"No Effort Required"
“The Infinite is working in everything. All the different eddies of motion called life are controlled by that Cosmic Intelligence”~Paramahansa Yogananda
If so, there is no need to be concerned for this or that, run here or there, feel less than or that anything should be more, better or different as it is exactly as it should be. How could it be otherwise? As such we can all enjoy a stress free and peaceful Monday leading into a whole week of the same.
New Moon March 30, 2014 @ 9 degrees Aries 59 minutes
2:45 p.m. EDT 11:45 PDT
“You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah”
~Jim Morrison, The Doors
As challenging as this New Moon chart may seem, Sun Moon Uranus square with Pluto and Jupiter in opposition, it isn’t as daunting as it first appears. We have been dealing with this energy of transformation for a long time. Fortunately, wisdom and grace are in accompaniment placating the rattled nerves sensitized when Pluto moved into Capricorn (November 2008) and the deconstruction process kicked into high gear. We now continue to experience the unraveling of patterns and beliefs and watch them drift away and disappear. Focusing on any single aspect in this chart seems pointless, rather like staring at a speck of dust as the tornado tears the surface away. Aries weathers the storm very well; sometimes is the storm.
The message with an Aries New Moon is be bold, strong, courageous—Be. There is nowhere to focus your attention outside of your self. There is no one that requires anything of you that should deter you from Self. The happiness we seek, in all the Universe is registered exactly at this point, right here, right now. Everything else is the ongoing story that I create to entertain my self; that the entertainment occurs, not an issue, unless it is an issue that makes you suffer and you would rather not.
What if you are locked in a room, you think, for your whole life gaining access to the outside only when someone comes to let you out? Then one day, you decide to escape and find that the door has never been locked and you are free. Conditioned beliefs are the walls that imprison us and prevent us from knowing freedom. The liberation is peace and love and grace. It is everything and available everywhere and always. Disassemble the thought structures and there you are.
It is what is happening in every moment. We could talk about the details but is there a point when there is one simple truth and there is nothing else we need to know in this moment? “Be as you are”, Ramana Maharshi was a man of very few words as the truth is simple and then, there is nothing else to say.
Step up. Step out and step into finally, the stillness that you are. During this New Moon, there is nothing else to do. Any reverberations of discomfort will be the ego digging in its heels as the ever flowing urge to realize Self unfolds.
And Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”.~Matthew 18:3
What gems to find, when sifting through what you’ve left behind; the innocence and purity, the absence of mind that allows love to populate this moment unencumbered by shoulds or should nots.
Love fills all the gaps between stutter and statement, a bow and a blush that paints the sky peach, turns the heart in, spreads the love all ’round.
The little child, a simple gift to me and knowing that I am “that”–pure and simple.
Let the first touch be friendly. Let the first touch be kind. Let the first touch be loving. When we extend our hand in greeting let it embrace the world in peace.
Dalai Llama from The Little Book of Wisdom
“I always try to create a ground of friendliness with people. Whenever I meet someone new, for example, I feel no need for introductions. The person is obviously another human being…I see a smile, some teeth and eyes, and so on, and I recognize the person as a human being! On that basis, on the emotional level we are the same..with that conviction, I feel that the other person is a human brother and approach him spontaneously. In most cases the other person immediately responds accordingly, and becomes a friend.”
What to do in this moment?
In this moment, only this moment is everything that is needed or wanted and the space in which to be grateful for noticing…
“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.” ― Walt Whitman
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”― Eckhart Tolle
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”― Henry David Thoreau
“All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.”― Martha Graham
“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” ― T.S. Eliott
March has a reputation for initiating adventure and action that is not preceded by very much thought. Instead we are guided by passion to thrust ourselves into the midst of life with great joy and daring. It may be true or not but one may imagine that all the greatest worldly and otherworldly explorations begin in the first month of Spring. No one dares to say no.
Is March, a month for madness or simply racing off into whatever direction strikes your fancy? With Spring once again in the air we can be sure that life is approached with renewed vitality and determination. Suddenly no mountain is too high to climb, no task or project too big to take on. Creativity flows, adding to the overwhelming sense that just being here is an enormous gift and excelling at ‘human Being’ is the predominant goal.
With the winter Olympics just finished, we witnessed the stories of some amazing human beings dedicated to excelling at a sport to which they are fully committed in ways that many people have no comprehension. Unless one considers that just being here is a committed and focused undertaking and one that we experience from whatever perspective is available to us. We all excel in every moment at being who we are. Seeing the gift in that, is a gift in itself.
Now the fact that Mars goes retrograde on March 1st should not interfere with vibrant self-expression or the usual desire to throw caution to the wind. It would take a much greater force than this to prevent our joy from overflowing. What is taking place is not just about physical energy. The desire for creative expression at times knows no bounds and this is one of those times. Mars in Libra is sensitive and highly creative and imaginative. Combine this with a seasonal lust for experiencing and anything is possible. Like the Two of Wands in the Rider-Waite tarot deck illustrates, ‘we hold the world in our hands and everything is possible’. It is a thought like any other thought. And yet that thought gives us the freedom to surpass what we may have accomplished in the past—no limits, no fears.
