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The Taurus Journey - The Fire of My Soul

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #159, April 18, 2009

In this issue, following a summary of what is happening astrologically, and how planetary energies are influencing our personal and collective lives, we will:

  1. explore six sources of inner anger. We will identify how we can use our fire energy to move out of these disempowering situations.
  2. understand the gifts of fire energy, and also how undeveloped and unconscious fire energy manifests in inappropriate, destructive and wasteful ways.
  3. experience how we can use our fire energy to embody our soul.
  4. understand how fire and earth need each other, and how we can use our fire energy to empower ourselves from within. Our goal is to train ourselves to feel and enjoy the fire of our spirit in our body.
Planetary Alignments

Taurus New Moon

As usual, the planetary dynamics are influencing our reality. A look at the planetary alignments can help us understand our current feelings. The major overall message, and impact, is that we are the midst of a fundamental shift in the way we relate to ourselves, each other and the Earth.

The Sun and New Moon in Taurus remind us of our personal involvement in the transformative process. Pluto in Capricorn defines the overall context of institutional change. The Earth energies wake us up to the reality that we are in physical bodies, living in a physical world, and subject to the limitations and the rules of physical reality.

The Earth energies, Saturn in Virgo, Pluto in Capricorn and Sun in Taurus, remind us that we are in the process of redefining our relationship to all aspects of the feminine - money, matter, the material world, the Earth, Nature, our bodies, sexuality and women!

The more we are in tune with our senses, our bodies, our emotions and Mother Earth, the more we can enjoy and treasure this precious life, and the more we can make realistic and appropriate decisions about how we honor life and make our contribution.

Venus Goes Direct

Venus has been retrograde since March 6th. Venus went direct April 17th at 8:24am PST. We have had six weeks to get in touch with what we really want to do with our lives. Venus goes retrograde only once every two years. During this time we listen deeply to our heart, in order to receive guidance on how we can move forward in the most satisfying and rewarding manner. It is time to break out of old ruts, and do what really makes us feel valued, creative, free and happy. This can happen only if our ideals and our values line up with physical reality.

Venus squares Pluto for the third time May 2nd. Mars in Aries squares Pluto on April 26th. Squares force action. We either take action ourselves, or something happens that requires serious adjustments on our part. We are in the center of the fray. We can't sit this one out and simply watch. If you don't feel like you are at the epicenter of your own life storm, you soon will.

When the personal planets (Venus, Mercury, Mars) interact with the outer planets (Pluto, Neptune and Uranus), fundamental shifts affect the whole collective. Everyone is affected. When I ask in class, who feels the impact of the current energies, everyone raises their hand. We are each being made aware of our personal responsibility and role in the current phase of global transformation. We are in the midst of a major shift in consciousness, and a total overhaul of our all our social, economic and political institutions. Honesty and integrity at all levels are required.

It is up to each of us to align our passions and priorities with both our personal and collective integrity. We are required to respect the Planet and wisely use of its resources. Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius set the stage of optimism, innovation, creative solutions and collaboration. The Aquarian spirit is collaboration without control. Be aware of, and avoid, Piscean patriarchal control strategies. If you can't trust who you are collaborating with, they are not your right partners.

Scorpio Full Moon

The Full Moon in Scorpio May 8th obliges us to dig deep, and to identify the desires, anger and fears that control our responses, actions and what and how we attract. To be happy and to live congruent lives, we must monitor and transform the base energies that sabotage our best intentions. We must learn how to use our primal energies to support, empower and comfort ourselves. This is the subject of this issue.

Saturn Goes Direct

Saturn goes direct at 15° Virgo at 7:07pm PDT May 16th. Saturn has been retrograde in Virgo since December 31st, 2008. For 5½ months Saturn has applied the brakes, so that we could carefully evaluate our priorities in relationship to both the relevancy of our efforts and the reality of available resources.

Taskmaster Saturn obliges us to make what seem like tough choices. However, only when our roles, responsibilities, goals and action plan are aligned with our inner and outer realities, and defined in the context of reasonable limits and comfortable boundaries, can we move forward with success. Saturn saves us from unrealistic and ungrounded fantasies.

