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Posts Tagged ‘Leo’

Fire In The Belly: Original Painting by Jan Henderson http://www.janhendersonart.com

Originally published October 14, 2008

September 5, 2007. I am sitting with my partner of two years in our couple’s therapy session. I have been struggling with ending this relationship for months now. I do not feel I have the strength I need to walk away, without the support of our therapist. I need a witness. I need the safety and the container of this sacred space. I need her help.

I tell my partner that I have been trying to gain a stronger sense of my own power, within our relationship. Nonetheless, I keep hitting that proverbial wall. I have been swimming upstream for way too long and I am tired. I have no energy left. My batteries are drained. I know no other way to get back my power, unless I leave. I want to end the struggle. I want to let go, and flow…the waters of life want to carry me in their most natural way…downstream, and I want to go with them. I have to surrender.

On that day, I had forgotten I was eleven days into my sixth Venus Return Cycle. I was aware that I had been in an eleven month Uranus initiation to my natal Moon, and knew that if I tried to hold on, it would get harder. Uranus to my Moon. Time to change. Whatever I had been holding onto in a fixed place inside of me, in my mental construct of “reality,” Uranus was instructing me it was time to let go, surrender and trust. Trust I was being taken where I needed to go. No holding on…to anything, is what it felt like. Freedom from my past habits, patterns, addictions (Moon). Liberation from the prisons of my mind. Time to loosen the attachments and re-wire. Whatever part of me was still in shackles, I needed to unchain myself. I needed to steal some new fire. I needed to awaken…to a new me.

On August, 25, 2007, Venus made her new statement of intent to take me and the world stage, into an intimate look at the goddess as she shows herself in Leo. Radical self-love is her loudest message to me as she expresses herself through that archetype. Radiant light and power. The energy of the Sun itself. No shame about shining. Unabashed brilliance and expression. The fiery flame of creativity. She shines like this, giving me her energy. I cannot live on this earth without her. I need her light to sustain me. I put her on my altar, bow and pray to her, expressing my gratitude. I know I will have 584 days to deepen my relationship with her. To glean her medicine. I will have to let her die first, in the old form of our relationship. She will take me through a descent, to the underworld, and then back out again. I will rise with a new understanding, another level of integration. The journey will be perilous, but it is one I must take.

On a more personal level, the initiation is about my own Venus in Libra, the goddess as she expresses herself in partnership. The current mystery school Libra is exploring is one of conscious, equal partnership. The old days of hierarchy and relationships ruled by class, social and political structures, are attempting to break down. Relationships born out of an authoritative and power rank, wanting to dissolve. Libra is investigating co-creation at its best. The high ideals around equality in relationship.

I want this. I cannot keep giving away my authority, my power, in relationships. I want shared power. As first time Libra, there are minefields. I will often give up parts of myself, my own truth, because I know I have to learn to consider someone else. Where the give and take occurs, where the balance and harmony of the two create a conscious union, I am being given another opportunity to evaluate. The masculine and feminine parts of me, want to integrate on a deeper level. A new experience of wholeness. I am after the Sacred Marriage. I know it must first take place within me. My Beloved is mine and I am His. The physical form of that sacred union surely must follow. I am committed to finding me and finding him.

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For further reading and investigation into the current Venus in Leo cycle, check out these excellent articles written by Shamanic Astrologers Cayelin K. Castell, Carol Ann Ciocco and Kathryn Morgan. Shamanic Astrology Related Articles

© Holly Alexander at http://www.yourdivineblueprint, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Holly Alexander and http://www.yourdivineblueprint.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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India Arie: Photo by Holly Alexander

Originally published on July 24, 2009

“Without self-love a man can do nothing. There are two qualities of self-love. One is a dirty thing. The other, an impulse, love of the real “I.”  Without this, it is impossible to move. An ancient Hindu saying—‘Happy is he who loves himself, for he can love me.’” —Gurdjieff

The transiting Sun in Leo’s got me thinking about LOVE. Thoughts take me back to my experience of India Arie at the recent Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, and the pure pleasure I felt from her energy.  As she expressed herself joyfully across the stage that night, I saw this beautiful star as a Shining One, her essence a bright light, inviting us to claim ours.  With Venus in Leo at 29 degrees, Arie’s expression of the feminine principle is in the degree Shamanic Astrology calls “the most comprehensive expression of the Leo archetype.”

In the Shamanic Astrology paradigm, the archetype of Leo is connected with radiant, radical, self-love, the kind of deep love that comes from a place of realizing who we are and our connection with Source. The light of us. The sheer brilliant, powerful, shining energy of us as Creator. The inherent value of each one of us, simply because we exist as this Source, this beingness.

The king/queen-ship and royalty connected with this sign, contains within its essence a message of our Divine birthright. Knowing we are this magnificent power, unique in our individual expressions of pure creation, we honor ourselves AS WE ARE. The more deeply we love ourselves at this level it naturally follows, the more deeply we can love others as well.

The shadow or imbalanced side of Leo says, “I am God/dess and you’re not.” Balanced, enlightened Leo says, “I am God/dess and so are you.” Leo gives to others by first giving to themselves, embodying their radiant Source essence. Strongly individuated, Leo empowers others by giving them permission to realize and express their own beauty and light. This kind of love is not earned by living up to some type of standard. It simply IS and feels unabashed joy for the pure expression of it.

The Queen, The King, The Leading Man or Woman with Spontaneous Will, The Star of the Show. Like the Sun, enlightened Leo gives each of us permission to re-member and re-claim our inheritance as Divine beings, and the confidence to be a leading player on the stage of life.

For a snapshot of Leo, check out these lyrics:

Video by India Arie

Sometimes I shave my legs and sometimes I don’t
Sometimes I comb my hair and sometimes I won’t
Depend on how the wind blows I might even paint my toes
It really just depends on whatever feels good in my soul

I’m not the average girl from your video
and I ain’t built like a supermodel
But, I learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen

I’m not the average girl from your video
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I’m wearing I will always be
India Arie

When I look in the mirror and the only one there is me
Every freckle on my face is where it’s supposed to be
And I know our creator didn’t make no mistakes on me
My feet, my thighs, my lips, my eyes; I’m lovin’ what I see

Am I less of a lady if I don’t wear pantyhose?
My mama said a lady ain’t what she wears but, what she knows
But I’ve drawn a conclusion, it’s all an illusion,
confusion’s the name of the game

A misconception, a vast deception
Something’s gotta change
but don’t be offended this is all my opinion
ain’t nothing that I’m sayin’ law

This is a true confession of a life learned lesson
I was sent here to share with y’all
So get in where you fit in go on and shine
Clear your mind, now’s the time

Put your salt on the shelf
Go on and love yourself
‘Cuz everything’s gonna be all right

Keep your fancy drinks and your expensive minks
I don’t need that to have a good time
Keep your expensive car and your caviar
All I need is my guitar

Keep your Kristal and your pistol
I’d rather have a pretty piece of crystal
Don’t need your silicone I prefer my own
What God gave me is just fine

© Holly Alexander at http://www.yourdivineblueprint, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Holly Alexander and http://www.yourdivineblueprint.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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