In this Issue of “Quickening the Rhythms of Change” Please scroll down to read your favorite parts:

-Fall Cycles: from Fall Equinox: Mabon, to Samhain: Hallowmas & All Souls Day

-Self-Reflection: Breathing Inward

-Open Your Body to Spirit: The Energy of Menopause Workshop Series, Relaxation Clinic & Relaxation Yoga Classes

-Intuitive Energy Readings: Focusing on Stress & Menopause

Fall Equinox arrived this year on September 23, and in its wake rides Samhain, the Celtic New Year. October 31st marks Samhain Eve or Hallowmas, and opens the veils to otherworldly energies, encouraging communication with our ancestors from dusk that day through the dawn on All Souls Day. After a long night’s celebration and the final harvest dance of gratitude, we light our last candle as Cerridwen guides us skillfully us beyond the last vestiges of summer. We glide gradually down one step at a time through the layers of moisture and soil, pausing and reflecting on the year past, eventually finding our way into Earth’s womb where we remain until Winter Solstice. With this turn of the wheel we ready ourselves for darkness, remembering and surrendering to natural cycles and the rhythmic journey inward. Be grateful for the Fall as it emerges in full color all around you; look forward to the rest, rejuvenation and transformation only the shadowy unknown can offer.

Into the West

Elemental Energies

As the wheel of the year turns westward toward the setting sun over the cosmic sea, our soul’s journey or “anam turas,” turns west as well, making its way toward TirNaNog, the magical place of youth that lies beyond our earthly sight, deep in the heather of another world.

Fall Equinox, the time starting at the end of September through Halloween, is the end, the final place on the Wheel before life’s re-inception. It is a visionary time during which we prepare for the final harvest, reigniting our commitment to the cosmic plan and our search for the mysteries of the Universe inside us.

In autumn we stand on the first steps, barely opening the gate to a temporary resting place after an abundant growing season, making our way inward and downward. Like Inanna, we will soon prepare and embrace the presence of our personal winter, relishing the darkness until the light shines bright again.

Eriu by Deidre O’Reilly

Beginning at the western balance point of equal dark and equal light, we honor the Earth as she harvests apples, nuts and grains for the last quarter of our annual journey. Before our departure, we share our abundance with deep gratitude for the community, our soul friends and their wisdom. We sing our good-byes to the extroverted and transformational fires of summer while dancing together over a light speckled sea. And then we begin the slow turn inward, curling and cuddling into a place of our own, all alone.

Now, while we celebrate, the graying Mother empties her nest and gives way to the crone in perfect time with the green leaves making way for the deeper more mature colors of autumn. We no longer dance on the slick and shiny surfaces, instead allowing ourselves to be absorbed back into the hues of gold, orange, red and brown as the leaves fall quietly from their branches, soon crumbling beneath our feet. From our vantage point in the sunlight above we give way to the land below, burying ourselves in the soils of curiosity and courage.

Here we dive, sliding into our earthly womb on the element of the water that cleanses as we surrender to its currents, its turns and flows. Water transports us toward our destination at the single point of oneness and global awareness. Water speaks to water across the horizon and we soak in the fluids of its essence, taking small bites of earthly knowledge from the apples to open our hearts and minds along the way. Apples and cool river waters guide us, alchemizing knowledge into wisdom as we move slowly into the shadows.

Celebrate! You have successfully turned the Wheel of the Year once again and are ready for the wisdom of your ancestors, returning to the womb for healing and rebirth. Honor the seeds you planted long ago; love the sproutlings that grew into flowers, vegetables, nuts, fruits, and grains; for now you are prepared and abundant as you give way to your evolution, turning yourself into ashes to fertilize the ground for the seeds of the new year.

Read More about Fall Equinox here.

Samhain: Celtic New Year

Energy of the Season

Summer’s end draws back the heavy curtain for a moment, thinning the veils between worlds and expanding our awareness of the Divine. As the Wheel of the Year turns to darkness on the eve of All Soul’s Day, dusk marks the beginning of Samhain or Hallowmas, celebrating harvest and slaughter, death and rebirth, our link to the past and the ancient ones who made us.

