“Whether this is the first day of the Apocalypse or the first day of the Golden Age, the work remains the same… love each other and ease as much suffering as possible“.  Ram Dass

Again, this week we face an assortment of disheartening and difficult events.  As a result, I look to all the writings and teachers and wisdom to find the way back to the heart instead of allowing the heart to fill with the difficult emotions.

In my endless stream of thoughts, I was thinking about the wisdom of Chinese Medicine and an acupuncture point on the pericardium meridian. The pericardium is a meridian/organ that works to open the heart to allow people to come into your authentic, truthful, and loving self.  In our acupuncture school we called it the heart protector which would take the blows that would allow one to have the vulnerability and love for intimacy, friendship and fellowship.  Through this meridian one can gain the capacity to love others.  I use the metaphor that the pericardium was like holding a pillow over the heart chakra.  It softens the blows to the heart.

 As to the acupuncture point, there a point in the center of the palm called palace of weariness.    If you hold your hands together in pray pose your finger touch and the center of the palms do not touch. Here at the center of the palm is where palace of weariness lives.   I used it when people were experiencing a sense of heartbreak after being in a long relationship that came to an end.  The ending was just more than some people could bear.   The person was weary from the pain.

Now, I think of it all the time.  I read the news and think about how weary I am.  If I massage it can I leap to a faraway land where we all look out for one another?  I don’t think so, but I do believe that there is a different kind of heartbreak that we are going through together.   It really redefines weariness for me.  Weariness can be a worn-out description or when you lose something that has been the juice for keeping things going.  I would argue that in this case I am weary because I have lost something that is truly of my values.  When something going on is in direct opposition to your values there is a deflation, fatigue, depression or despair.

Right now, I want to recommend that you rub this point in a clockwise rotation 2 to 3 times a day to keep your heart able to hear its own melody.  We don’t require distractions, but we do need to be able to hear the melody that our hearts can sing to keep us moving forward in the present.  We need to feel into our hearts.  We must be able to love one another and relieve suffering where possible.

We are celebrating the ending of 2025 and welcoming 2026.  It was a tumultuous year in many ways.  Tumultuous years can help to discern those things that are of significance and importance in our beliefs and values. This is in keeping with what the year has been according to Chinese Astrology.   In Chinese astrology the signs are the animals, and they change every year with a total number of 12 animals.  The element changes every two years that characterize the power and focus of the year.

This past year was the year of the wood Snake has been working its magic for us. The Snake is associated with the Spleen no matter the element.  Snakes by their nature can perceive rejection or approval from others. They tend to be self-critical or tending toward perfectionism. This past year has been the wood element, and the first order of business has been making wise choices. The wood in Chinese medicine is related to the liver and gallbladder which have to do with decision making. The element has to do with spring and hope and making future plans and structures.  Future is the key word.   That is why it is so important to shed the skin of the snake to help to create the choices that bring you to the present.  Being able to live within one’s imperfections is a part of the superpower of the snake.  You can’t speak your truth until you discern it. We have waded through the muck to be able to let go all this year.

On February 17^th, the second new moon since the winter solstice, we move from the work of the wood snake, to the fire horse.  The organ associated with the Horse is the heart and the fire is also associated with the heart.  This is a year all about the transformation of the heart.  The love for self and others are a given task and now that the letting go is done- we are ready.   We can choose love over hate and caring over indifference. The horse no matter the element is about momentum, movement and speed. She/he wants to gallop in a full-fledged way.  Horses are passionate and by their very nature want to run with it. Relationships will be in the forefront this year in a way where we bring our full heart forward. While the wood snake needs time to figure out what to hold onto and how to proceed; when we move to fire you speed up everything.  The horse is about freedom and autonomy and love. Think about how you would like to be in all your relationships this year and commit to it.

On this same day as the beginning of the Chinese New Year,  is the new moon in Aquarius and a solar eclipse.  I will be doing my usual new moon meditation and if you can come, please do.  It will be a powerful day.

The Winter Solstice – the moment of the long night and shortest daylight. I went to the beach to take in the depth of the winter dark.  I made my prayers for myself, my friends and family and the world. I thought about the things that I want to release in the coming months and what are the bare bones of my intentions.   There is no better starting off point than the point of the calendar that is the most quiescent.  I used the stillness for contemplation.

