How to raise your vibration without spiritual bypassing

If you’re here, I’d wager a guess that you’ve been interested in spirituality enough to encounter two concepts: the raising of our vibration, and spiritual bypassing. There’s a lot out there on the subject, and a lot of strictness you can adhere to in making either of these concepts work for you. In this article, I’ll provide a simple breakdown of how we can indeed raise our vibration and cultivate a beautiful reality, without any of that dreaded repression or feeding our shadow or any of that other nonsense. Read on to learn more!

Overview:

Many of us on this path understand that we attract what we focus on, and we also understand (or have heard) that what we resist persists. So what to do when we don’t particularly want grumpingtons all up in our energy? Do we push it down, push it to the side, refocus- and then have a sense of danger that we are repressing, bypassing, putting things in our shadow so that they will bite us in the proverbial bum later on? Or do we just be all up in our exact experience, calling smacking others in the face “authentic”- because that’s what we feel like we want to do at the time, and we don’t want to be in that pesky spiritual bypassing vibe… oh dear, what to do to raise vibration?

Here’s the trick: it’s like a Facebook feed.

Computer networks and algorithms are quite stunning in their similarity to the human mind/ psyche respectively. I don’t pretend to know enough about computer science to delineate the exact parallels. However, anyone can see the same in a broad sense.

First you must know and understand that your own thoughts, feelings, emotions, opinions and even your individual sense of identity have no essential essence in and of themselves. They come and they go, as the result of what you have habitually engaged in over eons. They are your conditionings in this life, maybe in other ones. In this sense, they are like what you will see on your Facebook feed (or Youtube or other social media app, but I am a millenial and only use Facebook). They are simply in the offing, they are in your experience. There is no obligation to engage or to accept these phenomena as your reality.

Tune the algorithm!

What you can do (if you choose) is to be selective about what you engage with in regards thoughts, feelings, emotions, opinions. Then, you should create your own content (imaginings!) in alignment with that higher vibration you may possibly wish to cultivate.

On a social media app, if you wish to see less of certain content, you are unwise to comment “I hate this”. You are also wise not to engage with trolls on that content. If you do this, the algorithm then knows it has your attention in regard to that content. It will show you more of it. What you must do is ignore, unplug, scroll on. While doing this, understand that there’s no gun at your head holding you to get stuck into that content.

Similarly, if you were to have a negative emotion and then get upset about it, berating yourself for having that emotion or pushing it down fiercely- your nervous system will assign more importance to that emotion, and will encode that deeper in your mind. The same would go for any mental or emotional phenomena- there is no obligation to react. The best and most helpful understanding you can have is to understand that these things come and go. Also, they have no hold over you. You are more than allowed to tune them out and focus on something that brings you more joy. This is a powerful way to raise vibration.

To sum up:

In conclusion, I would like to provide you with a practical example:

Maybe you are wishing to think of yourself as wealthy (so as to attract more wealth). Despite this, you still get a lot of thoughts about yourself as being a poor person? There’s no need to react to those thoughts or worry about them, or consider them bad. Remember, the goal is to raise vibration.

Rather, consider that there’s no real basis to this thought. This is just encoded in your feed or in your mind for now, because you may have engaged with that content a lot in the past. Because of this, your algorithm or your nervous system thinks that it should show you that again and again.

Understand that. Take a breath. Think- what would I rather be, than poor? If the answer is “rich bee” then engage with that frequency, or that content. Wash, rinse, repeat. Do this until your feed or your mind is clear of the old attunements, and knows to show you more of what you truly like. But you can’t have that reality until you tune your feed, which may take some time! Patience and consistency are key when you want to effectively raise vibration.

I love and believe in you all! Good luck, happy scrolling in mind and in fingertip. May your neurons and your screens bless you with happy good fortune. xxx

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Venus Retrograde in Aries And Pisces, March-April 2025

Oh my friends! Oh, my dear and darling godlets and godlingtons on phones, laptops, tablets all across the planet- greetings all! May Venusian blessings and all blessings be yours, may life and light be yours, may darkness be yours if that’s your thing! I am most happy to write this for you all, and to trust that this information on the upcoming Venus retrograde serves you well. For I know that my many lifetimes working with this art call me to be of service still at this time, acquainting you with the majesty that flows in you all- through knowledge of the stars.

But what of this Venus retrograde? Let’s dig into what this may mean in a general sense, first.

Venus Retrograde: What does this mean?

The laws of energy have long informed us of the fact that all things have their counterpart; their necessitated opposite. For there to be outward movement, there must be inward movement. For there to be darkness, there must be light. For there to be riches, there must too be poverty. For there to be higher worlds, the lower must also exist.

