Welcome to New Millennium Being

Inner Capricorn - Reclaiming our Free Will

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #114 - December 30, 2005

Sat Nam!

I offer you this special gift for the New Year. If you simply open the gift you may find it interesting. If you use this gift for one year, you can change your life forever.

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy, Harmonious and Honorable New Year.
Guru Rattana :+)

Planetary Alignments
Venus Reassessment

The heavenly happenings this month add another piece that is up for us to grab during this exceptional transformational period. One of the most important events is on December 24th, when Venus goes retrograde for 42 days. Of all the planets, Venus goes retrograde for the least number of days - only once every year and a half. Venus is the planet that symbolizes our desires and what we attract to us. When Venus is retrograde, we are invited to look deep within to identify what our soul desires. What do we really value? What have we given too much attention? What have we not paid enough attention to? How do we really want to use our precious time, energy and resources?

Venus retrograde signals a need for reappraisal. We have been given life. What do we want to do with it? We must address and resolve inner conflicts and issues, so our inner alignment supports us in moving forward. To do so, paying close attention to our emotional body is required.

Venus turned retrograde December 24th at 1° Aquarius. However, Venus moves back to Capricorn December 31st and will remain in Capricorn through both January and February. So for the next two months, the nature of our inner investigation hums to Capricorn themes.

February 3rd Venus goes direct at 16° Capricorn. It is after this date that we may notice that something deep within us has shifted. This will be even more evident after March 5th when Venus returns to 1° Aquarius, (where it first turned retrograde.)

Portal to the Heart

The more we get into the Venus retrograde period, the more I realize that this is a very powerful and significant period in our lives. I can tell that everyone is being dramatically impacted. Our actions, thoughts, insights and feelings are shifting.

Personally I am loving it. Since Venus turned retrograde, I can sense the vibrant energy of my emotional body. I am more patient with myself. I can listen deeply to myself and to others. I feel protected in an energized, but quiet place.

We are being given a gift of the heart. If we pay attention, we can reach deeper levels of self-connection and self-love than ever before. We can let go of neuroses, addictions and old programming. The portal of the heart is opening and we are walking through.

Earth Energies and Issues

Mars has been in Taurus since July 28th, 2005 and will stay through February 17th 2006. (Mars was retrograde from October 1st through December 8th, 2005). Mars symbolizes our raw energy and how we use it. Mars and Venus embody the male and female polarities of our personal power. Both being in Earth signs with retrograde movement, we are given an opportunity to examine how we use our personal resources to create satisfaction (or not) in our lives.

Taurus brings our attention to our basic needs and how we organize our life to meet them. Taurus energy makes us aware of both our physical and emotional bodies. Taurus is concerned with the practical activities of getting our physical and emotional needs satisfied. As the second sign in the Zodiac, Taurus is necessarily self-focused and survival oriented.

Capricorn is concerned with how we manage both our personal and collective resources, perform our obligations, and accomplish our goals. Capricorn is less impulsive and more mature. The Mountain Goat is able to forgo immediate desires in order to achieve his long-term goals. The Goat is ambitious, but cautious. He carefully calculates the impact of each step.

The Earth Signs oblige us to be accountable. Accountability requires that we get in touch with what constitutes personal power, and monitor how we use it. On Planet Earth each human being always lives in choice. We are given the gift of Free Will, which means that we are both at choice and responsible for what we choose. The tricky part, of course, is that every choice we make has consequences. Every cause creates an effect. The essence of KARMA is that the Universe holds us accountable for both cause and effect.

What makes these overriding rules of the Earth game even more challenging is that CHOICE includes both conscious and unconscious decisions. Therefore, our unconscious choices CAN and DO dictate our lives. The human journey is about becoming more aware of what we are doing (and not doing), so that we can actually reclaim our Free Will and make choices that create a satisfying life.

We humans pay a high price for unconsciousness, also understood as denial. Venus retrograde gives us a chance to examine ourselves below the surface, under the façade. For those who want to make changes in their lives, taking advantage of this time is of critical importance.

