
My favorite aunt, Frances Tingley, passed away a week before the conference, which I had treated myself to for my upcoming solar return. I agonized over whether I should go as planned or stay home and attend her funeral. In the end, I decided to follow her own advice to me which was to have as much fun in your life as possible.
Let’s see, funeral vs. conference…which one would you choose for fun?
This theme of having fun was a recurring one during the time I helped take care of her last year. She would point her finger at me and say, “I want to know what you are doing for fun?”
What does that mean to a person with Capricorn on the 5th house cusp? Work is fun or fun is work, or a little of both? I mean, I really thought about this a lot. And I had a lot of time to think about it.
Saturn transiting my South Node conjunct Chiron in Scorpio made several passes, scraping over my psyche with each pass. I had past life memories of servitude. Rage rumbled up from the depths triggered by the smallest incident, again pointing to past life emotions deeply buried. I learned a lot.
Each person has fun in their own unique way. For me, with Gemini Sun, Virgo ascendant and North Node in the 9th house, it’s all about learning. Astrology workshops and conferences are food for my soul. My Taurus North Node loves ‘food’. BTW, if nothing else, the food at Norwac was worth the trip.
My aunt said she wanted to give me something. One day she asked, “What do you want?” My answer, “If possible, come to me after your death, so I will know if there is ‘life after death’” She kind of freaked out over this answer given the circumstances, but it was the kind of thing we always talked about during our relationship.
She had a song for everything and one way she ‘appeared’ to me after her death was by putting a song in my heart. I woke up two mornings after her death with “Because of You” sung by Tony Bennet in 1951 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4zvArJDGg&feature=kp
Now, this is not one of my songs. I don’t think I’ve heard it in 30 years or more. Probably more like 45 years, so it was significant that it appeared and would not leave.
I flew to Seattle and had the distinct feeling she was sitting next to me on the plane saying, “I’d much rather be with you on this trip (she had Sagittarius rising) than back there hanging out around my dead body.” Among our shared interests was travel, astrology and getting the hell out of Dodge.
I had signed up for a post-conference workshop on Reincarnation. I was so exhausted that I regretted it, but having spent the money and extended my stay to take it….I carried on. Now it has been my experience that when I have some kind of resistance the last minute to doing something I had planned, I usually get the biggest teaching from it. And it was no different this time.
Towards the end of the day, the presenter Aleksandar Imsiragic, showed us a video of a woman in a tank interacting with sharks (my aunt was a Pisces). Prior to showing it we were joking around about having popcorn and the presenter said, “Well, yes. It is important to have as much fun as possible.” Suddenly, behind me, a woman started singing my aunt’s favorite song, “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”
Hello.
The woman said, “This is an old song and I bet no one ever heard it before.” Are you kidding? Bless her heart, my aunt sang it so much it drove me crazy while I was caring for her.
What better way to get my attention? Subtlety was NOT part of my aunt’s repertory. I mean, here I was in a workshop on Reincarnation with a magician from Serbia who kept shape-shifting into an Egyptian man/god hearing a woman singing my aunt’s signature song watching a film about a woman surrounded by sharks. Got the message?
So, you may be asking by now. How does this relate to Gemini New Moon? First thing – since it is in Gemini everything is relevant. But to be more specific, Gemini is known as one of the most mental of the signs. Those of us in esoteric circles understand that thoughts and words have creative power and so it is extremely important to at least monitor if not control your thoughts. I recently ‘discovered’ the concept of ‘reframing’. The stories we tell ourselves about the events of our lives are extremely powerful. But since they are stories, we can change them.
Stephanie Austin’s article this month in The Mountain Astrologer mentions the neuropsychologist Rick Hanson and his work in neuroplasticity. I have heard him speak on KPFA. He says you can use your mind to change your thoughts which will then change your brain leading to different thoughts. Hold on here. You say you can change your physiology with your mind? YES!!! Rick Hanson’s work shows that.
There has also been extensive research done on the heart brain connection. In the Bible it says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) The ancients knew this. Science is now catching up.
Our thoughts are powerful. Stephanie Austin says, “The spiritual goal of Gemini is the development of perception, thought and communication.” We are facing many challenges today. I believe that without a change of mind, we will not survive. Wayne Dyer wrote a book years ago titled: You’ll See It When You Believe It: The Way to Your Personal Transformation.
This New Moon is about the power of your mind and its thoughts. You do have the ability to create your world. First by reframing – that is looking at things, people, events from another perspective. Second by telling yourself a new story. Third by working at controlling and then changing your thoughts. If nothing else, look at all this as an experiment….a ‘what if’ opportunity.