Tag: virgo

That Virgo New Moon When I Had to Pray

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I start every morning off with a little spiritual routine. Now, I do struggle at first with wanting to check whatever notifications or emails have accumulated on my phone over the night. But once I can wrestle myself away from it, which takes about 5-10 minutes, I get out of bed and go to what we call our “spirit room”. The dog usually follows me in, yawning and stretching his little legs as I situate myself for my morning meditation. I like to use this app, Insight Timer, which calls me into my session with a nice reverberating chime. While I meditate, I try to practice mindfulness, focusing on breath and presence of being, as well as on visualizations of whatever it is I’m currently working toward or trying to call in.

After about ten to twenty minutes, depending on how long I’m going for that day, another chime rings and I stir myself out of my meditation. Next comes my daily prayer. Now, for a long time, I gave up on any sort of prayer because it all felt too religious to me. But ultimately, I found a way to reclaim it as a means to connect more to the energy of that something greater outside of myself. Here is my prayer:

Thank you God for the gift of this life,

This breath,

This moment,

This day.

I am so grateful for it.

I’m grateful to be alive,

Grateful to be present,

Grateful to be me,

Angel Lopez,

In this life, in this breath, in this being.

Help me to be present today.

Show me the light, show me the love,

Show me the path forward

So that I can be my best self,

My most creative, confident, joyful, loving self.

Help me to be of service.

Of service to others, of service to myself, and to my higher calling.

I am here for it.

I am available to it.

I am present to it.

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I share all of this with you because the Virgo New Moon is here, and it’s urging you to give some more structure and routine to your spiritual healing. We also have Mercury, Mars, and Venus all up on the Virgo train, so that even though we are about to head into Libra season, we are all still in a place where we need to focus on Virgo’s lessons of organization and self-analysis. And there’s also still some major healing to be done. All around us right now. Structures are literally falling down in places like Mexico and throughout the Caribbean, and they will need to be rebuilt. Connections to faith are being weakened and need to be solidified. And those of us who can offer up any sort of assistance need to be able to give from a place of strength and calm.

You have to get more serious when it comes to your own personal healing and spiritual connection. It doesn’t have to be anything over the top, but it has to become a daily priority. I’ve shown you mine. It takes up maybe fifteen to thirty minutes of my morning, depending on how badly I need it. But given the current state of worldly affairs, and how I believe we are all trying so very hard to access our best, most creative, confident, joyful, loving selves right now, none of us have a choice when it comes to being more grounded in a soulful connection with something greater than who we are. By cultivating that connection, we can also get more in touch with our authenticity. And it is our authenticity that will then connect us to greater abundance of the things we’re looking to attain right now.

In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho writes, “When we love, we always strive to become better. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too” So start each day by loving yourself enough to give yourself some time to just breathe and be present. Give yourself some love and energy before you then go out into the world and give it away to others. And know that by healing more of yourself, you will be better equipped to help those who need some healing love too.

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Mercury is in Retrograde and Blah Blah Blah

We are all being asked to see things and speak up in ways we haven’t felt compelled to before.

As Mercury retrogrades through Virgo, the sign of healing, of analysis and organization, we’re being called to revisit the areas in our lives, and in the world, that need this specific kind of paying attention to. Sure, retrograde gets a bad rep for breaking down computers and blah blah blah, but it’s really just a time when we should all be slowing down and taking the time to reflect. How did we get to this place? Where in our lives do we need to heal? What do we need to reorganize and reanalyze in our personal world in order to make it wiser, stronger? And how do we contribute to healing the wounds of America, and of this world?

The energies are high right now, but the window is open for growth and forward thinking change. We are all being asked to see things and speak up in ways we haven’t felt compelled to before. It may shift some of our core relationships in major ways, but again, it’s all meant for growth. It’s all meant for healing.

The shadow wants to take center stage and say here I am.

Deal with me. Heal with me.

Everything that’s coming to the surface for you right now, this week and next, is all about showing you how you ultimately want to plant your flag in this life. We got that eclipse coming, so the shadow wants to be seen. The shadow wants to take center stage and say here I am. Deal with me. Heal with me.

Don’t sleepwalk through this time. Pay attention. Take this as an opportunity to change the things that aren’t working, whether they are internal or external.

The goal is to cultivate pride in the person you are now and in the dreams you have for the person you want to be tomorrow. And if you’re not feeling proud of your beliefs, your relationships, your careers, your life, then analyze that. Figure out how to heal that. Make change around that. So that you can truly be proud in those moments when you are called to take a stand and say, “This is who I am as a person. This is what I believe in. This is what I am meant to do with my life.”

I got you. But we all got to have each other.

This New Moon Wants You Eating Cookies and Feeling Sexy

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This Virgo New Moon is one of healing

Back in late April, I started this new exercise and diet regimen. Initially, I wanted to get myself into good shape for a destination wedding in Mexico. That wasn’t only to look and feel good on the beach, but also because I was officiating the ceremony and needed to look cute in my suit. So I ate and I worked out very strictly for six days a week and then allowed myself a cheat day on Sunday. Though the diet did help me in achieving my goals, it also created this really screwed up mentality. Since I had told myself that Sunday was my only day of food freedom, I would get to it and eat whatever the hell I could get my hands on. And if I couldn’t find my way to the right brunch or bucket of French fries, than I would feel as if I’d failed myself. As if I’d squashed my golden opportunity. Thus, I usually ended the day full but unsatisfied.

