Blue Moon

A blue moon rises tonight as the year comes to a close: a perfect opportunity for a little candle magic.

Maybe a small house with chickens and a goat, gardens, a grove, and a pool, and a view of the ocean and the life this home would support.

Eight Diagram Palm

Tom Bisio in 12 Posture Zhan Zhuang.
I find this breathtaking.

"In practice, the Ba Gua practitioner steps and turns moving smoothly like a swimming dragon, swooping and spiraling like a hawk, coiling like a snake, and changing postures nimbly like a monkey."

Repost: Secrets to a Happy Marriage

When Joanna of Cup of Jo went on her honeymoon this fall, she invited several people to guest blog on her site their secrets to a happy marriage. One of my favorites was by Craig Nova. Don't miss the link to the letter he wrote to his beautiful daughter Abbey on her wedding day.

Fourth Month of Pregnancy

(Art by Shinichi Maruyama)

In the fourth month of pregnancy, the fetus opens to the essence of the element of water. This element constitutes the pool of genetic inheritance, including the "unconsious reservoir of intuitive intelligence, will, and life-force energy". It relates to the "divine love, power, and spirit" that is ancestrally available to the fetus.

In the fourth month of pregnancy, the connective tissue develops, the matrix by which everything is connected in this new being. It is the matrix of "intercellular communication," and can be thought of as the scaffold of the astral body.

Acupuncture during this stage of development can be particularly beneficial to the pregnant woman.

(Primary source: Sui Dynasty Imperial Physician Chao Yuan Fang as written in Energetic Anatomy and Physiology (Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy, Volume 1) by Jerry Alan Johnson)

Winter Solstice

(image via SoundsandFury)

The winter solstice is today at 12:47 pm in New York. The longest night, the shortest day.

Recommendations from Shamanic Astrology:

"Solstice, like a New Moon cycle for the year, is a beautiful time to create quiet space to meditate on your deepest intentions for the coming year. It is a good time to engage ceremonially in whatever way you may be moved to give gratitude for the blessings of the year past, to release all that is no longer needed, and invoke the new seeds of growth for a coming year.


This day is powerful beyond measure, as it is informed by the Triple Aquarian Conjunction, as Jupiter conjuncts Neptune, then Chiron in the sign of Aquarius for the 3^rd and final time—then the moon conjuncts all three, magnifying the impact of the aspect.


Be sure to ask for guidance and assistance from Spirit, and as you do, imagine how it feels to trust life, to trust that all is unfolding as it should. Imagine how it might feel to live a life in alignment with Grace, to know how to dance with all that Is—not fighting, not seeking for anything to be other than it is. Imagine the absolute inner transformation and ecstasy that would be part of this state of being. If you have angels or guides, invite them to be with you, assisting you in this process of intention setting and deep prayer."