American Violence — An Astrological Perspective
When tragedies occur, our collective soul cries out for answers. The last year has been filled with senseless violence, from the Aurora cinema shootings to Newtown, CT’s classrooms, to this last week’s Boston Marathon. Although little can truly explain the complexities of what is occurring in this madness, an astrological perspective may lend helpful insights.
With the Uranus-Pluto square, a 6 year long wave of upheaval, revolution, and surprise violence is upon us from 2010-2016. Uranus electrifies and stimulates the cavernous Plutonian unconscious, while the Pluto shadows empower the force of chaotic anxiety and narcissistic wildfire, unleashing a potent combination of dark forces that can unpredictably rattle the collective psyche.
Historically, this cycle correlates to some of the most violent periods in history, including the horrifying violence of the French and American Revolutions, the reign of terror with the rise of madmen dictators such as Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini in the early 30’s, and the Vietnam war, coupled with the many assassinations of the 1960’s.
We must also remember that Pluto—the archetypal force of criminal, underworld, destructive energy was discovered in 1930, during the last Uranus-Pluto square. This was when the atomic bomb was created, ushering in the frightening awareness of our ability to instantly destroy ourselves. Now, increasingly in the Aquarian Age, and even more rapidly under this current Uranus-Pluto square, technology is allowing not only the easier dissemination of information and material for bomb-building, but also the ability to manufacture weapons more efficiently, such as with 3D-printed guns.
With Neptune in Pisces this decade, the individual self can be swept along into grandiose visions of messianic complexes, self-sacrificial kamikaze missions fueled by religious fervor, drug induced intoxication, and the urge for infamy through media exposure. The unstable individual loses any anchor or center and like tidal tsunamis, is washed away into the fantasies of insanity.
Ironically, the technology that increasingly allows the individual to more easily create weapons of mass destruction can also be used by law enforcement, as was implemented in Boston with the use of the infrared police helicopter. The madness that can ensue under the shadow of Neptune in Pisces can, in a spirituated consciousness, unite people in outpourings of empathy, compassion, and increased psychic sensitivity, where the best of humanity transcends together in the ugly face of the worst. Each of these victims is a martyr and savior-heroes erupt out of the violent womb of tragedy.
ECLIPSE TRANSITS and the BOSTON HOROSCOPE
Eclipses, even weeks before and after their exact occurrence, often affect world events, as Mundane astrologers have been studying for centuries. Often, countries, presidents, cities, and weather patterns are affected by the karmic triggers of eclipses. Thus, I was compelled to study Boston’s birth chart to discover more lessons of this tragic initiation.
One of the challenges of studying the horoscope of a city is to uncover exactly when the city was “born.” In the case of Boston, the city itself was founded on September 17, 1630 at 10:11am, but the city was incorporated February 23, 1822 with time uncertain. (The preceding time was obtained from astrotheme.com).
In studying the two Boston charts, the incorporation date did not leave many clues as to recent events. However, the city’s founding chart was incredibly revealing, especially regarding eclipses.
The Lunar Eclipse of April 25th lands on the 5th degree of Scorpio just 2 degrees from Boston’s Saturn, 4 degrees from Neptune, and 10 degrees from the ascendant. Simultaneously, the city is experiencing its Saturn Return, a once-in-thirty-years cycle. With Saturn at 3 degrees Scorpio, tightly conjunct Neptune and in the 12th house, this tragedy instantly unified the people of Boston. The city was shut down and went into hiding, with doors closed and locked, as if in a prison state, a poignant symbol of 12th house enclosure and imprisonment.
Neptune’s symbol shined through as the Boston Marathon was a very mediated event, and the early reports of catching suspects and of other possible explosions were deceiving, swirling like Neptunian fog.
Yet, the Saturn forces of authority pronounced themselves with honor and dignity in press conferences as the forces of FBI and police intelligence revered each other for the calculated, disciplined, strategic effort to kill and capture the supposed perpetrators of the heinous Boston tragedy.
Conspiracy websites such as infowars.com also claim that the whole event was a Neptunian charade, a confusing set-up, and a Saturnian test to strip away civil liberties with police state tactics.
Mars, the warrior planet of conflict and battle, often acts as a catalytic trigger for events, and was conjunct Boston’s Chiron, the symbol of collective wounding and healing.
Meanwhile, the Solar Eclipse of May 9th at 19 degrees Taurus is within just 4 degrees of the descendant and 3 degrees of Pluto in the Boston chart. We have spoken of Pluto as the lord of death, destruction, criminal activity, and the shadowy unconscious, but the Dark Lord is also a source of collective empowerment and penetrating investigation through blending of resources, which was necessary to the capture and discovery of the suspects. The Descendant is a more slippery symbol, as it could signify the witnessing of the events by the world at large, Americans, or even enemies of the state or city.
Lastly, the 3 degree Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse of May 25th actually triggers the South Node of Boston at 7 degrees of Sagittarius, signifying the possible completion of some kind of karmic cycle for the city. The symbol could also represent a test of faith, the possibility of religious motivation or involvement in the act, and ultimately some source of inspiration and righteous ethics and law deriving out of this tragedy.
