January 10, 2019

January 10, 2019

A day before the annual solar union with distant Pluto, the cosmos attempt to undermine some of your best efforts by presenting humankind with a solar parallel with Pluto (8:40 a.m.) and a frictional, 45-degree aspect between Mars and Juno (8:34 p.m.). The sun-Pluto link by parallel may actually contain the same emotionally-charged intensity as tomorrow’s conjunction in the zodiac.

Helping to ameliorate any psychic storms traversing the globe are the monthly lunar rendezvous with far-out, Neptune in compassionate Pisces (4:48 p.m.) — magnified by a good-luck-endowed parallel between the sun and Jupiter (9:45 p.m.). Employ the power of positive thinking as a guard against losing faith since the approaching sun-Pluto conjunction reaches exactitude at 3:39 a.m. on Friday.

[Note to readers: All times are calculated as Pacific Standard Time. Be sure to adjust all times according to your own local time so the alignments noted above will be exact for your location.]

Thursday 10th January 2019 (UT Now is 20:39:18)

Current Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent (12 pi 16'12")

Planet, Centaur, TNO, Asteroid Aspects

01:02:26 UT - Psyche (5 cp 51'17") square Makemake (5 li 51'17" Rx)
02:33:03 UT - Sun (19 cp 32'30") conjunct Chariklo (19 cp 32'30")
05:11:41 UT - Waxing Crescent Moon - Sun (19 cp 39'14") semi-square Moon (4 pi 39'14")
05:15:42 UT - Jupiter (13 sa 40' 8") square Teharonhiawako (13 pi 40' 8")
05:46:48 UT - Pholus (1 cp 11' 2") sextile Rhadamanthus (1 sc 11' 2")
08:37:04 UT - Mercury (7 cp 53'51") trine Pelion (7 ta 53'51" Rx)
09:12:46 UT - Psyche (5 cp 59'15") trine Aphidas (5 vi 59'15" Rx)
10:32:06 UT - Psyche (6 cp 0'33") trine Albion (6 ta 0'33" Rx)
11:19:54 UT - Mars (6 ar 19' 8") opposite Logos (6 li 19' 8" Rx)
13:02:37 UT - Ceres (24 sc 37' 9") trine Manwe (24 pi 37' 9")
18:14:58 UT - Mean BML (17 aq 26'43") trine Asbolus (17 ge 26'43" Rx)
20:32:16 UT - Eris stations direct (22 ar 59'27")

Aspects of the Moon

00:07:08 UT - Moon (2 pi 9'31") sextile Quaoar (2 cp 9'31")
01:09:23 UT - Moon (2 pi 40' 6") square Venus (2 sa 40' 6")
05:11:41 UT - Waxing Crescent Moon - Sun (19 cp 39'14") semi-square Moon (4 pi 39'14")
07:38:05 UT - Moon (5 pi 51'15") quincunx Makemake (5 li 51'15" Rx)
07:51:41 UT - Moon (5 pi 57'56") sextile Psyche (5 cp 57'56")
07:54:30 UT - Moon (5 pi 59'19") opposite Aphidas (5 vi 59'20" Rx)
07:57:01 UT - Moon (6 pi 0'34") sextile Albion (6 ta 0'34" Rx)
08:34:47 UT - Moon (6 pi 19' 9") quincunx Logos (6 li 19' 8" Rx)
10:13:03 UT - Moon (7 pi 7'31") conjunct Nessus (7 pi 7'31")
11:47:05 UT - Moon (7 pi 53'49") sextile Pelion (7 ta 53'49" Rx)
12:15:35 UT - Moon (8 pi 7'51") sextile Mercury (8 cp 7'50")
13:36:39 UT - Moon (8 pi 47'47") square Huya (8 sa 47'46")
14:15:06 UT - Moon (9 pi 6'43") trine Typhon (9 sc 6'44")
15:11:11 UT - Moon (9 pi 34'22") sextile Lempo (9 ta 34'22" Rx)
16:42:17 UT - Moon (10 pi 19'16") sextile Orius (10 cp 19'16")
18:05:43 UT - Moon (11 pi 0'25") opposite Orcus (11 vi 0'25" Rx)
18:54:38 UT - Moon (11 pi 24'33") sextile Hylonome (11 cp 24'33")
19:48:46 UT - Moon (11 pi 51'16") square Eros (11 ge 51'16")
20:40:44 UT - Moon (12 pi 16'55") square Altjira (12 ge 16'55" Rx)
21:12:31 UT - Moon (12 pi 32'36") sextile Saturn (12 cp 32'36")
22:39:11 UT - Moon (13 pi 15'24") quincunx Thereus (13 le 15'24" Rx)
23:30:44 UT - Moon (13 pi 40'52") conjunct Teharonhiawako (13 pi 40'52")
23:48:07 UT - Moon (13 pi 49'28") square Jupiter (13 sa 49'28")
23:53:12 UT - Moon (13 pi 51'58") quincunx Elatus (13 li 51'58")

ACIM Workbook Lesson 10 Insights

“My thoughts do not mean anything.”

