Thursday, December 31, 2015

New Year’s Blessings and 2016 Changes on The Radical Virgo





Dear Radical Readers,

I have so much to share with you about my 2015— now morphing into 2016—and all the personal evolution it has inspired. Above all, this post is from my heart to yours about how much this blog means to me and where we go from here.

Hubby’s Health. As most of you know, my husband Tim’s health took a downturn in February. He has a slowly progressive muscle disease, Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy Type 2. Due to a complex of related health issues, he lost his mobility prematurely right around Valentine’s Day. He is now in a wheelchair. His care needs are complex and even as a “radical Virgo,” the sudden reality of 24/7 caregiving has been shocking and overwhelming, the hardest work I have ever done. It is also, in many ways, the most rewarding.

I have thought many times this year, who but an extreme Virgo could give such round-the-clock personal service? Love does what love calls for. At times it has been isolating, joining (so many people want to help), and confounding as I’ve had to learn to be a nurse, physical therapist and chief cook and bottle washer for two adults and one cat. Except for wife and cat mom, I have no training in those other jobs. The learning curve has been fierce and demanding. The physicality required of helping a nearly 200-lb. man with wheelchair transfers and personal care has been a huge challenge for me at five-foot-nothing and being so not-a-jock. (I have developed biceps!) I still want time to be a wife, companion, and cat mom. To play with Kira and her nip mouse and watch her chase her laser beam. Even though my license plate says HIGH NRG, my vitality has been in the basement. I’ve had to take measures I’d never consider before just to have the juice to keep going, including medication for depression. (I’m lucky it has worked optimally at a relatively low dosage and I’m “me” again after months of being a wrung-out dishrag version of the old Joyce.)

Astrology Lessons. I have often written on this blog about my Jupiter trine Mars (in water, no less) and my tendency to overdo just about everything. This year of forced focus on family and the nitty gritty of daily living has been a revelation for me. There has been a lot of “right sizing” and release of perfectionism. (No one can be perfect at caregiving, the first thing I have ever undertaken that I cannot master and have surrendered my will to try.) I have learned to ask for help (huge for me) and to be the recipient instead of always the giver. (I’m singing a new Nep-tune.)

I “get” Pluto better than ever. Being a very Cardinal person, the Uranus-Pluto square has been ravaging me for several years. Of course, I resisted giving up the things Lord Pluto insisted upon—my beloved home of 17 years in favor of one that’s more accessible for Tim, starting with a single-level and wider doors for his wheelchair. Writing has had to be on the back burner. Astrology has insisted that I give it a vacation as a leader and become more of a follower, stepping into my lifelong star-student role. For now I’m dabbling in astrological conversations primarily on Facebook and not living every waking hour by my ephemeris. I am humbly grateful that while I have had to give up my husband as he was; his overall health is holding, and we are both still here, enjoying each other enormously. Humor has been our buoy on all these choppy waters.

What I’ve learned from all these changes, at a very visceral level, is that they represent what must die in me before my resurrection. I’ve been “threatening” to downsize my activity on The Radical Virgo for at least two years, probably longer. The Radical Reposts of 2015 have been a break and a breather to decide what to do next, and also to create an index by topic of the majority of posts. If and when I have an opportunity, I’ll create a page where the topics and related posts are up for a grand tour of the highlights of this nearly seven-year-old blog.

The Move is the Key. For now, it will take all my energetic resources to accomplish our move—the prerequisite to many more positive changes. (This year I could hardly get through the day, much less find the extra energy to prep for a move.) The sale of our home will loosen our finances, along with a significant income increase coming in autumn. These breaks will have a divine domino effect, allowing us to hire more help for Tim so I can resume the creative life and not be so tied to caregiving. We’ll be able to afford a van with an electronic ramp and increase our ability to get around with ease and as often as we want. I won’t bore you with the details of what it takes me to help transfer Tim in and out of the car at present and how stressful and tiring the job I forgot to mention—chauffeur to endless appointments—can be. What’s important is that to go forward, I have to put other things aside for the time being.

The Radical Virgo in 2016. As of this post, The Radical Virgo blog is on occasional post status. I’m sure I won’t be able to resist at least a poem at the Cardinal turning points, perhaps more if the spirit moves and an energy spurt bubbles up—or I need for a break from moving-related chores that happens to coincide with an astrological or metaphysical insight I want to share. These are likely to be the shorter Munchies for Astro-Thought type posts.

