Greetings, my friends! I hope you're well. I've been more quiet in recent months where posting here at Sophia's Children is concerned, but I've not been absent. Far from it. Life's had me sharing gifts and presence a bit more... Continue Reading →
Every one of us experiences various life milestones, some of which are reflected in one's astrological natal and transits chart -- the first Saturn Return (and second), the Uranus Oppositions and Squares, the Chiron Return, Progressed Lunar Return, and a... Continue Reading →
The New Moon opens at the Galactic Center midpoint at 1:30 a.m. NY Time on Monday, 12/18 (or 10:30 p.m. Pacific Time, Sunday night). The New Moon joins a conjunction party (snugged close) with Venus and Saturn in a friendly,... Continue Reading →
Thanks to Persephone Rose for sharing this on her Spirit Garden blog. Lisa Miller's story and message will resonate with many who've walked the challenging yet hallowed ground of initiation, graceful messages, and spiritual awakening that shifts perspective and our... Continue Reading →
Blog sister, Jessica Davidson, has posted a beautiful musing on the powerful story of The Handless Maiden, emphasizing how potent and meaningful this story is just now. Jessica writes: "The Handless Maiden is a myth that speaks powerfully to our... Continue Reading →
"The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places." Ernest Hemingway (This is an update and re-feature of a post I wrote in 2008, in my previous Engaged Spirituality, Mystic Activism blog. It seemed ripe for... Continue Reading →
The 'wild bees of spirit' have spiraled back around, so it's timely to share anew this "Thresholds and the Wild Bees of Spirit" musing from the Sophia's Children treasure vault. 'Tis the season, too, in the Northern Hemisphere, with Spring... Continue Reading →
It's always something of a wonder to me the things that spiral back around to be seen, engaged, and expressed anew, fertilized by the richness of experience and 'rigorous initiations' between one arising and the next. Back in 2005, in... Continue Reading →
The heartful, soulful quest. The heart's yearning is its primary language. In her fresh musing, "Identity, Purpose and Destiny in Moana," Janet Chui writes, "The Sacred Feminine is strong in this movie. The female relationships are strong, supportive, and incredibly... Continue Reading →
"Without vision, the people perish." Most of us, maybe all of us, have experienced those times of vision-drought, times of vision-bounty, and those times of being in-between. Or those times of "vision shakeup" -- something that has happened recently for... Continue Reading →
“I build a lighted house and therein dwell.”** This is a musing on well-lit houses, inner (and outer) gardens, being refuge and/or refugee, among other things. In his July esoteric astrology letter, Phillip Lindsay shared the above ‘keynote’ for the... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, given Mars' energy-tide shifting from low-ebb to returning tide, we had the Fire element. Today, in honor of all that Water juju working its wavy, tidal, dissolution-magic in our shared field, not to mention the waves of Galactic Center... Continue Reading →
Albert Einstein said that we can't solve the problems we face using the same mindset or consciousness that created the problems in the first place. Countless wisdom traditions have said as much -- that it takes a change of heart... Continue Reading →
We’re born into this world already with just the blend of inherent traits, ancestral intelligence, and soul imperatives we need for this lifetime’s expedition. Some of this encoding is time-released, and some is latent until it’s activated by certain forces... Continue Reading →
The momentum resumes. Or some of it, anyway, with Jupiter leading the way.
Here’s a fresh update on the ‘great benefic’, the Keepers of the Flame, and the Phoenixing Mission … for those who choose to dive in and rise to the occasion.
Featured Image Credit: Mosaic featuring the Phoenix, in the ancient Roman city of Aquileia, Italy. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
Phoenix Rising. Image courtesy of All Day 2.
Ready to Phoenix? Rise and Shine, Your Way.
For Soul Force-stirring Phoenix Clues, epiphanies, and greater clarity on what has joy, heart, and meaning for you (and how to step into and express that), team with me as your inspiration partner, mentor, and guide.
If you’ve found regular inspiration … or a super-handy dose of it … in this and other Sophia’s Children articles and offerings, consider supporting the work in one of these ways:
Jupiter and Juno, by Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798). Pubic domain image due to date prior to copyright term.
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
~ Gospel of Thomas, Saying 70
~~~~~
“The hope of the world lies in the restoration of the ancient magic that is part of your lineage.” ~ Steve Nelson
(Updated on May 11, 2016 from original August 2015 article)
As Jupiter continues to emanate its expanding archetypal-energy essence from the earthy-Feminine Virgoan fields,we may find remedy for what ails us (and culture) in the authentic service of the ‘my cup overfloweth’ variety.
Or by Phoenixing, but more on that in a bit.
First, The Service Thing. Then the Gen-X Phoenix Thing, though non-Gen-Xers may well recognize some…
Many of us wonder how we might not just face the challenges presenting us today, personally and collectively, but also envision and co-create a more heart-centered paradigm.
In some sacred teachings and ancient wisdom traditions, we've heard that it takes both a change of mind and foremost, a change of heart.
In the story of Sophia, Holy Wisdom, and interpretations of the teachings of some of the ancient Mystery Schools, human beings were endowed with certain Divine gifts through which we might unfold and express our Divine potential.
