Message for June 2016

We live our lives wearing a succession of masks. Sometimes we intentionally wear a mask to hide away from life or to distance ourselves from pain. Sometimes we put on a mask to avoid taking an honest look in the mirror of our souls. And sometimes we don a mask without even realising it as we join the flock to ‘fit in’ or belong. We can spend our whole lives wearing mask over mask over mask and then spend just as long, if not longer, unpeeling the masks in a quest to get to the true essence of what lies beneath. When we peel off one mask we may feel as though we have reached the core of our essence but how do we know if we’ve reached the truth or just another mask? If we continue to dig, question and explore, we may wonder if there is such a thing as truth or if we actually exist in the form we believe ourselves to be in. How can we tell? How do we know?

Well, it’s unlikely that we can know, after all, life is a series of lessons and even though we may feel we have peeled back all the masks, we reach another pivotal stage in our evolution to find another mask to be peeled back. It therefore feels more than a continual cycle rather than a finite task. Instead of digging and peeling until we reach ‘truth’, we spend our lives wholeheartedly seeking truth and expecting every new layer to be peeled back to reveal even more. Such a process can be hard to accept, after all, we strive to reach a point of equilibrium where we are content, happy and joyful, having eradicated the pain, trauma and challenges from our lives, yet it’s only when we accept that this simply isn’t possible that our perspectives shift and we accept the gift of the present moment.

This isn’t to say we should expect pain and challenge, nor is it to say that we should stop the process of healing and releasing the masks, but it seems important to stop waiting for this process to end before we begin to wholeheartedly live once again. So many of us sit on the periphery waiting for the ‘right moment’: once we’ve met Mr/Mrs Right, once we’ve got the perfect job, the ideal house, lost weight, once… The cycle can go on perpetually as there will always be a reason ‘not to’ if we want there to be. Of course, this isn’t particularly a conscious choice, after all, most of us are just trying to do the best we can in any given moment, but we seem ready now to step behind this into a more awakened and balanced space.

This is a time to set ourselves free from the layers of pain and grief, and the detritus we’ve collected throughout our lives, not by eradicating it, but by beginning to love it. This isn’t the same as loving its presence in our lives, it’s more a willingness to accept both sides of the human penny and to know that we can’t have one without the other, just like day follows night. However, it’s the in-between moments where we stand in-betwixt the two that matter most as these are the times when we can fully appreciate the value of the whole spectrum of experience in life.

If we see the pain and the darkness as a place we fear to tread, through a fear of collapse or implosion, we start to close doors to the soul that have the potential to bring us so much enrichment and joy. I for one, have felt close to shattering again recently but it’s the darker moments that have given me hope as they have reminded me that another mask is falling away.

June looks set to be month to turn to face the many different facets of our beings with compassion and love. None of us are perfect but this is what makes life so rich and vibrant as it’s the imperfections that have the potential to bring us opportunities for enrichment and growth. We may still be toying with the questions asked in May: What do we truly want? What makes our hearts sing? And the more willing we are to accept the present moment, to stop waiting for the ‘perfect time’ or to deny the existence of our masks, the more likely we are to finally find the answers we’ve been searching for…

With love,

Sarah-Jane

Aries

♈

‘It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me…and I’m feeling good’. These Nina Simone lyrics look set to perfectly sum up your month ahead as there’s a powerful sense of new beginnings and change both around, and within, you. It may take a little while for you to grab hold of the energy of the ‘feeling good’ part though as there is an air of caution around you whispering in your ear that you shouldn’t take anything for granted. You seem torn between wanting to reach up your hands to the sky and say ‘hello world!’ or feeling that you should watch, wait and see what happens. It’s unlike you to feel so cautious but your fingers have been burned many times before and you just want to ‘be sure’ before you grab hold of your new life and begin to truly feel good.