Retrograde planets operate on this principle in the sense that planets, while direct, facilitate outward movement- entailing the necessity for inward movement and development, which occurs when a planet is retrograde. In the case of Venus retrograde, this applies to Venusian energies and concepts- love, luxury goods, harmony for its own sake will not be as readily pursuable or attainable in the way we may usually seek these things out. But here is the power: the inward pursuit of love, luxury, harmony- creating these things inside ourselves- this is completely necessary for these things to function well on the outside. During a Venus retrograde you may find irregularities and stagnation in your outward efforts, which is what we often need to compel us to pay attention to our inward efforts. Which is often what many of us need to do; if the inner self is not feeling beautiful or abundant or loved, the outer self will fail to feel so as well!

Venus Retrograde in Aries-Pisces: What’s the scoop?

With the Venus retrograde beginning at 10 degrees Aries on the 2nd of March and finishing up at 24 degrees Pisces on the 13th of April, we are of course incorporating Venus in Aries and Venus in Pisces themes for this retrograde.

These Venusian themes present Venus in extremely dissimilar lights- Venus in Aries and Venus in Pisces are completely different beasts, even more than most close siblings are. Venus in Aries is proactive, firey, passionate and can get herself into trouble easily by coming on too strong, then getting bored- while Venus in Pisces is seductive, illusory, drawing one deep into a dream so powerful that it may be tempting to stay lost in it forever.

The temptation during this retrograde may be to approach an enticing dream too hot-headedly, getting swiftly disillusioned when the external reality does not come to pass- then self-deceiving and binding oneself deeper in disappointment as further outward efforts do not go as planned. An example may be of a romantic interest that seems great, but does not quite measure up as hoped- then, instead of taking a step back and concentrating on one’s vibrational alignment, allowing one’s personal magnetism to be upset by such things as an empty inbox, all the while self-deceiving and even pretending to the object of interest that yes, one is okay with being a side piece.

Again: The strength will not be in making things happen in the usual way. To use these energies wisely, I recommend focusing on manifestation, self-concept, addressing any subconscious blocks by taking the time to observe where things can be perceived differently than our automatic mind. What many of us may need to do is to slow down enough to realise that assumptions of how the world works and how we are perceived are all completely in our own head, and therefore under our control. Once we realise this and devote ourselves to this process, all things will be ours more surely than if planets were always direct.

Other considerations for this Venus Retrograde:

-Mercury will be retrograde as well throughout much of this period- stationing retrograde on the 15 March 2025 at 9 degrees Aries, stationing direct on 7 April at 26 degrees Pisces. With two inner planets retrograde at the same time we can find more than ever that outward efforts don’t bear the same fruit as inward ones- where we create our desired reality within, rather than pursuing it outwardly.

It will also be an extremely poor time to buy an expensive cellphone.

-If you have Venus retrograde in your own birth chart, these effects will not be quite so potent on you. Doubtless, you are already accustomed to how your inward environment affects your outer. This will be a powerful time for you to make use of your wisdom and skills.

-With Neptune also entering Aries for the first time in hundreds of years during this time there is potential for profound spiritual shifts in those who are willing to take the lead and cultivate their vibration and magnetism inwardly- before pursuing outward effects and approval. But be wise. Spiritual hygiene is more important than ever before. This requires a lot of self-knowledge, which is not as readily available when one is busy arguing and justifying oneself, or pursuing immediate gratification!

Much love to you all! I hope you have enjoyed reading this. Stay fresh, and remember you can always connect via my Facebook community, or via email- I am pretty busy currently, but always keen to give light to my tribe when I can.

All dates and times are in New Zealand Standard Time.

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Pluto in Aquarius: Its nature, what it might mean, how we might work with it.

Well my friends, this is an exciting day! For, as you may know, we have been teetering on the brink of this ingress over the last year or so- with Pluto faffing around between Capricorn and Aquarius, entering and exiting. Today, however, sees Pluto entering this sign once and for all, for the first time since 1777. This slow-moving planet of course only enters a new sign in this fashion every twelve years or so; we do not see this often. Embrace the strangeness of it, the newness, even if nothing drops out of the sky per se- these cycles move slowly, but they do move. They offer us an opportunity to come to an understanding of these forces beyond our immediate perception as humans, or our tendency to measure things by the clock- here we move more in terms of epochs, ages, eons.

But what does it all mean? In order to understand the significance of this cycle we need to come to an understanding of what each of these component parts may mean- what Pluto might mean, what Aquarius might mean- which in term means we become aware of how these individual factors operate in the machinery of cosmic consciousness. Yet be aware! If we understand these things in terms of their individual parts only, extrapolating them into separate ideas, we run the risk of reducing the understanding to just another game we can play with our minds. Understand that no one part of the cosmos is conceivable without every other part that has its relationship to it. Understand also that difficult or disharmonious experiences or energies exist in cooperation and in relationship to easier ones; there is no sine without a sawtooth, no wave without a trough, no convexity without concavity.

Let’s begin!

The Nature of Pluto.

