previews.  I did not expect a horror flick to preview for that kind of movie.  Yikes!  I had to look away and I chose to chant mantras in an attempt to distract from the sinister pictures and ideas.  Whoa!  Can’t they warn us or something?  Do not go in if you wish to abstain from the horror footage.

I am wondering if this movie is the last of this type that I watch.  I use the website rottentomatoes.com to judge a movie’s value.  If they give it more than an 80, I typically will consider it.  But I’m tired of spending big bucks for a roller coaster ride for my autonomic nervous system – sometimes the “fight-or-flight” kicks in around the violence and then the “rest-and-digest” parasympathetic kicks in for the cute dogs or precious baby scenes.

I think it is worth considering.  Spending time, money and driving resources to go to something which might leave my brain stem in a knot.  Hmmmm…  What do you think?

I always welcome comments here.

Thank you for visiting!

Spiritual Astrology & the Astrological Sun: the spark and a catalyst

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore.  Reproduction without permission is prohibited.  Thank you for visiting!

This post contains info which assumes the reader has a basic knowledge of astrology.  If not, then keep reading and you will probably get something out of it!

One piece of Spiritual Astrology which should be kept in mind when reading this post is something called “Frequency Based” Astrology.  This takes into account that we are all at different points in our spiritual, emotional, psychological, financial and health-oriented paths (etc).  So you must assess where you stand on any given spectrum.  For instance, if I am the type of person whose major goal is to buy that Beamer and I wonder why I can’t keep a steady relationship going…  well let’s just say that person is at a completely different place than the person who is content with less, who works a satisfying job and who slowly and steadily saves money for practical goals and who might have a rewarding yoga practice.  These two individuals could have very similar astrology charts (horoscopes) and yet the way in which their planets interact and reflect their inners lives would be vastly different.

Likewise, when reading this post, when I mention the words “heavy” or “challenging” or “difficult” in referring to aspects.  I am not saying anything definitively – rather, for people who have a lot of work to do on themselves, they might experience certain transits as heavy or burdensome.  While those of us who have done our personal growth work and who have awareness and maybe even a spiritual practice, we might just experience these “challenging” aspects as learning opportunities (or a stubbed toe).

We all have different karma, and we can gage from our previous history where we are on any given karmic continuum.  And now I hope you enjoy this piece:

I am writing this post because I am reminded again and again how a particularly “heavy” transit, like Pluto square the Sun or Saturn square Jupiter with a challenging Mars Progression, does not feel heavy or challenging all the time.  Even a faster moving Uranus (transits a planet for a total of 9 – 18 months with a 3 degree orb) does not reveal surprises or upheavals for the entire time it is on that planet.  Can you imagine a new surprise or upheaval or accident every week for a year?  No – that would be too much to bear.  So then why does that Uranus / Moon hard aspect only come out during a certain week or month?

It is because of certain catalysts in the astrology chart – planets like a Transiting Sun, Transiting Mars and Full / New Moons and Eclipses.  Tracking these events and these planets through someone’s chart will reveal when a heavier (and longer enduring) aspect might “manifest.”  I say “manifest” because it is not the planets “doing” anything but rather the astrology chart is simply a blueprint of our karma – all the gross and some of the subtle karmas, including positive karma and negative karma.  If we have a lot of negative karma to clear, and the conditions are in place to do it, then during a “heavy” transit or progression, we might have a rough stretch.

Here is a for-instance: say I had Pluto crossing the Square point to my Lunar Nodes, plus my Progressed Moon was coming to make a conjunction with my Natal Neptune (not necessarily a tough aspect in and of itself), along with Saturn making a conjunction with my Natal Mars…  you can see where this is going.  This might be a rough month or two for me – but which month will it happen in?  Look at the Transiting Sun or the Transiting Mars, these planets, along with the Progressed Moon will tell you a lot about when something might manifest.

Say I had those challenging aspects going on above, and then, that same month, my transiting Sun also crossed (conjunct) my Natal Mars.  Then boom – suddenly I might experience bad abdominal pains and a few days later have my appendix removed.  I’m not saying this has to happen, and I am not even saying this is likely!  But it is one possible way to purify some negative karma.

Then, if Saturn is still hanging around my Natal Mars, then there might be a slight complication and I have to go back because I have an abscess (Saturn and Mars can indicate infection), and due to the Progressed Moon’s influence with Neptune, I might have even had some response or possible reaction to the anesthesia.  Who knows, there may have been an out of body experience.

And all this may not have occurred if the transiting Sun had been clear of tough aspects for a couple weeks.    But something may have been more challenging if not as rough as I describe it above.

Go back and if you have not already read it, read my post about Bodhisattva Astrology as a way to counter the fatalistic trends in this post.  Remember, our awareness and our spiritual practice determine how negative karma manifests.

For someone who is fortunate enough to practice an authentic spiritual path (maybe like Buddhism), if they are sitting on a meditation cushion for a 3-month retreat, then maybe they don’t have the same manifestation as I mention above.  Instead of requiring surgery, maybe they experience a couple days of headaches and then they continue with their practice and they don’t even have to interrupt their retreat.

That is the beauty of life (and of astrology).  We don’t know exactly what is going to happen.  We can’t say exactly how negative karma might manifest.  But we can control the conditions and possibly the causes for karma to manifest – for instance, if we are doing an arduous yet relatively safe hike on the Appalachian Trail for a full summer, then we will probably miss any negative karma that would have manifested in a busy, chaotic work environment.  I’m not saying that you should go sit on a meditation cushion for a few months or that you should go take a hike.

Rather, take it one step at a time.  If you have the time and resources, maybe explore taking a yoga class.  Or explore a meditation group.  Or join a group of outdoors enthusiasts.  Set realistic goals and try to keep them but don’t be too hard on yourself either.  You might reward yourself for reaching certain milestones.

Thank you for reading!

His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon, giving Kalachakra in Florida

August 1st and 2nd, H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche, one of the two Drikung Kyabgons, is bestowing this rare empowerment at the Drong Ngur Jangchubling center near Tampa, Florida.

Here is their website: www.dnjus.org

I am confident this will draw many people.  It is on their event calendar.  It should be an extremely auspicious and inspiring few days.  If my class schedule permits it, I am planning to go!

Don (obstacle) season, 10 days

I have written about this topic in the past.  I definitely experience this time of year (a time before the Tibetan new year – Losar – where things need to be reconsidered at best, and I often have to slow down to get through it with a modicum of ease).  Not everyone is going to feel it though, and perhaps, depending on other astrological factors, some years will be more intense than others.  So take this with a grain of salt if you like.

From February 8th until the 17th, we might encounter extra obstacles to spiritual practice, obstacles to mindfulness, or possibly even physical obstacles.  It is recommended that during these ten days, we should do Vajrasattva mantras (purification), or Protector practices (Achi Chokyi Drolma or Mahakala, etc) and this is often the time of the year where Tibetans literally clean their houses.  I think it is viewed as a time to move stagnant energy out.  On Feb. 18th, it is a new cycle, a fresh start.  So get ready ahead of time!

I would recommend this article on the topic as well: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/02/don-season-how-to-survive-the-next-10-days-of-chaos/

Thanks for visiting!