Happy 2017!

It’s been a while since I did an Astrological update, but that’s where the inspiration is taking me today…so here we go.

Early, early this morning (East Coast time), the moon passed by the sun. This is the New Moon in Capricorn—the first of Winter (or Summer, down under). From the lunar calendar perspective, this is the beginning of the new year. Essentially, New Year’s Day is 3 days early this year.

That means yesterday (12/28) was the end of the Lunar cycle for 2016 (and hopefully the end of the recent run in celebrity deaths). For the end of a cycle, it was a very full day.

For one, Mercury passed by the sun just before the moon did, but in the opposite direction. This marks the halfway point of Mercury Retrograde. I always see Mercury as the messenger. It travels ahead of the sun (ahead of us) to check out the conditions ahead, and then reports back. When it’s on this side of the sun (behind it), it is then digging in a little deeper to make sure we took care of everything behind us. By this view, 2017 will start with some introspection and review…of all of 2016, but most especially this past month.

Fitting that theme, Saturn squared Chiron last evening just a bit later. This highlighted unhealed wounds that need some TLC. A la Abraham, the best way to tend to wounds is to give them a chance to heal on their own, which also means you gotta stop picking at ‘em and tearing ‘em back open. We put cones on our dogs and cats to keep them from messing with unhealed wounds; we know they’ll heal more quickly this way. Might be time to do the same for our selves. The cone keeps our vision focused on what’s in front and ahead, while preventing us from looking at (and messing with) what’s behind.

Again fitting with the theme, Uranus stationed direct. On January 8^th, when Mercury stations direct, we’ll have all planets moving forward simultaneously. How’s that for an indication of forward progress?

Uranus is a bringer of ingenious solution and invention. It is the out of the box thinker. If you think you know how it will go in 2017, namely as bad or worse than 2016, now is the time to turn away from that pessimism (and continual review of what didn’t work) and open up to some solutions and innovations that are beyond your expectations. One way to harvest optimism is to focus on what did work and what is working.

At this point, I want to share something I’ve been doing. Any morning I have the chance, which is most days, I get up and do a bit of journaling while enjoying my first cup of coffee. A habit I’ve established within this is to acknowledge with appreciation something that happened the day before. Every day holds moments of joy or ease or connection or laughter. By spending a bit of time each morning reviewing those moments from the day before, I rekindle those feelings: joy, ease, and laughter. I call this harvesting good feelings.

It might not seem like much, but having done this for a while now, I am noticing the results. The seeds planted earlier have already sprouted and I am finding it easier and easier to experience appreciation for every single day.

One such example is this: on the flight from Austin to the North East a week ago, I ended up sitting next to a woman who was traveling with the most adorable and lovely dog Lucy. Lucy spent half the trip sitting on my lap and I was nothing less than tickled by the experience. My own lovely Cali rarely sits in my lap. Furthermore, I’m not one to sit still for long. But on a 3+ hour flight, I had nowhere to go. Lucy kept me warm and entertained, and I got to help her feel secure. See, it was her first time on a plane and she got very nervous during takeoff.

2+0+1+7 = 10, which reduces to 1. 2017 is the beginning of a new numerological cycle. It is as if a new decade is starting.

As I see it, we are on the brink of all things new. We are climbing another evolutionary flight.

You can continue to bite at that sore on your butt and recreate more of the same, or you can cone your vision and train your focus forward, forward, forward. Only look back with focused appreciation, and let any wounds and disappointments fade. They will fade if you keep yourself focused on what IS working, what IS fun, what IS moving forward, and what IS showing up to make your life easier and happier.

I wish for you a joyous celebration on New Year’s Eve, whether you do it quietly or boisterously…and may 2017 inspire and tickle you in a thousand ways (each week).

Big Hugs to All!