I have kept the diet going but, in the last few weeks, something has shifted. I grew tired of beating myself up. I grew tired of allowing food to have so much authority over my feelings (tale as old as time). And I grew tired of wanting a sandwich on a Wednesday afternoon and telling myself “no”. So I’ve slowly found a way to get off the strict regimen. Or more so, I’ve created a new, more balanced one. Yes, I still see Sunday as my cheat day, but I also let myself eat carbs on Tuesday if I want to. I also still work out six days a week, but that is just a necessary tool for my general well being. There’s still a routine, but it doesn’t involve me ever feeling like a failure. And it has helped me to feel healthier as well as gain a stronger relationship with my body and body image. For the first time in my life, I’m eating cookies and feeling sexy. And for me, that’s a personal breakthrough and a miracle.

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Everything you do should be an act of kindness for your soul

This Virgo New Moon is one of healing. And it wants to help you craft a daily routine that will give you the chance to break through one or more of your self-imposed walls. Saturn, the planet of our greatest limitations, and Mars, the planet of action, have joined up in Scorpio, pushing you to charge forth through an outdated fear and create some powerful inner change. And they make a connection to Venus in Leo, which is about relating to the world in a bold, confident way. So during the new moon time, it’s key that you service your physical well being, but not at the mercy of your spirit. Everything you do should be an act of kindness for your soul. That ranges from what you eat to what you tell yourself in your head when you “mess up”. This is not an easy process. Making change is never simple. But when it comes to loving yourself, it’s paramount.

So for this new moon, I want you all to take a look at your daily routine. Consider what it could be missing. What one thing should you do every day to help strengthen your sense of self? And how can you work to maintain a commitment to sustain it? Challenge yourself for the next two weeks to include something new into your daily life. And don’t take a cheat day. Whatever it is, it should be something that gives you spiritual breath to soar.

Let’s take a look at each sign for an idea on what you could add into your life until the full moon on September 8th. And remember to read your rising sign too, if you know it:

Continue reading “This New Moon Wants You Eating Cookies and Feeling Sexy” →

The Idea of You and a New Moon in Libra

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What’s the idea you have for yourself?

A few weeks ago, I got back from Minnesota where I was working as a producer on a feature film.  This is the first time that I have worked in this capacity on a movie, and the actual production process was rewarding, exhausting, and one of the most challenging experiences of my life.  And the hours were simply not cute.  Actually, neither was I after a couple days of it.  But my greatest struggle wasn’t sleep deprivation or maintaining my girlish figure amidst the tables of craft service.  Those were easy to manage in comparison to dealing with the internal question mark that arose over myself as the shoot wore on.

I went into this filming process thinking I had a pretty clear idea of myself.  I’m a 36-year-old man.  I got issues, but I know who I am.  However, through this journey, I was forced to question the ideas of me I had in place time and again.  For instance, I thought I was entirely compassionate when I’m actually a bit of a shady bitch.  My thought that I was cautious in my decision making actually read to others as uncertain and lacking in confidence.  And I saw that questioning my instincts was a constant epidemic of my mind, and it never lead to anything but disappointment.  Mostly, I realized that one shouldn’t just sit idly by, waiting on a ship to come in.  With that, all you do is grow old on some dock, watching as others go on about their lives.

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When heavy trouble would arise on set, my go-to would be to just sit and observe.  Someone smarter would come along and handle.  But that mentality does nothing for one’s personal growth.  And sometimes, I am that someone smarter.  So I had to push myself to get involved.  No one was going to ask my opinion.  I had to force others to hear my voice.  Thus, I forced myself to hear my own voice and acknowledge it.  And that was something, with the exception of this blog, I had subtly squashed and put into submission as of late.

If we can’t see ourselves fresh every day, then we’re not giving ourselves the opportunity to truly evolve.

All this has allowed for a new me to emerge.  I’m bolder.  I’m more confident.  And I’m less afraid to speak up about what I feel with the fear of rejection hanging over me.  But this shift isn’t just about my actions.  It’s about mentality.  It’s about changing the idea I have of me.  This is a perfect kind of realization for the astrological climate around this new moon in Libra.

What’s the idea you have for yourself?  For one, there’s a sense of how we think we come across to others, which is usually a sharp difference from the actual truth.  We can also identify ourselves too much around a job, a relationship, or even our gender or sexual identity.  And sometimes, we labor to craft the perfect idea of what we think our lives should be.  We know the career we want or would excel at if we weren’t stuck in the one we were currently in, and we think it’s just a matter of time before the boss notices or the Universe opens the door to the right opportunity.  But really, that’s all bullshit.  If we can’t see ourselves fresh every day, then we’re not giving ourselves the opportunity to truly evolve.  We then can’t relate to others from an honest place.  And we rob ourselves of growth and attaining a true balance within which is really all Libra wants us to do.

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The process of finding your balance can be wobbly at times, so it requires movement.

Libra craves and creates balance, especially in relationships with others.  But as people, we can only project a peaceful equilibrium and attract those who have one if we truly feel it inside.  Right now, the planets want us to meet a new idea for ourselves.  We need to be honest about what we’re looking for in our lives and stop letting our circumstances dictate what we feel, think, and do.  Each of us is a unique being with a set of lessons to take on.  So take a look at your life.  Are you connecting and activating your specific life plan, or are you just responding to the world and events around you?  If you’re not being active in the process, then you’re not achieving balance.  The process of finding your balance can be wobbly at times, so it requires movement.  Like in yoga, we must fall down when trying to hold a pose to fully know the strength and power of its opposition: complete stillness.

Let’s look more specifically at the signs and how this can be playing out for you:

Continue reading “The Idea of You and a New Moon in Libra” →