July 2018: I Ching Energetic Forecast
/Each month I ask the I Ching, “What is in our highest and best to know or do right now, to align with the current energies, and use them to create major healing and growth in our lives?”
This month it answered with 2 hexagrams (hexagrams = the language of the I Ching).
- Retreat (hexagram #33)
- Small Crossing (hexagram #62)
RETREAT:
“The dark powers approach, and the yang powers retreat before them.”
Getting the “Retreat” hexagram now, is first a beautiful reminder that within all cycles, there can also exist smaller cycles we have to acknowledge and align with. In last month’s Summer Solstice reading, I talked about how we’re in a very active (yang) cycle, which is great for taking massive, fast action towards your dreams and goals.
While we’re still in that Summer Cycle, we’re also now approaching the start of a six week Eclipse Season (starting Thursday with a New Moon + Solar Eclipse). This means, the Summer cycle of progress is still possible, but the means to achieve it are shifting big time. Instead of taking those fast and massive action steps that were appropriate last month, now you’ll be forced to slow waaay down to align with the heavier energy of the Eclipse Season.
Eclipses teach you how to work with the power of darkness or "yin" to achieve your dreams and goals. The yin path of growth and creation isn't always as easy as the "yang (light) path". The "yin path", is deep work. It's shadow work. It's the work of healing old wounds... Ancestral wounds... Karmic patterns.
But working with the power of yin and darkness is extremely powerful work. It's the work that reminds you who you truly are, what your purpose in this life is, and how to create a life of deep, real happiness and fulfillment (not the superficial BS that so many of us mistakenly cling to).
Psychic Natalia Kuna calls eclipses the “wild cards of astrology” and says they have even more impact than the energy of full and new moons. In her words, “they’re powerful, dramatic, extra amplified and can come with twists, turns, challenges, opportunities, shifts, and unexpected surprises...They act as catalysts for change… And sometimes it feels like an energy has come out of nowhere, and it can take you for a sixer."
The big lesson here with "Retreat" is that you can sometimes move forward quicker and easier in your life, by first retreating. And now is one of those times.
The I Ching says,
“When evil threatens you it is wise to withdraw. Your retreat should be confident and powerful. You are not abandoning the situation, nor should you abandon your purpose. But instead, you should make a wise and timely withdrawal until the time is right for action. Only small things may be accomplished successfully now.”
The "evil" spoken about above, are your triggers...those difficult and painful emotions that will undoubtedly get stirred up a lot over the next 6 weeks of Eclipse Season. It's so important to remember right now, that every mental and emotional trigger that you experience is a sign! A sign that just on the other side of that pain, a beautiful opportunity (for greater alignment, healing, and growth) is waiting.
And the way to harness that growth opportunity, is to pause and retreat within yourself, go into meditation and reflection, lean into that painful emotion, and uncover the roots of what role you're playing in causing your own suffering.
WHAT TO DO during the time of "RETREAT":
- Slow down, and shift to a more receptive and passive energetic state (yin). And only focus on accomplishing small things for now.
- Practice lots of Mindfulness, and look for emotional triggers, trusting that they are the key to greater alignment, healing, and growth right now.
- Learn to sit with and move through your difficult emotions, without letting them smother you or making you lash out regretfully.
- Make time for Deeper Reflection Practices as soon as you notice yourself feeling stuck or emotionally triggered (so you can get to the root of the trigger and heal it) {**I Ching Readings are perfect for this...and I'm running an eclipse special on them now!}
Get plenty of rest and self-care the sh*t out of yourself now!!
WHAT TO AVOID during the time of "RETREAT":
- Staying in a very active “do-do-do” (yang) state, and pushing yourself to take massive action towards ambitious goals.
- Ignoring, or numbing from difficult emotions (it's human tendency to do this, so it'll take some practice not to).
- Losing hope and letting your painful, difficult emotions smother you. The threat of this is very real this month (I struggled with this last night for a couple hours!)
SMALL CROSSING
This second hexagram dives deeper into how to achieve massive growth and healing through the more yin and "dark" energies, which, again, is what this eclipse season is calling us to do.