Preceding Mars’ retrograde action is a New Moon at one minute to midnight on February 28th PST and followed by Mercury going direct at 6:00 a.m PST. By March 1st then, we are set to attack, activate and attain. Whatever projects were put on the back burner until Mercury in Aquarius turned direct can now be revived and completed. All Mercury retrogrades in 2014 begin in water signs and end up in Air signs, a chance to revisit emotional issues, to dig into the past and then to allow a fresh breeze to gently encourage appreciation for space and movement—freedom!
The New Moon at 10 degrees Pisces and a stellium of planets in Pisces recommends we dig deeply within to find compassion and resources to give to others. Love is a very good place to begin. Understanding and attention or being present for every one with whom we come into contact will be accomplished with ease and grace as these two qualities define more and more our existence and experience here. Ease and grace the byproducts of inner peace, inner peace the result of being attached to no-thing. Every Pisces I know is naturally altruistic and guided by inner principles that desire peace for all. This month of March sees us initiate an ongoing relationship with giving freely and experiencing the blessings of our actions; never a goal but the happy outcome.
Two More Cards for March:
The Empress III is the power that flows through each of us to create, to manifest based on our potential for being here now. As a three she represents the essence of all creation. Giving it material form is a small matter at which to succeed. Implied here is an eternal giving of that which is our true nature to those in every aspect of our lives. Even those who occupy the fringes benefit from our willingness to give of our Being.
Three of Cups, another three for the third month relates to the joy we experience from sharing our hearts with community and the harmony that fills in all the gaps as we initiate creative flow. Creativity is the vast landscape of human endeavor wherein we express the depth of our awareness to those with eyes to see. And what a beautiful sight to behold!
Three relates to the energy of the child in whom we discover once again the innocence with which we came into this world that observed opportunity and possibility in every glance and love in every touch. Whereupon the gates remain open to the abundance that greets us in every moment. There is no want. Everything is provided as I am “that” which seems to be the provider. What a wonderful world indeed and all available to us in March!
New Moon February 28, 2014 and March 01, 2014 @10 degrees Pisces 39 minutes 11:59 p.m. PST 02:59 a.m. EST
The pale shadow of the Moon in its new phase stirs longings to discover what lies hidden within the dim glow; at this moment the rich truth of my nature.
Rising up from the depths of our hearts, compassion, empathy, kindness, our emotions exhibit the gentle side of human nature. Sensitivity to everything in a way that creates surrender to the bloom that pierces the structure.
New Moon and a new approach to how we want to “Be” here. As we stretch our limbs, rise up out of deep sleep (that has most recently looked like winter) the first thing to notice is how clear is the vision, how empty is the mind. The immediate reaction is perhaps a subtle noticing that something is different. There is no longer a desire to define what it is I see/experience. It is okay to simply Be with that.
A butterfly wanders about, from bush to flower. A mother and child walk together through the hedgerows and a group of teenagers huddle together in conversation. The scene is active and simply what is. Absorbing data and utilizing that to be of service for the highest good or in other words to facilitate whatever needs to happen in any given moment is our calling at this time. Timing will be impeccable and discernment arises from a place of knowing what naturally wants to take place in order to create order from chaos. Intuitive skills are enhanced by the ability to thread the psyche through the warp and weft of human consciousness. The creative impulse shudders with the excitement of expression unfettered and limitless pouring forth, gratefully, from a place of infinite resource. All around the air is humming with the rhythm of human potential.
In every minute occurrence is the suggestion that what I formerly felt was true is a supposition based on the past. Every supposition exists as an obstacle to creating based on an old paradigm that probably no longer serves ‘me’. Letting go of beliefs is loving, embracing what is and tumbling head long into the vast unknown—no fear, no effort required. No longer constantly wanting things to be more, better or different. In the peace I rest.
This New Moon offers respite from the habitual stupefaction that we experience as a result of acting and reacting to a set pattern of conditioning. We are released from the wheel of time into the truth of Being. The Self is realized as that which is beyond all thought, all definition and what is always. Every word uttered is merely dressing “that” in an attempt to make it visible when there is nothing to be ‘seen’. It is the mind wanting to understand something that it cannot possibly comprehend or apprehend.
In awakening, we cannot then help but have an effect that initiates the same for others. Not that we are preoccupied with such or focused on any particular aspect of nonduality, it just is—drifting, permeating, rising and eventually merging with the absolute are simply words that attempt to clarify something that requires no clarification as we are in every moment ‘there’. Again, no effort is required to be that which I already am.
“It is important to remember: dormant tendencies rise as manifest thoughts. Even gods will tempt you and only Buddha survives. So reject pleasures of Heaven and Earth; what is not Here will never be Freedom.”—Sri H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji)
Freedom lies in the depths of the New Moon’s dim glow and within every cell and molecule, every atom, every quark. Every space between the thoughts is Freedom and that I am. Could not not be “that”.
Be Still 