The nature of Pluto is, like most astrological thema, not easily described in a few sentences; however, we may begin to understand firstly in the more mundane aspects of its physical context. First of all I always like to understand an outer planet (that which is beyond Saturn) in the context of its discovery- Pluto was discovered in the 1930s, shortly before the second world war, during the Great Depression and shortly before the birth of atomic energy. With its orbit so dissimilar from other planets and its great distance from the rest of our solar system, there has always been some aura of mystery and difference here. We know this is a cold place, we know it is in darkness; which phenomena indeed inspired the name Pluto- characterising it in association with the God of the Underworld. Here, in short we have Death and the gateway to the after- which, like Pluto, may not be all it seems? For Pluto itself has been re-considered and recategorised, much as we may refigure and reconceptualise the gates of Death or of great transformation, once we have been through them- utter terror turning to understanding.

For of course, anyone who has died or has any understanding of Death in metaphysical (or even in basic Tarot) terms- will tell you that the gates of Hell or of Death are not what they seem from the outside. The soldier running and screaming on the battlefield, thereafter blown to bits- finds himself in a place of rest and ease, even though he was screaming for his life a few minutes before. Thus are we even in the many smaller deaths in our day to day life, when we hold to something whose time it is to transform. Sometimes the phase of dying is long, sometimes it is short, the painful period is a part of this- but on the other end we have what would not be able to see or hold before. Here is the higher octave of Mars, the irresistable super-war which cannot be resisted or even fought, which in its fierceness and vehemence brings about the change that indeed ensures a peace.

Pluto in Aquarius- what might this mean?

To understand Pluto in Aquarius, we need to understand Aquarius energy and how this may intersect with Pluto energy. Aquarius is most commonly and easily understood as the “rebel” in opposition to loyal, royal Leo which maintains the status quo in relation to human values, the things people look up to and revere. While Leo, for all its shine and glamour, is something of a safe follower due to the need for adoration from others- Aquarius represents an outlier whose values connect more to a universality of light and understanding. These opposites do depend on one another- a revolution (Aquarius) without an understanding of heart (Leo) can lead to a dictatorship, while an established order of sovereignty (Leo) that refuses to accept commonality with other humans nor moves with the times (Aquarius) is an absolute monarchy which itself would depend on many bloodbaths to sustain itself.

Yet bloodbaths are not what we need to expect here. With Pluto in Aquarius, we expect deaths and rebirths in terms of the Aquarian themes mentioned here, in terms of innovation and how we view ourselves as humans. We did see the birth of several great revolutions, including the Industrial revolution, during the last Pluto in Aquarius transit between 1777-1798. None of these were possible without the concepts of a humanist “Age of Reason”, which heralded scientific advancement and abstract logic as the foundation upon which an enlightened and harmonious society should rest. Yet heart and emotionality, in themselves extant phenomena which (in the opinion of the writer) must be accounted part and parcel of any reasoning process- despite their being less quantifiable than numerical or otherwise quantitative data. In short, it is arguable that heart has been left out of the equation when it comes to earlier transformative revolutionary cycles- which in turn has created an unsustainable system that humans are unable to live in and enjoy. The France immediately following the Revolution, the Soviet Union and similar egregores are generally viewed as failed experiments due to the rigidity of systems that could not see that people might prefer meaningless luxuries or religion despite all efforts from above that they may be encouraged towards embracing ideology. Yet it would be a mistake to assume that humanity would again head into the same place it did in the late eighteen hundreds- wider cosmic cycles indicate we are on the precipice of an age of less density, of higher energy and accelerated change indeed beyond our ability to prevent such. Today’s humans have indeed benefited from the lessons of previous cycles; it is understood more and more widely that any meaningful change must also take place on a heart level, on an individual level, that it cannot be imposed from above on the unwilling with force.

Pluto in Aquarius- Exponential change and growth in the technological sector.

Anyone who has anything to do with any form of computer technology will no doubt be aware that advancement in this sector is accelerating exponentially. In short, more technological advancements facilitate greater advancements, as bright minds are put into contact with better and better equipment and systems, thereby continually creating more and more updated systems that are thereafter superseded at the blink of an eye. While this is wonderful news in terms of research and planning and in many other sectors, it can also lead to problems as the pace of advancement outstrips human ability to utilise the systems in question, and the ability of humans to also be comfortable with these changes. Tools such as AI are proving useful as adjuncts to human ability, yet problems arise in terms of how companies may use the data gathered from AI and in terms of how adoption of these systems may supersede human input in digital spaces and exclude that input that has been created outside of AI systems. Certain companies may attempt to use the technology to cement their control over the digital space, while at the same time natural human unwillingness to move at a fast pace with unfamiliar equipment engenders conflict and controversy, which in turn feeds algorithms designed to create more of what people respond to most strongly. Furthermore, the potential for criminals to misuse these systems is very large- particularly in relation to those who will refuse to familiarise themselves with new technology.

Pluto in Aquarius- what to do?

