I really look forward to my Cup o’ Joe each morning — the smell, the ritual of it (I know you fellow coffee drinkers understand) — but it was weighing me down, which sounds odd since that is the opposite of the purpose of caffeine: to rev us up and get us going. I lingered over it, but enjoying some quiet time with my coffee, laptop, and feline loves extended into wasting precious morning hours (fine line), and I had to rush to get through the rest of my morning routine and often skipped my yoga practice. I didn’t start the day the way I wanted to, and I felt irritated. (I have the planet Neptune, Pisces’ Ruling Planet, in my first house, so time management has never been my thing.)
My new routine, with the help of proactive Aries, is an early morning yoga and breath practice and a short walk, which sets me up for a more productive and happier day. I do still drink ne cup of coffee — but later in the morning when I sit down at my computer to do work.
Every now and again we need to change up our relationships with things we are attached to, i.e., our habitual way of doing things, in order to free up space and move forward, or get un-stuck. If you have an Aries person in your life (or you have Aries strong in your own Natal Chart) then you know the “can-do” and “won’t take no for an answer” character traits of this sign, or archetype. Astrologers like to call Aries the trail-blazer of the Zodiac. They tend to be on a mission, and that is one of the themes of this New Moon.
The New Moon Solar Eclipse in Aries is here, in the early hours of April 20th (EST) and it brings with it a lot of intense feelings. It can signal a new way forward or a change in direction. Eclipses often feel like times of crisis, especially if it is making contact with your natal planets. The crisis may be actual, meaning an event that changes your life significantly, which can be either positive or negative; the Greek word for crisis (Kairos) means the peak moment of change or the opportune moment. Or, the crisis may be felt more in your emotional realm because you know something in your life must change but you are not sure yet how to take the first step or what that step is. Either way, it is intense (we have Pluto in the mix, too, adding to the intensity).
Back to the coffee. When we let go of or shift unhealthy attachments, we become “unstuck” in the area of life that the attachment was blocking or cluttering.
I think of the Feng Shui principle. The areas of our homes that become cluttered, where we plop down junk that piles up, correspond to areas or circumstances of our lives. We depend on the attachment for something (e.g., energy or “a high,” the security of what is familiar), but it isn’t contributing to our overall wellbeing and growth. Attachments range from the more obvious substance-use to the lesser understood process (or behavioral) addictions, such as relationships, shopping, gambling, or even cleaning and exercising/movement when they border on obsessive (to name a few). We are essentially attempting to cover up or escape from difficult and overwhelming feelings, and the attachment provides relief from that in the moment.
But it doesn’t work for long.
Like the room in one’s home that needs de-cluttering for the energy to flow, working through and eventually releasing the unhealthy attachment frees up space in mind/body and lets in, like opening the windows for fresh air, feelings such as freedom, inspiration, and purpose, which the attachment was covering like the neglected piles of junk in the corner of the house.
Eclipses happen twice a year, so as the amazing Astrologer April Elliot Kent explains, they are not rare but if they are contacting significant points in your natal chart they can mark turning points in your life story.
With this in mind … I am offering a new online course that I am really excited about, called, Get Un-Stuck, that combines Yoga, Breath-work Ayurveda, Astrology, and Expressive Writing. If you’d like more information after reading the course description, please email me at Nicole@NicoleAthena.com.