I hope this has been a beacon of celestial light in an otherwise dark time for a country in the midst of trance-formation.
We will speak more about this in our upcoming teleclass. Hope to share with you all there. Details here
May peace be with you. May the stars shine their blessings upon you.
Eclipse! Intensity and Erotica
Before the God Eros was turned into a Hallmark cherub with a bow and arrow, Eros was perceived as one of the primordial forces of the cosmos, the raw life force, there from the beginning, the urge of the source to know itself.
As we enter another transformational eclipse window this week, the urge of the creator to know itself through our myriad soul contracts, beloveds, and intimates in our lives becomes our prevailing energy.
Eclipses are evolutionary phase shifts, massive initiation cycles, especially in the sign of psychological probing Scorpio, the position of the Lunar Eclipse this Thursday April 25th at 12:57 pacific.
This eclipse highlights the versions of Sacred Masculinity and Femininity, Mars and Venus, opposing the Full Moon. With Saturn opposing the God and Goddess and the Sun, and with all of them square Juno—asteroid of sacred relating, commitment, and equal partnership, this eclipse is forcing us to get real with our relationships.
What long-term goals do we have in relationship? What are my own Sex-pectationsfrom my partner? What conditions do I have on enduring and stable relating, whether in business, friendship, housemates, or my sexual partner? How do I feel most supported in relationship?
Expect the end of April and all of May to be a chaotic, cathartic, and crazy cycle of shapeshifting as this shamanic eclipse window will also reveal our resistances and holding patterns, and ask us to shed that which is no longer serving our evolution.
Due to this next month’s intensity, I invite you to join a special teleclass with my beloved Anna Loza to dialogue and discuss the collective’s relationship initiations, as the shadows dance through the dimensions, as our soul agreements come to their fruition. In this class, we will explore karma and the nodes of the moon in Taurus and Scorpio, navigating conscious polyamory, Tantra and sacred sexuality, sex magic techniques, the role of Mars, Venus, and the asteroids Eros and Juno in your chart.
For teleclass participants, personal interpretations of the eclipses in your chart or the asteroids Eros or Juno will be offered. We hope to journey through the eclipse portal with you.
FOUNDATIONS: Relationship and Finance Tests, Twists, Transformations
For many of us, last week may have been a challenge to get our energies up off the ground with the Balsamic Moon, but last Friday’s New Moon in Capricorn will give us plenty of energy to move forward with our big 2013 plans and projects.
The busy-ness will increase with Mercury conjunct the Sun the next two weeks, an ideal transit for business strategies, long-term planning, and timemapping—increasingly where my personal coaching work with clientele is going.
By the end of the week, our Solar god and Mercury will enter experimental, quirky, and inventive Aquarius, a time when community involvement, visionary planning, and revolutionary ideals of freedom and the future we want begin to dominate our collective sphere.
But this week, the Goddesses take a bungee jump dive into the underworld, and reigns from the delicate precipice there. Venus, goddess of love, finance, and creativity will conjoin the honorable Juno, goddess of commitment, custom, and our sacred contracts. Both of them enter our dominant transit of global creative catharsis: the Uranus-Pluto square.
This transit may at times bring some irritation, combustibility, or paranoid psychologies into our connections. Think back to just before and after the New Year, when the Sun and Mercury butted up to the Uranus-Pluto square. Were you a bit more annoyed, depressed, or reactive during those times? What did you learn?
Looking ahead, this will be the last major trigger point release of these two planets until middle to end of March, when Mars, Venus, and the Sun enter Aries. This will be one of the most opportune times of 2013 to launch major projects and initiate revolutionary, pioneering work to the collective.
But here in mid January, we find Venus in Capricorn, the practical goddess, concerned with building solid and enduring foundations in her relationships, especially when she cozies up with Juno, always the one to ask what versions of relating could really endure for us or what kind of partnership ideals fit my soul’s intentions in this lifetime. Juno is one of the most important, but underrated of the astrological archetypes, but one’s personal Juno placement gives essential clues to fulfilling and enriching relationships.
One of the best questions to ask in your business and intimate relationships right now is: What structures are we building together? How will they sustain and thrive through time? You may become more necessarily sensitive your boundaries at this time. This may make our tone of voice or topic of conversation more serious, but we are asking what will mature with all of our relationships.
In astrology, we can use the composite chart—an exquisite and highly detailed expression of Venus in Capricorn’s urge for practical relating. The Composite Chart reveals the nature of the two-as-one. Who is the third energy pulsing between the two of us? The Composite invites a couple into their sacred work together, their paths of mastery, their shared purpose, how they serve the planet together. It is one of my favorite tools to use in counseling beloveds or instructing business partners or friends with specific vocabulary to apply in assisting each other’s self-realization.
A lot of questions I’ve been exploring in my recent and ongoing training in Tantra and intimacy coaching can be appreciated with a transit like this. For instance, when we bring in the Uranus square, now we ask: In what ways do I feel most liberated in relationship? And the conjunction to Pluto demands that we dance with shadows…. We can ask ourselves, in what ways do I empower my partner(s) and how would i like to be strengthened towards more positive and larger scale influence in the world through my relationships?