This brings me to the final point of my writing. What to do? Embrace the new! As the Bhagavad-Gita teaches us, we must find the path in life that leads towards expansiveness and new frontiers. Nothing will be gained here by shrinking back in fear from change, from the specter of Death and all that seems frightening and black. Deal with your emotions mindfully, skilfully- do not push them away- but do all you can to learn new skills and work with new things. It is the beginning of the end for us when we refuse to walk down a new path, walling up and sticking to the tried and true, the comfort zone- is a fast route to being exploited by others, and also dementia.

It is a honourable part of ourselves that wants things to stay the same. We must not refuse to listen to our own fears, but we are also ill-advised to act blindly on these. All the same- remember that what you put into the wishing well is what you get back. The more of us that see death and mayhem at these gates, the more panic and fear and frustration we seed into the collective. Be brave, strong, and of great heart! Afraid as we may be at times of new tech and all of this blindingly fast growth, we cannot escape the fact that it is here. Make the most of it- accept with a smile, and become damn good at working with what is coming. That is my concrete and actionable advice to all of you. xxx

About Mermaids.

An art deco image of mermaids, painted by Edna Cooke.

Hello, all! Your loyal and magnificent Green Lady has been on hiatus for some time, but she has returned to write about mermaids. This is something most dear to her heart, and she is happy to say is at the request of a loyal reader 🙂 Mermaids are something she knows well- or as well as anyone can indeed know mermaids! Read on, you may find something that sings in tune with your soul. For “speaks to your soul” did not sound quite right, when it comes to mermaids.

Are mermaids real?

Let me answer that potential question first and foremost. Remember, this is an old sorceress that is sharing some truth with you- use it wisely. If you imagine it, why would you think it is not real? Are we only going to count as real those things we can grasp with physical senses here and now? You may think your body is real, but it is continuously changing and dissolving. You may think this moment is real, but it is always passing.

Mermaids are real in the worlds beyond those physical senses I mentioned. You may think imagination is not real, or emotion is not real. Yet these worlds are very real, and they do connect with this world too. As time goes on, we will find more things of imagination and feeling start to enter this physical world, too. These enter through creative inspiration, meditation and other means. Those of you who are already mermaids will begin to know of yourself as mermaids again. Then, we will see mermaids once more on Earth.

What are mermaids?

I’ve known of mermaids on one world- which was once a world like this one. The name of this world is Sirius B. This is a very ancient world, which has been around for far, far, far longer than ours. The beings on this world long ago awakened to a high level of spirituality. This was longer ago than we can ever imagine. Throughout all these many ages, deep magic and ritual practiced with great rigour and intensity have caused the beings there to walk in power and knowledge of themselves that we are only just beginning to stumble towards.

It is not a blue sky world like ours, but with a black sky and a red sun. The beings are not physical, but have transcended past the body- they are all bright blue. As far as size and shape go, they are whatever they desire to be at any time. However, although they are shapeshifters, there are matters of tradition that will prevent an individual from transforming into a shape that does not align with their sense of heritage. For- on Sirius B there are those that walk on the earth and those that swim in the sea- the sea creatures are the mermaids. Only a very special few land dwellers will enter the ocean, I don’t know of any ocean dwellers who will walk on land.

These mermaids are blue and able to change shape, like the other beings on Sirius B. I would not say they are benevolent necessarily- they are strong, fierce, independent- consumed with the joy that is life there. They are too busy swimming around at lighting speed and enjoying the bliss of their magic to worry too much about being bad or good in the way we think about it on Earth. If you could create your reality instantaneously in a swimming bliss world with your friends, could you honestly say you would be overly worried about many of the things that consume us here?

Have there been mermaids on Earth?

I am sure there have been. The accepted view of history is all false, there have been ages on earth at which we have had greater connectedness to these other realms- where we have flourished more strongly in our own magic. But the way of Earth is this: we go through ages of light and ages of darkness. We are making our way out of an age of darkness now, and we will surely see some more mermaids again.

Indeed, I have seen them myself. I have seen the waves form and become nothing but the forms of mermaids all swimming and laughing there. This was not drug induced, by the way.

We must not think of Sirius B or any other world or place or time as being somewhere “out there”. Distance, years- all of these things are just conventions we’ve agreed upon to make more sense of our world. In reality, all things are connected. In your body now are bits and pieces of every other thing that was once somewhere or someone else- that steak you ate was fed by daisies that were once Aunt Maisie! And so is all this magic. And now, that I have told you more about it, you may feel it closer than before. xxxx

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12th House Synastry: Destiny or Delusion?

Ah, the 12th house.

So notoriously tricky to define. Mysterious and magical, eternal bliss is here- but also realms of imprisonment, addiction, great humiliation. 12th house synastry is no exception; this awakens us to the themes of this house and teaches us to navigate the great wheel of the zodiac, all of the many worlds. Yet tread here with caution! Not with fear, but with caution. Let me explain why.

When I was entering a phase of my spiritual journey I saw the twelfth house shown to me as a vast universe while every other piece of the zodiac was pretty much a grain of sand. There we’ve got countless other dimensions, and nothing operates by familiar earth-bound rules.