In many ways this is wise, but it’s also important not to try to hedge your bets as the new dawn is coming in its own time and in its own way; you cannot hold back the tide nor can you set the agenda. It therefore seems prudent to at least begin to adjust to the changing tides as they are shifting whether you want them to or not. Of course, on most levels, you do want them to change, but maybe this isn’t quite the perfect moment. Well, does the ‘perfect moment’ exist? Is there really an ideal point in time that would be better than any other point? Are you really waiting for the best moment or do you have a niggle of self-doubt that embracing your new dawn, new day and new life is perhaps slightly more daunting than you expected? Well, take a breath and feel that good feeling rising up within you as that will lead the way…

Taurus

♉

June looks set to be a month of continued wriggle and wiggle room as you begin to establish a more robust sense of purpose in life. It’s almost as though you have, until recently, been tightly wrapped up, having squeezed your unique-shaped self into a different sized hole in order to get on with the business of life but you have broken the mould and begun to expand your body, mind and soul into a much bigger, freer space. Although in many ways this new space feels quite alien and unfamiliar to you, you cannot help but feel the tingling of excitement deep within your soul as you can sense wave upon wave of optimism and hope rippling into all areas of your life. There is a sense that you may struggle with this expansiveness as it feels somehow counter-intuitive to your usual over-giving nature, but you are beginning to see that having too many things to do, people to see and places to go really isn’t as important as you once thought it was.

Perhaps your biggest ‘battle’ here is actually the one going on within as you wrestle with the idea that you are somehow letting others down by allowing your own essence to rise up and expand; you are very good at reading people, but you are also very good at self-sacrificing, and this seems to be skewing your perspective at the moment as, although the idea of boldly exploring new terrain in life excites and empowers you, it’s negated by thoughts of how you can’t wholeheartedly embrace it because of how it may affect others. However, it’s important to realise that breaking the mould is a part of your own evolution and it’s happening whether you think it should or not, so let yourself breathe and expand into the new dimensions of your soul and trust yourself to seize this opportunity to live the life you were born to live…

Gemini

♊

As you continue to shape and redefine your ‘role’ in life, there is a sense that you are beginning to realise that the you you’ve always thought yourself to be is perhaps not the same you as the one you truly are. This may sound strange, after all, how can you be anyone other than you? Well, when you spend as much time as you do contemplating the meaning of life and seeking out answers to some profound and lofty questions, it’s easy to see how you could get lost in an existential meandering that takes you away from the here and now, and into the ‘over-there and maybe’ section of the great big library of life. It’s not that over-thinking is a bad thing as it brings your life meaning and depth, but it can take you away from the present moment as you find yourself focusing on how life could/should be, who you could/should be or what you could/should be doing rather than simply showing up, being present and fully engaging. Of course! You sigh, if only you’d realised that years ago. Okay, no need for sarcasm!

You may well know that life is about being fully present and you may well appreciate the need to stop intensely questioning at the expense of living, but knowing and doing are two very different things! Sarcasm works both ways. Instead of finding reasons to justify why you ‘can’t’, let go of the reasons ‘not to’ and start focusing on reasons to live wholeheartedly and to engage more consciously with life. Stop trying to be the person you feel you need to be and realise that the person you are now is whom you truly are; let go of the need to reach a plateau of understanding before you become whole and know you are whole, complete and perfectly imperfect exactly as you are…

Cancer

♋

June looks set to be a month for shimmying and toe-tapping on the dancefloor of life as you begin to feel a new wind gathering momentum in the billowing sails of the ship of your soul. Although it may initially feel a little drafty with a seemingly vigorous breeze whipping up a frenzy from deep within, there is a sense that it also feels rather liberating as you are beginning to gain a stronger sense of freedom from the pedestrian-ness of your life. This isn’t to say that your life has become unfulfilling or boring, it’s more a sense that its carved itself into a familiar routine. In itself, this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that it hasn’t left you with much breathing space to explore new terrain or to allow your dreams to build, blossom and thrive. As a result, the winds of change are inspiring you to explore the bigger picture as you see beyond the pedestrian, everyday routine, into a more expansive and exciting world of possibilities and potential.