It is our beliefs that imprison us. It is our beliefs that stand between us and the knowledge of our oneness and the Love of God. It is our beliefs that manifest as the images that make our world. The good news is that we can change our beliefs because we made them. The idea, “My thoughts do not mean anything” helps us to step back from our thoughts, to dis-identify from them so that we can become open to recognizing that they are simply the effects of our beliefs. Gradually we become aware that there is something behind the thoughts of which we are aware. There is a cause and the cause is our beliefs.
The thoughts will continue to occur as long as we maintain the beliefs. We may hide our beliefs from ourselves and create all kinds of smokescreens to deceive ourselves into thinking that we have no responsibility for what we are perceiving. But that does not change the fact that what we perceive is the effect of our beliefs. We see it because we believe it. As we can step back from the thoughts and observe the beliefs, we are then free to change the beliefs. As long as we hide them, we cannot change them.
Lasting healing comes with changing our belief that we could be anything but one with the Love in which we were created. The first step is to loosen our identification with our thoughts because as long as we believe that our thoughts are our identity, we will resist changing them. We interpret changing our ideas as equivalent to death, because it means the loss of what we believe to be our identity. It is not surprising that there is great resistance to change. Today’s idea offers a gentle tool to loosening this identification. We do not have to believe it, we just have to practice it. As we practice these lessons, it will do it’s healing work of its own.

It may seem personally insulting to tell ourselves all through the day, “My thoughts do not mean anything,” but in fact it is an important step in the process of freeing our minds from all false ideas. The Course tells us that truth is true and nothing else is true. The Course tells us oneness is real and separation does not exist. The Course tells us that all our experiences of conflict come from our belief in separation. The Course tells us that we must be willing to let go of these false ideas in order to know our true Identity as a thought of Love in the Mind of Love.
So this lesson is very important in the healing process of undoing all our false ideas. In truth it is not insulting. Telling myself all through the day, “My thoughts do not meaning anything,” helps me loosen my hold on false ideas of separation that never were true. It frees me from the prison house that I put myself in when I bought into these thoughts.
I am willing to practice today remembering that my thoughts do not mean anything. This is my path to freedom. This is my path to remembering that I am in Heaven and I never left. Dreams of separation really mean nothing, no matter what I think is true. Truth is true and nothing else is true. Oneness and Love are true and nothing else is true. All thoughts about a world of separation are meaningless. They are not true.

The thought for today is so valuable when we think about issues of unworthiness. All of those thoughts that we’ve collected over our lifetime mean nothing and all of those thoughts that tell us that we are unworthy — we don’t look good enough, we didn’t say the right thing, we didn’t do the right thing, we didn’t do it good enough, we shouldn’t have behaved that way. Recognizing these thoughts mean nothing leaves us with a clean slate for Spirit to show us the truth of what we are. Recognizing that my thoughts do not mean anything and that they are not my real thoughts gives me great hope and peace as I realize this practice will release me from all that I now believe.

What wonder, joy and beauty await me on the other side of “My thoughts do not mean anything.” As I release my attachment to and identification with my thoughts and as I stop bringing the past to the present, I open a clearing for new thought. I open a clearing for Christ’s Vision to be written upon my blank mind. As I stop giving meaning to everything I see, I allow Christ’s Vision to and Spirit’s meaning to flood my life with true creation, the extension of Love. To behold the beauty of forgiveness through Christ’s Vision is what awaits me as I practice all my thoughts mean nothing. I await this freedom joyfully and I accept the new meaning Christ’s Vision will lay upon my world of forgiveness.

There is only one thought today that has any meaning for me and that is to be as God created me — nothing more, nothing less — just that, to realize that existence as best I can here with the help of Holy Spirit. I am willing to let all other thoughts go. I don’t know what this means, but I trust I can realize my True Self, my true existence, for this is reality what I am.
But True Self has been hidden under layers of ego thought which do not mean anything. They merely disguise the Real Me that I have been afraid to see, to know. There is still a part of me uncertain and nervous about what it would really mean to be the Real Me. I realize this thought does not mean anything — it is merely fear projecting itself. Of course, I am the Real Me, part of the Oneself, for how can I be anything else but what God created. Yet, ego mind keeps It pushed away as if It were unreal.
Today, Holy Spirit, help me see my meaningless thoughts and let them go. Cleanse my existence of all that does not serve Love. Help me see my True Self so I may begin to live more fully the happy dream of awakening now. Help me see the layers I think I have heaped over my True Self and I now believe are true. Help me see the untruth of my ego truth that I may truly serve Love as a conscious choice.