[Continue reading to see the specific Sophia Gifts we're endowed with ...]
The symbol and metaphor of The Golden Thread resurfaces for me every once in awhile. It's a lovely image, and a beautiful reflection to work with. Though this is always a powerful and helpful metaphor when we need it, it's... Continue Reading →
"Life is a mystery, a blessing, and a challenge. It is exciting and full of adventure, but can also be overwhelming or even tragic." "We are reaching several thresholds in our journey as human beings on earth. We need intentional... Continue Reading →
The ‘Milky Way’, photographed near Lake Titicaca in Peru. Image courtesy of NASA.
The ‘Wild Bee Wisdom‘ from Fiona MacLeod and David Wagoner spiraled up again to the surface in a conversation this morning with a fellow Via Transformativa sister.
I have deep appreciation for just how timeless this wisdom and inspiration is, so wanted to share that again in this freshly updated piece from the Sophia’s Children treasure-vaults.
If you’re of ‘this little clan’, as Fiona MacLeod wrote, you’ll recognize yourself in this.
Most of us have experienced it at some point: “There’s no going back.”
That’s one of the big differences between change and transformation.
With transformation, there is no ‘back there’ to return to, because ‘back there’ is rubble. Probably smoking rubble. Well-burnt toast.
We’ve been places, created things, experienced relationships, lost much, and have left (or been wrenched from) things and people as Life took us into radically new territory and explorations.
If we’ve been traveling a transformation path, our very way of perceiving and believing has been irrevocably altered.
We’ve crossed through threshold after threshold.
Sometimes these Wisdom-initiating shifts and transformation detours come via more radical means: the archetypal ‘shamanic lightning bolt’ (and shamanic ego ‘dismemberment’ and/or death), or by way of what the vision-poet writer Fiona MacLeod called the ‘dark and starless roads.’
If we’re lucky, in hindsight we see these life-altering events and seemingly meandering paths…
Here's the latest article in the Empaths & Sensitives Series here at Sophia's Children. This one takes a look at a couple of ways that Empath-Sensitives can "live into their strengths" and gain more mastery over the gifts, while being more aware and skillful in the face of the challenges of being an Empathic-Sensitive in a loud and often bully- and Narcipath-favoring culture.
Update 9-20-16 and 1-15-18: I wrote this original post in early January 2016, yet it's drawn recent attention thanks to reblogs from my kindred spirit and friend Leeby Geeby @ Shamagaia and a few others (thank you!). Uncanny timing. As... Continue Reading →
Archer at the opening ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympic Games — an exquisite and elegant moment!
It’s a fine time to re-feature this rather dry-witted, Saturnian insight from Jung on Separating from the Herd.
It’s nicely attuned to this Friday Sagittarius New Moon and new lunar cycle (neatly trined Uranus in Aries, igniting those rebel-sparked ‘fiery arrows’ of stirred-and-centered vision … are you noticing them as they arise?), and for stirring the vision-cauldron for the months and year ahead.
For a few more themes aligned to the current archetype-energies, vision-quest impulses, and possibilities stirring around and within us, check out the recent post and the insightful and ‘co-lucid’ comments, Rebels and Mystic Sells (and related articles that pop up in the links).
The Trickster and rebel-system-agitator (Uranus-Prometheus) is afoot, but so is the Master Teacher (Saturn in Sagittarius).
Aquarians will recognize the weird, unlikely collaboration of this duo, as Uranus/Prometheus and Saturn are the co-rulers of Aquarius. But at the early cusp of the Aquarian Age, we may all be feeling such stirrings and the agitation of creative friction.
Hebe Giving a Drink to Jupiter, 1767, by Gavin Hamilton. Public domain image (date precedes copyright).
Together, Uranus and Saturn are now holding the torch to illuminate and spark the fiery arrows of the vision questwe’ll undertake in the coming months and year, and to transmute … that’d be reduce to ash … the energy of the calcified beliefs or ‘cultural norms’ that are past their expiry date and have gone sour, rancid, or downright toxic.
‘Tis the season.
Reflection Questions:
• What purpose clues, vision stirrings, and far-off-horizons call to you?
• Where will you aim your ‘fiery arrows’ for the coming vision quest journey?
Big Love and Happy New Moon in the meanwhile, Jamie
In the Orchard (1912) by Franz Dvorak. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.
Give, Receive & Support the Work
If you’ve found regular inspiration … or a super-handy dose of it … in this and other Sophia’s Children articles and offerings, consider supporting the work in one of these ways:
In ‘The Path’, by Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), the artist depicted his own arduous journey through the Himalayas, and also symbolized the ‘Narrow Path’ taken by true spiritual journeyers.
“The words “many are called, but few are chosen” are singularly appropriate here, for the development of personality from the germ-state to full consciousness is at once a charisma and a curse, because its first fruit is the conscious and unavoidable segregation of the single individual from the undifferentiated and unconscious herd.” ~ Carl Jung, The Development of Personality
This is what, in the Hero and Heroine’s Journey, is known as answering the call, which takes the journeyer or heroine, “out of the society that would have protected them, and into the dark forest, into the world of fire, of original experience,” as Joseph Campbell mused.