New Moon - December 30th

Auspiciously, the Capricorn New Moon comes right at the end of 2005, adding a potent force to our annual review and our New Year resolutions. However, this year is different. Do not pressure yourself to artificially speed through your evaluation and intention setting process. Venus retrograde is offering us time to carefully examine our true motivations and desires. We are being given an opportunity to see ourselves and our lives from a different perspective - in the purity of the light of our soul. Our inner focus can help us realize that what we give the world is ourselves, our being, our vibration and our heart. This year, we are looking less at what we do and more at HOW we do it. Are we projecting love and offering kindness with our actions?

I always find it interesting to monitor my consciousness when the Sun changes signs. The day the Sun moved into Capricorn, for a few special moments, I could feel my body as simply a denser expression of Spirit. There didn't seem to be any fundamental difference between my physical and emotional bodies and non-physical reality - just a different set of feelings.

Capricorn, and his mentor Saturn, are traditionally associated with the limitations, restrictions, and the strict rules of the Earth plane. We are challenged to activate and align our Free Will, and to take responsibility for our choices and actions. This is how we learn, evolve and expand our consciousness.

There is also an inherent beauty in this process. Our soul has earned the privilege of being in a human body. We get to FEEL feelings, experience emotions, and indulge in sensory perceptions, that are unavailable out of body. Our limits make it possible to be an individual with unique expressions, personality and gifts. The endless richness of the Earth plane is available to delight us. There is so much to enjoy. Maybe Venus retrograde in Capricorn is inviting us to pay attention to the subtle joys of simply being alive.

Our Body is the Vehicle of Our Soul

Capricorn is the last Earth sign of the Zodiac. When the Sun is in Capricorn, we are reminded that we must consolidate our being in our body in order to manifest our destiny path. Capricorn is about completing the process of self-initiation of our soul in our physical body. While the Sun is in Capricorn, we are invited to seriously examine our relationship with our body. How do I treat my body? How does the way in which I care for my body reflect what manifests in my life?

What am I doing with my body? What am I doing with my life? Our body is the sacred vehicle of our soul. Do we nourish it with proper food, and exercise it with appropriate movement? Do we keep it tuned up and tuned in, so that it can optimally support us during our visit to Planet Earth?

It is awesome to contemplate that our soul manifested an expression of itself in the denseness of physical reality. While we are on Earth our body is both our vehicle and our home. Our consciousness lives in our body. We can get to know ourselves by exploring and discovering our body. To cultivate an intimate relationship with our body, we must communicate with it through touch and feeling, i.e. we must connect with it through our emotional and physical sensors.

Physicality allows us to enjoy our bodies. Feeling makes it possible to love our bodies. Awareness IN our body expands our body consciousness, which in turn taps us into a vast reservoir of wisdom. This sounds great. However, a quick scan of our body awareness reminds us that we have a way to go to reach and maximize the pleasure, love, and wisdom that our body offers us.

Destiny or Fate?

Capricorn symbolizes our trek up the mountain of life. Capricorn is about the choice between destiny and fate? FATE is how our lives play out if we remain asleep and succumb to fear, blame, shame, and victimization. DESTINY is how we choose to orchestrate our lives, taking advantage of our talents, gifts and circumstances. The same set of resources (what we were born with) manifests as fate or destiny, depending upon our ability and willingness to use our free will.

The Capricorn New Moon, just before we begin the New Year, aligns our hearts and minds around setting goals for 2006. Venus retrograde is offering us the space to evaluate what we truly want to do with our lives. We are aspiring to move another step toward our destiny, and as many steps as possible away from our fate. Some of our goals will certainly focus on manifesting more resources, and moving into or expanding careers that focus on our contribution to the world. Setting intentions is important, but how do we know what it is that we want, and how do we get it? The answer is that we have to reclaim our will.

Denial, Free Will and Accountability

The question is HOW do we empower our free will? The extent to which most humans are able to use their free will is a very sorry tale. We have abdicated our power by falling prey to victimization, buying into poor self-esteem programs, and hiding out in denial land. We are in DENIAL to the extent that we are unaware, unconscious, and living in the fantasies, stories, judgments and belief systems in our mind. We are in denial to the extent that we are not aware of the sensations in our bodies, and the feelings generated by our emotional body. We are in denial the extent to which we do not experience our Soul, Spirit and the Natural forces that empower our lives. When we live in denial, we are not able to be accountable for our thoughts, actions and being.

Being ACCOUNTABLE requires activating our free will. Free will and accountability both require being aware of what is happening in our physical and emotional bodies. The extent to which we are conscious of the energies that propel our physical and emotional bodies, determines our capacity to reclaim and exercise our free will.

