Inner Libra - Inner and Outer Relationships

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #111 - September 22, 2005

Planetary Alignments

• Just at the Fall Equinox, the Sun enters Libra September 22nd at 3:24am PDT (10:24am GMT), radiating its love there through October 22nd.
• The Libra New Moon/Solar Eclipse is October 3rd at 3:29am PDT (10:29am GMT)
• The Aries Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse is October 17th at 5:14am PDT (12:14pm GMT)
• Mars goes retrograde at 23° Taurus October 1st (through December 9th)
• Neptune goes direct October 26th at 15° Aquarius.
• Jupiter ends its sojourn in Libra and moves into Scorpio October 25th.

Featuring Relationship Issues

This could be an in-your-face relationship month. The planetary dance offers us plenty of openings to clarify, end, or move forward in all types of relationships. We are being asked to consider what partnerships serve our soul path. The two eclipses make sure we don't just slide through this one. Often Libra and Venus can escape the storm with their inherent sweetness and connection to the Divine, but this month there may be some reckoning that cannot be avoided with sweet talk. This is actually good news, as we get a chance for new beginnings, and a new lease on partnerships of all kinds.

There are several significant astrological happenings this month, that are going to oblige us to look deeply, to feel authentically, and to get in touch with what really serves our soul's journey. Get ready to make decisions that support your destiny path.

Libra Solar Eclipse

The most notable events are the Libra Solar Eclipse/New Moon October 3rd, and the Aries Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse October 17th. Eclipses shift our consciousness in dramatic ways. We become aware of things that heretofore escaped our attention. These new revelations oblige us to reflect on what is no longer true, what was never true, and what is important now.(1)

During a Solar Eclipse, the Moon temporarily blocks the Sun's light. We can feel disoriented as our normal perceptions are altered. The increased gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun can awaken our psyche to the original intentions of our soul. Solar eclipses open an evolutionary portal. If we choose to move through the opening, we can realign and embrace an expanded reality of who we are, and what we came here to do.

Libra eclipses bring our attention to partnerships and how we must balance cooperation, friendship and intimacy with independence, individuality and identity. Exactly 19 years ago, on October 3rd, 1986, there was a solar eclipse at the same degree. Relationships and collaborations that were important then are now ready to be completed or taken to the next level.(2)

The transformative impact of this eclipse will be especially powerful where 10° Libra falls in your birth chart. It will also impact planets near 10°. These are areas where the nature of our relationships and life situations will be evaluated and tested.

Venus and Mars Dance in the Moonlight

Venus in Scorpio during this eclipse opens us up to experiencing our insecurities, fears and desires. As Venus opposes Mars in Taurus (exactly opposed on October 1st), passions will be sparked and repressed sentiments will be revealed. Both our shadow and our light will come out and dance in a revealing nakedness that we cannot ignore.

We will feel the intenseness of our desires, as Mars stations retrograde at 23° Taurus October 1, just before the eclipse and New Moon. We have 2 months, while Mars is retrograde through December 9th, to direct our focus inward. During this time we have an opportunity to re-evaluate our needs and desires, and to reconsider the most appropriate ways to meet them. If our strategies have been self-sabotaging or ineffective, now is the time to define and implement another game plan.

In the areas of security, money and abundance (Taurus/Scorpio issues), we are being challenged to refine our objectives and expand our vision of what is possible. It isn't hard for most of us to add goals to our list, nurture our desires or expand our expectation level. The hard part is eliminating the attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and habits that keep us trapped in limiting scenarios. Yet this is what is required to move to the next level of manifestation.

Accountability and Heart Power

Don't worry, we don't have to get rid of all our garbage in one day; but we'd better commit to cleaning up our act. Longstanding issues need to be resolved, and a new path needs to be forged by February 2006 when Mars goes direct. We are being presented with the energy, the openness and the drive to thoroughly evaluate what we want, and to outline specifically how we are plan to get it.

Accountability is a key factor. We have to stop and THINK AND FEEL what we truly desire and why. We can't blindly operate on automatic pilot according to the old rules, and hope that we will get what we want. Our strategy for success just may have to be shifted from the love of power, money and recognition, to the love power of our Soul and our connection to the Divine.

What we are pursuing may only be possible if we nourish it in the sacred ground of heart-felt love.