Astrologers often talk about dreams and visions when it comes to the twelfth, but that is only scratching the surface. It is in fact a gateway to things that are beyond dreams, beyond any form of human explanation or understanding. If the rest of the houses were primarily defined by Malkuth and the tangible and personal, the twelfth would be Yesod (broadly speaking) and the gateway to what is beyond Yesod even. Your danger here is if you keep concentrating on human rules and egoic expectations, 3D realities.

You will be in trouble if you refuse to go further than a dream, if you have no true spirituality and no desire for God consciousness. If you hold onto these earthly things and all your personal goals and expectations while subsumed in a 12th house experience, you can encounter a lot of unnecessary stresses and hurdles. God looks at you through the things you find in the 12th, but God is behind the material illusion. Keep journeying on!

12th House Synastry: Some details.

But let’s talk about the 12th house synastry in more detail. In this sense, we are obviously talking about overlays. When it comes to overlays, please concentrate more on personal planets- Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars. Jupiter and Saturn, also the Nodes and other hypothetical points are of far less importance. Why? Because they move much more slowly. You will share those overlays with pretty much anyone that same age. Also they operate on less of a personal level.

How those factors affect the overlays is going to relate more to how these individuals operate in terms of their social and collective conditioning. It is like… how people your older brother’s age may tend to treat you the same way, because they are Gen X and you are a Millenial.

I won’t give you a blow-by-blow planet-by-planet breakdown because it doesn’t sit right with me. I want you to know the nature of this house and how the overlays operate. Then you can apply that in a general sense to your individual situation. That being said: the overlays.

12th House Synastry Overlays.


General rule is- if your planet falls in someone’s house, you have an insight into what’s happening for them in that side of their life. Therefore, if you have a planet in someone’s 12th- you will have some insight into what is hidden, arcane, mysterious- perhaps suppressed within them. This gives you an advantage in a sense as you will be able to delineate any weak spots. But you also may keep that part of yourself in reserve. The person who is the 12th house may be confused, seeking you out- but unable to draw any kind of clarity when they take an overly rational approach. It never does any good to ask “why” when you come here. It is a good question, but rarely draws any answers. Also, if your planets fall in someone else’s 12th, you may lack personal boundaries with them. It may feel “easier” to simply let them have their way. However, it is spiritually harmful to refrain from speaking honestly (and kindly).


If your partner’s planets fall in your 12th be wary of deception. Of course, that can potentially stir all kinds of fears in my readers. This is why I say if you want clarity, don’t go pushing the matter. If you feel that something is not quite all as it seems when there are 12th house overlays in your synastry, you will not draw any clarity by running around in your head trying to sort it out intellectually.

12th House Synastry: An overview.

12th house synastry calls for a spiritual awakening, which calls for self-discipline and self-renewal! Clear your body, mind and spirit of unhelpful habits and go and be of service to someone. Don’t be afraid to share the love, don’t be afraid to share the vibes. However, do not attach to specifics around outcome. You cannot control what specifics might be in your destiny or in your future favour, but you can at least awaken to higher realities and a spiritual path. Any pain that comes from this deception lasts as long as it needs to. This all before it becomes clear that behind the masks of the individual reality, we are all transcendant spiritual beings living in oneness, bliss, harmony. However that awareness cannot be forced, it requires adherence to high principles and the loss of many material illusions.


Remember that the 12th and the 6th are counterparts. The dark side of one and the other are delusion and doubt, the light side of one and the other are faith and acceptance- of life on life’s terms. This is how the 12th can be the absolute liberator or the utter prison house both. You can be fortunate or unfortunate enough to meet them in a relationship. It really is up to you!

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How to let go of someone: 9 things that help.

Hiya friend. I reckon if you’re here, you’ve been through something quite tough. Peace be with you, soldier. It’s hard, I know. In my own life, the biggest and most powerful lesson I’ve ever had to learn- was how to let go of someone.

What I’m going to tell you isn’t a quick fix and it may be hard to process and to hear. But I will try and break it down. I really suggest that you give all of these things a go, if you are really struggling. What do you have to lose?

But first and foremost let me say: You aren’t sick or pathological if you can’t let go. The nature of human beings is to bond at that deep level. In theory, we could all possibly be perfect and just have this immaculate trust in the universe. However, the reality of this current experience seems to be that we do feel strong yearnings and urgings to unite with other humans. And when that other human is signalled to one as something special (whether on a trauma bond level or not)- every facet of who we are is going to want to cling to them. It signals death to be abandoned in this way so of course we panic unto death.

We don’t need to change that about ourselves and get tied up in any more knots telling ourselves how traumatised and sick we are. Therapy is great of course.

But what if I was to tell you that these urges, these massive surging rushes of need to sort the situation out and find clarity/meaning/let go/hold on… that these are not actually who we are? That these are neither good or bad in and of themselves, but simply parts of the program. This is ego, and learning how to let go of someone means we let go of IT. It doesn’t go away, we just see it for what it is.