The most important thing we can do to empower ourselves is to patiently and lovingly, one baby step at a time, reclaim our will. Our goal is to activate our ability to make conscious choices about our lives, by paying attention, listening, and then following our inner guidance system.

Reclaiming Our Will in Our Body

First we must understand that our minds have attempted to take over the function of our will. We have become so disconnected from our physical and emotional bodies that we are not even aware of the true expression of our will. We think of will in terms of mental power. Will is not, however, primarily a function of the mind.

How do we reclaim our will? The only place we can reclaim our will is in our body! Of course, we have to use our mind to pay attention to our body, but this is not solely a mental exercise. The main players are our physical and emotional bodies. Our mind offers consciousness and awareness, but it only determines if and how we will pay attention. Our emotions are the substance of our will. Our body is the home of our emotions.

When our emotions can move freely, they can tell us the truth. When we have access to accurate information, we know what our soul wants, and what choices to make. The other critical point is, that acceptance of our emotions is what moves us out of a state of denial. What we deny controls much of our reality. What we deny we act out. Whatever we deny creates situations to get our attention, so that we will no longer be in a state of unconsciousness. Denial, judgment and negativity attract fate. Only allowing, acceptance and love attract destiny.

If you seriously contemplate the above paragraph, and it motivates you to move forward to reclaim your will, you can do so by following a few simple steps. Daily practice will deliver the best results. I invite you to give yourself a year to engage in this process. This could be the best gift you have ever given yourself!

Formula for Reclaiming Our Will

Fortunately there is a simple formula we can all follow to reclaim our will:

  1. PAY ATTENTION to your body and what you are feeling in your body.
  2. FEEL what you are experiencing in different parts of your body.
  3. ALLOW and ACCEPT what you are feeling, without judgment, evaluation or comment.
  4. EXPRESS what you are feeling through movement or sound.
  5. LISTEN to what you are feeling.
  6. TAKE ACTION according to your inner guidance.

(1) Pay Attention is the activity of the mind. We must use our mind to increase awareness and to focus our attention. We have to train ourselves to pay attention to our emotional energy, and not be so distracted in mindless chatter and lost in spaceyness.

(2) Feeling is the act that gets us out of our minds. Feeling is to the physical and emotional bodies as thinking is to the mind. We have to feel to engage the energy of the emotional body.

(3) Allowing and Acceptance are the keys to unlocking the door to our soul! Allowing releases all forms of resistance. When we allow what is happening, our control trips melt. Both allowing and acceptance take moment-by-moment practice. Neither are mental exercises. We use thought to give our emotional body permission to let go. We monitor our mind so we do not escape into judgments, stories and excuses. We use our mind to tune into Spirit and to create a clear space for our emotional energy flow. Our mind works with our body to allow our emotional energy to move. It is the free flowing movement of our emotional energy that is the basis for reclaiming our will.

Acceptance increases our awareness IN our body and expands our body consciousness.

There are a myriad of levels of acceptance and a myriad of levels of denial. Acceptance or denial at the non-verbal level of feeling, are where we need to focus while the Sun is in the Earth sign of Capricorn. Authentic feelings will bring us awareness of programming that keeps denial in place. Several favorites to watch out for relate to deserving, self-worth, guilt and shame, and feeling of insufficiency.

(4) Expressing our feelings is required. Emotional energy moves. It must move to transform. Stopping the flow of emotional energy is how humans got so stuck and lost touch with the energy that expresses their will. We can move this primal energy through all types of movement - yoga, dancing, shaking, walking, running, etc. We can also release this energy through sound - yelling, singing, chanting, crying, or free form sounds. Chanting mantras both releases and transforms the energy to higher frequencies, but we are advised not to skip the moment of emotional impact, when the emotional energy needs to be simply experienced and released. Later, when we are ready for the soothing transformational stage, chanting can be very healing.

(5) Listening with our heart and inner ear activates our soul. Acceptance and listening deliver us into a state of understanding. Understanding brings us wisdom. When we allow ourselves to be guided by our innate knowing, we are empowering our free will.