The challenge for you now comes as you need to decide whether to stick with the same, familiar pedestrian routine, or to let the winds of change carry you forth into unchartered terrain. Of course, the unknown isn’t an easy option as, by its very nature, it’s unknowable. However, you are also wise enough to know that even sticking with the familiar is not a rock solid option as change has a habit of happening on a continual basis so even the pedestrian routine can be upended or shifted in the blink of an eye. Of course, this isn’t to say that the apple cart is about to be upset, it’s just an acknowledgement that the unfamiliar and unknown is everywhere in life, even in the familiar corners. It seems time now for you to enjoy this new momentum and to toe-tap and shimmy your way forwards…

Leo

♌

June looks set to be a month of consolidation and connection as you feel a surge of creative and innovative energy rising up from within. There is a sense that you have reached a crossroads in your life and it feels both exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. It can be hard to think clearly when your stomach is tied up in knots and butterflies are flying rampant in your solar plexus but try not to let this stop you from at least exploring this new creative wave in your life. At the same time, perhaps thinking this through is not the best strategy, after all, you are a pioneer of spiritual, energetic and emotional exploration and adventure, so maybe this is a time to feel your way forward? With all of this expansive energy rising up within, it may be hard to see why it would be a month of consolidation or connection but both are important as consolidation allows you to channel your formidable energy in more coherent ways and the connection (or maybe re-connection is more of an apt description) inspires you to see just how your vibrant, sparkling essence twinkles and glows in the vast universal panorama of life.

In other words, it’s important to feel just how inter-connected and entwined you are in the big scheme of things. Although you have never considered yourself to be an island, life has been tough for you lately so you have pulled up that drawbridge of yours a little to preserve and protect your well-being. Of course, this is understandable but it feels strange to an open, integrated free spirit like you as your drawbridge is usually so open, it’s easy to forget it even exists. It therefore seems time for you to let those internal butterflies burst into life in order to inspire you to let your inner light shine brightly once again as you feel your creative spark rising to lead the way…

Virgo

♍

The concept of being you continues to play a central role in your life throughout June as you reach a threshold of inner understanding when it comes to knowing what the ‘concept of being you’ actually means. As a multi-dimensional thinker, it’s easy to become tied up in knots when it comes to making sense of yourself and your life as there’s a tendency to want to dig deep and seek answers to the many unanswered questions in your life. As a result, it can be hard to see the bigger picture as you focus more and more intently on the finer details so you end up not only not seeing the wood for the trees, but not seeing the trees for the bark or even the bark for the atoms. Although being a details person is a part of your make-up, there are times when too much detail can tangle you up in knots as you seek an answer to a seemingly complex question. However, when you step back, you realise the question is not complex, it’s just the way you’ve been looking at it.

It seems time to stop digging quite so hard when it comes to the ‘concept of being you’ as you’re ready now to see the answer which has been with you the whole time. There is no ‘do’ in being you, but there is a need to ‘be’! It’s time to appreciate that you already have everything you need to be you. Happiness and fulfilment are not things to get or do, they are a state of being that comes from a willingness to be fully present in the moment and a wholehearted desire to live the life you were born to live. Intuitively you know what makes your heart sing and this is the true litmus test that will tell you if you have mastered the concept of being you…

Libra

♎

As you continue to establish a truce between your philosophising head and your adventurous, creative heart, it seems that your soul is set to join the negotiations in June as you reach a point of breakthrough when it comes to living a more coherent and integrated life. Your head and your heart may frequently be at loggerheads when it comes to making decisions and moving your life forwards, but together they are a formidable force that can help you to get from where you are to where you want to be. The challenge for you comes in knowing where you truly want to be. Whilst you are full of whimsical ideas and dreams, when it boils down to the nitty-gritty of what you truly want in life, you are less certain as you have rarely really contemplated what you truly want.