Commentary

Lesson 4 said, "These thoughts do not mean anything," and it promised the exercise would be "repeated from time to time in somewhat different form" (W-pI.4.3:1). This lesson is the first repetition. It explains that the reason the idea is true is that

all the thoughts of which you are aware…are not your real thoughts. (1:1-2)

That is particularly difficult to accept at first. How can my thoughts not be my real thoughts? It explains that we don't have any basis for comparison as yet, but that when we do, "you will have no doubt that what you once believed were your thoughts did not mean anything" (1:5). So once again the Workbook is asking us, to a certain degree, to take this idea by faith for the time being.
A basis for comparison implies that before long we will experience our real thoughts, and when we do, we will know that what we believed to be our thoughts were not our real ones. It's like we've been eating carob all our lives thinking it was chocolate. Once we taste real chocolate, we know that carob was not chocolate; but until we have a basis for comparison, we can only take our teacher's word for it.
The difference between Lesson 10 and Lesson 4 is in the first word: "My thoughts" instead of "These thoughts." In addition, the lesson does not go on to link the thoughts with things around us, as Lesson 4 did: "They are like the things I see in this room." So the emphasis in this lesson is on the thoughts themselves: "The emphasis is now on the lack of reality of what you think you think" (2:4).
The third paragraph points out the different aspects about our thoughts that have been emphasized so far:

• they are meaningless
• they are outside rather than within
• they concern the past rather than the present

"Now we are emphasizing that the presence of these 'thoughts' means that you are not thinking" (3:2). This rephrases the earlier concept that our mind is simply blank. Before we can have vision, we have to learn to recognize nothingness when we think we see it.
The exercises given make it clear that what the Course is talking about closely resembles many Eastern meditation teachings. What is being cultivated is a kind of detachment from our "thoughts," becoming "the witness" or taking the position of an observer in regard to our thoughts. We watch the thoughts as if "you are watching an oddly assorted procession going by, which has little if any personal meaning to you" (4:6).
One book I read about meditation (Stephen Levine's A Gradual Awakening,¹ a wonderful little book) used the analogy of watching a train going by, each car containing a thought or set of thoughts. "Oh, there goes a thought of hatred! There goes some worry. There is a carload of sadness." It also used the picture of watching clouds floating by in the sky, with the expanse of sky being the mind itself. Levine emphasizes that we do not let ourselves cling to any of the thoughts or allow them to drag us along with them, but likewise we do not push them away or resist them. If they are "meaningless," as the lesson says, we need not respond to them at all.
As you do this kind of mental exercise you become aware of your mind as something independent of the thoughts that appear to cross it. You dis-identify with the thoughts. They lose their emotional charge for you. The thoughts become less and less of a "big deal" to you. You begin to recognize the vast expanse of mind in which these thoughts come and go, and to realize that they have no effect on that "sky of mind" in which they float. Notice in the practice instructions that the pace is stepping up a bit. "Five practice periods are recommended" (5:2) in addition to using the idea during the day for any thought that distresses us.
The closing added thought can be helpful to reinforce our belief that what we are doing is really worthwhile. We may need such reinforcement, since the actual practice of the exercise may induce discomfort at times. It isn't comfortable to repeatedly tell oneself, "My thoughts do not mean anything." It may seem demeaning. So reminding myself that "this idea will help to release me from all that I now believe" (4:3) can be a needed step in strengthening our motivation to do the exercises. The Workbook is cognizant of how entrenched the ego is in our minds, and works with us very gently in its attempts to dislodge us from our fixed position.

January 9, 2019

January 9, 2019:

Keep opening the doors of perception a little wider as the lunar orb ends its monthly exploration of airy Aquarius by making a supportive, 60-degree connection with intuition-enhancer Uranus in Aries (8:54 a.m.). Search the online universe for new sources of higher knowledge. This celestial alignment begins a 2 hour void twilight zone that ends at 11:45 a.m. when the moon enters watery Pisces.

Uranus continues to make major headlines as it forms a potentially abrasive, 135-degree link to Jupiter (1:34 p.m.). There’s an anything-goes, outside-the-box dynamism to this important sky cycle. Too much of any good thing is not advised. Interest in the martial arts and holistic healing techniques is highlighted during a parallel between Mars and Chiron (7:28 p.m.). Dance away the moody blues as the moon in the last sign of the zodiac can give you happy feet.


[Note to readers: All times are calculated as Pacific Standard Time. Be sure to adjust all times according to your own local time so the alignments noted above will be exact for your location.]