Aries Lunar Eclipse/Full Moon, October 17^th

A Lunar Eclipse happens during a Full Moon when the Sun and the Moon are directly opposite each other. Sandwiched between the radiating energy of the Sun and the magnetic force of the Moon, Earth and her inhabitants get a dose of integrative and confrontive energy. The light of the Moon is blocked as it moves into the shadow of the Earth, exposing us to a complete moon cycle in the span of a couple of hours. Once again, the eclipse disrupts our habitual way of viewing and reacting to reality, causing our perceptions and responses to alter dramatically.

The Moon is at 24° Aries and the Sun is at 24° Libra during this Full Moon, which brings our attention again to personal, professional and divine partnerships. We will become aware of the inner and outer dynamics of our relationships. Instead of focusing on needing others, we must turn our attention to finding security and love within ourselves. It is our loving relationship with our soul and Source, that creates a viable inner foundation for interacting as whole beings with each other.

To resolve old grievances, we must recognize how our story contributes to misunderstandings. An appropriate GOAL for this time is to establish a loving relationship with your heart, which allows you to attract satisfying exchanges and possibilities for nurturing freedom and growth in relationships. (instead of control or stagnation) To do so, you have to connect with the power and passion of love and light within, instead of hoping to rely on it from others.

As Neptune goes direct on October 26th at 15° Aquarius, we may find that our inner revolution is more real than we previously thought. At the mid point of Neptune in Aquarius we may begin to realize the gift that we are being offered - Celebrating our individuality makes it possible to experience our oneness.

Request for Relationship Help

In sum, this month we may be forced to look at our not so favorite relationship issues. The good news is that if we authentically do our inner work, we can make breakthroughs that have eluded us in the past. The following request for direction summarizes a common relationship predicament.

What meditations do you recommend for insecurity and dependency in a relationship?

I am currently dating someone and keep sabotaging it by my 'love addiction'. In fact, my addictions seem to sabotage all relationships and all my good intentions!

It's odd that I have so many resources available to me, yet I keep getting stuck and falling back into my old rut and habits. One thing leads me to another, and then off the wagon I go. It all really seems to lead back to the love dependency and not feeling or allowing self love.

The Relationship Dilemma

Solving the dependency relationship dilemma does not lend itself to a simplistic answer or to a cure-all meditation. However, we can take a quantum shift forward, if we are willing to understand and accept the soul dynamics that are being played out, AND if we commit to do the inner work necessary to correct our dysfunctional patterns.

I can explain fairly clearly the inner and outer dynamics of how we sabotage relationships, and what we need to do to attract functional relationships. Understanding is, however, only the first step. The challenge is to shift our consciousness and our frequency to match what our soul desires. Shifting our consciousness takes daily attention and consistent training.

In the process of becoming more aware, we get in touch with what our soul desires. Then we have to accept and follow our soul's guidance. The more we allow our soul, not our limited ego, to be in charge of our journey in this human incarnation, the more satisfied we feel. Although the continuing nature of our evolution precludes any quick fixes, embracing the dynamic of our life journey becomes an exciting and intriguing adventure. Through our dedicated participation in our own unfoldment, we can experience radical transformation.

Our Soul Desires Wholeness

Ultimately what our soul desires is WHOLENESS. As we become more whole, we experience peace, contentment and joy. Searching outside ourselves, for any of the attributes of this state of being, leads to frustration. External things, relationships, rewards and acceptance do not satisfy our basic soul desire, to have a relationship with our soul and merge with our Source. Sooner or later, our external focus sabotages that which we try to use as a substitute for our own connection, own self-approval, and own self-love.

There are many paths that lead us back to the One. Relationship is one path. One of the branches of Tantra is devoted to the art of cultivating union with the Divine through intimacy and sexuality. The goal of a Tantric relationship is to build a synergy between male and female polarities, so as to foster that merging within ourselves. Our partner is not supposed to be a substitute for our own unity, only a pathway to that unity.

Two halves (two people) do not make a whole. Dividing responsibility for our completeness is not workable at the spiritual level. We have to go back to our core self to experience our own wholeness. When relationships distract from our inner search for integration, they are either aborted or create pain. If we lose ourselves in relationship, the general rule is that we lose the relationship. I am sure you have all noticed.

