I consistently see how the more we align with nature and the natural rhythms and cycles she reflects, the more life becomes a seamless experience without need to analyze and dissect what’s playing out. You may have noticed another shift into a more inward time period, with both challenges met – if you are trying to control things – or propulsion – if you are flowing with the nudges to redirect energies. This, of course, being a Mercury Retrograde influence, but truly it’s simply an ebb and flow of life.

Our minds enjoy wrapping their tentacles around understanding things, so to have those reiterations and details to link the “why’s” helps to appease that need.

This is shared for that part of the brain to help make sense of things I’ve been hearing people going through right now.

Mercury Retrogrades are times to really be gentle and kind to self and others, to release judgment and attachment, and to let go of trying to control things which only causes frustration, while you wind along meandering paths that have purpose even though you can’t see it quite yet.

They draw attention more inward, speak to completing things so you’re ready for the new, and help you to harness more effectiveness for that new.

It’s a time for processing and assimilating like the ever-growing, chewing and grinding teeth of a rabbit that helps digest new insights and perspectives available at this time for you to recognize.

Overall, this is the period of multiple r’s – reviewing, releasing, reclaiming, retrieving, recreating, renewing, reflection, and responsibility.

It’s natural to have these evolutionary processes as part of your life, so while Retrogrades may seem like the hidden enemy, they are actually quite supportive and productive if you choose to learn the language of this energy moving through you to support greater self-mastery.

As I reflect on my current situation, I can see how this is playing out naturally and supportively without my having planned or manipulated things and so, too, do I feel it is happening for each of us in relative ways although we may think otherwise.

I’ve currently found myself in organizing and finalizing mode, completing and preparing things, and clearing the slate, as I check off things one-by-one on my list.

Synchronously, I signed with my editor on the 13th, which catapulted me getting into the retrograde mode before its setting in on the 26th of July and I am set to receive it back by the 17th of August – the Retrograde ending the 18th.

I also have my last Reiki 3 Master Teacher workshop being taught on the 18th – it was moved by request of a student coming, which aligns with finalizing energy since it’s the last of that genre I’m teaching.

An interesting side note to that, which seems to be verifying this completion is that I discovered I lost a key chain. Not just any key chain, mind you. My Reiki key chain.

I recently just discovered that the quartz key chain with the word and symbol for Reiki engraved on it, cleanly broke off a very strong, thick chain that hung with my keys and other fun key chains. I’ve had it on there for years and to have it disappear speaks volumes to my being in alignment with this knowing that I’ve come full circle after teaching for 11 years. I love that the remaining key chains are a giant plush, pink bunny head I received as a free gift and a squeezable rainbow unicorn that poops rainbow sparkles when you squish her that my sweet Faery friend, KC – aka Bean – gave me. LOL! Speaks to my life.

Interesting for sure how the ending and new beginning of Reiki and my book, placing me on a different path and the timelines falling on the Retrograde ending, will put me in a new creation mode to work on a revision once things go direct. It’s like the passing of the baton. 🙂

People have asked what the book is about and when it is coming out, to which I’ve shared being guided to keep it a surprise (no one but myself and my editor have read the full story) and that I don’t know when it will be available, as I still have much to go before it will be out there. Perhaps next year – that seems feasible – but I won’t know for sure for some time, as I’m taking it step-by-step with full commitment to the thorough, patient process. Since it is my first book of this nature and like my baby, it needs its cultivation and nurturing process, as well as some very deep challenges to rise to with it.

So, I’ve been finishing things and preparing for when the book is returned, as I will have a lot of work ahead that will need my complete focus and will ask for a fresh new perspective and a fresh new me to dive into again.

I’ve been playing in the expansive field of potentials, dreaming and believing the impossible made possible, and taking actions, even if just energetic commitments, to solidify my partnership with the energy streams I travel.

I’m utilizing this time period to nurture myself and put things to rest, have read and am reading a bunch of books including a new one by a published author I’m reviewing, have been nurturing my plants, getting everything out of the way, preparing for an upcoming trip, and took some little side-detour creative time to help with that refresh.

It was funny because I got off the phone the other day with a friend and said to him, “I should go tend to my garden now,” referring to my plants and flowers I was working on before we got on the phone. He emphasized, “yes, you should go tend to your garden” and we both giggled at the metaphor of life we both recognized and he added he couldn’t let that one go without pointing it out – especially after the very complex journey we’d explored in conversation.

I’m also writing this as my last blog for a while, unless I have time for some short inspiration, as we are heading off this Friday morning for a small vacation for 10 days. This also seems perfect, as we will be attending two weddings at both ends of the trip, seeing friends and family that we haven’t seen for a long time, touching in for a few days in our old home base of Orange County and likely get to explore our favorite Crystal Cove again, and getting some relaxing, integration, and inspiration with time at the ocean in between at Pismo Beach.

We had planned to go to Yosemite, but changed plans due to Dave still healing and unable to hike extensively since his labrum repair surgery and due to fires near that area that didn’t make it optimal. We later learned they had closed Yosemite for the first time (not sure if it’s open again), but it all seemed aligned with our feeling the ocean was a better nurturer right now to take us somewhere different than our usual mountain and forest surroundings, and to the Pacific coast that we both love.

We return the 12th, still within the retrograde, in time to prep for the Reiki workshop and receiving my book back.

And speaking of last workshops (since I’ll be away while one of the registration deadlines roll around), if you want to join the last Reiki 3 Master Teacher workshop on Saturday, August 18th, as a new or review student, you can still register or let me know by August 11th.

And if you’re still interested in the Saturday, September 22nd Fall Equinox “Living a More Magickal Life” workshop event with Laura Bruno and myself, we have 2 of the 12 spots remaining. The last day to register for that is September 15th.

You can find links to both here: Workshop Updates

Retrogrades are a good time to complete and release things that no longer support your highest good, put to rest old “stuff”, have more patience and light-heartedness about things, take time for yourself away from it all, slow down and be still to receive, cleanse your life on all levels, focus on intentions you want to put out to the Universe, be more present in your life and with others especially in terms of more heart-based communication, listen and go within, and realize it’s not all that serious.

Things are always unfolding for the highest good even though you don’t feel like that’s the truth because it’s hard to embrace when you’re attached to outcomes and definitions of things.

You can utilize determination during this time to help carry out visions and goals, but remain flexible. You will also need to stay on top of your willpower, as illusions and immediate pleasures may easily sway you. Yes, that means more shadow work to help you to integrate and balance and be able to see things clearly. People and things that trigger us need to be looked at, not pushed away, in order to understand the trigger and what it is telling you about yourself and hidden feelings you may be afraid to see or acknowledge within.

Do you secretly envy someone or wish to be more like that which annoys you? Is the thing that is bothering you about them, a quality you, yourself possess, and therefore if you integrate it yourself with love, can transform your experience of self and others? Is the quality that you fear or cast out in another, a part of you that if nurtured, could really catapult your passionate life?

What are you willing to do and give up short-term for the things you desire? Your strength, will, determination and focus are key now, along with the flexibility to know when to flow so you maintain balance of mind, body, and spirit.

This isn’t so much the time for doing, as it is for being, so all of this is done on the inner planes and if done with commitment to the process of you, you will reap the benefits of the Retrograde, rather than feel controlled and beat down by it.

Keep the faith and lovingly nurture yourself and others during this time. The more you practice these things, the more you can discover how Retrogrades can be powerful, catapulting times.

I’ll see you again soon!