I thought about the divisions and separateness, and I found myself going again and again back to the idea that all we need is love.  Must I return to the 60s to find the path that makes sense to me?  The sixties that I remember were very hard with the politics, war, sexism, racism, and inequalities.  Now we have all the same problems and the progress that I thought to be evolutionary were actually fragile.

Maybe it is because the 3I atlas comet came close to us on the new moon on the 19th.  The comet which is at the Galactic Center making a direct line to us has given rise to spiritual global expectations. Maybe I’m experiencing the message that so many people hypothesize about an elevation of consciousness.  I go back to the lyrics and the knowing that All we need is Love.  I’m feeling into it and embracing it.  It’s such a love filled time despite what is happening. (Are we in a Borat movie?  If we are will someone wake me up?)  In what avenue of your life can you allow yourself to experience a higher form of being?  Where can your heart sing?  How can you change the way that you live your life to shift into a higher heart vibration? Will it come from meditative practices where you let go of the difficult emotions clouding your way? Will you open the heart through the love of people, animals or plants?  Whichever the avenue stay open to the possibilities you might not have considered.

Here we are again at a winter solstice. The nights are long. It is cold or cooler outside.   Can you feel the urge to hibernate?  It is natural to just want to just want to be quiet and peaceful.  A few years ago, a dear friend shared a book that she knew that I would appreciate.  In Winter World by Bernd Heinrich, he details the hibernation habits of birds, squirrels, mice, turtles, frogs etc.  It is so fascinating.  I thought I would just share a couple of paragraphs to contemplate each of our paths in the darkness of these nights.

A large part of adapting to the winter world involves creating a suitable microclimate. Birds wear insulating feathers, mammals fur, and we wear adaptive clothing. But a number of animals, primarily beavers, bears, humans, birds and some insects take a step beyond insulation, building nests or dens that supplement or take the place of body insulation. 

In all animals, den construction is constrained by building materials, energy requirements for heating materials, energy requirements for heating and cooling, defense, and accessibility.  The Anasazi Indians of the southwestern United States built their homes high on inaccessible and defensible cliffs, choosing locations where an overhanging ledge offered shade at noontime in summer and exposure to direct sunshine in the winter when the sun is low.  To the north and in Europe and Asia, when wood was not available, Ice Age built huts framed with mammoth tusks and covered them with skins and sod: the early Eskimos did, similarly, substituting whale bones for mammoth tusks. They invented the igloo, that marvel of simplicity and efficiency.  Using hard-packed, fine-grained snow cut with a knife into blocks roughly twice as long as high, a man could build a house in less than an hour by spiraling the blocks upward, each slated slightly inward. Page 55

We are in a modern era, but that doesn’t mean that the need for hibernation goes away. Few of us construct our own home.  We still need to hunker down.  Just a couple of hundred years ago before the electric light, there was the absolute need to go with the flow of the season and have an additional few hours of rest going with the light of the day. It is normal to just not have the same energy as in the summer.  Activity has to be reduced. I feel it deeply.  I used to work until late at night.  I can’t make myself do that now.

The questions to ask yourself are how do you create hibernation time? Do you find yourself going to bed earlier?  Do you make the bed with more warm blankets?  Do you allow for more down time?   What is your natural rhythm during these long nights?  Do you enjoy going to a quiet retreat during these times? Perhaps there needs to be a chapter in this book for the modern woman and man and how we adapt to this time and still find our moments of hibernation.

It’s helpful to contemplate the yin yang symbol – the light within the dark and the dark within the light.  It is a picture of something that actually is always in motion. Even in retreat, hibernation or slowing down there is the promise of potential activity.  It is simply a long pause.

The coming solstice also marks time.  We have the new moon in Sagittarius on the 19^th .  Then the solstice on the 21^st.  Then two new moons after the solstice marks the transition from the Chinese New Year going from the wood snake to the fire horse. (More on this come January.)  It is a natural time of transitions and during these types of transitions there are always the opportunities to end old chapters and begin new ones.  Be creative with the flow of your next chapters.