If we can release our control issues and power struggles, there are real potentials with this transit to awaken the depths and allow them to rise in glory. We must all act as shamans for each other at this time as old wounds or traumas around money or relationships surface to be transmuted.
If we do face tension, struggle, or the raw unconscious in our relationships or business this week, it’s important to realize that we have mentorship and guidance right around the corner waiting to support us, since Venus sextiles shamanic counselor Chiron this week.
Thus, in winter’s dark and often heavy cloak we may find pockets of luminous revelation, stairways to heaven in the soulgaze, the tender caress, and the practical, co-operative realization of our collective goals.
Onward, lovers, towards the snowy peak.
May you persevere on your way to the precious perch.
Heaven awaits.
Dissolutio
Then in Dissolutio, the initiate drowns in the all-consuming forces of the unconscious. In this stage, solid substances are ab- sorbed in liquids. The alchemist would take the ashes from the calci- nation and dissolve them in water or liquid chemicals. This act of wa- tery purification, such as the bap- tism and cleansing rituals of many religions and spiritual practices, re- turns a substance or an individual back to their original, undifferenti-
ated state, the primordial pools of the psyche.
What we thought was a solid self becomes flooded with archetyp-
al powers, gods, goddesses, forces beyond one’s control. Even the juices of lust and love, like sirens or mermaids, threaten to liquify the fixed and static aspects of the personality. Stages of psychologi- cal development can often not be accomplished until one is con- fronted by love’s vast and daunting ocean.
The flood myths from cultures around the world universally speak of a Divine Source sending the floods when humanity has be- come tainted and degenerate. The wicked are to be destroyed, and the righteous who have lived an authentic existence are to be saved. On a psychospiritual level, the negative detritus of the inflated ego must be dissolved away. Only those elements of the personal self willing to be encompassed and aligned with the Absolute Self will survive.
Calcinatio
In Calcinatio, the individual’s belief systems and defense mechanisms are sacrificed in the purify- ing fire. The ego’s former authority begins to burn away as the soul realizes the material illusions it has embraced.
On the chemical level, calcination is the reduction of the substance by fire, heating it un- til it is reduced to ash. If we were to take an herb, the calcination would be the grinding and roasting of the herb. The evolutionary lesson involved in Calcination is the realization that through the power of fire, we can destroy all things that are not essential.
On a psychological level, the destruction of the fixed patterns in the rational mind threatens all the ego holds dear, and the initiate at this stage often experiences depression, hopelessness, and defeat.
In calcinatio, we begin to shatter the crystallized elements of the personality and the attachments of the self to its limited belief systems. Every resistance surfaces as the ego battles ferociously to defend its role, its mask, its status quo of habitual patterning, to no avail against the onrushing flames of the transforming fires.
New Moon Libra, Saturn in Scorpio, Shamanic Artist Tour Update
Ahoy friends, from the exhaustion and exhilaration of the Shamanic Artist tour, East Coast round! Wow—so much to share at this busy New Moon in Libra.
This newsletter will cover Monday’s New Moon in Libra, some comments and an upcoming telelcass on Saturn’s big move into Scorpio, and a link to an essay about Psychedemia, a monumental event I attended recently on the East Coast and a potent symbol of the explosive consciousness revolution of the Uranus-Pluto square. In this essay, you’ll learn about some of the latest research in psychedelics and about references for new media related to psychedelic culture.
Next week, I’ll be sending out an essay about another transformational event, Beyond the Bedroom, also highlighting the juicy sexual evolution of the Uranus-Pluto Square.
I’ve also linked some excerpts from my recent talks and performances on the East Coast, Autumn Ascension, in which I discussed the key transits of Fall 2012 and how they connect in to the larger Aquarian Age shift unfolding
Lastly, I know many of us are now planning the biggest ceremonial party of the last 5,120 years with the 12/21/12 Mayan Calendar end date. Global celebrations are occurring at pyramid and sacred sites around the world, such as the Great Convergence in Egypt, the Rainbow Gathering in Palenque, and the amazing Synthesis Festival in Chichen Itza, where I will be sharing teachings and music.
If you’d like to gaze into your power places for the portal to the New Sun, I’m offering more relocation readings these days to help you get aligned with the Great Alignment of our times. Check the FB link here
New Moon in Libra
As we all process the Great Unfolding, the Wild Rollercoastering of the second exact Uranus-Pluto square, we are being tested through a singular concept: integration, which summarizes our greatest challenge and most rewarding accomplishment at this time.
Under the Libra sun, we tend to be very busy with many social outings, but perhaps we can ask how our relationships can help our integration process. Can we truly listen to another, without our own agenda, without our distractions, as our friends, lovers, business partners share their heart’s yearnings, the tremendous revelations of this last summer, the excited inspirations for the year’s end?