It’s a powerful notion, and if you’ve answered the call and left the interpreted path
Real wisdom, the voice of the human spirit, is timeless, no matter the language or 'parlance of the times' it expresses in, or through whom it flows. And those who invoke it -- those who walk the Underworld or Hero's... Continue Reading →
[I wrote and published the original post way back on August 28, 2012, and have updated it several times a year since, including late-September 2015 … because yes, it’s a timeless “new normal” topic in our wild-energy times!]
The energies have really been swirling and whirling again, and there is more ‘energetic unsettlement’ underway.
Have you been feeling it?
If you’re an empath or ‘energy sensitive’ — a minority percentage of any population who is naturally ‘wired’ to pick up on subtle energies — the answer is probably a definitive ‘Yes!’ I know that’s been the case for me.
In various energy alchemy and insight-checkin or even visioning sessions with clients, I regularly notice that the energy field in general was intermittently either more chaotic or the opposite, more flat-line, than I’ve seen and sensed it in a long while.
The Harvest Full (Blood) Moon rises on the near-horizon -- September 27-28, 2015, depending on where in this amazing world you are. I mentioned it in my earlier post on "Catastrophobia* and Nattering Nabobs of Negativity," since the Blood Moon... Continue Reading →
"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." ~ Gospel of Thomas, Saying 70... Continue Reading →
"The wilds outside the gate ..." "The art of outrageous trust ..." These are powerful words and metaphors, intended to invite and invoke. Or do they stir something else for you? Both evocative musings came up recently; here's a snippet... Continue Reading →
These last two months or so, the Black Madonna started rising more prominently in my awareness again. Not that she's ever far away, but sometimes she rises to the surface and taps me on the shoulder with some synchronicities, and... Continue Reading →
So very familiar, this Odyssean journey. (For fellow astro-mythology geeks, you’ll find Odysseus (1143) riding the waves somewhere in your chart – mine’s at 17 Taurus.)
Enjoy (and big congrats to O and OM for nearing the big finish!).
Seems a fine time to fan the (metaphorical) flames of the Spirit of creative adventure, which helps us to more creatively navigate in-between times and transformation zones.
Or just get an inspiration boost when we need one.
Plus any time I can revisit and share a bit of John O’Donohue’s (or May Sarton’s) inspiring wisdom, well, that makes me happy.
The first of the Voyage of Life paintings by my fellow Imbolc-born Aquarian Thomas Cole (1801–1848)
“As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might come free
From all you have outgrown.”
~ ‘For the Interim Time’ by John O’Donohue
There is an amazing freedom and possibility in the unknown — just as a marshy eco-tone is teeming with emerging Life yet is neither firm land nor water-body. It’s an in-between zone.
We don’t always see the places or times of in-between, with their great tension, transition, or life-altering shifts as an invitation to creative adventure or liberation, though, do we?
It can be a challenge when we’re caught up in the stress of change or that place of creative tension —standing at the precipice of the Unknown, or…
Given what I've shared in recent (and previous) posts, it seems a fine time to have a nice pot of tea and a renewing, revitalizing visit with the Black Madonna. I've written a lot about the Black Madonna over the... Continue Reading →
Light in the Crypt of St. Wystan Church, Repton, U.K. [Photo via TripAdvisor]
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”
~ Thomas Merton, American writer, mystic, and Trappist monk
For this Freyja Day musing, here’s a generous helping of very timely wisdom from a fellow Aquarian and sojourner on the Way, Thomas Merton.
Follow the links below, to Br. Merton’s insight on the greatest need of our time, and see what inspires and resonates with you.
“The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all political and social life a mass illness.
Without this housecleaning, we cannot begin to see. Unless we see, we cannot think.”
~ Thomas Merton, American writer, mystic, and monk, in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
On the spiritual path (whatever you might call it), we often move through some pretty challenging passages that can serve to “polish the mirrors of our hearts” or “illuminate the eyes and ears of our hearts,” as well as sand away some of the mental and emotional rubbish, as the Aquarian monk, Br. Merton wrote.
Since Thomas Merton’s particular vibe of wise counsel is pretty in sync with these particular times, I’ve included several other wisdom-gems from him in a few previous Sophia’s Children…
“Architects and planners use the term “desire paths” to describe the shortcuts taken by people for whom the laid-out pattern doesn’t fit their lives. But, in one sense, all paths are desire paths, the marks of human longing or need.”... Continue Reading →
Jupiter and Juno, by Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798). Pubic domain image due to date prior to copyright term. 
Smoky Path from PDPhoto 
In ‘The Path’, by Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), the artist depicted his own arduous journey through the Himalayas, and also symbolized the ‘Narrow Path’ taken by true spiritual journeyers. 
Storm and lightning
The first of the Voyage of Life paintings by my fellow Imbolc-born Aquarian Thomas Cole (1801–1848) 
![Light in the Crypt of St. Wystan Church, Repton, U.K. [Photo via TripAdvisor]](https://sophiaschildren.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/st-wystan-church-crypt_repton-uk_tripadvisor.jpg)
Nina, by Pedro Saenz Saenz (1863-1927) 