Once you start leaning into those difficult emotions like we mentioned above, and start uncovering ways in which you're adding to your suffering and stagnation, you may think you're done. "Great! I know which of my thoughts and actions are out of alignment and causing me to feel stuck and keep getting so emotionally triggered. I'm healed!!"
Maybe you even do a meditation releasing ritual to energetically release all those blocks and old patterns keeping you stuck (which I recommend and do monthly with my Moon and Meditation group!).
And then, just to make sure you move towards your dreams and goals, you even sit down on the New Moon this Thursday and visualize all your gorgeous dreams coming to fruition! What they look like and how you feel having achieved them (I also recommend you do this!).
All of that is powerful and necessary energetic work! And it's often the fun (and easier) part! But it's also only half of the work needed to create growth and change.
This hexagram of "Small Crossing" reminds us that the real physical change happens off the meditation cushion. It happens when you're face-to-face with those very convincing fear-based thoughts that are keeping you stuck and emotional. And it happens when you're face-to-face with a non-serving action, that keeps perpetuating the life circumstance you're trying so hard to change.
This hexagram reminds you that real growth doesn't happen when spend your life "walking on eggshells", avoiding conflict at all costs, or avoiding anything else that could possibly result in you making a mistake or repeating an old pattern.
And real growth doesn't happen when you're constantly playing the victim and blaming your problems and suffering on others.
Real growth happens when you put on your big girl (or boy) pants, take responsibility for your own circumstances, and go through life consciously and courageously!
Real growth happens when you acknowledge and embrace your mistakes and perceived "failures" (aka. "small crossings") in real-time...realizing that they're simply feedback, and a completely natural (and necessary) part of the growth process.
And real growth happens when you choose to replace those old, patterned, non-serving thoughts and actions (with the new ones that existed in the dream you visualized)....all in REAL-TIME!
The I Ching says,
“Taking firm control over our lives will inevitably lead to small excesses {aka. “mistakes”} as we struggle for control over ourselves. The small bird wobbles when it flies, just as a child learning to walk staggers and lurches into walls... That is small crossing in a good sense. Allow yourself small crossings when struggling for control. ”
And finally, in case you were tempted to ignore the advice of the first hexagram to shelf your ambitious goals for a more opportune time, this hexagram reiterates that advice. I know that many of you will ignore the advice to slow down and retreat within now. And you'll keep plowing full steam ahead, because that's what society tells us is the fastest path to progress. Well this just isn't the case, and especially not during Eclipse season. And ignoring this advice will just cause you more difficulty and slower progress.
The I Ching says,
“The wise {and successful}, fully comprehend the power of the small. For them, it takes only a touch to set a wheel turning – and then that wheel amplifies the power of their touch… A person should not be ambitious at this time, but instead remain modest and grounded.”
WHAT TO DO during the time of “Small Crossing”:
- Remember small wins are still wins. Celebrate every. single. one. of them!!
- Embrace mistakes. Acknowledge and forgive yourself when you’ve gone too far and repeated a bad pattern. And simply change it right then and there, without the burden of guilt and shame (and without letting yourself fall down a rabbit hole of self-loathing and self-sabotage for days or weeks). And then watch as you actually start to transform areas of your life that have felt stuck for ages!
- Commit to your Mindfulness, Reflection, and Visualization practices big time now!! Each of these practices will play a key part in working skillfully and creating graceful growth during this eclipse season! {**if you need help with this, a "Meditation Mentoring Session" would be perfect for you!}
WHAT TO AVOID during the time of “Small Crossing”:
- Fearing mistakes and avoiding them at all costs. That’s how you stunt your growth!
- Playing victim, and blaming your problems and suffering on others. That robs you of your power to create healing and change in your life. **And those of you who do this now, will have an especially rough 6 weeks, and will come out of this powerful eclipse season with very little growth to show for it. You've been warned!
***One more important note. Remember that others are going through all of this too right now! So be extra kind, compassionate, and forgiving this month. We all need it!