Saturn in Scorpio
Saturn has forced us to solidify and stabilize our relationships, to choose those in which true growth and maturity are possible. Now that Saturn has left his duty in Libra, he takes the beloveds down into the depths, the Shaman’s journey betwixt the Under, Middle, and Upperworlds. For the next 2.5 years, with Saturn in Scorpio, we’ve entered Jedi Times, we’ve entered the era of the alchemist, the season of the shaman. We can guarantee that we will not like everything we see lurking in the shadows. We may even want to hide, like little kids excited, but afraid at those first moments on the ride through the Haunted House.
And yet, this is the whole reason Saturn has been reminding us of our values in relationships, and what it truly means to balance up in partnership, to support each other as our shadows contact dance with us. How will we lift their burdens, unveil the wounded stories, reveal their source, and dive into the alchemical fires of transmutation?
With Saturn in Scorpio, in our relationships, in our work, in our spiritual practice, we are going to learn how to transform the shadow into our power, to take the taboo and hidden and turn it into the exotic heart of tantric eros, to learn how to blend our resources to strengthen ourselves, like warriors in the swamps of the unconscious, building resilience one breakdown, and one breakthrough at a time.
Evolution is now taking precedence, and so we are compelled to destroy all which no longer serves our evolution—relationships, jobs, ideals, fantasies, projections.
To help with this process, I’m offering a very special journey into the depths on October 30th, a teleclass entitled Mastering the Shadow: The Alchemy of Saturn, the Scorpio Eclipse, and the Dark Goddess
We will discuss at length the meaning of Saturn in Scorpio. We will break down the archetypes of Saturn, Saturn’s return cycle, and Saturn’s role on our path to mastery.
We will explore the various masks of Scorpio, including alchemical stages of growth, power animals to assists us, and archetypes to embody at this time. In addition, we will focus on the huge Scorpionic initiation of November, preparing for the upcoming Solar Eclipse AND Mercury retrograde, both in Scorpio. We will also invoke and explore aspects of the Dark Goddess which can help guide us through the shadow transits ahead.
Part 2 will include brief chart interpretations for Saturn in your chart in the coming years, revealing your path of dedication, discipline, and accomplishment in the next two years.
Full details and registration can be found here. Part 2 will have limited spots, and will fill up quickly so register early.
Psychedemia
Although my stay in Pennsylvania was brief, I was fortunate to attend Psychedemia, and felt blessed to participate in the highest expression of the current Uranus-Pluto square, the transit defining the 2010‘s. Read the full story here
In’Lakech – I am another you
A Report from Psychedemia, 2012 – Integrating Psychedelics and Academics
Psychedemia, 2012
Philadelphia, PA
Although my stay in Pennsylvania was brief, I was fortunate to attend Psychedemia, and felt blessed to participate in the highest expression of the current Uranus-Pluto square, the transit defining the 2010‘s. Psychedemia was a 3 day conference at the University of Pennsylvania. The subtitle for Psychedemia was “Integrating the psychedelic experience in academia.”
Now this is quite polarized to the 60’s psychedelic guru, Timothy Leary’s statement of “Tune in, turn on, drop out.” Instead of dropping out, Psychedemia was conceived and organized by a team of graduate and post graduate students, led by Nese Devenot, a fellow contributor to realitysandwich.com.
Psychedemia accomplished the bold task of bringing together academic researchers, authors, teachers, students, psychedelic explorers, and visionary artists all seeking to expand their awareness of the evolutionary potential present in the psychedelic experience.
Unfortunately, I did not get to attend Sunday or Friday’s amazing workshops and panels, such as the Visionary art symposium. or the Symposiums on Psychedelics and Ethics and on Psychedelics Innovation, although I did catch a bit of the brilliant Android Jones sharing some of his software techniques for creating psychedelic art masterpieces.
However, Saturday’s events were filled with insights and new connections, such as the psilocybin panel discussion. Psilocybin is the psychoactive component of mushrooms and is being studied by many academic researchers. Talks included
“Psilocybin treatment of cancer patients,” and “Psilocybin treatment of drug dependence: smoking cessation.”
Saturday also included poster sessions, an open hall display and discussion with many researchers sharing their findings in various psychedelic topics, such as David Nickles representing the online DMT Nexus and Peter Addy and other’s “Scientific Exploration of Subjective Experience: Salvia Divinorum.” Some of the research in the poster sessions seemed to have an overall theme of trying to gain some sense of objectivity to the sbujective, personal experience of psychedelic travelers.
Although I did not present a full poster session, I discussed with various individuals my own research and sentiments about the importance of timemapping our ceremonies and psychedelic experiences, utilizing one’s personal horoscope. Since I began studying astrology in 2004, I have been bringing an astrological approach towards understanding the most opportune times of the month and year for doing specific shamanic work. I also stress the importance of one’s Moon sign for the approach and style of integration with one’s journeys into altered states. In addition, the deeper one understands the various interplay and dance of the psychic elements, represented by the planets, and their initiatory experiences, represented by their transits, the more easily and efficiently can the psychedelic experience be integrated and reflected upon through the symbolic language of the stars.
Besides beautiful visionary art, authors and teachers were also highlighted at the conference. MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, was present with a table full of recent publications on psychedelics and consciousness, including titles such as Spiritual Growth with Entheogens, The New Science of Psychedelics, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and Psychedelic Healing.