If you’ve followed the Radical Reposts, you know there is so much to rediscover on this blog before anything new is added. I read the reposts sometimes that popped up as “popular” in my statistics. They feel new to me. I rarely remember what I wrote and how it came to me! The reposts have allowed me to appreciate what an amazing body of astrological literature exists here and how much of it is channeled or co-created with Spirit. As I have captured and indexed the posts by topic, I have said “whew!” so many times. This Virgo has really earned a rest after 429 posts, most of them full-length articles.

Facebook. The more active and interactive Radical Virgo site is now this blog’s Facebook page. Even if you’re not big on Facebook, I urge you to consider learning what a positive and exciting “school” it can be for all things spiritual. When you befriend with awareness and share the good, Facebook can be a haven of love and inspiration. I post many fun and informative things and plenty of shares from other astrologers.


Visit The Radical Virgo on Facebook—often!
It’s where it’s happening now! https://www.facebook.com/radicalvirgo



Hug the New Year.  Embrace change. This is the biggest lesson I’ve taken away from my Uranus/Pluto transits. Whenever I have resisted my current caregiving role and resented its intrusion on my plans (like the next novel), I made myself miserable. The more I accepted it, the more I saw its tremendous gifts, like helping me learn to simplify my complicated life. Hard as it is to imagine in the midst of anger and resistance, Pluto really has our good at heart. Thanks to being “decked” energetically, I’ve learned the value of rest and have woven it into my life as a permanent habit. I’ve certainly learned at a new level that love is all that matters.

I want to take this moment to give all my readers a virtual hug for your love and support. This blog has fed my spirit and allowed me to express my astrological ideas and creativity for the first square of a Saturn cycle. It’s one of the loves of my life! Earlier in the year, I thought I might have to abandon posting all together and put the blog on archive status … but one of my lessons in toning down my Jupiter/Mars is that things don’t have to be all or nothing. I’ve done All most of my life. It’s now time to learn to bend with the times and make the most out of the moment.

I’m glad for my astrological hiatus, as it’s helping me to avoid burnout, which gives me hope for more starry conversations and contributions in the future.

Meanwhile, see you here now ‘n’ then and on Facebook more often. Posting short, speedy tidbits works well for this era of my life.

Wishing you your best New Year ever,
Joyce

Photo Credit: © penguinline - Fotolia.com


Full List of Facebook Opportunities!

In addition to Joyce Mason - The Radical Virgo on Facebook, which focuses on astrological posts and shares, including links to posts on this Radical Virgo blog, there are four other ways to connect with me on Facebook:

Joyce Mason – Personal news, inspiration, booster shots of positivity and occasional highlights of my writing life. This is where I post the most, including a few general  audience Astro-tidbits. (The more technical Astro-stuff is on The Radical Virgo, above.)

Writer Joyce Mason – Dedicated to quotes and inspiration about reading and writing, New Ink blog posts and news about my non-astrological writing projects.

Chiron and Wholeness – News on my Chiron primer and topics that relate to its content.

Keywords to Unlock Chiron – News on my ultimate Chiron book to date and its publication path from PDF to (eventually!) paper and other formats. Keywords explores 50 words or phrases that teach us just about everything we'll ever need to know about the Chiron archetype. (Available for purchase on the sidebar of this blog.)



Monday, December 21, 2015

The Coming: A Winter Solstice Meditation






© 2015 by Joyce Mason


Dark illuminates
our inner light
in the holy place
between breaths.
The First, Second
and Eternal Coming
dawn on us
Our Oneness with
Air
Inspiration
Spirit
Timelessness.

Quiet is not just a sanctuary.
It’s the feel of divinity,
the sound of Om,
the taste of sweetness,
the touch of angels and ancestors.