The reasons for this are multi-faceted and complicated as you are a complex individual but it seems you spend a great deal of time thinking about where you want to be and what you want but considerably less time connected to your feelings about this. As a result, you can feel a little disjointed and disconnected from your true essence as you lose touch with your sense of self. And, at the same time, your head begins to over-think the concept as you weigh up the myriad of different possible outcomes and options, freezing you in a kind of temporary paralysis leaving you unable to see beyond the mind trap you’ve created for yourself. You then remain stuck, trying to think your way free with your heart feeling increasingly distant and disconnected. So, your soul joining the party is great news as it means you are reaching a crescendo of realisation that all of the different facets of your being matter. You may be a thinker, but you are a feeler too! Re-unite your mind, body and soul, feel your essence unify and set yourself free…

Scorpio

♏

June looks set to be a month of review as you finally sit down with your ‘to do’ list of life in order to think about your true priorities. Your ‘to do’ list is unquestionably long as you have so much you still want to do, achieve and become. As a result, many long-held dreams get pushed further and further down the list as new ‘ought’s’ and responsibilities edge their way into pole position. Of course, this is a part of life as things always change and shift, however, there is a sense that you have become quite caught up in trying to be the person you think you should be rather than allowing yourself to be the person you know yourself to be. Should is a word not often in your vocabulary as you are a strong, vibrant and determined soul; you know your own mind! So why have you shifted your focus and allowed your dreams to ebb and fade? Why have you become so caught up in trying to be someone you’re not?

Clearly there is no simple answer but it seems time to understand your motivations in order to re-shape and re-define your ‘to do’ list to something shorter, crisper and far more in keeping with your true essence. Of course, there will always be responsibilities but many of the ones you are currently carrying are not yours and you have collected them along the way in life. You seem ready now to have a spring clean of fairly epic proportions as you sort the wheat from the chaff and allow yourself to prioritise and focus on what’s really important and what’s not. You have become lost in a sea of trying to get life right but the measure for this is not your own internal happiness but external markers of doing more, achieving more and becoming more. Re-connect to your true essence and let your tenacious and vibrant essence lead the way…

Sagittarius

♐

As one wise Sagittarian recently said to me: ‘you cannot take every train in the station’! This phrase looks set to shape your month ahead as you continue to hone back and re-define exactly why you are even trying to take every train in the station. Of course, you are keen to explore and discover as much as possible in life as that’s your nature but you can only juggle so many balls in the air at any one time or you run the risk of everything coming crashing down. Yet, giving up is not a phrase in the Sagi mind-set; it’s just not there. However, maybe it’s time to re-think why you think it’s giving up rather than re-strategising or simply learning and evolving from experience? You are certainly an all or nothing kind of person, but sometimes this can undermine you as you feel that a change of strategy is a bad thing rather than a wise decision. At the same time, whilst you know it’s not possible to take every train in the station, it is typically Sagittarian to add the caveat ‘not at once, anyway!’ as you know yourself too well!

You just love variety and challenge, and although you know you can’t take every train in the station of life at once, that incorrigible optimism of yours won’t stop you from trying! The process of doing too much, scaling back, doing too much and scaling back seems to be a cycle that forms a central role in your life and you seem to thrive on the challenge but it seems time now for you to consider a new strategy which allows you to grow, thrive and explore without exhausting yourself in the process. Every over-juggling episode costs you your energy and zaps a little bit of your zest and enthusiasm, so instead of pushing your limits, why not expand your boundaries with the ebb and flow of your breath? Breathe into life and allow life to breathe into you…

Capricorn

♑

As you continue to master the art of wholeheartedly embracing change in your life, there is a growing sense you are beginning to realise that change is more of a friend and ally to you than you previously thought. Having firm and familiar foundations in life gives you a sense of security and a feeling of stability when the currents get choppy or rough, but you’ve also discovered that letting go of any resistance to change makes it easier to ride the waves as you become more fluid and molten enabling you to bend and flex with the currents rather than standing firm against them whatever. Rock isn’t always solid, it can be molten, so remember that to go with the flow isn’t a sign you’ve ‘given in’ but a sign that you’ve mastered the art of embracing change by becoming a part of the process of change; try to see things from a new perspective. Becoming molten and fluid allows you to flow more freely and embrace the inevitable metamorphosis that happens as a part of being human.