Evolver editions, publisher of my book Codex of the Soul, was also present with a table and authors such as Charles Shaw, myself, and with a few presentations from Jonathan Talat Phillips, author of Electric Jesus, who spoke on Warrior Healing and the Santo Daime ayahuasca church.
For sheer inspiration, and for your own further research, I highly recommend visiting psychedemia.org to see the entire lineup of talks given at this monumental event. The organizers documented all of the lectures and plan to make them available in the near future.
Overall, there was a sense of camaraderie, curiosity, community, and discovery throughout Saturday, especially present at the day’s close, as we mingled, networked, and celebrated the abundance with drinks and delicious food.
Conversations were lively, and a fresh feeling of freedom to discuss, to probe, to wonder, to forge new synaptic comprehensions seemed to be the overarching vibe.
I watched as what had previously been hidden and separated by institutional dogma, fear of change, and controlling forces (Pluto in Capricorn) was being liberated at last, tickled by the wild urge to innovate and individuate (Uranus in Aries).
Saturday’s workshops and evening festivities were also marked by the presence of the Aries Full Moon. As the sign of the pioneer and brave explorer of the unknown, this was an ideal full moon under which to have this event.
In my new book, Aquarius Dawns, released last April, I noted that:
Uranus in Aries is consistently a restless, experimental, and culturally and scientifically exciting cycle of new discoveries. And importantly, Aries rules the head, and by extension the brain. Uranus is the planet of innovation and inventive thinking. It shocks us into the future. Thus, Uranus in Aries will invite more and more pioneers in the Piscean fields of the psyche and consciousness studies, and the role the brain plays as a receiver or antennae for consciousness. Those braving the cutting edge in these fields will ask what actually occurs in the brain as we dream, meditate, journey on psychedelics, etc. What chemicals are involved in what vision- ary experiences and what parallels can be found? We are now literally mapping the psyche: the cartography of the dreamspace, the experience of dying, of what occurs after we die, the womb state, our past lives, and the shamanic and visionary journey. Likewise, the “many-worlds” theory of physics, whereby each decision you make creates another universe and another and another, as overwhelming to consider as it may be, is becoming the most accepted theory on the nature of reality.
A friend at the conference turned me on to the podcasts of psychonaut Martin Ball. I highly recommend his fascinating discussion, “Organs of the Mind” with Thomas Ray, Ph.D. This subject deals specifically with my point above about revolutionary neurological research applied towards a holistic study of the psyche, as Ray breaks down the various organs of consciousness, their functions, and how they are stimulated by certain psychedelic compounds.
What I witnessed in the conference rooms, poster sessions, networking dialogues, and media which occurred at Psychedemia was the blossoming potential of the second exact Uranus-Pluto square, which took place the same week. This transformative power involves the collective will to liberate the veiled taboos, to dialogue openly about the previously hidden, and in the process excite and accelerate the process of evolution
I mentioned to organizer Nese Devenot that I felt this conference was a seed for many that should spread over the coming decade in different cities, that its documentation and dissemination were vital, and that the timing of it had been correlated exactly to the Uranus-Pluto square alignment. In the square, we take the more chaotic energies from the original conjunction, which took place in the 60’s, and we work on building more secure foundations and solid structures from which to build upon. Thus, our cultural revolution now is not a single moment, but a sustainable pulse.
I also found out that another conference sponsored by MAPS—Psychedelic Science 2013—is scheduled to occur April 18-22, 2013 in Oakland, CA, one month before the third exact square of Uranus-Pluto. As astrological researchers have found, when a major outer planetary transit occurs, artists and event organizers channel that quality.
Perhaps as we look ahead to May and to November 1 of 2013, the third and fourth exact squares of Uranus and Pluto, we can strategize our most catalytic and awakening events to harmonize with these r(evolutionary) peak moments.
Bio and Workshops Tour 2012/2013
VerDarLuz CelestiOwl
Evergreen, CO
Web – soulalchemyastrology.com
Email – verdarluz@gmail.com
Phone – 503 – 422 9489
DJ and Guitar Links
soundcloud.com/verdarluz;
http://www.youtube.com/user/verdarluzmagi?feature=mhee
Astrological Teaching Links
http://www.youtube.com/user/verdarluzmagi?feature=mhee
Astrology Blog and Books
soulalchemyastrology.com
Blessings.
My name is VerDarLuz and I am integral healer and shamanic artist. Much of my work focuses on Shamanic Astrology and the ability in all of us to fully embody all of the archetypes. When I visit cities, I like to offer a variety of teachings, musical, and dance experiences to local communities. The following is a list of my bio, workshop teachings, musical offerings, and testimonials of my work. Thanks for taking the time to check out my work and I hope we can learn, play, and share together soon.
MUSIC OFFERINGS
DJ and Guitar Links
soundcloud.com/verdarluz;
http://www.youtube.com/user/verdarluzmagi?feature=mhee
Gemineye Ryze: – Eclectic DJ sets, composed of Electro Soul, Swing House, Progressive House, Melodic Dubstep, Chillstep, Downtempo, Ethnic beats.