When Saturn (apparently) changes direction, i.e. 'stations direct or retrograde', the slow movement of changing directions means that it remains in the same degree (or the same place) for several weeks. Saturn will be in 15° Virgo from April 20th through June 11th. Saturn is in 15-16° Virgo from April 2 through June 28. Whatever planets you have at 15° (plus or minus 3°) will be heavily impacted. We will also feel Saturn's heavy hand wherever 15° Virgo (plus or minus 3°) falls in our birth chart. Saturn in Virgo pressurizes us to line up our life with service and a healthy life style.

The intensity is magnified by the fact that, between 2008 and 2010, Saturn opposes Uranus five times. Uranus upsets our apple cart. Saturn makes sure we pick up only the ripe apples and leave the rotten ones behind.

Let go of what no longer works and no longer makes you happy. Consolidate your energy and your resources. Clarify what you want and how you plan to get it. Trust your soul and the Universe. There is a special plan and a role for everyone.

Mercury Retrograde

With both Venus and Saturn direct, we start to feel like we can move forward once again.

However, we get mixed messages when Mercury goes retrograde at 1° Gemini, May 6th at 10:01pm PDT (just two days before the peak of the Full Moon.) From May 13th through June 12th Mercury will be in Taurus. In Taurus, Mercury gives us an opportunity to think about our Earthly values, and how we can be more in tune with our bodies, our senses, our sexuality and our natural environment.

Finances, values and priorities, and making the right choices, are going to be on our mind. How can new alliances support new directions? Are we listening to our intuition and our soul? We must identify the voice that is telling us OUR truth. Mercury goes direct at 6:22pm PDT May 30th.

Inner Anger - The Fire of My Soul

In Issue 158 we discussed how the Aries archetype makes us aware of the fact that our biggest fight is within. When the Sun shines in comfort-loving and satisfaction-oriented Taurus, we may think that we have exited the conflict zone. However, this is not the case. The Taurus/Scorpio axis simply pushes our inner conflict deeper into our subconscious.

Every Zodiac archetype finds resolution to its inherent paradox, by embracing the lessons of its opposing sign. Probing Scorpio helps Taurus get in touch with its deep emotions. The Bull prefers harmony and is often at least superficially patient. However, we must be aware of what brews deep inside. If we do not take time to tune into our deep emotions, we let discontent and anger accumulate and fester. When our emotions finally reach the surface, we explode. Being aware of the Vulcan within, and processing emotions as they come up, helps our inner Bull avoid expressing its rage in mad tirades.

Understanding Inner Anger

Anger is a normal emotional response. However, the accumulation of suppressed inner anger:

  1. consumes our vital life force,
  2. causes stress and disease,
  3. poisons our relationships, and
  4. deprives us of our happiness.

Inner anger is misunderstood and misdirected fire energy. We can have too much fire or too little. Either way, the basic problem is that we do not know how to use our inner fire, to do what we want to do and to get what we want in life. Inner anger is also an indication that we do not know how to use our fire energy to be happy, and to feel satisfied and fulfilled.

Inner anger is a sign that we are mad at something and someone outside ourselves AND that we are mad at ourselves. We are going to focus on self-directed anger.

Why do We Feel Angry?

Let's look at five sources of our inner anger. We are angry because we feel:

  1. disempowered,
  2. deprived,
  3. overburdened, and
  4. inadequate, and
  5. we don't understand and accept the nature and purpose of Earth School.

As you read through the following points, you will easily identify with how these situations relate to you. The important thing is to check them out in your emotional body. Feel the fire energy in your body, and get in touch with how you experience heat and fire in your body.

1. Disempowered

We are angry because we feel disempowered. Our inner anger is a reflection of the fact that to some extent:

  1. we do not feel that we are in charge of our lives,
  2. we do not have a sense of our own authority,
  3. we do not have confidence in ourselves, and
  4. we do not trust ourselves.

To feel empowered we must learn how to use our fire energy to claim back our will and learn to trust ourselves.

