ARIES HARVEST MOON: Where pressure creates diamonds & fire refines gold!

The Fall Equinox represents a time for us to FALL INWARD to awaken within us our Inner Light and connect with our NAAM (our true selves).  It is the season of shedding and letting go of that which we no longer have the energy to give. 

Nature leads us through this time by example as we watch the last of the coastal fledglings hunt on their own and the adult birds leave their nesting grounds for the year.  My coastal walks become quieter as though nature has gone back to school and I find myself reminiscing about the summer days of watching the young hatchlings in their groupings - preening, loafing and developing their skills but alas time moves on, the days grow shorter and the Redwoods thin their leaves as the forest floor thickens and plumps itself with duff to store the winter rains. It’s a palatable energy shift, a re-centering.  

The Harvest Moon, the first full moon after the Equinox, marks this transition and this year it finds itself in the sign of fiery and impatient Aries! Aries takes us back to the beginning, to those days of our earliest needs, to our innocence, and to our impulse to cry out when something is the matter. So with this full moon we may find ourselves being reminded of old wounds that need healing and urge us to be honest about our pain, problems and needs. We find ourselves driven in this state to get what we perceive as missing and to seek a salve for wounds that have not yet been healed, or even recognized.

I call this state of mind the Common Cold of the Emotions and as humans we are all bound to get this bug at some point - it’s inevitable at this time of year! Symptoms include all or some of the following: mild depression, a sense of unease, frustration, anxiety, anger, impatience, fatigue, negativity and an all around feeling of loneliness tinged with being misunderstood. 

Fortunately, though, the adventurous, rowdy, “me first” Aries in this Full Moon is soothed with the compassionate neutral caring of Libra (the scales, balance).  Libra helps us define HOW we want to BE in relationships, including the relationship with ourselves.  And, you know, Aries ain’t all that bad - I should know because I am one! and if we can use the “me first” Aries archetype in a positive way it can direct us back to ourselves consciously and utilize the head-strong Ram’s fiery spirit to encourage us to be self-reliant and to seek answers and solace in self-knowing, self-confidence, and self-nurturing. Using this positive aspect of Aries in conjunction with Libra’s desire for compromise and win-win outcomes - we can find the answers to our needs! 

One way we can do this is through Kundalini Yoga and Mantra.  These tools help us to get back to SELF (Naam) and support getting our needs met through self-confirming attitudes.  Breath techniques and mantra are a way of sending a positive coded message to the Brain hemispheres - taking the mind off negative patterning and putting us on the track of self love, positivity and fulfillment. 

It’s easy to complain, to rehash those old wounds, feel unloved or that life is unfair - because the truth is that it can be at times.  But to every decision please know there is an opposite.  A friend of mine from whom and with whom I studied Kundalini (kundaliniwithsheel.com) recently wrote about the karma of complaining and I loved what she had to say:   

“We think these reactions are not that bad since we are not punching anyone. Sometimes we even sweep these actions under the rug by calling them “being human.”
That might have been okay in past lives, but here is a secret of Kundalini: yogis figured out that complaining creates dullness in your aura, a constant stream of low-grade karma that corrodes your connection to Spirit and other Souls over time, and diminishes the container of your life to effortlessly receive blessings and what you need to complete your mission and elevate to the Realm of Dharma. That is why there is yearning, devotion and even urgency for yogis to keep pulling the mental fluctuations back to the Naam.”

I love this! It couldn’t be said any better!  And what is important to know is that this is true from any level you are willing to ponder it.  You don’t have to be a yogi, an advanced yoga student or even take yoga, really.  You just need to try and be vigilantly conscious,  to catch yourself before going down the dark path of negativity! and mantras and breath work can help you do just this.  We have used several mantra’s in class (Ong So Hung, Har Haree and others) but if you don’t understand or know a mantra in the language - use an English one, like “I am bountiful, blissful and beautiful” or “I am, I am” (thanks Sheel)

Upon completing my training my teacher gave me a spiritual name based on my birth date and what he saw in me.  The name he gave me is Amrit Shakti.  Amrit is the sweet, purifying nectar of the Gods which, when taken, purifies us and allows us to live from the Path of the Heart.  Shakti is the ultimate feminine - I like to think of it as "potential manifested".  I use the meaning of Amrit Shakti as a way to close class... to remind ourselves to live from The Path of the Heart and to ALWAYS see ourselves as potential manifested. 

This past week and even just this morning... I have been struggling with a recent feeling of rejection.  Something that happened recently seemed to dredge up for me the painful feelings of being unworthy and undervalued, unwated.  My typical response in situations like this is to be mean, to put up the shield, to be angry and stew.  It seems silly when you are outside of these emotions but the darkness of their cloud is a whole different beast!  Each day I would go to the mat and practice and each day I would fall off track with the mind, falling back into bitterness and anger.  But the true discipline is getting back up and to remind myself ... I am Amrit Shakti -  I am the Path of the Heart, I am Potential Manifested. 

And when I do I feel like myself again.  
Sat Nam.

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