Here is probably one of my favorite early morning photos at the beach.  Watching from a short distance, the waves were high due to the tropical storm several hundred miles away which the surfers understood was their moment to be one with the water.  I don’t know where they came from but there were new signs for the several dozen surfers about the rules of the beach.

Mostly this was a moment of reflection for this unknown figure as he felt the water’s pull and energy before making his way to the waves.  It was serene and exciting.  In some way I felt like I had a telescope on all the feelings of the scene through him. I paused because he paused.  Jasper and I just stood 20 feet beyond where he stood.

We are all riding the waves right now.  Things may feel dangerous or exciting.  There is fear.  Sometimes like this gentleman you venture to the ride the waves and sometimes you fall in the depth of the water.  I realized that this is a fairly good metaphor for how each day feels.

We need all the things that are crucial for a surfer: to stay grounded in the uncertainty of the wild waves, to tap into your inner balance, to pay attention to that which is actually threatening and that which is not, to be able to be flexible given the unknown, and to be absolutely committed to your truth or your mission, or your beliefs.  It is quite the time for realization of how strong you really are. Don’t forget that every crisis is an opportunity.

As mentioned, we are in the moment of the Solstice.  Be sure today to let yourself slow down enough to experience it.  Or do a ceremony.  Whatever you do, pay careful attention.

The new moon in Cancer is on Wednesday the 25^th.  This new moon is an out of bound moon in Cancer.  If you read my posts, you know how much I enjoy the out of bounds moons.  It creates a wild card kind of possibility for out of the ordinary reality. Imagine your life as you want it.  If you know your chart, notice which house that it is riding through.  If you need an interpretation, you can reach out to me.

With a new moon it means that the sun and the moon are in the same zodiacal sign at the same degree.  This month it is 4 degrees of Cancer.  The Sabian symbol of this degree is weeping willows by a pond.  What it brings up is all the stored memories- the personal, collective, the karmic and ancestral.  Let’s see what healing we can manage on this day of the new moon.

 If we examine the essence of Cancer, it is about ensuring safety for the home and family, nurturing through food or other ways, about the physical home, caring for the earth, or allowing your feelings to show you the way.   Cancer is a water sign which means that its power realm is the emotions.  Never doubt the emotional prowess of the cancer individual.  They will be true to their emotional understanding.

The sign of Cancer is ruled by the moon.  Each sign is ruled by a particular planet in Astrology and with the moon as the ruler you can feel more into the rhythms of living.    Perhaps you can make an adjustment between work and play.  Maybe you need to take more down time.  I always want more downtime at this time of the Cancer New Moon. Perhaps you want to be strong in the Cancer’s nesting qualities.   Or perhaps the absolute best thing to do with a Cancer New Moon is to tend to the earth.  What might you activate if you tend to the earth?  Maybe you want to overhaul your diet or food preparation? Use your time in a way that intuitively feels right to you.

With the moon rulership that one has with this new moon, I often feel that I am stepping into the palpable divine feminine.  Do you feel it? Do something that takes you directly to your heart and to your divine nature.

What makes it a little more is that Jupiter is on the sun and moon.  There is an expansiveness to the above.  However, it is kept well in check by a transit of a square from Saturn and Neptune to the sun, moon and Jupiter.  There may be a sense of having to navigate disappointment or loss.

Most of the notable astrologers have warned about the potential for war during this time.  I attended a workshop yesterday- I don’t want to give you all the technical information because it’s about some aspects that it took me a long time to understand. But it is part of a Pluto- Saturn cycle which has long been associated with war.  It was exact at the time of the bombing.  One thing is that the new moon in Cancer can do much to dampen this direction toward war.  Use the emotional understanding of Cancer to set up on a different path.  Please spend the week in prayer or ceremony for peace.

In light and love,

Eve

For the past year we have traveled through the time of the Wood Dragon.  You might be noticing some ending of the energies of the dragon toward something different.  That difference is the energy of the Yin Green Snake or Wood Snake.  The Chinese New Year begins the second new moon after the winter solstice.  This year it lands on January 29^th. Forget the confusion caused by looking at the Gregorian Calendar.  The timing is the same every year.  This time we are in another wood year and move to the next animal on the list the Snake.