2. Deprivation

Perceived or unconscious deprivation is also a function of the flip side of anger - fear. We are afraid that we will not get what we want and that we don't deserve it. Feeling deprived can lead to:

  1. greed,
  2. self-centered ruthlessness, and
  3. the need to control. It can also be expressed as
  4. a lack of will, and
  5. poor self-esteem. We don't try to get what we want because we feel undeserving.

It is a human need to feel satisfied. When we do not know how to cultivate inner satisfaction, we try to substitute external satisfaction. The fruitless quest for external satisfaction leads to attachment to things, and the excessive desire for wealth.

In the case of deprivation, we need firstly to get in touch with the unidentified hunger - the fire of desire - that drives us, and secondly to bring our unconscious soul desires to the surface.

3. Overburdened with Responsibility

The third source of our inner anger is:

  1. feeling overburdened with responsibility, and
  2. imposed upon by others and our environment.

We create and allow these situations because we believe that we have to accommodate to others' needs, and to respond to their demands and requests. We feel obligated to please and to make others happy.

But simultaneously, we feel imposed upon by these impossible tasks. We feel angry because we cannot do what is demanded of us, and we feel threatened because we are being pulled off our own track. We become defensive in order to protect ourselves.

We feel and respond this way because our energy is (a) too fluid, too unstable, and (c) unfocused. When our aura is porous and weak, we energetically intertwine with others and our environments. We feel responsible because we are too connected energetically. Our energetic openness makes us feel as if others are imposing on us, and that we are obliged to respond.

To deal with these situations, we must learn to separate ourselves energetically by consolidating a sense of our own identity. The stronger our energy field, and the more we can stay centered in ourselves, the more we can disconnect from the pull to fix and take care of others.

4. Need to Be Perfect and Right

The fourth source of inner anger is that we believe that:

  1. we do not deserve what we want, and
  2. we feel shamed, inadequate and not good enough. The pressure to be perfect fuels our anger.

We also feel the need to be right. Our identity is threatened if we are wrong or different. Because differences in opinions and realities are a way of life, our identity is continually threatened.

We can help ourselves with our perfection complex by setting a realistic standard to do our best. After every major decision or action, we can affirm to ourselves that we have done our best. Self-validation is an on-going process. With practice, we get better at integrating deeper levels of self-approval. We actually begin to believe in and trust ourselves!

5. We Don't Understand or Like Earth School

The fifth source is that our perception of life feeds our anger. We do not understand the nature of Earth School. We are spoiled. We want and expect everything to be perfect. We have a sense of entitlement. We feel that we have a right to have what we want.

However, Earth school is about learning and developing through challenges. We are angry because we don't like it down here. We are mad at God and our soul, for putting us through this process called human life.

To be happy on Planet Earth, we have to understand and accept the nature of the evolutionary game. Life situations are not bad luck; they are purposefully designed for us to grow and evolve. It is our conscious struggle that makes it possible to evolve. In the process, we expand our self-confidence and develop stable roots in our own psyche, that consolidate our sense of self. We evolve into a place where happiness and satisfaction are internally generated and experienced.

The Fire Element and its Gifts

The four primary elements each represent an aspect of our humanness. The air element represents our mind. The water element represents our emotions. The earth element corresponds to our body. The fire element represents our spirit.

The fire element is our primal energy, the force of Spirit that animates our body. Our fire energy is our light. The fire element is also associated with our intuition. Hu-man means light in the mind.

Our fire energy is our source of *vitality, *inner strength, *enthusiasm, *drive, *courage, *creativity, *self-confidence, *commitment, and *self-love.
We need fire *to take action, *to persevere and *to push forward.
We need fire *to be outgoing, *to be fearless, *to heal and *to love ourselves.

From Unconscious to Conscious Use of Fire Energy

Our fire is our Spirit. This brings us to the sixth source of our inner anger. Our unconscious soul desire is to be embodied - to enjoy our human experience. We are mad because we are not relating to, and embodying, our spirit!

This soulful anger results in a misuse of our fire energy or life force. When we do not relate to our inner fire as the life force of our soul, we:

  1. are constantly manipulated by this energy that is trying to express itself,
  2. are consumed by both anger and fear,
  3. burn ourselves out with unidentified anger,
  4. fruitlessly expend energy, devising ways to try to feel satisfied and safe, and to protect ourselves,
  5. waste and deprive ourselves of the juice of life.

