It’s Not News!

So, perhaps you haven’t heard that the rotation of the earth has caused the zodiac to be all out of whack. There’s a new sign and everything!

Ophiuchus is the "new" sign in the zodiac

How is this news?

First off – Western astrology doesn’t actually use the constellations – the signs just happen to have the same names as some constellations.

Not to sound all uppity, but I’ve know about this for years – why hasn’t everyone else figured it out? Better yet, why is everyone freaking out about it? No divination system is “perfect” and astrology doesn’t have some special status in this regard. It also isn’t transparent or necessarily easy to understand. The universe is ever-changing, expanding, destroying, and creating – so this shouldn’t really surprise us. And according to this article from NBC, this earth-shifting-constellation-thing has been known about since 500 BC – yes, BC.

I just don’t get it, but I never was really big on astrology.

Also, Angelo Nasios beat me to this – with a better explanation – at his blog, Thats Totally Tarot.

Spontaneous Soul Retrieval

In shamanism it is believed that part of the soul is free to leave the body – often at dream time or journeying. The soul can also split off parts of itself in times of distress or trauma and these part can “flee” the situation as a survival mechanism. Sometimes, these soul shards don’t return right away. This is called soul loss and can lead to many mental/emotional aliments including depression and memory loss. Most often soul loss creates a feeling of incompleteness; you know when people say “I feel like a lost something when [something happened]” or “a part of me died when [something happened]”? That is soul loss.

Drumming on one of my hand-made drums. Drums are a common tool for shamanic practitioners.

Part of the duty of a shaman is to help in the retrieval of soul shards. This is something I have not yet learned how to do, but have (I believe) experienced in the form of a spontaneous soul retrieval. When I was a sophomore in high school my parents were going through a “rough patch” which led to a long and rough divorce. In this time, my friends were my escape – I spent as much time with them as possible so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the fighting and the anger. One friend in particular stands out, his name is Jeremy. I believe that at some point, a part of my soul split off and, for lack of a better word, attached to him. It was only after hearing that Jeremy was about to move that I “knew” (not in an intellectual sense, mind you) that something was missing.

Of course, at the time I didn’t know anything about shamanism or soul loss. Not long after taking an introductory class on core shamanism, I kept seeing Jeremy in dreams or stumbling upon old pictures. So I meditated and journeyed about this in an attempt to understand what this meant. Then I remembered a few things my shamanic instructor had said about soul loss and soul retrieval – so I looked it up and was surprised to see how well that fit how I’d felt when he left – like a part of me was missing. Not long after this revelation, Jeremy called me up saying that he’d be in town for a day or two and wanted to get together. As I dropped him off after spending a few hours running around town, I felt a massive shift in energy. I got some sudden insight, like Spirit whispering in my ear. It was back – the piece I was missing.

I can’t seem to find any information on what I’ve decided to call spontaneous soul retrievals, but I know that’s what I experienced.

~Take care and Blessed be

Crow

As a practitioner of core shamanism (which pulls together common elements from various indigenous cultures), I try to always be aware of signs, symbols, and messages from Spirit. In various cultures around the world, the spirits of animals are said to have great meaning and knowledge to teach us. Today, as I was driving, a crow landed near me – without fear or hesitation – and followed me for almost a block. This is very unusual behavior for crows in my area, so I see it as a message. Crow clearly has something to tell me.

Crow is a keeper of knowledge and often signals a time of shift or change. With one eye in the physical word and the other in the spirit world, Crow teaches us how to use our psychic vision and see between the worlds. Crow also aids in healing and creating wellness from the void. Why exactly Crow is here, I’m not sure of yet, but I cannot wait to find out.

~Take care and Blessed be