Life isn’t a constant, never-changing landscape, it’s always shifting and moving, so by becoming a conscious part of this landscape, you are allowing yourself to live a more awakened life. You may wonder why you would want to be more awakened as life feels so heavy at times but the more connected and awakened you become the more likely you are to step beyond the heaviness into a more balanced space of equilibrium which, on its own, doesn’t actually change your reality, but it helps you to turn to it, face it and wholeheartedly embrace it. Life isn’t always about getting from here to there, it’s about being here and making the most of each and every moment. Of course, things aren’t perfect but life isn’t about achieving perfection, it’s about living well, being fluid, being you and enriching the ever-changing scenery of your soul…

Aquarius

♒

June looks set to be a month of bold decisions and confident choices as you begin to explore a new pathway in life. In fact, it’s not really a pathway, nor is it that new, it’s just a different angle of an avenue you’ve been contemplating for quite some time now. However, stating that you look set to have a poke about your current life really doesn’t have quite the same ring to it! You are a possibilities person and thrive on the opportunity to explore pastures new as you seek out enrichment and fulfilment, meaning and purpose. Standing still isn’t an option for you as it feels hollow and without purpose; you want movement and discovery to give your life significance. This isn’t about ego though, this is about connecting to your soul’s true essence and finding ways in which to let this flow freely and unhindered.

Knowing your soul path and living it are two quite separate and distinct things; you have always had a sense of what your soul path is but living it has proven to be a much bigger challenge as your mind has often taken you off in other directions in a quest to make sense of your path before you walk it. Whilst this is understandable for a deep thinker such as yourself, it is also a hindrance as it stops you from being in the moment and consciously being at one with your soul’s purpose. The bold decisions and confident choices ahead look set to come from a growing sense of momentum and impetus that’s been rumbling around for some time now but you’re finally opening up to the idea of ‘what’s next’. You seem ready to step into the driving seat in order to be more consciously involved in moving your life from here to there whilst, at the same time, letting go of the need to be anywhere but here. Confused? You won’t be…

Pisces

♓

Making sense of your life and the world in which you live has become something of a mission for you over recent years as you have struggled to find your true place or niche. It’s not that you’ve been particularly unhappy or frustrated, it’s more that you’ve felt out of kilter with the life you’ve found yourself living as you’ve worked so hard trying to be everything to everyone. Such a strategy has seen you pulling yourself in many different directions at the same time, a strategy that cannot last indefinitely without a significant cost to your own well-being. However, it would be easy to feel that it’s those around you are the one’s pulling you, often against your will, but it seems to be more of the case that you are the one doing the pulling yourself. You push and you pull; you over-stretch and over-give, you expect too much of yourself and then wonder why you feel so tired or weary.

Whilst you want to make the world a better place and you strive to make others happy, it’s important to know the true reason that motivates you to do this. Do you run yourself ragged because you feel everyone is more important than you? Are you the only one who cares? Or maybe you get lost in the distractions of being everything to everyone as a strategy to avoid looking at the bigger picture of your own life? Are you hiding from something? Do you truly feel like you belong at the bottom of the heap? Unlikely. So, why do you do what you do? June looks set to be your month of revelation as you begin to honestly explore your true motivations in life. This isn’t about being judgemental or critical, it’s about lovingly accepting your humanity and realising you are not infallible or perfect. Love yourself, stop putting yourself under so much pressure and your true niche will find you…

We’re nearly halfway through 2016 and if you feel like you have made no progress this year, you are probably right in more than a few ways. So far 2016 has felt like one big retrograde with each small step forward accompanied by several huge steps backward. But this month the energy clears and we have a double 6 vibe (June is the 6^th month, 2016 is a 9 and 9 + 6 = 15, which adds up to 6), so we can see movement, grounding of higher vibe energy, and concrete progress, with a big caveat – we must align internally first, before we act externally. June’s energy is like a rose – the outer petals open when the inner ones are ready—and it’s also the month that roses traditionally begin to bloom. May’s five retrogrades helped put us into position and now we’re entering a new month with new options, opportunities, and a big desire to move forward, which we have been awaiting for a long time.

