Sacred Journeys – On Tuning In to Your Spirit Essence

By the time you read this, Mars will no longer be retrograde (which it was from April 17 to June 29). During this retrograde period, there was also a ‘grand cross’ smack in the middle of it. Did you notice during this period that you found your personal story being taken apart in such a way that you had no choice but to shift onto a new storyline? Some of you will have recognized what it was right away, and others may need to think about the subtle but deep shift and the resulting need to reorient your storyline or the people and events within it.

Mine was obvious – a death in the family shifted my cells about like a candy crush game where suddenly I cannot go back to a storyline or a way of doing things because it has disappeared, or it doesn’t work anymore because so much shift is happening. This is what a long, transformative, Mars retrograde can feel like.

This energy of transformation may carry a feeling of being consciously aware that there are two worlds you are living in simultaneously. One world brings comfort through familiarity, but it no longer feels ‘right’ because it somehow is not true to who you are becoming. The second, new, version of the world invites you to stay in your new truth, to be authentic, and you notice the shift is happening all on its own.

Most noticeably, during Mars retrograde, people described sensing a shift in a relationship with a person or in a way of expressing to others; shifting an attachment to a storyline or way of perceiving the external world. For some, a physical event demanded a change, for others they felt melancholy, tired, or inspired, as old versions of themselves were released to deal with the new story they found themselves living.

This same personal experience seemed to also be a pattern in the external world during that period. People discussed the need to shift out of our present banking and tax system. In their old world they were grateful to have a family and work to feed their kids, but over the last six months they also spoke increasingly from their discontented hearts. I was amazed at how many conversations, within a matter of days and amongst very different people, were about how criminal and destructive the economic system is, with its fake fiat currencies and ridiculous compounded interest on the same ‘fake’ dollars, printed by banks that don’t pay taxes on profits while feeding preposterous national debts, all of which are helping to co-create a world in which our children cannot actually survive. (My favourite was overhearing a rural church lady discuss handing in her social insurance number and breaking away from the system of debt. Shift is happening.)

My wise astrologer friend, when asked about the last six months and the more recent retrograde, suggested the next six months will feel more like being put back together; realigned and reconstituted, into that truer version of ourselves that is ready now to exist in a new and different reality. However you are experiencing these energies, know that being true and nurturing to yourself is always the higher road. Don’t worry about how other people will react to the changes in you, just do what feels right in your heart.

In a circle of friends recently, one person asked each of us to share two strengths that we bring to the world. We were also asked to describe a part of ourselves that needs to be nurtured perhaps because it is blocked by old stories, or beliefs of ourselves, that are from that other version of the world that is becoming less real for us. So here is a great exercise for the summer – find a tree, some water, or a sunbeam, and tune in to hear what your spirit is wanting to be nurtured.

This is a clarion call for me, as well, this summer. My guests at the B&B are reminding me to go outside before bed, and sit quietly under the stars and hang out with the dozens of fireflies. Last night I committed to them that I would dedicate an hour a week this summer to looking at the sky. It might be while floating on my back in a river watching clouds, or zooming my gaze into a deep blue or starry night. This is such a simple and beautiful way to re-focus inside nature.

May I also recommend that you join the 2,000+ people standing silently under a starry sky who will be attending the famous Algonquin Park Public Wolf Howls this summer. It can send enough shivers down your back to make you want to quit your job and run with the pack. I imagine it will be enough to nudge me permanently toward living in a new reality where I am free to be authentic. Visit https://tinyurl.com/hrdszcx

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Email Kim Elkington at: spirit@algonquintea.com