CelestiOwl: – Guitar, Turkish Saz, and Shamanic Dance invocation
Sound Healing: ShamaniSonic Odysseys
In this deep listening circle, participants lay down with their heads in the center of a circle and listen to both live guitar journeys and electro-orchestral odysseys. We then process our experience silently thru drawing, painting, poetry, and dance. At the close, we share our journeys with the group.
TESTIMONIALS:
Your set at the Sonic Bloom festival was hands down the most fun, eclectic
SHAMANIC ASTROLOGY WORKSHOPS 2012-2013
1. Zodiac Yoga and Astro Dance
2. AstroShamanism and Chakra Power Animals
3. Evolutionary Intimacy: The Zodiac Puja and the Archetypal God and Goddess
4. Languages of the Aquarian Evolution: Shamanic Astrology and Human Design
5. The 60’s PT 2: Archetypal Astrology and Psychedelic Culture
6. Multidimensional Soul-Healing:
Evolutionary Astrology, Shamanic Regression, and Rebirthing Breathwork
7. The Shamanic Artist and The Emerging Aquarian Age
8. Sacred Geometry and Archetypal Astrology
9. AstroDrama and Planetary Rites of Passage
DESCRIPTIONS:
Zodiac Yoga and AstroDance – 960 min – 120 min.
Astrology is not just up in the stars – it’s right here in our bodies!! This workshop will instruct people on how to celebrate the astrological signs through their bodies. We begin with a warmup that opens each part of the body thru its astrological correspondence. Then we move into Zodiac-Yoga and Astrolo-ChiKung to teach various postures that are associated with each sign of the zodiac. Then participants will be guided on an evolutionary dance journey the zodiac, inviting participants to discover the archetypes thru authentic movement.
We will end with a closing circle to discuss the experience and how one can begin to extend this practice into their daily workouts and into their relationships and personal healing practices.
AstroShamanism and Chakra Power Animal Dance – 2 hours
As we move deeper into the Aquarian Age, languages of energy will continue to synthesize integral paradigms of self-discovery and communication. Astrology, Chakras, Shamanism, and Dance are just such languages of energy. The planets represent evolutionary urges vibrating from the core of our soul. In this workshop, we will explore the pulse of the planets and their corresponding chakra associations through meditation, mantra, and movement. We will further invoke and locate our personal power animals located at each chakra and shapeshift into their energies through dance. In this process, we will discover an individual totem pole spiraling through our energy body, which can help to sustain, nourish, and empower us through these cathartic times.
Evolutionary Intimacy: The Zodiac Puja and the Archetypal God and Goddess – 90 min – 2 hours
The Zodiac Puja is a reverential and fun circle we will create to honor and adore each other, in the style of Tantric Pujas, but based in the archetypes of the zodiac.
Each of the questions will move in an evolutionary journey through the signs of the zodiac, helping participants to discover the full spectrum of their love nautres—from holding patterns, to edges, to places of power. Both partners will maintain eyegazing throughout the experience, allowing people to connect deeply with the many beloveds present. We will also explore the role of Mars and Venus in astrology as the reflections of the primary drives and attractions of the Sacred Masculine and Feminine.
Languages of the Aquarian Evolution: Shamanic Astrology and Human Design -90 min – 2 hours
We are changing and transforming more rapidly now than in any other point in human history. And so we search for languages to guide us through the birth canal, into our personal and collective evolution. In this informative workshop, we demystify astrology by asking what its role is in todays’ world. How can I benefit for applying this ancient wisdom in my life? How can we use it to guide the next generation, to build healthy relationships, and to strategize our life paths? How can we find our power places around the earth and when should we relocate or travel to these vortices? We also explore the emerging system of self-awareness, Human Design, by discussing its five primary energetic types and the nine energetic centers. We will show how it weaves astrology, the iching, the kabbalistic Tree of Life, and the Chakra system into a profound instruction on strategies for living your fullest potential.
The 60’s PT 2: Archetypal Astrology, Shamanic Magick, and Psychedelic Culture – 90 min – 2 hours
How do the celestial transits of the 2010‘s invite each of us to update and evolve the seeds planted in the era of the 60‘s? Why is an understanding of our archetypal natures essential to this process?
One of the best ways to understand the language of archetypes is to comprehend their correspondences to the world of daily life. This workshop will teach you the nature of the planets and the signs through their correlations to drugs, medicines, foods, music, and healing practices. By applying this wisdom, we will discover when each month and each year to partake in which kinds of rituals and practices appropriate to our specific archetypal initiations.
Multidimensional Soul-Healing:
Evolutionary Astrology, Shamanic Regression, and Rebirthing Breathwork – 2 Hours.
Ancient and modern star seers always perceived eclipses as karmic portals, evolutionary thresholds which mark thee most intense and transformational times of the year. Eclipses are composed of the Nodes of the Moon and in astrology representing the cutting-edge of our evolution and the traces of our soul’s history. In this workshop you will learn how Evolutionary astrology interacts with past life regression therapy, shamanic soul-retrieval, and rebirthing breathwork to form a holistic picture of the soul’s movement between lives. The nodes are the key evolutionary imperative in our lives and represent the journey of the Wounded Healer we all must make at this cathartic time. This workshop will also include a guided meditation, collective breathwork, and artistic exercise intended to open a portal into a past-life character seeking integration. We will then share our findings in circle.