June jumps out of the starting gate with a new moon on the 6^th (another 6) that brings in the energy of nearly every planet in a grand cross configuration in mutable (transformation) signs, with an emphasis on the ‘outer’, slower moving planets, so everyone gets to experience this. This is an energetic activation that takes us to the edge of the transformation cliff. The tension of a Grand Cross means that all of the planets are facing each other across the ‘line in the sand’. Do we dare cross the line to see what’s on the other side? This new moon also hits the March 10, 2016 eclipse points, re-activating them for another round of experience. Was anything happening for you then that is coming around again?

We have been shown everything in our reality that limits our joy thanks to five months of relentless clearing, now we have to decide whether we’re ready to take that leap into our expanded, unlimited potential. Eventually we get tired of going around the transformation merry-go-round and are ready to jump off. This is one of those times.

While it appears that there are so many options available and we don’t know which one to take, the choice becomes easier when we view it from the standpoint of what makes us happy and what serves our intention. With the intense clearing of the last five months you may gone through a major mental, emotional, and spiritual house cleaning, but that’s OK because starting in June our energetic families will begin to appear and we are going to learn a whole new level of relating and relationship. We are out of soulmate cycles and into kindred spirit connections, people with whom we have no karma with and who share our energetic frequency and vibration. Are we ready for karma- and drama-free relationships? Let’s find out.

Bloom is the keyword for June but it has to be intentional blooming and we have to know what kind of flower we’re going to become. Shakespeare said “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, but we’ll be disappointed if we are expecting a beautiful, sweet-smelling rose and end up with a stinky marigold (which are also beautiful but they smell bad). Intention is now interwoven within all of our energetic channels. To powerfully manifest we must also set powerful intentions. Not wishes or hopes, but intentions that are clear, direct, and focused on what we want in our new joyful, joy-filled realities.

And if your life has been cleared out of energetic debris in the past few months you have a clean slate to begin anew. You can’t spend any time regretting the past this month, or judging yourself for your past choices. We make choices in each moment based on what works for us in that moment. Our options may change in the next moment but that doesn’t make the previous choice wrong, it just means that it no longer works for us and our new reality. And remember we don’t leave anyone behind, we need to recognize the energetic sovereignty of every human – they are in full control of their energy and of their choices and they must also run out of energy road on their path before they will see the need to choose something else.

This month’s full moon is at 29 Sagittarius, a closing cycle to the May 21 full moon at 1 Sagittarius whose rare conjunction with retrograde Mars and powerful outer planet aspects set the stage for ‘no holds barred’ transformation that was combined with the end of what was quite a challenging Mercury retrograde. That either gave us even more reason to consider staying on the transformation path or to turn away from it because it was too hard, too much, too challenging, or we were too tired. And what was started then can be finished now, if we’re ready. Timing and readiness go together now and we can’t force either one.

The big event in June is the exact Uranus/Eris conjunction on June 23, the first of three between 2016 and 2017. This hasn’t happened since 1927 and that time brought about the Great Depression, big changes in the social agenda, and the beginnings of women having a stronger place in society. Eris is the goddess of discord, Uranus is the planet of revolution. Eris was first discovered in 2005, when our big push into the ascension cycle began. Now, 11 years later, we are beginning to understand the power that this dwarf planet embodies. When discord and revolution come together, you can expect some fur to fly. This configuration has been brewing for several months and we have it exact in June. We can expect changes in the social structure, more social revolution, and more protests from people who want to see real change in how the world is run. It will make this month very exciting indeed.