Alone is an Opening to Soul and Source

So if you are currently alone with yourself (in or out of relationship), instead of considering this a curse, use it as an opening to cultivate a closer relationship with your soul. Keep in mind what will become more and more obvious - the needier you are, the less likely you are to attract a functional relationship with the qualities that you want. (Perhaps only think you want). The more whole you become, the more satisfied you will be. The more you find contentment within yourself, the better chance you have of attracting a relationship that has the possibility of supporting your path to wholeness.

In the end, we only take ourselves with us when we leave. How do you want to feel when you take your last breath? That is what you need to focus on now.

An appropriate INTENTION to initiate this month is to establish a relationship with yourself - Soul and Source - that allows you to attract the partnerships that your Soul desires.

Kundalini Yoga - Deep Within - Part I - Being with Our Emotions

We have to connect with our deepest urges, insecurities and fears, to break destructive cycles. Our healing/awakening process requires accepting ALL our feelings and instincts. It is loving acceptance of our primal energies that makes it possible to shift patterns and re-channel our energy to serve us, instead of sabotage us. We have to use our will to bring our attention to these energetic expressions. Then we have to be willing to FEEL, to ALLOW and to LOVE what we are experiencing.

Often we think that if we just do yoga, or meditate, everything will be different. Well, a daily Kundalini Yoga practice certainly helps align our energies, but the inner work of staying focused on ourselves to create shifts is a critical part of our regime. FEEL, ALLOW and LOVE are three directives that need to be followed every day. Actually, authentically practicing these can deliver you to your soul.

Baby pose offers us a chance to physically be cozy with ourselves. If this position is comfortable for you, include it in your daily practice. Staying very present to your feelings and instincts will allow you to "process" your emotions. (Not think about, but to lovingly feel the energies that move through your body.)

Part II - Infusing Divinity into Our Awareness

The missing element in our consciousness that creates fear, insecurity and neediness is an awareness of the Divine. We must be able to consciously hold our personal experience of the Divine to feel secure, fearless and whole. If we do not have this experience, we feel empty and try to fill the void with food, addictive substances, external distractions and other people's energy i.e. relationships!

The following meditation transforms you from within. The more you experience the ever-present support of the Divine, the more you will feel your own self-sustaining power. You will begin to feel whole and complete within yourself. You will feel the power of love in your own heart and be nurtured by it. As you turn your focus to your own self-love and enjoyment, your projection will become more magnetic. The light of your soul will attract to you what your soul desires.

Heart Shield Meditation

(See also page 147 in Transitions to a Heart-Centered World 2nd Edition.)

This meditation helps establish a Divine Connection in our heart. You may experience the Divine as an energy presence that infuses you with a sense of well-being.

The mantra for this meditation is:
Sat Naarayan - true sustainer
Wha hay guroo - indescribable wisdom
Haree naraayan - creative sustenance
Sat naam - true identity(3)

Sit in easy pose with a straight spine. Place the right hand in active Gyan Mudra (index finger curled under the thumb, the other fingers straight and joined), back of wrist resting on the right knee. The left arm is bent at the elbow, upper arm relaxed beside the body. The forearm faces the front of the body. Left palm is about 6 inches from the heart center. Thumb and fingers are straight, together and tensed. For the magnetic field to respond appropriately, the antennae (hand) must be held stable.

Concentrate on the hand as a protective shield to your heart, not in the sense of blocking, but in the sense of nurturing and supporting. Focus on the hand and feel the heat energy going from the hand to your heart. Do not concentrate in any way in the head or third eye.

To begin, inhale deeply and exhale completely 3 times. Then inhale and chant the mantra either in a monotone or with the melody.

Continue for 3, 5, or 7 minutes. Do in absolute calmness and do not overdo it. You are drinking nectar and must pace yourself to ingest only what you can digest.

As you chant, allow and deeply feel the vibration of the mantra infuse your physical and emotional bodies with its transformative energy. The nature of your feelings will shift. Be very present to what is happening. Mantras serve as the integrator of physical and non-physical realities.

At the end, sit quietly with hands on knees, and simply let your body and heart absorb the sustaining energies. Meditate on how it feels to be sustained by the Divine. Meditate on your heart. Consciously let the feeling of being supported, loved and sustained integrate into your psyche.

References and Footnotes

"Libra Solar Eclipse - October 3, Aries Lunar Eclipse - October 17", by Stephanie Austin, The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #123, Oct/Nov 2005, pp. 109-110.

1. Austin, p. 110
2. Austin, p. 109
3. The full version of Sat Narayan can be found on the CD Longing to Belong by Gurudass.

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