The Shamanic Artist and the Emerging Aquarian Dawn – 90 min
2012 is the apex moment of the shift of the Ages. In this workshop we discuss the astronomical dynamics of the shift from Pisces to Aquarius, why the Mayan calendar enddate signifies the peak of this shift, and what this means for all of us as a society and culture.
We will explore and dance out the planetary configuration defining the 2010’s – the Uranus-Pluto square. We will learn how this cycle refers back to and updates the 1960’s and the late 20’s/early 30’s. What is astrology’s role in helping us navigate these transits with intention, compassion, and confidence?
How are the 2010‘s ushering us across the Aquarian threshold with new paradigm relationships, a cooperative Aquarian economy and politics, a revolution in education and parenting, Aquarian age spirituality and alien intelligence, and the role of the Shamanic Artist and Wounded Healer archetypes as the guiding light shifting the Ages?
Sacred Geometry and Archetypal Astrology – 1.5 – 2 hours
Plato, the Neoplatonists, the Pythagoreans, and many mystery schools considered geometry and number as the most reduced and essential, and therefore the ideal, philosophical language. In this workshop, we will uncover the hidden link between sacred geometry and the 12 archetypes of the zodiac. We will explore how the One Source manifests itself through a sacred process of divine division from monad to multiplicity. The triangle, square, diamond, six-pointed star and other sacred geometries will be investigated in relation to the modes, qualities, elements, and signs. We will understand how this mystical process reflects the hermetic maxim of As above, so Below, a concept which weaves astrology together with fractals, holography, and passages from Holy Scripture.
AstroDrama and Planetary Rites of Passage – 90 min
The planets are evolutionary intelligences and psychological forces within us. In this playshop, we will invoke the planetary characters through dance and theater, and relate these planets to key initiatory moments in our lifetimes. These planetary rites of passage are gateways all souls will have to pass through during this lifetime. The planetary forces represent evolutionary thresholds in our journey of ascension. Knowing the rites of passage helps us to compassionately support our own and others’ initiatory experiences. In this talk, we unlock the mysteries of many rites of passage such as the Saturn Return at 28-30 and 58-60, the Lunar Return at 27 and 54, the Jupiter Return at 24, 36, 48, the Chiron return at 50, and the midlife cycles of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
TESTIMONIALS
“VerDarLuz is more than an astrologer, he is a masterful artist in how he acquaints you with the nuances and intricacies of your soul’s chart, and brings you closer to your light and truth. I recently had a partnership reading with my love. We learned about individual needs and expressions, but also gained an in-depth spiritual understanding of the significance and meaning of our soul’s intertwined. Just two months later, we were engaged. This is the new and empowered version of “couples counseling!”
-J. Jessup & D. Schaner
“VerDarLuz weaves together the major aspects of astrology in such a skillful and interesting way that at last I’ve been able to make sense of and absorb the information. Ver is a master teacher. One may learn much about devotion to purpose by attending his classes and performances. ’Impeccable’ in regard to both his planned presentations and improvisational performances readily comes to mind. “
- Mary Wheeler, Madison, WI
EXHAUSTION and INTENSITY: Full Moon and Uranus-Pluto Square
NEWSLETTER
“I am educating in elasticity….And a single toe balances me between involvement and self-preservation…”
Torque = moment of force = the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis,[1] fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object…
What is twisting around you? And what are you twisting about?
My twists are the contortionist’s and I am exhausted. And I am not alone. Body wants to rest after the blast off of May’s eclipses, the Venus transit, the Venus retrograde, and all the festivals, teaching, sharings, rememberings, travel, sleepless a-mazing-ness. In gratitude, but the maze is dizzying. For we cannot keep expanding. Like a balloon, we will eventually pop. When Jupiter’s hedonistic bubble gets too big, Saturn comes along to stick a pin in it, so that we may contract and at last integrate the lessons and loves and light of new experience….
During our 2012 panel at Sonic Bloom festival, Jamie Janover, creator of the even,t stated to paraphrase, that any advanced civilization out there is probably watching us humans right now like a Reality TV show, and we’re at the last episodes of the season, and they’re wondering if humans are going to get kicked off the island, as they’re mad dashing all around. Will we make it?
Summer 2012 may feel like we are on the last minutes of the last episode. How do we plan for the next fantastic event, integrate what’s just happened, and stop to fully appreciate the present moment?
The Cancer Sun and the Capricorn Full Moon this Tuesday is a good time to process and reflect on all that’s been going on, and all that we’ve accomplished and achieved thus far. We also have an especially spiritual sabian symbol inviting us to slow down for the Full Moon at 13 Capricorn A Fire Worshipper Meditates On the Ultimate Realities Of Existence. Astrology—a reading or keeping an astrological journal—can be the most illuminating of languages to help one stop and meditate on your ultimate reality, a tool to listen and to prepare. Here’s an excerpt from my book Codex of the Soul: Astrology, Archetypes, and Your Sacred Blueprint on this topic:
“Today we are gifted with so many techniques and tools to perceive the unfolding patterns in our lives. For example, knowing when a transit is going to occur in your life gives you the ability to actively seek omens in your life. In this way, astrology becomes interactive as you dance in the center of the holographic mandala. Here, everyone is your messenger; every event is meaningful…..