To deal with our inner anger, we must use it to become conscious of our inner fire, and to develop a connection with the Spirit of our soul. Our job is to *ignite, *consolidate, *contain, and *appropriately direct the fire of our soul. These are the experiential goals that we must consciously cultivate.

Fire Needs Earth

Fire needs earth, and earth needs fire. Our spirit needs our body, and our body needs our spirit. Our spirit needs a vessel from which it can express. Our body is the container of our soul.

Fire without earth is out of control. Earth with too little fire makes us feel depressed.

The more we feel our fire in our body, the less our fire dissipates and burns out. The more we feel the fire in our body, the more we feel alive and happy. We want to energetically experience - MY fire is for MY body, MY healing and MY life!

The Ascent and Descent of Fire

The ascent of the Kundalini takes fire up to the third eye, and awakens our neutral mind and our intuition.

On the descent we embody our soul/spirit. Our soul purpose is to bring Spirit to the planet, to spiritualize matter. The descent and grounding IN OUR BODY are how we spiritualize matter.

On both the ascent and descent, fire burns out the old and ignites the new.

Feeling the fire of spirit in our body makes us happy for no reason!

How to Integrate Our Fire

We integrate and embody our fire by simply feeling the fire, and the heat, in our body and enjoying how it feels.

The activation and alignment of the navel center, or third chakra, is the key to awakening our fire power and our feeling of well-being. We ignite the fire at the navel and move it up to open our heart.

We use the air element - the breath - to move our fire.

We use the earth element - our body - to contain our fire.

Fire fills us up with confidence and courage. Fire makes it possible to feel free to explore the unknown and to tackle life's challenges. With our embodied spirit we can thrive under the pressures of the times.

With practice, we can train ourselves to feel the fire and heat in our body. Then, when our anger is activated, we breath deeply and feel the heat in our body. As we experience the warmth, we can relate to it as the fire of our soul. In this way we can stop ourselves from indulging in reactive anger, and victim and blame stories. We welcome the fire of our spirit into the cozy home of our body. As we embrace the fire of our soul in our body, we realize that our existence itself is the source of our happiness!

Relax and Renew, 2nd Edition, by Guru Rattana, Ph.D.

 
Relax and Renew by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. takes stress reduction to the level of spiritual resolution. The techniques offered in this book don't just cover up the symptoms, they completely cure the problem!

• New, fully revised and expanded 2nd Edition

• Over 100 Yoga Sets & Meditations

• 240 information-packed pages

• Relax & Release stress in 2-11 minutes

• Rejuvenate your Body

Kundalini Yoga - Transmuting Inner Anger to the Fire of Our Soul

The activation and alignment of the navel center, or third chakra, is the key to awakening our fire power and feeling of well-being. All navel kriyas, exercises and meditations that include pumping the navel point, and using the root lock, can be used to transmute inner anger into the fire of our soul.

There are many sets and meditations to choose from - The Anger Set to repair damage to the system of ill-placed anger is on pages 96-97 of Relax and Renew 2nd Edition. There are a whole series of Navel Center Kriyas on pages 54-71 in Transitions to a Heart-Centered World 2nd Edition. Sodarshan Chakra Kriya is a powerful navel pumping meditation. Breath of Fire works wonders.

The important thing is to train yourself to feel the heat and fire in our body and spine, and to enjoy it. After each exercise, take time to feel the heat and relate to it as the fire of your soul.

Inner Directives

The following are directives that you can use to guide your inner journey. Each one can be used as a focus for as long as it feels appropriate to you. Do not try to do too many at a time. The important thing is to consciously integrate these experiences in your body.

Relaxation and Conclusion

During the relaxation and before getting up and running off to your next activity, relax and feel the pleasure of fire and heat in your body.

References and Footnotes

"Taurus New Moon and Scorpio Full Moon", Austin, Stephanie, The Mountain Astrologer, April/May 2009, Issue #144, pages 106-7.

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