On Samhain eve we dance to the drums that pound out Earthly rhythms. We shake off old patterns, moving to the beat of our instincts, much faster than our minds are able to even think. Almost transfigured, we see into the past before it is time to go into hibernation.

Bodies undulate unabashedly all around as the bonfire roars, throwing bones into the scorching heat of transformation. Healing begins as we look into the reflections of change within the flames; we begin to see ourselves and consciously sink into our ancestral roots to guide and transmute us. We intuitively call upon the wise guardians of our lineage long past, looking into their eyes for wisdom, clarity and release.

Cerridwen by Courtney Davis

As the pumpkins, squashes and gourds are harvested, their seeds naturally fall to the ground from the once bountiful stalks. Lying dormant through the dark cycle, they will gather life force to breakthrough the soil’s surface come spring. We also plant our personal seeds during this turn of the wheel with intentions to begin anew, shedding old skin and eventually rising stronger from the ashes of our outworn ways in spring’s first light.

The cycle gradually darkens; we navigate the steps downward even further into the safety of Mother’s womb, bidding farewell to the setting sun and welcoming the rebirth we know is to come. It’s all part of the cycle of life, birth, death and rebirth.

Like the harvested and browning vines, part of us dies and turns to ashes, protecting and fertilizing the ground for planting later in the cycle. And as the dying chaffs lie in the fields awaiting transport to the Otherworld, the veils lift, opening the gateway for our ancestors’ momentary return. They come back through the dimensions to celebrate with us one last time.

We honor them here, on our terms, on our human turf, before they journey beyond our reach, before they ascend into the next house of existence. The celebration of Samhain is a feast of thanksgiving; all are welcome!

Lighting our personal candles at last, from the courage of the community flame, we silently walk the labyrinth, spiraling inward step by step. When eve turns to night and night to dawn, food and energy is stored for the long, deep season of winter. Once inside the cave, our candle flame flickers, its beacon lighting the way as we begin the slow journey homeward. This tiny flame of recognition reminds us why we are here in this place of peaceful rest and healing, exploring our shadow worlds until the Wheel turns again.

Read More About Samhain Here.

 

Self Reflection

Breathing Inward

Conscious breath calls us inward, slowing our nervous system, relaxing the body and quieting the mind. Self-reflection can really only be practiced when we are in sync with our deepest inner rhythm, the one that matches the Earth’s pulsing tides, and a place more easily accessed through intentional inspiration and expiration.

Close your eyes, and begin by breathing through your nose, into the center of your head, calling your attention inward. Exhale down along your spine, out through the tailbone, into the center of the Earth. Repeat this simple cycle 9 times. Now imagine the same basic cycle of breath, this time re-circulating it inside your body. Feel it brushing your spine as you inhale up the back, and then exhale down the front of the spine. Repeat this simple cycle 9 times as well. Sit for a few moments afterwards, noticing how you feel in your body.

Now move on to the next part of the practice exploring the two breathing cycles (with links to the audios) that will help you find your way to meet and connect with your inner self.

Inner Rhythms: Humming Bee Breath

Listen to the podcast here.

Sounds of the Sea

Listen to the podcast here.

When you have completed the breathing cycles, sit for a period of time (5-10 minutes) feeling, sensing and seeing the rhythms of your body as they link to the breath of spirit.

Listen to more podcasts on Sacred Spaces.

 

Open Your Body to Spirit

Classes, Workshops & Open Studio

The Energy of Menopause

Exploring the Spiritual Transitions & Energetic Connections to Menopause

Intuitive Energy Readings

$50 per session

-Finding the Energetic Roots of Stress
The roots of stress & anxiety are often found in the body’s resistance to the
free movement of spiritual energies. In your session we look at your energy, how it moves through your physical & subtle bodies, your spiritual anchor points, potential blocks, and a next step on your self-healing journey.

-The Energy of Menopause
Menopause is a spiritual transition, a grand and sacred occurrence that demands
deep self-nurturing from within. In your session we look at your female creative energy, masculine & feminine energy balance, your genetic overlays and a next step on your self-healing journey.

We Specialize in Stress, Anxiety and Menopause.