Wednesday 9th January 2019 (UT Now is 17:38:50)

Current Moon Phase: New Moon (28 aq 58'46")

Planet, Centaur, TNO, Asteroid Aspects

00:37:52 UT - Mercury (5 cp 51'24") square Makemake (5 li 51'24" Rx)
01:33:49 UT - Pallas (23 li 45' 3") trine Chaos (23 ge 45' 3" Rx)
03:05:36 UT - Mercury (6 cp 0'48") trine Albion (6 ta 0'48" Rx)
03:06:53 UT - Mercury (6 cp 0'53") trine Aphidas (6 vi 0'53" Rx)
04:57:06 UT - Albion (6 ta 0'47" Rx) trine Aphidas (6 vi 0'47" Rx)
07:55:09 UT - Mercury (6 cp 19'14") square Logos (6 li 19'14" Rx)
10:08:48 UT - Venus (2 sa 1' 2") trine Varuna (2 le 1' 2" Rx)
10:21:49 UT - Mars (5 ar 36'57") square Psyche (5 cp 36'57")
12:39:55 UT - Sun (18 cp 57' 6") conjunct Arawn (18 cp 57' 6")
16:24:39 UT - Mean Node (27 cn 6'29" Rx) quincunx Galactic Center (27 sa 6'29")
18:51:53 UT - Mars (5 ar 51'19") opposite Makemake (5 li 51'19" Rx)
19:43:31 UT - Moon enters Pisces (direct)
19:52:41 UT - Ceres (24 sc 21'13") trine Cyllarus (24 cn 21'13" Rx)
20:16:25 UT - Mercury (7 cp 6'30") sextile Nessus (7 pi 6'30")
23:52:07 UT - Mars (5 ar 59'46") quincunx Aphidas (5 vi 59'46" Rx)

Aspects of the Moon

00:48:13 UT - Moon (20 aq 42'35") square Deucalion (20 sc 42'35")
02:15:59 UT - Moon (21 aq 25'41") sextile Varda (21 sa 25'41")
02:23:17 UT - Moon (21 aq 29'16") square Juno (21 ta 29'16")
04:47:48 UT - Moon (22 aq 40'13") opposite Sila-Nunam (22 le 40'13" Rx)
05:27:01 UT - Moon (22 aq 59'28") sextile Eris (22 ar 59'28" Rx)
06:16:37 UT - Moon (23 aq 23'49") square Ceto (23 sc 23'49")
06:59:21 UT - Moon (23 aq 44'48") trine Chaos (23 ge 44'48" Rx)
07:07:08 UT - Moon (23 aq 48'37") trine Pallas (23 li 48'37")
07:50:45 UT - Moon (24 aq 10' 2") square Ceres (24 sc 10' 2")
08:15:25 UT - Moon (24 aq 22' 8") quincunx Cyllarus (24 cn 22' 8" Rx)
12:22:43 UT - Moon (26 aq 23'33") square Sedna (26 ta 23'33" Rx)
13:07:06 UT - Moon (26 aq 45'20") trine Haumea (26 li 45'20")
13:50:10 UT - Moon (27 aq 6'29") sextile Galactic Center (27 sa 6'29")
13:50:52 UT - Moon (27 aq 6'50") quincunx Mean Node (27 cn 6'49" Rx)
14:54:13 UT - Moon (27 aq 37'56") sextile Ixion (27 sa 37'56")
16:52:55 UT - Moon (28 aq 36'13") sextile Uranus (28 ar 36'13")
17:02:33 UT - Moon (28 aq 40'57") square Bienor (28 ta 40'57" Rx)
18:23:07 UT - Moon (29 aq 20'31") square Echeclus (29 ta 20'31" Rx)
19:43:31 UT - Moon enters Pisces (direct)
22:06:39 UT - Moon (1 pi 10'19") sextile Pholus (1 cp 10'19")
22:07:48 UT - Moon (1 pi 10'53") trine Rhadamanthus (1 sc 10'53")
23:48:32 UT - Moon (2 pi 0'22") quincunx Varuna (2 le 0'22" Rx)




Card of the day:

Another interpretation of The Lovers is that you need to make a big decision. There may be an easy option available, but you will have to ask yourself whether this is the right path for you in the long term. Often, it is the hardest path that will bring you the most benefit, especially on a deeper and more emotional level.
On a more personal level, The Lovers Tarot card can represent the establishment of a personal belief system and an increasing awareness of one’s values.
On a spiritual level, you may be at a moral crossroads where you are close to surrendering to temptation. If so, you must consider all the consequences before acting.

ACIM Workbook Lesson 9 Insights

“I see nothing as it is now.”

When I go to a movie and sit down and watch the story unfold, someone next to me may say to me, “The events you are seeing on the screen are not really happening now. The movie was made several years ago and you are just viewing it now.” While in the middle of watching the movie, it appears as if the story is not over. It appears as if the scene being enacted in that moment is really happening right now.
I am learning through the Course that my life experiences are like watching a movie that was over long ago. The Course speaks of the “tiny tick of time” in which the Son of God forgot to laugh at such foolish ideas. When I watch a movie, I often get very wrapped up in the story, and laugh or cry at the events that seem to be happening at that moment.
I am learning to look at my life experiences in the same way. The Course is telling me that what I am seeing is not there now. It is over. That tiny tick of time is over. We all are in Heaven now. The Son of God is one. The millions of bodies that seem to dance on the stage of separation are seen clearly now for the nothingness that it always was.
Reminding myself often, “I see nothing as it is now,” will help to jog my mind out of taking this movie of separation so seriously. I need this help, because it does appear that this moment in the dream is happening now, just like when I watch the movies. As I practice again and again, stepping back and taking what appears to be happening now to the Holy Spirit, I am shown what will help me in the moment. I came from Love, I am Love now and Love is all that could ever be real.
A world of separation, a world of differences and bodies, a world of time a space, is a movie that is over. It was always just a movie of separation that could never be real. I can relax now. I can let my mind be healed of all my delusions of separation, minute by minute, day by day. I can forget and make the world real again and again, but it means nothing. No one has lost their innocence. Separation from God, from Love, could never be. I am grateful that this is so.