Your daily journal is transformed into a dialogue with a sacred dimension of synchronistic meaning. What was previously perceived as random chaos is transfigured into patterns of profound significance. You see the “signs” all around you, you hear the cosmos sing directly to you-and you wish to respond.”
Perhaps it is time to dive deeper into your soul-script through a reading or by diving in to Codex of the Soul, my first book which has a new subtitle and a beautiful new cover and design. It has just been released by Evolver Editions, founded by Daniel Pinchbeck and others at the web magazine dedicated to consciousness and current events Realitysandwich.com.
Here’s an extended excerpt
http://www.realitysandwich.com/surfing_chaord#comments
Check the full excerpt here or purchase Codex here
http://www.northatlanticbooks.com/store/evolver-editions/
VENUS DIRECT + MERC RETRO
June 27th, Venus finally left her retrograde cycle, asking us to now apply the new clarity received since May 15th, about our true value systems regarding money, our creative energies, and our social and intimate relationships. Can we move forward confident enough to pry open our hearts and bare the naked flames for all to see, transparent and radiant, ready to receive the generous touch of the goddess?
Here’s a heads up for the extended Mercury Retrograde which will begin July 15th and end August 8th. Plan ahead with summer travels so that Mercury doesn’t thwart your plans or confuse your communications….
URANUS SQUARE PLUTO
The first exact Uranus-Pluto square, triggered by the Sun since June 22nd, now gets catalyzed and amplified by Mars in the coming weeks, as Mars finally leaves Virgo after his eight month journey refining and defining the sacred details of our devotional existence.
We are moving so fast during this square that we can feel our limbs flailing in the electric chaos of Uranus, while unveiling the hidden layers of our souls and the unprocessed unconscious of Pluto. There is real power here, to transform and to awaken, but we are asked to be compassionate with others in all the necessary adaptation and adjustment, two of the keywords for this cycle which dominates all of our lives for the next four years.
As Mars forms the T-Square to Uranus and Pluto, it may feel like somebody just hit the turbo button on the roller coaster. Rash, impulsive, and even violent reactions are likely unless we harness our creativity and invite our relationships to deepen. For none of us are immune to the changes, nor can we get off the ride.
So be excited by the surprises around the corner.
Follow your intuitive flashes.
Appreciate the fleeting moment.
For, it has been and will continue to be hard for us to commit to anything. Only the moment feels real, and yet all moments are torque moments, as we feel ourselves orbiting around this event and that, this connection and that, where to be when, and with whom?
I described this in a recent poetic contemplation called “Summer Taffy” you can read here on my blog…
Perhaps we can remember the lesson of the Sun in Cancer right now. What do you need to nourish you? A book? A slow meal? A hike? Can you take some days away from it all and be with a friend, a loved one, or just yourself in the quiet rhythm of nature’s peaceful flow?
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
-Hal Boreland
Summer Taffy…
The irony is that I have lived for four years now near the city of Boulder, CO, rockclimbing capital of the United States, and I have only been harnessed and clinging the rockface once. But I am a crevice existence now, flexing muscles as yet only quantum possibilities, now tense. Wave possibilities of that festival, that teaching, the DJ gig, the liver guitar at last, with an audience, in that state, or that country, these tidal Wave variations by the moment flung into Particles of flight paths made by Travelocity’s guaranteed low price. Salt water sips of this vs. that space-time convergence. I am strategizing soul-split, I am making elaborate mutlidestination plans for my soul’s bifurcations, for a lingering stench pile of what-if’s. Tether-tortured between the futured traveler’s expanse and exhaustion and the mad dash and blast of recent festivaled past, Rinse and repeat and evaporate the present in the process, becuz I am devising and desigining parallel universes by the second, each new tab, each new window, each google search result, the rest of my 2012 is a YES, we would like you to share with us, a NO, it is too late to accept your application
Is there another, or others—soul-contractors, angelic guides, con-spiriators—lurking on the other side of the taffy tugging me.
I am educating in elasticity, I am at midterms C+ at torque contortion.
And a single toe balances me between involvement and self-preservation. But do I destroy myself by diving in the deep or shallow end; am I redeemed by the loner swaddled in Aspen’s whisperdance? Wisdom in that quiet separation from the all that’s happening? ….or should i define and multiply myself in mirrored reflections, shards across oceans in tongues made of foreign silly putty
Cyclocartography—How can I pass up Jupiter crossing the Midheaven in Portugal, BOOM festival, a perfect crossing for that week only, on this, the most Jupiterian years of my life since astrology lifted the lids of my veiled vision?
How can the Aries South Node deny karma’s carpe diem?
And how can the exhausted one deny the renewal of solitude in Colorado nature?
Living is writing is living is justifying story.
And Time is God’s way of making sure that everything doesn’t happen at once….