First understand that the Wood Energy is associated with the movement to the Spring season. The Spring is about new growth, potential, birth and expansion.  When I try to encapsulate the energy of the wood, I think about the signs of spring with the light green leaves on the trees suddenly awaken from their winter slumber.  It is hopeful and gives an opportunity to think about the future and creative ways to approach life.  You can burst forward in life just like these leaves.

The Snake is an animal that is associated with the Fire element, Small Intestines and the cardiac system.   Being in the wood element this year is compatible since wood feeds the fire.  One might anticipate some adrenaline with all this wood.  However, if you approach things with an inner peacefulness, you can make creative opportunities ahead.

The Snake has his/her unique ability to shed her/his skin. We must honor this talent for he/she to makes room for growth.  Some snakes shed their skin every month when they are young as they require more space.  Apparently, it also is useful way to get rid of parasites.  Just imagine if we could shed our outer layer. (You actually can with Qigong). And it is a means to maintain youthful energy.

According to the Taoist theory, there is a kind of force in the human body which coils itself like a snake and can be released if humans practice Taoism well. It will increase the vitality and longevity.

The snake years are characterized by expanding consciousness, tenaciousness, wisdom, intuition, wisdom, and the capacity to cultivate warmth and modesty.  Because of the association with the small intestines, it is recommended that you eat lighter smaller meals to not overwhelm the small intestines.    It is a great time to savor the moment with creativity in your cooking.  Other than that, keep things calm to get to a state of higher consciousness.

During the 2 weeks before,  we let go of the past year and make the preparations for the coming year.   It takes a serious house cleaning.  Sweeping your place is required.  Clean every cabinet and take the time to release any things that no longer serve you.  As we make this transition on the 29^th you want to make room for the coming blessings.  Get any personal things done like a haircut.  Be ready for the new year.

It’s a time to gather with your family and visit relatives. You want to share in the excitement for the upcoming change.  And last but not least you make prayers to your ancestors or as I like to say the beings around you who protect you.

I cleaned and cleaned.  The more that you do the more that you are in the spirals of time.   Through ritual and practices at these moments is how astrology whether western or eastern become real.

The celebration ends with the Full Moon and the Festival of Heaven.  Most people refer to this as the Festival of the Lanterns.

We are fast approaching the Winter Solstice. It is that moment when the night is the longest night, and the day is the shortest day.   As all of you know I enjoy being active and walking to the beach to watch the sunrise.  However, I feel these long nights conspire against the walk.  I remain tucked under the blankets getting more shut eye than I would normally tolerate.  And this is because of yin/yang.  The traditional definition is that yin is the dark side of the mountain and yang is the sunny side of the mountain.

The darkness and Yin requires that we retreat and become quiet and still.  One makes an effort to conserve our energy for the cold nights and short days.  I spoke with a friend in Alaska asking what time the dawn was there.  What I heard was that a little after 9 am, they have light.  I would remain in bed.  It isn’t laziness at all.  It is following something natural that tells us exactly what every moment requires from us.  It is the darkness that allows you to sink into the pillow, forget the to-do lists, and know the peace of the dark.

What are the virtues of darkness?  It is not forgetfulness.  It is stillness.  It is the possibility of reaching the expansive emptiness.  When I studied with Jack Kornfield, he used to speak of one of his teachers saying empty, empty, happy, happy.    I talk about that emptiness when teaching meditation, and it is a natural state of being in this moment of the long nights and in the movement of the earth.

What do we do with this time to make the most of it?  As we celebrate this still point, we are in constant movement.  Allow yourself to sink into it as you do in the pillow.  Ride that wave of stillness.  Explore it.  As within the yin/yang symbol we remember that there is always light within the dark and dark within the light.

In the holiday celebrations, we light candles.  Even in the darkness we will find the light within and see that it actually is constant movement.   In celebration of the solstice, I will be offering an early Qigong class on Saturday the 21^st at 8:30 AM.  Contact me for the registration information.  The actual moment of the Solstice is 4:00 AM on the east coast.  We could of course get up then, but we won’t.