What Eclipses Mean and How to Handle Them

First of all, let’s go over eclipses and what they are. Eclipses are times of revealing and things set in motion during an eclipse have a deep impact for the next 6 months or more. They are powerful times for manifesting. Whatever happens and whatever we create during the eclipses has a large impact on the next several months and the future. Once I was writing about the upcoming eclipses for a newsletter and I knew exactly when they were coming. As a result of this, I very specifically set some clear intentions during the eclipse and a few hours later my plans for the week were deeply impacted by a cancellation with a friend while traveling. This then had a ripple effect as I met entirely new people and set a new course for myself. I feel strongly that this new course was set as a result of my intention setting during the eclipse.

Solar Eclipse

In an eclipse, the sun which represents of our conscious awareness gets blocked by the moon which represents what is hidden but true. In this case, the moon is literally eclipsing the sun and blocking out its light.

Lunar Eclipse

During a lunar eclipse (which always happen on full moons), the sun, the earth, and the moon align in a straight line. The earth is then between the moon and the sun.  The earth’s shadow blocks the light from the sun hitting the moon and plunges the moon into darkness. Essentially during a lunar eclipse, the moon appears goes from a full moon to a new moon and back in terms of light and then back to full again. So in sense, the manifesting energy from a whole month happens in that very brief window of time.

Eclipses always bring about change and what may seem like chaos but there is an underlying order. In essence, a new moon eclipse is an uber new moon and a full moon eclipse is an uber full moon.

Upcoming Eclipses

We have two eclipses coming up. First will be a solar eclipse in Virgo followed by a lunar eclipse in the sign of Pisces. The eclipses in March were to stir up things up and get us to think about things we might not have while the September eclipses will firm things up for us bring clarity and movement. After the lunar eclipse on September 16, it will be easier to feel like you can move forward again. The last several months have been about identifying issues that need to be resolved and cleared and after this set of eclipses, it will be easier to move forward and you will have the clarity and be empowered to act with more confidence. One of the themes from this coming sets of eclipses that is coming up is turning the focus from other back to ourselves. If we fight this lesson, it will be harder for us in the long term. One of the benefits of these eclipses is that they bring things up for us for review and clearing so that we can manifest on a brighter, clearer level once they are cleared for us.

Eclipses Mark Endings and Beginnings

Though this can feel traumatic, it’s important to remember that if something is ending, there is good reason for it to do so and the same goes for the beginnings! There may be some things we let go of that are difficult but new things that come in that are even better. Let go of what is taken away and don’t fight it. Go with the flow and things will go much more easily for you. In particular, you might feel extra emotional during a full moon eclipse as you are purging and releasing old patterns, emotions, relationships, and situations which are not serving you on your path. You may feel you are on an emotional rollercoaster as you purge and release. When this happens, not that they will pass. Focus on your breath and ask your angels and guides to help you release all that is no longer serving you.

Fast Forward Evolution and Change

Eclipses also create change fast and may create situations which mean change that you thought was going to happen in years has to happen in weeks or at the moment. These unexpected circumstances area for your good but they can leave us reeling to try to keep up! Again don’t fight it, these things are for your evolution and your good.
Seeing People For Who They Are

Eclipses, particularly lunar eclipses may shine a light on people and show you a side that you hadn’t seen before and it may not be pretty. While it may be tempting to dismiss some of these things because they are magnified by the energies of the full moon, the quote by Maya Angelou resonates in this case, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

Don’t Fight the Changes 

We are often in resistance to what is for our good. If there is something coming up for release, there is a good reason for it! Thank the universe for the changes and the lessons and move on. You will have six months to shift and incorporate the changes before the next set of eclipses comes and asks you to shift and evolve yet again.

Onwards and upwards as we and the world are all works in progress.

The Benefits of Guided Meditation

Guided Meditation

Recently I have been getting so many messages about meditation that I finally just couldn’t ignore them and started meditating. I have tried meditating before and had a really hard time. I realized I was trying to do it on my own without a teacher. This often doesn’t go well when we are trying to learn something new. It was kind of like trying to teach yourself complex math with just a text book and no teacher (I should know; I have tried to do that before but that is another story). I have since discovered the benefits of guided meditation. In guided meditation you listen to someone who guides you through visualizations and relaxation techniques and for me this has made all the difference between failure and success. At some point I may be able to do meditation on my own without listening to an audio but for now, I am loving listening to them. 

The Benefits of Meditation

There are so many benefits to meditation and if you want to improve your life dramatically in a whole host of ways then there is no reason you should not be practicing meditation.

We live is such a stress oriented, active society but often we are working so hard to try to create a good quality of life but that are stressed in body in mind which is not a good quality of life. Meditation can help give us the perspective, peace, and focus we need to change our life in dramatic ways. I love this quote about meditation, “Meditate for an hour every day unless you are too busy. In that case meditate for two hours.” If you are so busy you can’t find an hour (or ten minutes) meditating can help you refocus and figure out how to work better and smarter. 

Here are a few benefits of meditation on health and wellness. The percentages are compared with non-meditators:

• More focus (10x)

• 75% less depression

• 30% less anxiety

• 65% more well-being

• 50% less disease

• Pain reduction

• Reduce alcohol and substance abuse

These statistics are from over 100 scientific papers on meditation. You can read more about this and download a free meditation guide here: http://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/

Practicing Meditation

There is a reason they call it practicing! Meditation is not easy at first but most people expect that it should be. It’s like any new kind of exercise program, its hard at first! And I really do think of this as an exercise program; it’s exercise for the mind. You wouldn’t expect to run a marathon without training so don’t expect yourself to be able to meditation easily without some practice first too. It sounds simple to sit and focus or not focus depending on how you look at it for a few minutes to an hour at a time, but it will feel hard at first and that’s ok. It’s called a practice for a reason because you do need to work at it. And there are many benefits from doing even if it seems like you are terrible at it at first. You may feel like you are doing anything but relaxing or emptying your mind or whatever. Do it anyway and after a period of time, your mind will quiet and you will feel peace. 

Here are a few tips for successful meditation practice:

• Find a peaceful and quiet place where you can relax without distractions 

• Get comfy (I like to lay down)

• Drink water so you are hydrated and not distracted before you start

• Have dim lighting or candle light to help your mind be less stimulated

• Listen to peaceful music or a guided meditation to help you start

• Don’t set expectations, just allow yourself to have the experience, whatever it needs to be

If you want to explore meditating, there are some great easy resources to do so. You can download my grounding and clearing audio meditation which helps you learn how to ground yourself and clear your energy field. There are also some great free guided meditations on Spotify’s Guided Meditation playlist. You can check that out for free here. Deepak Chopra has some great free ones as does Philip Permutt on that playlist so there is literally no reason not to try it. 

So I know that meditating can seem daunting but there are so many benefits if you can work through any resistance you have to it. There are literally so many benefits to it, it is silly not to at least try it .