Listening makes it possible to identify that which controls and directs our life, and which is beyond our conscious choice. An essential part of the process, is to totally accept and love the negative energies empowering the sabotaging programs. Once these forces are loved and accepted, they can offer us profound understanding of ourselves, and transform into our allies. Our job is to get in touch with and accept the power of our emotions, so we can work with it instead of having it work against us. Our goal is not to try to control this energy, but to take responsibility for our relationship with it. Taking responsibility for our emotional energy is instrumental in taking back our will.

(6) Take Action. To activate our free will we have to follow our inner guidance and act accordingly. We have to make choices that validate our inner voice. The emotional body is healed by paying attention to it, listening to its wisdom, and finally, by following its advice. Remember the energy of the emotional body moves. We will stay stuck until we physically change things in our lives. Make an inner directed decision and act upon it. Move your body. Take a walk Take at least one conscious action daily that supports and nurtures you. Do something that makes your emotional body relax and sing.

Keep it Simple

The above is an outline of the complete formula. There are many levels to each piece of the process. To avoid being overwhelmed, focus on one thing a day. Take one step at a time. One day, watch your mind and do your best to be less judgmental. Another day simply allow what is happening without commentary. Another day focus on paying attention to your body. The next day concentrate on feeling. Each exercise will build your awareness. Results are guaranteed if you do a little bit each day. However, just thinking about these ideas will not create a shift in consciousness, or alter your energy.

You can start by paying attention to pleasant feelings. However, to make real progress you have to notice when you stop feeling, in order to avoid experiencing discomfort. The big leap is when you allow yourself to feel the uncomfortable feelings created by anger, sadness and fear. Major breakthroughs happen when you simply allow, and even love, the feelings created by these emotions.

If you find that you resist the whole process, consider devoting one minute a day to giving up the fight and releasing the struggle mode. Or how about equal time to struggle and letting go? One option would be to punch alternate fists while running in place for 2-5 minutes, and then give equal time to being present to what happens in your body, as you stand quietly or rest on the floor.

It is your process. Create it to suit your needs and desires. This is about reclaiming YOUR free will.

Honoring Aging and Maturation

Capricorn is also about respect and recognition in the world. The trick is that our inner state, of self-respect and self-recognition, makes the outer manifestation possible. Part of self-respect comes from accepting and honoring our maturation process. Wherever we are in our life, we need to be with and accept our current stage. One of the great things Saturn, the wise mentor of Capricorn, teaches us, is that we get wiser as we get older.

For Saturn, age is a good thing. The more we accept aging as a gift, the happier we will be. Denial of the natural aging process creates nothing but pain. Saturn wants us to keep in mind that all forms of denial impede manifestation of wealth, peace and happiness. When I think of aging in a beneficent way, it adds a sweet flavor to what I want and appreciate in my life. This accepting feeling gently soothes my emotional body. It simply feels good to honor where I am at, and enjoy the progress I have made so far. I invite you to cultivate a simple appreciation for yourself and for how far you have progressed. Isn't it great we have made it to where we are now?

How to Know and Get What We Want

For the next few weeks while we are evaluating what we want for ourselves and our lives, it is critical to examine:

  1. how we prevent ourselves from doing what we want and
  2. how we can change self-sabotaging programming.

Everyone will set pleasant and even lofty goals, some of which will be realized and others of which will remain pipe dreams.

When we are attuned to our souls' desires and aligned with our Will, we have a much better chance of accurately assessing situations, setting appropriate intentions, and manifesting them. The more we can free ourselves of old beliefs and conditioning, the more our internal responses and projection align with our soul. Only by being tuned into the present can our feelings guide us on what is beneficial and possible at any given moment. Unconditional acceptance of our feelings is necessary to receive accurate information. It is in the process of being open and willing that balance is achieved, and alternatives and opportunities appear. The process that is required is not mental calculation, but emotional freedom and surrender to the unknown.

Discovering Our Emotional Body

Most of us have no clue what our emotional body really feels like, and what it is actually doing. And when asked what we feel, we often tell a story about how our mind reacts when our emotions are triggered. To discover our emotional body, we start with our physical body. We pay attention to the sensations in our physical body, until we get a consolidated experience of our body and feel consciously present in our body.

When we have connected with our physical body, we are ready to turn our attention to what we are feeling in our gut, belly and solar plexus. The more subtle sensations that we experience in these sensitive areas are manifestations of our emotional body. After we experience that we have a physical body, we are able to experience that we also have an emotional body. We can eventually move to even more subtle realms. But if we want to manifest our dreams, we have to maintain our anchor in our physical and emotional bodies.