How to let go of someone?

1: You need to become cognizant of your divine nature- but you need to also be aware that this “I” that wants, that is afraid- that isn’t the divine nature. That’s on the surface and it will grab at you and pretend very strongly. Your divine nature knows that all of this disorder and pain is ephemeral and will pass. Keep your awareness on this nature; acknowledge thoughts feelings and efforts as they arise. But try not to follow them down the rabbit hole.

2: Look after yourself. I mean it. No extremes, but look for balance. Balanced diet, exercise, social media consumption. Meditate several times a day.

3: But do nothing with the sole thought of what you will get out of it, otherwise we start to feed those extremes again. Release your expectations on all things; those most worthy of love and respect are rarely shown it. It’s not for us to know why.

4: Be mindful of your day to day responsibilities. Although this reality isn’t “real” per se, we still have an obligation to care for the ones who need us and to at least try to pay our way in life.

5: LOVE that person. But if when you are around them you are drawn away from your peace, your presence and your higher nature- you will need to love them from a distance. With the help of the Divine (which is in you!) send them love, support, healing energetically from a distance. But only with the understanding that by this you are not controlling or creating any outcome. You are simply expressing that love, which it is in your nature to! If you want to know how to let go of someone, you need to know how to love.

6: Don’t try to steer. Don’t try to solve. Don’t try to figure it out. Simply notice those urges, be aware of them, then return to your immediate responsibilities.

7: If you are angry or hurt or have negative emotions you are finding hard to deal with, that’s cool. Write them down on a piece of paper and say these are up to you to deal with, Divine- then dispose of. Preferably on a waning moon cycle.

8: Heal! But heal appropriately. When someone comes into my massage clinic with a fresh rotator cuff tear, I don’t go digging around deeply in that injury. I look to the areas around it. If your mind or heart are hurt in some way, create a framework around that hurt that is supportive and cares for you on all levels.

9: Remember there are no guarantees in this world. Any loss can occur at any time. The best we can do is act right in this present moment according to what we can control, and allow things to flow.

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HOW TO READ A SYNASTRY CHART LIKE A BOSS- NOT LIKE A WANNABE.

Synastry is amazing! It’s my favourite thing to work with, when it comes to astrology. I have a real passion for it personally, and I am very serious about my approach to it. Today, I would like to show my readers how to read a synastry chart.

This isn’t going to be an article that will show complete beginners how to read a synastry chart- that may be the subject of an upcoming post. This is more for those who have already dabbled, and would like to gain more understanding.

Synastry can, after all, lead many of us to dig deeper into astrology. What can be more energizing, awakening or perplexing than a relationship, or our need for love and companionship? Therefore, it’s going to be helpful to gain a clear handle on the issue so that we can make the most of the tools at our disposal.

So let’s get into it!

How to read a synastry chart- the basics.

First you must read each chart in isolation. That way, you get an understanding of each person and what they may bring to the dynamic. An older person may react differently to strong Saturn contacts than, say, a younger person. An Aries or Scorpio Sun is going to react differently to Mars contacts in the same way- than say a Libra Sun with Libra Moon. But always remember that the Sun is just the external persona (broadly speaking). There is more to a person, so understand each in depth before you go looking at how they may react to the dynamic.

Also consider what the relationship is about. A romantic relationship is going to count Venus as strong importance, so look at Venus contacts in this regard. For family, look at the Moon. For enemies or competitors, look at Mars and/or Saturn. A Venus-Chiron conjunction can be quite painful in the romantic relationship context, for example- but between mother and son it may not be such a strong point.

Focus in on the close aspects first. Disregard trines and sextiles to centaurs and hypothetical points (the Nodes, Chiron, Black Moon Lilith). I will personally only look into asteroids, Transneptunians and fixed stars when intuitively guided to do so- and that is rare! The close aspects are of the greater significance.

How to read a synastry chart- Overlays.

I have a pretty ad hoc approach, as I’m fairly intuitive and different charts call to be read in different ways. However, as general rule you will want to look at overlays first.

Consider the planet as something like a beacon, or as an emotional sense (depending on the nature of the planet) and the house as what is being shone into, or perceived into. The house person will perceive the planet as a presence according to that part of their life. For example:

A 12th house Mars overlay- broadly speaking, the house person can sense that there is some hidden danger to the Mars person, or they can idealise them sexually- or both! The presence of Mars is felt in the unconscious, watery 12th house- house of what is hidden and glorified. That Mars peers into the 12th, seeking to uncover what is hidden- potentially even undo.

Consider also the nature of the planets and houses. The mutable water of the 12th house lends itself to activity, psychic communication and change, the fixed water of the eighth can represent cataclysmic upheaval as well as solidity. But these will be further coloured by the sign falling on the house cusp in the natal chart. Two Gemini Moons conjunct in the 12th house- it is hard to conceive of a more profound or more active intuitive bond, but how safe will that make either of them feel emotionally?

