As above, so below.

The great cycles of nature do not go on around us; we are enmeshed in them. They carry us along.

What we observe without is happening also within. This is my approach to astrological wisdom.

The cycles of nature reflect and resonate with our cycles of inner growth. The planets in the living sky reflect and resonate with the archetypes within. These wise teachers populate our souls and minds. Archetypal wisdom resides within us.

Our natal charts offer clues as to how this wisdom shows up for you, in particular. But all of us have access at all times to the richness of the diverse planetary wisdom.

Each of us has access to an entire team of wise teachers and guides.

We can gain access to their guidance by looking outwards at the cycles of the living sky, or listening inwards to the quiet voices of our intuition, faith, and deep knowing.

The great luminous bodies above (remember lying on a blanket in summer in your youth?) are speaking within you now. Listen. Listen to the imprint of these lights on your soul. There are SO many ways to access our innate wisdom; allowing the sky to be our mirror is just one way, but it is a powerful way.

Things are dark and challenging now, my friends. We need access to our inner wisdom, our better instincts, our intuition and our faith. Spiritual and psychological work, which may have so recently felt to you like an “extra” in life, is suddenly essential. When external supports are withdrawn, we must strengthen our inner supports.

I am hearing many people say they are hearing the voices of nature more strongly these days.

The birdsong is vivid. A chorus of whales becomes audible to ocean bathers. Even those with a less poetic turn of mind are hearing and seeing the natural world as newly alive. The great wilderness of the sky is speaking up and shining brighter too.

I’m here to help you open up and begin to hear the powerful, luminous inner wisdom that is always available to guide you. I feel such great comfort and stability when I remember that I am embedded within the great cyclical story of nature. Our bodies are aware of this belonging, but they are also vulnerable to fear and the symptoms of fear. The more we can call ourselves back to our luminous belonging, the safer our psyches will be, the more resilient we will be psychologically and physically.

Everything in nature expresses a cycle of expansion, contraction, surrender, and back to expansion.

In-breath, out-breath. Spring, summer, fall, winter. Birth, lived experience, death, and rebirth. New moon, full moon, dark moon. The vegetative cycle, from seed to compost. The expansion and contraction of the great interstellar clouds. Everything cycles through expansion, contraction, release.

Maybe all this sounds abstract and rarefied. It’s not. It can be so simple and natural, like conscious breath. The tools for accessing a sense of belonging and comfort can be simple too. My primary tool is that of loving observation. Here are a few practices of loving observation, whether you have a moment to a lifetime to devote to it:

In a moment:
Practice conscious breath. In-breath, honouring the cycle of expansion. Out-breath, honouring the cycle of contraction and release.

In a month:
Watch the Moon. Commit to finding her in the sky every day. Watch her light expand and contract gradually over 29 days.

In a year:
Choose a place in nature, or let it choose you. A corner of your back yard, a special tree, a stretch of inter-tidal zone. Visit daily or weekly through a year, and lovingly observe the seasonal shifts. Drawing, writing, or photographing the changes can help hone your observation.

In a lifetime:
Attend to your body’s changing landscape with acceptance and curiosity.

I hope you will choose to play with one, or all, of these practices, and when you do, I hope you will attend with special severance to the dark half of each cycle. To the out-breath, the waning, the winter, and the elderhood.

In our culture is that we get plenty of practice working the expansion phase of the cycle.

We love a big deep breath in. We love a full moon, a young lithe body, a garden in full bloom. We work so hard to acquire and expand things and to keep them moving at peak productivity. We consider it a failure when the inevitable contraction begins, and we leap immediately (or try to) to the next cycle of expansion.

The cycles of contraction and release are of equal beauty and equal importance, and are due equal time and equal reverence. But we do not like to linger in the fertile dark, we do not like to dwell in the out breath. We feel shame in our aging bodies and harangue ourselves when our bodies and psyches beg for rest and retreat.

Times of contraction are hard. Really hard.

There is a reason for this, of course. Times of contraction are hard. Really hard. Grief and loss are real. Letting go of what we love can be terrible. Truly. It’s not all about the poetry of rich shadow realms and gestational mystery. The poetry is real, but so is the fear, the grief, the real world experience of loss. The full range of hard feelings are here, from discomfort and anxiety to horror and grief.

Times of contraction are even harder when we haven’t practiced for them. And, as a culture, we haven’t practiced. We have failed to dwell in and honour all the little out-breaths of life, the times of emptiness and discomfort, the daily tally of losses and accumulated grief.

So, here we are; as my teacher says, what a beautiful opportunity for practice.

We are here in this time to practice contraction, to practice waning and release. We get the good feelings of this part of the round; we get the rest and the shelter of family, we get the embryonic creativity, we get the quiet, we get the deep spiritual reflection. But we must also grapple with the challenges, many of which we have not practiced for. We must grapple with loss and limitation, surrendering of control, limitation of resources, enforced stillness and enforced intimacy, or on the other side of the coin, loneliness. Some of us will grapple with isolation, sickness, and death. It doesn’t get more real.

I’ll say it again: Things are dark and challenging now. We need access to our inner wisdom. Spiritual and psychological work are suddenly essential. When external supports are withdrawn, we must strengthen our inner supports.

Planetary wisdom, the practice of astrology, helps us to understand the complex layering of cycles that is nature’s way.

The planets in their rounds show interlocking and intersecting cycles of growth, contraction, and release… everything is always happening at once, but there is cyclical harmony, and the beauty of the planetary cycles reflects this harmony back to us.

What is interesting about 2020,

the reason astrologers have been talking about this year for some time, is that this year, many cycles of contraction intersect. None of us could know the exact form this energy would take, but we could see the energy itself, its seriousness, its intensity, its long shadow, and its potential for transformation.

So here we are in the steady grip of the two most serious teacher planets.

Saturn requires us to grow up in every way possible. He requires us to create structures that serve and endure, and he points mercilessly to where our structures are weak. He requires us to face our fears, and he requires us to work hard with limited resources.

Pluto meanwhile amplifies our shadow, abducts our innocence, and requires us to struggle in the dark for redemption… which does eventually come.

While these two teachers are requiring so much of us, the other cycling energies have not ceased to work upon our lives.

Moon still asks us to change our feelings day by day, and to create tender intimacy in our homes. Sun still requires us to trust that healing and growth will come and we can shine in the meantime. Jupiter, though not at his best right now, still shows us the miracles and the goodness and generosity in ourselves and others. Venus reminds us that nature will find equilibrium, and that we are held by beauty. Mars brings us courage and vitality and awakens our desire to protect others. Mercury helps us to free our minds and explore from our limited quarters, Uranus reminds us of our ability to change and adapt with brilliance, andNeptune reminds us to see god everywhere.

Remember that each of these archetypes holds space in your psyche.

Each is a wise voice within that you can access at will. You are wise and resilient beyond what you know. You are powerful and balanced, you contain deep wells of compassion and resourcefulness. So much wisdom is available to you now, and your spirit can thrive through this time.

I’ve made you a very simple reminder of just a bit the wisdom that is within you. It’s something you can tape to your mirror and use every day, a few words of wisdom form each of your inner planetary guides. You can download it here: PlanetaryAffirmations