 

The Energetic Connection guides you to honor your body as a sacred hologram imbued with wisdom for self-healing. We offer courses, audios & resources to open your body to spirit, and of course, to help you de-stress.

Sacred Bodies, Sacred Rhythms is the local Santa Fe anchor for the Energetic Connection and its programs. Please visit the Relaxation Clinic on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:30am-1:30pm & 4:30-6:30pm; 1600 Lena Street, F-5 in Santa Fe. Call 505-795-6865.

In this Issue of “Quickening the Rhythms of Change” Please scroll down to read your favorite parts:

-Summer Cycles: from Solstice to First Harvest at Lughnasadh

-Elements of Stress: Functions of Stress, What, Why & How

-Self-Reflection: How Do You Express your Stress?

-Emergence CD: Exploring the Internal Rhythms & Energies of Sun, Moon & Synergy

-Open Your Body to Spirit: Online Courses & Programs to Help Abate Stress

SUMMER CYCLES

On the Celtic Wheel of the Year, Summer actually begins on May 1st with Beltane. Solstice, or Mid-Summer, is the exact point of the Sun’s highest light in the annual cycle. It is from this pinnacle that Goddess Sulis holds the balance of fire and water, while the Sun blasts open the doors to our outer world, encouraging celebration, cleansing, transformation and play. This year Summer Solstice peaked on June 21st at 3:16 Mountain Time.

Further along the Wheel, Lughnasadh is traditionally about 6 weeks later on August 1. Long ago, and quite possibly in another dimension, Lugh honored his foster mother, Tailtiu, for her prolific planting of Ireland. At this point on the Wheel, we celebrate the first harvest of fruits, flowers and bountiful grain crops. Also known as Lammas, or loaf-mass, Lughnasadh calls in the time when the sun begins its path down into darkness once again.

The Wheel of the Year makes its way around the southern bend of Summer Solstice into a standoff with Winter. At the Sun’s highest point,its light is now still a warm and building Yang energy that encourages our attention outward.

Easing out the door slowly through the summer cycle we encounter our child-like sensuality. As the doorway slowly opens wider, the light bleeds even further through the crack. Taking in the smells and sounds of this new season, we celebrate the full opening as we embrace our bodies, singing and dancing as the heat finally bakes us from the inside out. Pulling on the creaks and the cold, the stagnancy deep in our bones finally dissipates.

Nature expresses effortlessly through us while we run and play in this time of great and rapid growth. In the Summer, we are driven by the element of Fire, and in balance, we call on the element of Water and other cool, Moon-like qualities to meet this most potent and natural form of masculine energy. Not yet edgy, the Sun God couples with the purest feminine, Cancerian energies and the the archetypal Goddesses of the season.

This image of Sulis was found through Google Images. Click on the word “Sulis” to go to The Mosaic Maker.

As Queen, Sulis leads the way, holding the polarities of Fire and Water in her making. Masculine and feminine, sun and moon, she is one with herself, a completely individuated female who expertly guides us further into the light. With her, we move beyond our known borders, searching until we reach equal darkness once the Fall cycle begins.

At Summer Solstice we look to the South where the fires of transformation burn; songs of life and its sweet melodies dance on the breeze. A chorus of frogs and birds, two and four-leggeds, everyone harmonizes, calling out in enthusiasm. The sounds of the rain falling, percussive-like in the background, entrance us like drumbeats to remind us that all is not lazy here and we continue to create shifts in our consciousness effortlessly while we play.

The fresh cleansing smells–combined with the pounding, snapping sounds of water falling on Earth beneath the Heavens–excavate the tunnel between our conscious and subconscious minds. At Solstice, we awaken more clearly to our mythical memories.

On this balance point, we stir our desires. With courage to look into the original mirror, the ocean’s depths, seeing our own reflections. In absence of the sea, we find it in the sky, pouring watery energy down from the heavens. The Summer expands time and space, so we listen to sounds of the sea in the sky, and the ringing call of the Goddess who holds all things in equanimity.

Hail to the blue heron who carries us through the gateway; hail to the blue green sea reflected in the sky; hail to the Queen of emotion, the mistress of compassion, for witnessing our dive. May they reveal our innermost feelings, our deepest emotions and bring them to the surface for expression and healing. Hail to the Sun whose fiery light calls in the soul of the Water at Summer Solstice.