As far as overlays go, I also consider the context of age. With a 12th house Saturn overlay, for example- there is going to be many people born that same year who will also put their Saturn into that house. Unless there’s a close conjunction or a strong age gap, there’s not going to be a huge amount of importance to it. It’s usually best to focus on the personal planets when it comes to overlays.

What about the angles?

Okay, if a planet or hypothetical point or another angle makes a close conjunction or square (within 3 degrees) with the angle, that is going to be a strongly felt effect. Allow more of an orb with the Sun or Moon. The angle person is going to feel activated on a deeply personal level. With conjunct angles or angles conjunct the Nodes I generally do see that these people have a karmic lesson underway- for good or for ill!

What about the Nodes?

I’m sure many of you have read that south node conjunctions mean a past life and that north node conjunctions are what we are destined to grow towards in this life. That’s very much a half truth. Read my article on the nodes in synastry here.

The nodal axis represents a dragon, or I like to think about it as the Midgard Serpent. Here is the opposition between stagnation and growth. Both are potential crisis points. It confines our experience in this world and represents the human journey. The south node, being the tail- is where we have comfort but not an ounce of understanding or power. The north node is the head and where we can derive wisdom, but it is not a comfortable place to be either! When the nodes are activated both are going to have to be understanding of one another and not place too many expectations or demands.

How to read a synastry chart-some considerations.

Approach with a clear head! Practice on charts that don’t hit close to home. Being invested in a situation can affect our ability to understand it clearly. That is when we let GO and Let God.

Simplify. Look at the close aspects and the significant overlays. Don’t get caught up in too much detail.

Approach with reverence and respect. Know your archetypes, modalities, elements.

How to read a synastry chart- how NOT to read a synastry chart!

Okay so here’s the things you want to try and avoid:

-Astrology is not about certainty. If you are striving for certainty on a certain issue, you will need to moderate the use of astrology in order to cultivate the mindset that is needed in order to gain clarity. The more you dig in the muddy water, the muddier it gets. Let it sit. We are not bound to our stars, nor ruled to them- things can always work out differently.

-Don’t use synastry to try and find your perfect partner, or vet people according to charts. You could miss out on something good that way, and it is a misdirection of energy. Rather, synastry is useful in helping us understand our patterns. If you want to find love, be loving and be willing to navigate a journey of ego death.

Image credit: Adrian Baxter.

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Self-acupressure for headache management

Now we’ve all heard about acupuncture and acupressure, but how many of us know that we can actually apply these principles ourselves? Now- I wouldn’t recommend that any of us go self-treating with acupuncture needles, as we can really hurt ourselves that way if we don’t know what we are doing. But with acupressure, we don’t even have to puncture the skin. All we need to know are the location of the points. Self-acupressure for headache management can be an absolutely incredible drug-free way to manage a debilitating condition. I myself apply it to great success.

So how do we apply this for headache?

Many of us who suffer from headache (myself included) can deal with this as a knock-on effect from neck tension and anxiety. Even in the case of migraine, there can be a strong co-morbid component of neck tension anxiety. Applying pressure to certain acupoints can in many cases treat the built up tension and help the area release. Strong, sustained pressure over 120 seconds is needed. You’ll know the right spot to treat if it is sore to the touch. Of course, don’t put yourself in agony. Only treat the spots you can handle.

What tools can or should I use?

Thumbs are good, if you have a good pair of thumbs! If not, you can always use anything solid and vaguely thumb-like, like a pen. I use my thumbs all day as a massage therapist, so to save mine I use a small wooden massage tool like this one:

Image of a carved wooden massage tool
available on amazon.com or aurora tables.com

At the end of the day, choose what works best for you! Remember, you’ve got to hold pressure for a count of 120 at least.

Which points to treat for headache?

This image provides a solid guide. Again, find the spot among these that is the tender spot- but not too tender! Press solidly during that 120 second count, meanwhile thinking about things that make you happy. It is worthwhile to mention that of course the best cure is prevention, so stress management and sound nutrition/hydration is key. Keep a pleasant environment around you, and be excellent to self and other.

I hope you enjoyed this! Please send me an email at thelittleowl@littleowlhealingarts.com if you have any questions.

Meditation and mindfulness: What are these, how can they help?

I bet a lot of you have heard a lot of things about meditation and mindfulness. Maybe your doctor has mentioned these things, maybe you’ve seen them in various health pamphlets before. Or perhaps you’ve delved into Buddhism or self-help practices. Whatever the case may be, you surely have noticed that these concepts are gaining a lot more sway and credence in the average Western healthcare system. These are presented as means by which we can “fix” things such as mental health issues, or gain a better outcome if we have something like hypertension. But what are these things exactly, you may be asking? Can they actually be of benefit? If so, how could they actually benefit me?

Meditation and mindfulness: What are they exactly?