As I was doing today’s exercise, I was struck by the fact that even to do the exercise, I had to rely on my past learning. In order to name the object that I do not see as it is now, I look to my past learning to give it a label. It shows me how the past permeates all my thinking through the day.
In the process of waking up, I do not need to try to totally erase my past learning. I do need to learn that all my thoughts from the past are not here, and are therefore not real. It is only my belief that the thoughts from the past are true that engenders fear, loss, guilt and all the other myriad emotions of the ego. As long as I still seem to be seeing through the body’s eyes, there will still be memories of the past, my past learning coming up to give meaning to what I think I am seeing.
What is important is that I give these meanings in the moment to the Holy Spirit and ask for His reinterpretation. It is this moment by moment practice that will free me from my investment of reality in what is not here. It is this process that provides the means to escape from the past I have held on to in my mind.
My job is to develop the moment by moment practice of recognizing thoughts from the past, turning them over to the Holy Spirit and receiving the blessing of His perception. From this comes peace and joy eternal. It will bring me to the gate of Heaven, where I will have wholly forgiven myself and all the world.

It is important that I have great compassion for myself and my brothers as I begin to recognize the unreality of the dream, and allow Holy Spirit to gently loosen the chains that shackle my mind. There will be blocks of resistance. This is part of the process. As I recognize resistance it is important to be patient and gentle and loving with myself and others as I practice my lessons and experience a world as a loosely veiled dream.
It is important that I be present with what is in my mind, even the moments of resistance, the moments of grace, the miracles that unfold in giving every moment to Spirit. I heal as I am present with each moment and know that I am loved beyond measure and safe at Home in Heaven now.

Commentary

If I see only the past, and my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts, then obviously I see nothing as it is now. I love the fact that the lesson goes on to say, "But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet" (1:2). The Course clearly recognizes a vast difference between intellectually accepting an idea and truly understanding it, so that it has become a part of us. I think of the stages of grief when a loved one dies. Immediately after the death, we may intellectually accept that our beloved is gone, but we have not truly grasped and assimilated that fact. It takes time for the reality of it to sink in.
Likewise, we can accept the idea that we see nothing as it is now, but it may be some time before the meaning of that fact truly begins to dawn on us. Fortunately, the lesson goes on to say that our understanding, at this stage, is not necessary. In fact, what is necessary is the recognition that we do not understand! You might say that one of the things we are to grasp from this lesson is that we don't understand it!
It makes a kind of sense if you think about it.

These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you already understand. (1:5-6)

Some people may feel that it doesn't make sense to work with an idea you don't fully understand or believe. I've heard people ask questions such as "How can I work with a lesson like 'I am the holy Son of God Himself' if I don't really believe that?" And the answer is, if you believed it already, you wouldn't need to work with the lesson! Helping you understand or believe is what the practice is for.
The attitude of recognizing our real ignorance is vital to learning. Without it, our false "understanding" gets in the way of learning. So when a lesson such as this one, "I see nothing as it is now," rubs you the wrong way or leaves you feeling that you don't really know what it is talking about—just be honest that you feel that way. Don't make the mistake of pretending you already understand when you don't. The lessons are designed with our ignorance in mind.
"It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there" (2:1). Difficult? Nearly impossible is more like it. The idea is disturbing; most of us will actively resist it in some way or another. That's okay. That does not keep you from applying the idea anyhow, and that is all that is asked of us. (Remember the introduction to the Workbook and its last two paragraphs? If not, read them over in this regard.) Just do the exercises anyhow, even if your mind is resisting the entire idea; it will still have the desired effect.
Notice how the lesson talks about "each small step" (2:5) clearing away a little darkness until understanding finally comes. The tone of these lessons, and indeed the entire Course, should not lead us to believe that we will reach enlightenment quickly. It comes in small steps, little by little. The Course does say that full enlightenment could come to any of us in any instant, if we could but open to it; it is nearer to us than our own hands and feet. But it also says that it will take much longer to make us willing to open than it will take for that final transformation of mind to occur. It says:

By far the majority are given a slowly-evolving training program, in which as many previous mistakes as possible are corrected. Relationships in particular must be properly perceived, and all dark cornerstones of unforgiveness removed. (M-9.1:7-8)

