Mercury is in the retrograde phase of its cycle in Virgo, the sign of the harvest and one of the signs Mercury rules. We can make the most of this time by focusing on the details for a little while and trusting that if we take care of the things that are obvious the rest will be well served. This is the time for cleaning up loose ends and either completing or deleting projects that have languished, unfinished, for far too long. Review, reconsider, relax, relinquish, rest, restore, reclaim, recreate, respond, restructure, refinance, realize, renovate, reorganize and realize renewal. Virgo is the sign of digestion, sorting the seeds of potential, assimilation, integration, creating systems of order, health and hygiene. It is in charge of work–not necessarily the career but the stuff we do for money or because it needs doing–and service–the things we can do well and feel good about offering to others, whether formally or casually. The ways in which we do or do not take care of our bodies fall under Virgo’s influence, too–optimally, these include our exercise program, a good diet of nourishing food, and taking pleasure in the small things, like how great we feel when we are taking good care of ourselves.

Virgo has a bad reputation for being the pickiest sign in the zodiac and likes things to be just so; you may notice your inner critic particularly active lately, about things that maybe haven’t bothered you for years. When the Sun and Mercury are in Virgo, as they are now, many of us who normally don’t seem to have any Virgo-like tendencies at all, may find ourselves feeling the Virgoan impulses to clean, organize and make some lifestyle changes that makes us look and feel healthier.

With the moon waning until the New Moon in Virgo on September 8th, we are doubly primed for letting go of anything that isn’t working for us or enhancing our experience in some way, particularly in terms of our health–diet, exercise program or lack there of–and/or the systems of order we use to get and stay organized. This is a great time for clearing clutter, including the unused and unnecessary files on your computer. I finally went out yesterday and bought some odd sizes of plastic boxes to use in reorganizing my closet and office–the room in my house that has seemed to defy order. After years of trying to cram too many things into the limited storage space I have, I am now relentlessly releasing the things that are no longer working for me. My life has changed, I have changed and so much of this stuff I literally never use today. What a relief to send it off to charity where maybe someone else can use it!

So, Mercury’s gone retrograde and the moon is on the wane… sounds like the title of a country music song, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s just life playing itself backward for a while so we have a chance to catch up..

*Mercury goes direct, again, on September 13, 2010.

Spring waits in quiet splendor just around the bend
These last days of winter dawn softly
Releasing the final vestiges of the past twelve months
Days grow longer; sunlight slowly overtaking the night

Dream time is rich; filled with vibrant images
People long gone but never forgotten by the heart
Appear full of life and laughter
Singing the timeless greetings of their spirit

Everything is possible in this nebulous world of wonder
Beauty reaches new heights in this sacred space within
Flashes of insight and seeds of potential in glimmers of grace
Carry their promise on the breeze of imagination.

Exotic flowers in full bloom carry me back to the island life I left behind
I see the shining sea and the bougainvillea-lined lane of my morning runs
The magical beach I walked at sunset rejoicing in the splendor of Life
Lives and breathes in the eternal springtime of me, still.

© 2007, 2010 Jodi Flesberg Lilly

Thoughts on Love…

Love is letting go of all we’ve been so we can be all we are. And in so being, become a beacon to others who are ready to let Love lead them home to all they are.

The truth written in the stars
Lives within the heart.
As above, so below.
As within, without.
We have lived so long beside ourselves
Hoping someday to go home.
It seems the time is here and now.
It’s safe to come back home.

Home is not another place
It isn’t out there somewhere.
Home is a tucked inside the heart
Where all is safe and warm.
It isn’t what you thought it was,
It isn’t a mystery.
It is simply letting go of all
You once thought it might be.
Letting go and giving up
The tricks and traps and rules.
At home you are free
To do exactly as you choose.

It was never about being good enough
Or right or careful or wise.
Home holds its doors out wide
Come on in, you decide.
Home is the place you can always go,
You’re always welcome, always known.
At home there’s no need to be special or good,
Who you are is understood.
You can catch your breath and take a break
And rinse off the debris of the day.
You can kick off your shoes, take off your tie
And sit before the fire with a good glass of wine.

At home you are seen and known and heard
There’s nothing you need to do.
You can hear your heart and find your rhythm
And live the way you choose.
At home you are free of the trappings;
The shoulds, hows and wherefores all cease.
You can let go of all the believing
And simply let yourself BE.

Be yourself. Live your life. Love yourself. Love your life.

All You Need Is Love still holds up as one of the best songs of all time, for me. And tonight, on the eve of Valentine’s Day, seems the perfect time to post it here. Love is so many things–only a small part of which is romantic. Grand and glorious as romantic love can be, if we haven’t learned to love ourselves first our love for another will not fill the hole in our soul and psyche.

Love is the animating force of every living thing. It is the energy that beats the heart and keeps the world going round. Love is the essence of who we are. With love all things are possible. Without love we are mere machines going through the motions. Living is loving. Loving makes life with living. Love, love, LOVE!

Lennon/McCartney

Love, love, love,
Love, love, love
Love, love, love.
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy.

There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made.
No one you can save that can’t be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy.

All you need is love,
All you need is love,
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.

Love, love, love,
Love, love, love
Love, love, love.
All you need is love,
All you need is love,
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.
It’s easy.

All you need is love,
All you need is love,
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.

All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.

Sun, Earth and Moon unite
In a dance of Divine delight
Potential and promise
In starburst glowing gold
Natural magic unseen by human eyes
Far beyond our imaginings
There, all the same

Cosmic music plays a love song
One we each know by heart
Coded in our genes
Written in the stars
Keeping us in time
A melody unheard by human ears
Always and ever present
There, all along

Love in all its guises
Beats the Universal drum
The very heart of the Universe
Pounds a steady pulse
Rhythm of the stars
Calls us back to now
Into the precious present
Here, where we belong

(C) 2006, 2010 Jodi Flesberg Lilly ~All Rights Reserved

Nia allowed me to find my way to my own dance. The routines felt natural and joyful to my body and the self-consciousness that had plagued me on dance floors since I was a teen ager began to ease. It was such a pleasure to be able to pick up the routines and move with the other women in the class.

A couple months into my Nia practice I discovered Hoop Dance. I bought the book Hooping by Christabel Zamor and a couple weeks later found an adult hoop and I was on my way. Learning to hoop has allowed me to finally dance from the heart. For the first time in my life I don’t care who is watching or what they think of what I am or am not doing. My heart skips a beat at the mere sight of a hoop. I love the colors, the weight of the hoop and finding my rhythm within it as it circles my body.

Nia opened the door for me to come more joyfully into my body and beautifully supports my hooping practice. This morning in Danielle’s class our theme, in honor of Valentine’s Day, was the heart chakra and Love. My heart sang as my body danced.

What do you love to do? What makes your heart dance and sing?

Today I open to possibilities
And entertain the ones that shine

Today I willingly speak my truth
And release the dreams that aren’t mine

Today I trust my instincts
And follow the inner signs

Today I open my heart and mind
And revel in a breath at a time

Today I dare to love what I love
And leave the rest behind

(C) 2010 Jodi Flesberg Lilly ~All Rights Reserved

This quote, often attributed to Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, according to the Goethe Society, is from a man named W. H. Murray:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!’

Martha Graham offered this brilliant advice–these famous words–when, according to Agnes de Mille: “I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. … I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly,

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” ~Martha Graham

I read the first part of this quote many years ago but it was only recently that I discovered the rest of it. Tonight it really spoke to me–the part of me and so many others I know who struggle with doubts and wonder sometimes why we do what we do and when we will finally feel we have it right.

Here’s to all the artists.