To put it briefly, mindfulness is the nonjudgmental acceptance of the everyday. If you’re upset? You’re upset. If you’re doing dishes? You’re doing dishes. That should be the point of focus, if you are practicing mindfulness. So much for what may be a popular misconception around mindfulness, as something perhaps practiced by some chakra-obsessed wraith called Windsong… breathing in and out and focussing on channeling “good vibes only”. Mindfulness can be quite tough, more often than not it’s about realism. Sometimes we can want to escape the everyday, and that is cool too- we can mindfully accept that, but then bring it back to what we are needing to do here and now.

This is based on Buddhist practice, which in turn originated from the Hindu tradition. Buddha changed things up because he had once been a very severe ascetic, in the old tradition- which in Hinduism is not necessarily recommended either. However, Buddha placed the emphasis on obtaining a middle path between extremes. This is mindfulness too, not striving towards perfection- but chilling on ourselves when we make mistakes. Not being loose with ourselves and our lives, but making an effort to make good choices.

I personally find this very interesting in terms of the brain. We have a right brain and a left brain, that most of us know. However, what many of us do not know is that there is also something called the corpus callosum which joins the two. Having a healthy middle to our brain can increase our functioning under stress, and our ability to perform complicated tasks. Perhaps practicing a balance of our instincts, our creative longings and our rational thinking can help us have better, healthier brains? I’ll dig into this some more later on.

Image illustrating the corpus callosum and its position between the two cerebral hemispheres.

But enough about mindfulness. What is meditation? That’s the thing that a practitioner will sit down and do. It can take many different forms for different people, but the most common (and the most powerful, in my opinion) is a simple focus on the breath. This itself has been practiced for many thousands of years. It works because the breath moves- and the mind moves. Keeping the mind of a fixed object is going to be more difficult.

Some people will chant, pray, do breathwork with their meditation. I’m those people. I have spiritual beliefs which are important to me, and the breathwork can help calm the nervous system. Others may simply choose to focus on bringing their positive intention to those who they love. It really doesn’t matter what you connect to in meditation, as long as it is meaningful to you.

How can it be of benefit?

It’s a little bit tricky to study meditation and mindfulness and its effects on the brain, because there are so many ways of practicing these. However, it’s not too difficult to get ahold of someone like a Buddhist monk and do some scans on their brain. No study is perfect of course; there could be other lifestyle factors that lead to these results. But these results do show that the brains of practitioners are younger, healthier, and better attuned to rational decision making. A higher degree of activation of the prefrontal cortex in these brains illustrates this, along with a higher density of grey matter.

Other studies centered on individuals with mental health issues who have undergone meditation and mindfulness training report an improvement in symptoms long after the training has ceased. Most importantly, executive functioning is strongly affected. This means that these people benefit from an increased ability to make plans and stick to them, and to moderate their own thought processes.

Let’s look at a slightly gruesome example of the power of meditation.

The Burning Monk.
Image of the self-immolation of Thic Quan Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk.

You may or may not know this image. This is a monk called Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself to death in order to protest the treatment of Buddhists in Vietnam. The act, in and of itself, is a quiet testament to the power of Buddhist practice. This is as if to say “do not oppress us, look what we are capable of.” Indeed, what happened to the US army in Vietnam?

This man, over many years, cultivated the ability to co-exist peacefully with pain. He learned breathing techniques that can bring stamina and fortitude under great pressure. He also cultivated the ability to be master over his own mind, to not run screaming because of instinct but to sit calmly as an act of will.

Imagine how these qualities could help us on a journey of body and mind healing! Not letting our discomfort rule us, but letting that be the other way around. The capacity to not respond immediately to impulse, but to make clear and wise decisions that serve us well. If nothing else, perhaps we could achieve the ability to be at peace in difficult situations. Also, we could learn to work patiently and gracefully with what we are blessed to have already.

As the Buddha himself said:

“I will teach the destination, and the path leading to the destination. Listen to what I say. What is the destination? The eradication of infatuation, the eradication of hostility, and the eradication of delusion are what is called the destination. And what is the path leading to the destination? Present-moment awareness directed towards the body. This awareness is what is called the path leading to the destination. In this way, I have taught to you the destination and the path leading to the destination. That which should be done out of compassion by a caring teacher who desires the welfare of his students, I have done for you.” (Parayanasutta, 2007)

Please follow the links below for further reading!

Gallant, S. N (2016). Mindfulness meditation practice and executive functioning: Breaking down the benefit. Consciousness and Cognition 40 pp 116-130 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.01.005

Langer, E.J. and Moldovenau, M (2000). The construct of mindfulness. Journal of Social Issues, 56, –. 1-9 https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00148

Manno, F.A.M (2019). Monk on fire: The meditative mind of a burning monk. Cogent Psychology, 6:1, DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2019.1678556

Sahdra et al (2011). Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioeconomic functioning. Emotion, 11, pp. 299-312 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022764

Teper, R., Segal, S.V. & Inzlicht, M (2013). Inside the mindful mind: How mindfulness enhances emotion regulation through improvements in executive control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, pp. 449-554 https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413495869