Feel the heartbeat of the culture … SENSE YOUR PLACE

Mars, planet of action, war the force that infuses us with power has finally moved into his forward progress after months of re-tracing, or being in retrograde.  March 10th, 2010, Mars went direct.  The energy of that final bit of retrograde hit me like thick mud ... lo'i kalo mud (LINK TO these photos.  They are awesome ...made me more homesick than I am ALREADY...YIKES!) Taro patch mud.  My old body has a mind of her very own ... wise beyond the head.  This past weekend from tailbone to po'o (head) and all the na'au (guts) inbetween, I was slowed way, way down. There have been many things to do since the New Moon last (in February, in time for the Lunar New Year) and with Mars amplifying both my kane and me, we have been very busy.  Pete has a new biz in the launching ... we'll let every body know about it with the coming New Moon, next Monday, March 15th.

Mars in retrograde was a powerfully specific call to me ... I have Mars and Saturn in tight in my natal chart, and even without a lot of astrology to explain it ... the lifetime pattern for this old gal is one of reigning in (that's Saturn) a fiercy forward motion that I was born with (that would be Mars in Leo).  What happened with this three-month of Ms. Macha Mars in retrograde?  Well, the good, bad and the ugly sides of a reigned in Macha showed up in spades. For as long as I've loved to read and tell stories, I have loved learning.  Personal evolution is a passion with me, I work hard at it and really need to take it easy a lot more.  To sense my place, sometimes, like this weekend, I must be called into the taro patch and slow down ho'omanawanui. 

So, I did.  For two days I slept.  A kind of universal call to fast came with it too.  Internal work can be hindered by eating, and honestly, I have been over-doing that (the eating) for too long.  "Enough for now gal, no clambering."  I talked not more than a few words to Pete and our friends Doug and Lois.  I listened to a new to me talking book The Golden Compass and lost myself in the voices of storytellers for two days.  The gift of detachment of this sort is to become more conscious.  More conscious of how busy my thoughts get, how forceful my energy can become when motivated to do; and then, how necessary it is to retreat and feel the heartbeat of my nature in retrograde.

I had many visitors on that first night of sleep and near paralysis ... tucked so well are my feelings and experiences of loss, I was surprised when each showed themselves.  Did I forget how painful it was to leave Hawaii Island?  Was it so easy to forget that I would be graduating from Chinese Medicine School this year if we had been able to stay on the Hamakua Coast rather than flee one more pesticide poisoning and the difficulty of breathing the VOG created by Tutu Pele?  The sleep has refueled me ... I am more than half-refilled as I spill the beans here and know I will need more rest yet.

"Every decision I make is a choice between a grievance and a miracle.  I relinquish all regrets, grievances and resentments and choose the miracle."  That is one of my mantras ... taken from A Course in Miracles.  I chant it often and believe it most times. 

The New Moon in Pisces comes in a few days, another perfect time to embrace ones place.  How well do you sense your place in the whirl?

Photo Credit:  www.logoi.com/.../img/sleeping_beauty_2.jpg