You can read more about the Summer Solstice in the Muse of Summer Solstice

Lughnasadh is the celebration of the Mother as she offers up the abundance of  her feminine nature for humankind. In the feast of the fruits and flowers, we call on the elements of water and earth to honor the wells and the mountains; the first harvest, and the transition of Summer into Fall. Here we honor both gods and goddesses in celebration of the shadow and the light, the mysteries, the warmth of the Sun and the cool breath of the Moon at night.

I have searched for the artist who created this image of Tailtiu and have come up empty handed. If anyone knows the artist, please let me know and I will give credit here.

As the Wheel of the Year turns upward from the South into the West, we meet Lugh (lookgh) a highly skilled immortal who having traveled far and wide experiencing many trials, comes back to live at Tara, the hill of kings. Born of the Tuatha De Danann (tuaay die danan), a tribe known as the gods of humanity, he makes his way home after years of fosterage and helps his people wrestle Ireland from the rule of the Fomoraig (Fomorians), the gods of chaos and wild nature.

Lugh is a god of light, and nasadh is the binding promise he made to his foster mother, Tailtiu, Queen of the Fir Bolg tribe that preceded even the Tuatha De Danann. As the Queen lay dying of exhaustion from clearing the whole of Ireland for agriculture, Lughnasadh, was born as her funereal festival.

More than just an acknowledgment of a mother passing into the otherworld, Lughnasadh is symbolic of the agreement between all living beings and our planet, an honoring of the last sheath of grain, woven through corn husks in the image of woman. These corn dollies were the effigies and receptacles for all woes and shadow states of the tribe that were absorbed and held throughout the year by women. These energies were finally purged at Lughnasadh into the corn dolls during their making, then burned to transmute the energy, using the dross to fertilize new ground for Spring planting.

Feasting on the harvest; singing and dancing to celebrate hand-fasting; competitive games for the men to prove their physical prowess was equal to that of Lugh; the long arms of heat from bonfires that lit up the night sky, symbolizing the powerful light of the Sun in Lugh; and the distinctive yet humble torches carried only by goddesses who’d been into the underworld and back again. This is the festival of victory–the brilliant light against the powers of darkness–as the Wheel turns once more into the West. Now begins the first cycle of Fall.

You can read more about the first harvest and Lughnasadh in the Muse of Lughnasadh

ELEMENTS OF STRESS

What is stress?

More so most recently, our planet works overtime, flinging elemental energies around wildly as she expresses her stress and power. Stern and loud, her voice speaks to us about our own rouge expressions, reflecting back the chaos within our human beingness. She not only asks us to handle more and more external change as our cells re-call the ancient ways and how then, we acknowledged our lack of control over the elements. She also begs us to transform our inner terrain, and when we don’t have ears to hear, we feel the roar of her soul vibrating through our bones.

Whether planetary or not, stress is elemental; it’s built into our human design, residing deep within the bones of our DNA. We’re programmed with both the ability to respond to, and create, stress as an integral part of our nervous system as it runs through and connects our physical and subtle bodies. Stress is the hot, red, reactive, efferent impulse of control and desire for power over our environment. Yes, and in the moments when it’s a bit quieter and more productive, it’s also the active, masculine side of our genetic make-up; even women have this energetic and physiological construct.

I’m sure you know it well.

Admit it or not, we’ve all experienced stress and or masculine energy in different moments throughout life and have a lot of memories about how it feels or felt to be stressed and or empowered. I bet you can pull up a mental image picture or a feeling of both pretty easily.  Which of provides the kind of physical sensation, emotion or thought patterns that you’d like to repeat, over and over in your life?

How do you want to embrace your masculinity (whether male or female)? How do you want to be in relationship with this phenomenon and what side of the line do you choose? Will you continue to re-create and experience the edgy sides of stress, or will you call up memories of rest and relaxation, perpetuating ease and gentler sensations instead? Would you rather feel the cool, blue, responsive afference and calming imagery? Maybe someplace inside of us, there’s a balance point we can register in our wiring.