And children born under the Uranus/Eris conjunction will have a strong revolutionary nature. They will be a generation of world leaders who will not be content with the status quo, who will not accept a world run by despots, greed, and power mongers. So if you have a child born at this time and you discover that they don’t like being told what to do and are free thinkers you can blame their Uranus/Eris conjunction.

June is traditionally the month when couples marry, so relationships are a strong focus this month but while you may find new love (and you will if you are ready for it), there are two powerful relationship aspects we need to consider. The first is our relationship with ourselves and the second is our relationship with our Self, or our human/Source partnership. Look at the Gemini glyph pictured here, independent and yet connected. That’s the perfect balance of human and divine, where we aren’t leaning on Source for support and instruction, and are confidently standing in our power using divine guidance as a tool, not a crutch. The connection is above and below us, balanced and equal. We are at our most powerful when we can embody this level of congruent, harmonious connection. It fits with the 2016 theme of ‘Congruent Harmony’, where energy fits and flows in the most balanced way.

It’s easy to give our power away to our divine connection too, believing that it knows more than we do. But this is a co-creative partnership and both partners, human and divine, must act in balanced, congruent harmony so the energy flows are equal. We intend and create energetic space for manifestation and receiving, and the Universe responds.

If you’re ready to be finished with the lessons, healing, and clearing then ‘shake it off’, and explore other life paths, then June is perfect for that. But don’t expect the ‘easy’ solution; instead, expect the solution that exactly matches your intention. We receive exactly what we intend, ask for, and are aligned with. The Universe doesn’t make up the difference or pick up the slack. Confident, clear, focused intentions creates the best outcomes. What are you going to ask for? Start with what has been your area of greatest concern. In these powerful times we have a lot of energy at our disposal so by choosing the most powerful thing in your life, you create a large space in your energy container that can be filled with new energy.

This is also a month when the questions that have been troubling you, the situations you were not clear about, the decisions that you couldn’t make yet, may become very clear for you. You’ll see what can bloom in your life, what is past its prime, and what can be cut away because its time is over. In gardening terms it’s called ‘dead heading’, removing flowers that are finished blooming so the plant doesn’t support them and to encourage more flowers. What needs to be ‘ dead headed’ in your life now? It may come up in June so be prepared.

Have a wonderful month.

Eris: The Radical Feminine Awakens

(Disguised as a Dwarf Planet!)

*Greek myth tells that, upon exclusion from a wedding, Eris threw into the midst of its revellers an apple marked ‘for the fairest’. An argument ensued between the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite as to its intended recipient, the settling of which eventually led to the Trojan War*

On 5th January 2005 the dwarf planet Eris stepped onto the astrological stage to shake things up like never before. As she prepares for a formative conjunction with Uranus (June 2016 – March 2017), we need our eyes wide open and hearts to match, ready for anything, fierce as they come and focused enough to do what we must. Her alliance with Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, marks a watershed time of formation for the incoming Aquarian Age which will challenge all that perpetuates inequality, oppression and exploitation, demanding searing integrity and the courage to stand up and be counted. Eris insists we face uncomfortable truths about humanity’s exploitation of Mother Earth and what we, as individuals, have done to ourselves and each other.

In myth, Eris is the goddess of discord and rivalry. On the face of it, the trouble she caused in response to not getting a wedding invitation sounds petty, but she knew something far more important was going on. In fact her exclusion epitomises the experience of the feminine throughout history: snubbed, shunned, marginalised, demonised, ignored and rejected. In her reaction, Eris embodied the dark and feared feminine which rises up to reclaim her place in a world long fractured by patriarchal power.