Let us go willingly into the dark
guided by our inward candle.
May the darkest day be just the beginning
of endless Sabbaths,
pauses to catch and be our breath.
May everywhere we go
be a manger of new birth and salvation.

 ~~~

Photo Credits: Defyclassic | Dreamstime.com




Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Perfect Gifts—Healing, Longevity and Astrology—All for $2.99 - $14.95!






It’s that time of year to remind Radical Readers how easy it is to shop for gift books right here, right now! Last minute? No problem with the instantaneous delivery of eBooks and quick turnaround options on paperbacks via Amazon.

The Crystal Ball is party between the covers, an exciting New Year’s Eve mystery novel, romance and mini-course on longevity. If you have friends or family into metaphysics or astrology, who are on the fence, or if you want to give the curious (or even skeptics) a gentle nudge to consider some new ideas, this is “the” gift that’ll do it for you. The paperback version has a gorgeous cover and many readers buy them in multiples to share the humor and fast-paced mystery. Read all about it on the link above! Five stars on Amazon! Current price there is $14.95. Only $2.99 for the Kindle version. See link at the beginning of the paragraph for other purchase options (here’s B&N) and to download a sample on  joycemason.com. You can also get a sample on Amazon Kindle. Note the option to give as a gift on the Kindle version. The Give as a Gift bar located on the right, just below the option to get a sample.

 
Or you could give them the stars. Popular eBooks on Chiron, the outer planets and range from $7.95 - $9.95. Chiron and Wholeness is available on Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook as well as via PDF, as are the astrology other books right here on The Radical Virgo website sidebar.

The gift of fun, knowledge and healing add a triple header of joy to your loved ones’ world. These presents will keep on giving and won’t be hard on your wallet, either.



Blessings of the Season from The Radical Virgo and Family,
Joyce

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Radical Reposts: Winter Holidays Extravaganza





From poems to quotes, from articles to jokes: Winter on The Radical Virgo has always spanned the ridiculous to the sublime, the holy to the ho-ho-ho.

The Winter Solstice prayers, poems and meditations have already been posted. Onto the other categories with warmest wishes for a holiday season filled with laughter, wisdom and love.

Articles


Happy Holidays is not so much a matter of being politically correct or externally polite. It is greeting that acknowledges of all beliefs. An essay on including everyone, with a reminder of the pain that can be caused by ignoring what others hold dear when it’s different from your perspective.

I saw my friends and I allowing ourselves to be in I would call “positive vulnerability.” It’s a kind of openness that’s not an invitation to victimhood but rather the bedrock of honesty. Nothing but another person’s truth can enter the space once this “truth of your being” is expressed. It’s an environment that catalyzes deep change, because it goes to the heart of your issues and how your own heart will deal with them. There’s an energy around it that is post-traumatic, the part where the pain or strain is “venting” off your body and spirit like a mist, leaving behind only a pure and empty vessel of new creation. This place is sacred. 

Whether you’re in introvert or extrovert has a lot to do with how you manage winter. The zodiacal process expressed from Capricorn through Pisces represents, going from most dark to the cusp of increasing light—from slowdown to preparing to “spring” into new activity. Here are some thoughts on how this works.

I thought we could go around the zodiac and look at the various “instruments of peace” that might be played by the 12 archetypes of the zodiac—one for each of the 12 Days of Christmas, if you like. (The universe does love the number 12.) This, of course, involves seeing each sign in its highest potential.  And, of course, read with your combo of astrological influences in mind, not just your Sun sign.


Humor


Let’s face it. The holiday season can bring up old wounds like nobody’s business, especially when you combine high stress with relatives. Here’s my suggestion. Shop their Chiron signs!

Every holiday carol is likely to be loved by some signs more than others. I asked my alter ego, Auntie Joyce, to scratch her head and share her ideas and acerbic wit on which holiday tunes go with which singers in the zodiac. Here’s a taste of her which-craft!

Years ago, I worked in a place where we did outrageous holiday entertainment at our parties. One of the traditions I started was to create Kinky Carols, where we twisted the verses of traditional holiday tunes to suit our whims. This is an example, hot off the presses, just in time for this ChrismaSolstiHanuzkaa.

Rituals and Ceremonies


Links to the two main ceremonies I do with my Solsisters every Winter Solstice, the Ceremony of Recognition and Burning t he Old. You can do these individually or in a group. A great tradition!

My Solsisters group is a quarter century old! I consider the practice of doing rituals at the Cardinal turning points—many add the cross-quarters —to be the most practical and experiential astrology we can practice.

New Year’s


Aries ~ New Year's Day is every man's birthday. ~Charles Lamb …

Gemini: I’m good at writing. Doorbell. Hi, Max! Oh, I have to TiVo my four programs that are on at the same time. What am I supposed to do again? My phone is ringing.

Winding down:
quiet as snow falling
Calendar switching
hushed as a church
before midnight
Darkness
awaits
dawn …

 



Quotes


VIRGO: One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day.  Don't clean it up too quickly. ~Andy Rooney



~~~

Photo Credit: © Michele Paccione – Fotolia.com