Notice: a "slowly-evolving training program" is the norm. So don't be so restless or feel like you're working against some deadline; take things at the pace they come, and work with the exercises in this Workbook. Be content to slowly evolve. Don't worry if understanding does not leap full-blown into your mind tomorrow!
The exercises are again deceptively simple, things like "I do not see this computer screen as it is now." How does saying this help me? I can't say for sure. I do know that the more often I repeat an idea, the more reasonable it starts to seem. Maybe that's all there is to it. I know it has helped me, at times, to remind myself in some situation that seems fearful or out of control that "I do not see this situation as it is now in reality." I can reassure myself that what I am seeing, which seems to be causing my fear, is not the reality of things. I may not have any idea what the reality is, but it helps to know that what I am seeing ain't it! The idea is less reassuring when I apply it to something that I do like: "I do not see this romantic relationship as it is now." Hmmm, not sure I like that. But if it does nothing more than begin to shake my faith in what I see, the lesson is doing its job even if I don't fully understand it or like it.

January 8 2019

I am capable of navigating every experience, for in the next moment I am free to make a new vibrational selection. No selection is better or worse, good, bad, right or wrong. All experiences are neutral and it is my limited belief system that gives them polarity. They are all explorations of Divine perfection.

Tuesday 8th January 2019 (UT Now is 22:20:53)

Current Moon Phase: New Moon (19 aq 30'14")

Planet, Centaur, TNO, Asteroid Aspects

03:21:44 UT - Sun (17 cp 32'13") quincunx Asbolus (17 ge 32'13" Rx)
06:05:45 UT - Ceres (23 sc 45'58") quincunx Chaos (23 ge 45'58" Rx)
10:04:47 UT - Mercury (4 cp 55'58") square Mars (4 ar 55'58")
14:13:04 UT - Juno (21 ta 24'58") quincunx Varda (21 sa 24'58")
14:26:10 UT - Vesta (18 aq 11'34") opposite Praamzius (18 le 11'34" Rx)
16:11:20 UT - Mercury (5 cp 19'13") conjunct Psyche (5 cp 19'13")
16:50:11 UT - Chiron (28 pi 19' 6") square Ixion (27 sa 36'26") - Near Miss Only
17:08:05 UT - Crantor (11 aq 1'45") quincunx Orcus (11 vi 1'45" Rx)
18:43:38 UT - Sun (18 cp 11'23") quincunx Praamzius (18 le 11'23" Rx)
19:40:18 UT - Jupiter (13 sa 23' 9") trine Thereus (13 le 23' 9" Rx)
21:44:05 UT - Saturn (12 cp 18'38") quincunx Altjira (12 ge 18'38" Rx)
22:08:37 UT - Venus (1 sa 29'54") trine Salacia (1 ar 29'54")

Aspects of the Moon

00:23:48 UT - Moon (8 aq 42'29") sextile Huya (8 sa 42'29")
01:04:55 UT - Moon (9 aq 2'45") square Typhon (9 sc 2'45")
02:10:46 UT - Moon (9 aq 35'11") square Lempo (9 ta 35'11" Rx)
05:03:04 UT - Moon (11 aq 0' 2") conjunct Crantor (11 aq 0' 2")
05:07:13 UT - Moon (11 aq 2' 4") quincunx Orcus (11 vi 2' 4" Rx)
06:07:59 UT - Moon (11 aq 31'59") trine Eros (11 ge 31'59")
07:43:51 UT - Moon (12 aq 19' 9") trine Altjira (12 ge 19'10" Rx)
09:43:39 UT - Moon (13 aq 18' 6") sextile Jupiter (13 sa 18' 6")
09:56:53 UT - Moon (13 aq 24'36") opposite Thereus (13 le 24'36" Rx)
10:50:34 UT - Moon (13 aq 51' 0") trine Elatus (13 li 51' 0")
11:34:35 UT - Moon (14 aq 12'39") sextile Great Attractor (14 sa 12'39")
12:02:01 UT - Moon (14 aq 26' 8") square Mors-Somnus (14 ta 26' 8" Rx)
12:31:09 UT - Moon (14 aq 40'28") square Dziewanna (14 sc 40'28")
15:19:59 UT - Moon (16 aq 3'27") quincunx Rhiphonos (16 vi 3'27" Rx)
17:42:03 UT - Moon (17 aq 13'16") conjunct Mean BML (17 aq 13'16")
18:17:57 UT - Moon (17 aq 30'54") trine Asbolus (17 ge 30'54" Rx)
19:40:17 UT - Moon (18 aq 11'21") opposite Praamzius (18 le 11'21" Rx)
19:54:26 UT - Moon (18 aq 18'18") conjunct Vesta (18 aq 18'18")
23:32:05 UT - Moon (20 aq 5'12") conjunct Okyrhoe (20 aq 5'12")

Watch your step in the early hours as Mercury in Capricorn squares off with Mars in Aries (2:06 a.m.). Speaking without thinking carefully about the effect of your words is a no-no. Keep a safe distance from temperamental souls who enjoy usurping conversations for their own ego-gratification.