This image of the Redwood grove is my own.

Why do we stress?

Let’s start with some habits. Does any of this sound familiar?

1. Striving (struggling) to make things happen.

2. Completing everything so there’s nothing to do before going to bed or on a trip. Or, doing one last thing before leaving the house.

3. Rushing from one appointment to the next.

4. Hurrying up so you can relax.

5. Driving fast everywhere you go.

6. Always about 5 minutes late because you leave right when you need to be where you’re going

8. Using power over people in your life.

9. PROCRASTINATION and CONTROL!!

These are all very basic and fairly normal stress states, though they’re really only symptoms of what lies much deeper within us. Will you be one to discover what’s underneath the sprawling superficial layers that cover the root system? If we know we’re creating more stress by acting in these ways,  WHY do we perpetuate it? Or do we even notice?

Many of us actually like stress because it’s in our nature to push the envelope. Just how far, and in what ways can we push it for purposes of learning and growing before it truly becomes a stress monster or even an addiction?

Read more about the Elements of Stress

How does the Cycle Work?

It’s also in us to be stressed in the right circumstances; that’s the true rhythmic and elemental piece. Like food, if we’re addicted to stress, how do we find balance without becoming overweight, diabetic or anorexic; and in this instance, complacent and apathetic or dead in the face of a kumodo dragon on some movie screen?

In simple terms, here’s the way our system expresses stress: the fore brain perceives a potentially dangerous situation and transmits this information to the hypothalamus deep in the midbrain. The hypothalamus sends a message via the sympathetic (masculine, Yang, Sun) branch of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) to the endocrine system (pituitary, adrenals) which then pumps up the appropriate chemicals and limbs to deal with this danger. In the end, it’s usually adrenalin that overtakes our systems making us feel fast, strong and powerful, able to overcome anything. So we run away, or we stand and take on the challenge. This is better known as fight or flight and it takes us right back to our mammalian and sometimes reptilian patterns.

But you already know that.

 

This image of the autonomic nervous system originates here.

How wonderful to feel so formidable!  Our ego-minds get engaged encouraging us saying, “let’s do that again!” And so the cycle perpetuates.

Read more about the cycle of stress.

Get free visualization audio downloads and read more about the Autonomic Nervous System here.

SELF REFLECTION

I’ve learned a little lately by watching myself create stress out of thin air. Because of that self observation, now, instead of making haste when I’m at home feeding the cats or making dinner, I move thoughtfully and slowly; I breathe while I work; I drive the speed limit more and more, and I’ve begun to give myself time in between engagements. These are the simple things I do to shift my programming.

This image of the Crescent City, CA lighthouse is my own.

One of the sources for my stress, I’ve fairly recently discovered, is driven by a need to please. Now this isn’t profound, yet it’s something we all do at some level. It can be incredibly insidious. We often ignore and or we continue to find deeper levels of it. It’s not hard to spot this trait in others, though our own blind spots get bigger as we get stiffer. Take a moment to honestly inquire within about how you try to please other people.

Do you see it? Why do you do this?

How does it appear, in what situations, and where does it come from? Its origins are probably linked to a deep desire for relationship, fear of losing those relationships or some other deeply rooted survival concern which honestly could be just as stressful as the obsessive compulsive act of pleasing. Even the relationship you have with your personal image, your work and other definitions in the world are at stake here. Read more about Stress & Self Reflection.

 

EMERGENCE

De-stress and balance yourself. Check out our new meditation and visualization CD, “Emergence.” It’s an experiential series exploring the energies of Sun, Moon and Synergy. You can purchase and download it immediately by clicking here.

 

OPEN YOUR BODY TO SPIRIT

Online educational opportunities in:

Self-Mastery

Opening to Spirit 1:Exploring Ceremony, Healing and Intuition

Opening to Spirit II:

Balancing Sun & Moon, Fire & Water

We offer self-study in 6, 12 and 14-week courses as well as single sessions in all courses if all you want is a little bite.

 

THE ENERGETIC CONNECTION guides you to honor your body as a sacred hologram imbued with wisdom for self-healing. We offer courses, audios & resources to open your body to spirit, and of course, to help you de-stress.