Our experience of our emotional body may be different than we expected. Its most significant characteristic is that it changes all the time and is free flowing. There is no way we can control the energy of our emotional body. Our relationship to emotional energy includes the possibilities of ignoring it, neglecting it, abusing it, acknowledging it, paying attention to it, experiencing it, being with it, exploring it, flowing with it, nurturing it and loving it. Take your pick, but notice that none of these interactions directly control it.

How we choose to deny or interact with our emotional body does however impact how our emotional body functions. The state of our emotional body determines what and how we manifest in our lives, so our relationship with it is of vital importance. The nature of our relationship with our emotional body determines our ability to be accountable. Our accountability defines the expression of our free will.

Cancer Full Moon - January 14th

The Full Moon in Cancer, January 14th, gives us a change to evaluate our progress in reclaiming our emotional body. The Moon at 24° Cancer opposes the Sun at 24° Capricorn. Cancer is the embodiment of our emotions. We need the Earth energy of Capricorn to hold this sensitive aspect of our souls. When Capricorn and Cancer are supporting each other, we are able to enjoy our nourishing core and be our own authority in our lives. The nurturing core is our emotional body, which if allowed to express freely will furnish us with compassionate and wise counsel. Cancer and Capricorn are the polarity that makes authentic accountability possible.

With Venus conjunct the Sun in Capricorn at this Full Moon, inner authority issues will get our attention. To what extent are we defining our own values and directing our own lives?

The grand cross in the fixed signs (discussed in Issue 112) will peak at this Full Moon. Mars in Taurus opposes Jupiter in Scorpio. Both square opposing Neptune in Aquarius and Saturn in Leo. It is a strong hand that can't be silenced. The intensity of energy sends us wake-up calls. Something IS going to change. We can participate consciously or unconsciously. Spiritual forces are expanding our consciousness. There are so many ways we can cash in, if we are willing and able to make ourselves available.

Using Kundalini Yoga to Align Our Emotional Body

To reclaim the free expression of our Will, we must clear out old emotional responses that get triggered out of habit. We must reclaim our emotional body to be the free expression of our soul.

Expressing and releasing the emotional energy is done through movement and sound. Thinking won't work. This energy is lodged in the body. To liberate stuck emotional energy, we need to move until we experience a release and freedom in our body. Many of the more vigorous Kundalini Yoga asanas, like frog pose, chair, squats, stretch pose and archer are effective in releasing stuck emotional energy. After these exercises, and any Kundalini Yoga workout, sit or lie quietly and be with what you feel in your body.

Sound and movement are instrumental in emotional release. Everything in the Universe vibrates. Both sound and movement are forms of vibration. To release stuck emotional energy, it must vibrate at a frequency that facilitates this release. Energy that is blocked in the body can be released by vibrating the physical being. Free movement in the form of shaking and dancing is very therapeutic. Yogi Bhajan recommended dancing after Kundalini Yoga classes, to balance the disciplined movement of the exercises.

When we practice Kundalini Yoga, we can pay attention to how we vibrate our space. We need to do the exercises in a way that cultivates nurturing and acceptance of our bodies. Between the exercises we need to maintain an open, non-judgmental space, to relax and hold our body in a loving manner, and to allow our emotional energy to be free and alive. The freer our emotions, the more power we will have to stay healthy, meet our life challenges and manifest our dreams. Space is opened by acceptance. Acceptance invites in the Light. Light is experienced as Love.

A daily Sadhana (spiritual practice) is always highly recommended and, in fact, required if we want to more consciously participate in creating our own lives. For those who haven't taken the plunge, now is the time to jump in and take advantage of all the energy supporting us as we enter 2006. Even 5 minutes a day is beneficial. Whatever Kundalini Yoga kriya and meditation you choose, practice using the guidelines shared in the New Millennium Being. Between exercises, take advantage of the space you have created, to focus your attention on one of the first six steps listed above. You will bless yourself. Peace, prosperity and happiness will bless you in 2006!

References and Footnotes

"Capricorn New Moon and Cancer Full Moon", by Stephanie Austin, The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #124, Dec 2005/Jan 2006, pp. 109-110.

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