Fortunately, the moon’s monthly union with Vesta in Aquarius (11:55 a.m.) energizes investment planning, sisterhood bonds, and fellowship gatherings. Love vibrations increase in frequency as the moon parallels Venus (12:46 p.m.). Mercury moves on from its contentious 90-degree aspect with the red planet to forming an inspirational, 72-degree contact with problem-solver Pallas (2:26 p.m.).

A subtle and yet still supportive, 30-degree tie between the sun and Vesta (2:51 p.m.) reinforces the earlier lunar conjunction with Vesta. Keep in mind that any strengthening of Vesta also places an exclamation point on looking over safety and security measures around your residence and work environment.


[Note to readers: All times are calculated as Pacific Standard Time. Be sure to adjust all times according to your own local time so the alignments noted above will be exact for your location.]

ACIM Workbook Lesson 8 Insights

“My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.”

This undoing process takes a mind open to thought reversal. It takes a mind willing to recognize that it sees only its thoughts projected outward and that all its thinking within the world of separation is just a reflection of a blank mind.
This takes a willingness to step back and look at our thoughts again and again and again and see that they are thoughts that are just coming from the past, from the tiny mad idea to see separation instead of be awake to the truth of Love’s oneness. This undoing process of letting go of the past is necessary before we can become aware of our real thoughts.
The Holy Spirit is always present to help us undo all our false thinking. This practice of looking at our thoughts with Holy Spirit more and more consistently helps us join with our constant Companion and see everything differently. As we do this again and again and again, we will not see as the world sees. We will see past bodies and become aware of Love’s oneness, which is always there. We will see that only Love is real. We will remember all calls for Love need only one thing, and that is our extension of Love.
As we practice this undoing process again and again, we will not take the world of separate bodies so seriously. We will see that our story and everyone’s story is just reflecting the thoughts that come from our separated, blank minds. We will gradually come to remember our true Identity — formless Love that is everywhere in the eternal present. We will remember we have only one purpose — to return to the truth of everyone’s oneness in the mind of God. Seeing that our thoughts are only reflecting the past is an important step in undoing our hold on false ideas.

These beginning lessons are, step by step, laying the foundation for forgiveness. Today’s idea introduces the idea that the thoughts that I have been aware of merely represent a blank mind. If I accept this as true, the next logical step is to remember that all the things I think happened did not occur. They were merely a blank mind deceiving itself through empty images. If I accept this as true, that nothing has really happened, then the the next logical conclusion is that there is nothing to forgive. The Course says true forgiveness simply recognizes there is nothing to forgive.
These early lessons introduce ideas that turn the ego thought system upside down. The exercises seem almost simplistic. Thankfully we are not asked to wholly accept the truth of these statements. We are asked only to do the exercise as prescribed. The truth of these statements will dawn upon our minds naturally as we follow the exercises and our willingness expands. Though the exercises may seem simplistic at this time, they are laying the foundation for complete release from all fear, for complete release from hell. This is the gift these lessons offer us. They are indeed worth the practice.

As I come to trust in my Christ-self, I allow It to be more present in my life. I make no demands on what should be present. I merely allow the Christ-self to be present to Its own way of being grace. I place no expectations on how this must be for me. My lesson in this comes in the now of time. When I look about me I see only what past thoughts have formed. I do not see the now in which my Christ-self lives. When I focus on the now only and let my preoccupation with thoughts of the past slide away, I can feel peace and joy.
As I focus more and more on the now, I can surrender to my Christ-self thoughts. They become my occupation. I live by the grace of these thoughts. When I take the time in quiet reflection to remember Who I am, and that there is no need to struggle to achieve this, I can continue my life with greater confidence. I can know that, knowing God will be mine in the end because it is already mine. And the only time I can know this is now, for I cannot see this in my past projected ego thoughts.
As I consciously choose willingness to let my mind be healed, to let my conscious union with God be made known to me with the help of Holy Spirit, I can feel secure that this will happen. As it can only happen in the now, every moment I give my willingness to Holy Spirit, living by the grace of God awareness can be present for me. Today I choose to let go of my preoccupation with past thoughts and let the now thoughts of my Christ-self be present, sure that this can happen with Holy Spirit leading the way.

