PsychKicks© -- Am I Losing It Or Just Not Getting It?

Psych yourself up with like-minded sidekicks by exploring the symbols all around us—together.

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Synchronicity, intuition, cosmic signals

Like many people of a certain age, I sometimes forget words or names—or what I did yesterday.

When I couldn’t retrieve the name of two vegetables just days apart, I started wondering if I was becoming one. As far as I know, no one in my family on either side has had dementia. But really, who could forget the name of butternut squash and zucchini?

This really started to worry me. Of course, being a Virgo, I worry about my health a lot more than anything is ever actually wrong with me. In fact, I’ve had such good health reports lately; I wondered if the lab mixed up my results with someone else’s.

Since the nameless veggies really bugged me, I started to realize that my mental misses had a pattern. I forgot the names of two different squashes. Was I trying to squash something in my life?

While it might seem like a stretch to many people, the universe holds limitless metaphors for me and has a really wild sense of humor. I have just learned to listen--to consider in any situation that there might be a message.

This one was a two-parter. Soon I was forgetting names left and right, the names of movie stars and mere mortals. People I’ve known for years. I’d start to refer to them in a conversation and—presto!—whatever I was supposed to call them vanished. This kind of magic I want no part of.

OK, Universe. So I got to thinking that this pattern might have a message, too. Everyone forgets a name now and then, but this was happening with much greater frequency than usual for a couple of days.

What is a name, I asked myself? It’s a tagline of who we are. It’s our energy. It’s how people identify us. Hmm. Identity. Was I squashing mine? Squashing myself?

That was it exactly. I am a writer. I have written about how it’s the air I breathe and who I am. It was no longer bearable to let other responsibilities keep me from writing, even if I only had time to write a little.

That’s another reason PsychKicks was born. Once I unsquashed myself, the words just wouldn’t let up. You can always tell if you got the cosmic punchline by how you feel afterwards.

I feel like a million dollars.

This Week’s Question

Do you look for messages? If not, try it!

I’d love you to share your results in the Comments.

~~~

Photo Credits: Kids side kicking ~ keigo1027yasuda – fotolia.com, Floating Zucchini ~ © linakalina - fotola.com

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The Queen of Synchronicity

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PsychKicks© -- Summer Solstice, an Endbeginning

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Astrology and Ritual

Years ago I read an article in Yoga Journal entitled “Endbeginnings.” Most people know this concept instinctively or through adages like, “When one door closes another door opens.” The idea is expressed so often; it has almost become trite. Yet like most things, there’s more to it than meets the eye. More hidden inside.

Every ending is a beginning. Conjoining the words emphasizes how they flow into one another, often so seamlessly, we barely notice them. Most of us focus on one or the other in the transition, the end or the new beginning, usually with anxiety about one, the other or both. The term endbeginning is so yoga-like and a good reminder that change can come with ease if we simply breathe deeply and move our body and spirit in the direction we’re leaning—or being leaned by the universe.

I love the solstices and equinoxes because they are the big zodiacal endbeginnings of each year. Even those who don’t speak astrology are intimately familiar with the changes of season. These turning points offer a perfect time to pause and reflect on Here and There—where you’re going and where you’ve been.

While I’ve co-facilitated ceremonies on these Cardinal shifts for nearly 30 years, the purpose of the group process is to highlight and celebrate individual growth. At all Solsisters rituals, Christy and I focus on ways to encourage self-reflection and provide guideposts on each woman’s individual journey.
 

How to Celebrate the Solstice—All by Yourself or with Others

Sit quietly with pad and pen, maybe with some background music that goes well with this particular endbeginning such as Summer by George Winston. Write down what seeds (changes, goals, commitments) you’ve been sowing since Spring Equinox. Considering the seasons are endbeginnings, no need to Virgo it. If the seeds were planted a bit earlier than the exact Equinox date, write them down anyway.

All you have to do this summer is watch how these seeds grow between now and Autumn Equinox. I suggest revisiting your list at least weekly and making growth notes, measuring them in whatever way fits your internal yardstick. By fall you’ll be able to see what they’ve grown into—and acknowledge yourself for your accomplishments, forgive yourself where you fell short and think about where you want to go next spring planting season, with winter off to rest and reflect, learning even more from your spring and summer’s blooms as your subconscious weighs in on what happened.

And the Sun Stood Still

The dictionary definition of Solstice [1] can be found here, but my favorite part of the word solstice is its derivation. It means the Sun stood still … or at least it seems that way on the first day of summer when we pause and pivot from the longest day, inching into slow-growing darkness till dark dominates at Winter Solstice. Within that concept is the reminder that we, too, should stand still on these thresholds to appreciate where we are in the Turning of the Wheel, as we progress around the zodiac and our lives. It’s in silence and reflection—followed by revelry!—where the richness of life is discovered.

This Week’s Question

In what ways will you celebrate spring into summer’s endbeginning?

You’re encouraged to share in the Comments.

~~~

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Photo Credit: keigo1027yasuda – fotolia.com

Related Article: Astrology and Ritual

Note

[1] "solstice". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 17 Jun. 2017. <Dictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com/browse/solstice>.

An Endbeginning for The Radical Virgo

All healing is a quest for wholeness. Few people get there with just one medicine, tool or in a single leap. After much reflection and time away from writing to care for my husband over the past two-and-a-half years, I’ve realized that I want to write about all facets of metaphysics and my personal medicine bag, not just astrology.

And I want to write about intuition, how we hone it as the guide to wholeness and the glue that holds all the parts of us together. To a certain extent, I already have, but my need to make this mixed media approach my main focus was an epiphany.

Like Chiron, the patron saint of this blog, I am a holistic healer. (When I turned 60, I had a croning ceremony where I accepted a necklace that says Heals with Words.) I have always wondered why I’d get to a certain place with astrology and feel uncomfortable, tired of analyzing and writing about its technicalities—and limiting my reach only to those who know its complex language. There are many other astrologers who translate the stars with enthusiasm and endless energy. They do it well.

My role is integrative like Chiron’s. He was a surgeon, herbalist, astrologer, musician, mentor and hero-maker. From this realization, PsychKicks was born. I hope you find much to discover from “all of me.” I'll keep my option open for writing strictly astrological posts whenever the spirit moves.