Venus and Mars, the archetypal feminine and masculine, joined forces three times in 2015 (February, September and November). Their first meeting saw them cross from the final to the first degree of the zodiac, a sure sign of the birth of a new paradigm. In doing so they shone a bright light upon patriarchy’s legacy the world over, reminding us there is still much to be done before the feminine in all its guises is embraced within the collective psyche. Still the gendered split between, not the integration of, masculine and feminine define the lives and experience of so many. The deep wounds of patriarchy continue to fester around the world and it is easy to sink into despair at the seemingly unlikely prospect of global change. Women and girls the world over are treated as chattels and boys and men brutalised to continue this inhumanity. Ultimately there are no winners in patriarchy, for even those holding the keys to power have sacrificed their humanity to own them. No matter who, what or where we are, we cannot stand aside from the world into which we’ve been born and ignore what we’ve created. Our very existence makes us part of the landscape, a fragment of the collective psyche living these experiences here and now. We can be part of the problem or part of the solution, perpetually divided or seeking wholeness – within and without – in which apparent opposites become one united force for change.

Eris, in all her mighty glory, comes to set things straight, to balance the scales and establish an order of being that honours diversity, recognising the microcosm in the macrocosm and the natural forces which pulse through our veins. Eris knows the power of the feminine, the raw, primal force of childbirth, the fierce protection of a mother’s love, the enduring strength of a broken but embracing heart and the power of an awakened womb which nurtures deep within the hopes and dreams of generations. Eris augurs the upwelling of a radical force in the human psyche: the primal feminine which knows that life is both bloody and beautiful, dangerous and vibrant; that to exclude the feminine from the central paradigm that shapes our existence is to render life sterile, a sterility which enables us to plunder natural resources, favour financial profit over fundamental well-being and short-term power over long term survival. Thus is created a world devoid of basic compassion which can dismiss the traumatised refugee as a drain on ‘our’ resources, the orphaned child as a ‘lost cause’ and the lives of countless women and girls as meaningless in the context of a masculine-dominant discourse which serves only its own perpetuation.

Eris is the most awesome force of cosmic nature encountered to date. That’s why she took so long to show up! We had to be ready, able to stay the course and up the pace. She challenges us to look with eyes wide open and free from all guile. To see who we are and what we do – personally and collectively – to perpetuate inequalities and oppression the world over. She invites us all, regardless of gender, to embrace the hope of a fair and just world, a nurturing world, in which all life is hallowed, all beings honoured as a vital spark of sacred source; the divine feminine and divine masculine forever locked in a fulsome embrace. When Eris was snubbed at the wedding a ferocious force was let loose: the furious feminine, dishonoured and diminished. She refused to slink away silently but began a war to make her point. She let loose chaos and demands we be swept up in its unremitting force. Pitting the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite against each other in competition for the title of ‘fairest’, she exposed the diminished feminine, divorced from its sovereignty and subordinated to the power of the masculine gaze. Now she returns power to us all, inviting us to embrace the light and dark feminine and all shades in-between: the Venusian delights of sensuality, the cyclical intuition of our lunar nature and the viscerality of Eridian challenge of all that perpetuates patriarchal mores of gendered worth.

Eris uproots all that exploits and oppresses. Her arrival changes everything. She stands aside Uranus, guardian of the Aquarian Age, and demands we create a world in which dignity is a universal right not a privilege, where life is honoured in all its forms, where gender is not an arbiter of a disenfranchised fate and the intuitive heart is aligned with, not subordinate to, the incisive mind. Her world is radical, daring and free. She is unafraid to face the wrath of those who prefer the status quo, the denial of those who seek to side-step truths that stare us in the face. She will not tolerate the fractured disconnection of disengaged spirituality that seeks escape from, not radical engagement with, this world. Nor will she allow to go unchallenged the retention of power in the hands of the few in a world on fire. And nor must we, for only in standing firm for change can we draw upon her power and know her mighty heart and fierce commitment to a world born anew.

Eris reminds us in no uncertain terms that with every breath we give birth to the world, shaping its future and sealing its fate. Her arrival throws down the gauntlet. She’s a warrior spirit with nothing to lose; a formidable force whose time has come. Love her or loathe her, follow or fear her, she sparks a revolution of unstoppable and liberating change.