Commentary

"This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past" (1:1). This clearly assumes that what we see simply reflects the thoughts occupying our minds. If that is so, then because our minds are preoccupied with past thoughts, we perceive pictures from the past in the outside world. "No one really sees anything. He sees only his thoughts projected outward" (1:2). This idea is so central to the Course, yet here it is simply slipped into this discussion of the past and time. We don't really see anything! Everything we see is "the outside picture of an inward condition," as the Text puts it (see T-21.In.1:1-5).
I've always loved the first line of the second paragraph: "The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here." Ponder that a moment. You may have some extremely clear memories of the past, especially the very recent past. Yet if several people who experienced the same thing firmly disagreed with you, you would probably begin to doubt your memory—because you cannot really be completely certain it is reliable. You know very well from experience that your memory can deceive you. We think, "I could have sworn I left that key on the table!" Or we say, "Didn't I tell you about that? I thought I did." We say that sort of thing all the time without realizing how shaky our memory really is. But there is one absolutely trustworthy thought you can have about the past: "The past is not here. This is the present." Now, if the past isn't here, how can it have present effects? "To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions" (2:2). You are thinking about something that no longer exists, which by definition is an illusion.
Okay, so if my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts, and all thoughts about the past are thoughts about illusions, and all that I see is a projection of my thoughts—where does that leave what I am "seeing"? Nowhere. We are seeing reflections of memories of an illusion. When we are picturing the past or anticipating the future, the Course says our mind is actually blank, because it is thinking about nothing (2:4).
This lesson is trying to get us to recognize when our mind is not really thinking at all, but is full of what it calls "thoughtless ideas." This is why "these thoughts do not mean anything" (Lesson 4). To open ourselves to "vision" we have to stop blocking the truth with these meaningless mental images of something that isn't here. The first step towards vision is becoming aware of the things that are not vision, which are the thoughts that normally fill our minds.
I find this kind of exercise helps develop a kind of mental detachment. You step back, as it were, from your thoughts and observe them. Don't make the mistake I made at first: Trying to force these thoughts out of the mind and make it blank. We don't need to do that because it is blank already! Just observe your thoughts and apply the lesson, saying, "My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts." Be willing to let go of your investment in the thoughts, or in having them be real thoughts, or deep ones, or important ones. Unclasp your fingers from them, let them go, be willing to see that they are without real meaning if they are based on the past, and thus based on something that is not here.
The lesson is a gentle wedge, prying loose our attachment to what we think of as our thoughts.

April 5, 2018

Our journey of Mankind is the journey of the chakras. We are leaving the yellow third chakra of drive and competition and going into the green fourth chakra of valuing love and balance for the next thousand years. A thousand years is an accelerated period of your consciousness. Your current times are in the death throes of leaving the past awareness to transform into the next. Labels do not assist you now. Duality of thought does not assist you now. Thoughts of “resistance” and “not mine” are signs of this. Thoughts of us and them are signs of this. Thoughts of “they are wrong and I am right” and not allowing for the existence of the beauty of differences of beliefs are signs of this. We are moving into whatever is happening in the now, express love -- as long as it respects the laws of reverence for one’s individual journey.

Afterward it will move into the pure blue fifth chakra of harmonizing the symphony of individual vibrations. We cannot fathom what that will look like.

February 24, 2017

Demonic? Trump wasn’t evil incarnate until he ran for president against Hillary Clinton. He’s been in the public eye since, what, the ‘80s. 30 plus years.  I’d find this characterization of any man somewhat entertaining if it weren’t such a sad reflection. 

I understand half of the country voted for someone else.  I understand the country has been polorized fifty-fifty for the last nearly 20 years and that it has escalated rapidly in the last 5 to 10. What I don’t understand is the hysteria and destruction. I absolutely and truly hated the policies of the previous administration but no one I knew called people names or destroyed property or didn’t  allow anyone to state their opinions. A lot of people didn’t do that. 

I’d say most of the people who voted for Trump to be president weren’t enraged. They were tired. They were tired of being called names by Clinton and her circle and her followers and the media and looked upon as uneducated , stupid, no-nothings.  They were tired of being bullied. Yes, bullied for daring to follow a different viewpoint. They were tired of the Obama administration using their governmental powers to do harm to “the other side.” There are consequences to actions.  The left didn’t listen or care. 

So why Trump? He wasn’t my candidate. But he became that because of opposition tactics and internal warfare waged upon the other thirteen candidates of the party. He was the last one standing.  And because the primary system is flawed – by the time the primary votes happen in my state (MT), the candidate is already decided by other states. There is only one person by then on the ballot in my primaries. What needs to happen, IMO, is a one-time national primary and the top two candicates of the field are who move on. 

Trump became president because electing the job position isn’t a popularity vote. It is a coalition of states. The states were to have the supreme power in this country according to the founders.  It is structured so that the states who are largest in land or biggest in population can’t rule the others just because they’re big each and every vote. The candidate has to be chosen by more than one type of citizen in order to win. It’s a very smart system. 

So ultimately, is Trump evil, mentally ill, demonically possessed…. ? No. He’s just a man.  Is he symbolic of the changes happening in our conscious? Maybe. Is change bad? Good? No, it’s just change. Is it worth creating so much negativity in your own life day after day after day in the form of anger or fear or destroying relationships or hating people you don’t even know? No.

How do we do it? Let go of it. We teach children not to descriminate based on the color of their skin or their gender or their choice of partner, etc. Don’t descriminate based on “side” because then you’re adding to negative you think you see.  See with love in your eyes and your mind at everything and everybody also no matter the “side.” Be the change because there is no one else but you.