By Tricia Keith

ometimes there are just no answers,
or simple solutions, and you come
to that place where nothing is solid.

Welcome to Neptune’s Kingdom.

Sometimes you feel as if you are
stepping into quicksand; that the rotting
abyss is about to consume all that you
counted on to be real.

Welcome to Pluto’s Kingdom.

Astrology teaches us that chaos is
not random and that there are parameters
to the misty realm, the grief, the intensity,
and a scheduled time in which we are
to enter the unchartered territory. Both
Neptune and Pluto can take your life
into realms beyond conscious control;
leaving you without any solid ground or
familiar markers and, more often than
not, a deep experience of loss. Neptune
rules enlightenment and inspiration
at its highest mark, while Pluto rules
transformation and healing in its highest
expression.

Sure, in an ideal world we are all
high. But in the “real” world (Saturn)
getting high comes with a price: you
have to earn your highs or pay for them,
and there is always the down slope on
the other side. The highest marks range
in color and the more human the tale;
the more gruesome the tragedy and the

human flaws. Yet these colors make the
spiralling back up to the Source all the
more inspiring. Humanly so, the paradox
is, first we must surrender before we can
transcend.

Many people go to great lengths to
avoid outbreaks of chaos in their lives,
especially by working to establish safe,
predictable patterns for themselves. To
face yourself at your deepest level, to
watch what you knew to be true dissolve,
or rot is bloody terrifying and most of us
resist for as long as possible.

This is perhaps the keenest wisdom
astrology has to offer us: there is a
time for every purpose under heaven,
the happy and the sad and all that’s in
between, and each shall pass when it’s
run its course. Under transits of Neptune
or Pluto, the ultimate expression would
be losing one’s Self while staying
centered and experiencing the bliss that
comes from the Spirit and the “giving
in”. Neptune’s tide draws everything
it touches back to the Source. Pluto’s
intensity burns coal under such pressure
that the result is Diamonds. These pictures
reassure the body that it will survive and
even more, thrive on the other side.

These days many of us are watching
world events or experiencing inner
currents with circumspect long range
views. ...What can we expect?... Is the
world becoming a better place? Is it a

lf Fe and styie

Nothing solid: Exploring Pluto, Saturn, and the Spiritual Kingdoms

breaking down or a breaking through?
Under outer planetary transits, terra

ferma feels not so firm. Incoherence

and deception lurk; cracks widen in the
sidewalk. For those whose natal charts
make personal contact with the outer
planets, these themes of deception-
sensitivity-inspiration and transformation-
death-rebirth, mark their lives in regular
cycles.

Now cross a bridge to a spiritual
practice, in this case we’ll call it yoga
.To practice your practice in times
of hardship, or simply times when
confidence is on the low, is to draw
consciousness to what is real, what is
lasting, and the nature of reality. Because
let’s face it, help from friends? Sometimes
they are there and sometimes they are not.

Making your practice your friend is a
radical step to wholeness. Why? Because
daily practice has its own terror. It is not
a cushion. It’s a friend to tell you what
is, not what you’d like to hear. Through
regular practice, be it sun salutations,
prayers, mantras or stillness, awareness
arises, consciousness comes magic and
the randomness (you were hiding from)
and the unknown (you could not see)
open. You and your own awareness
begin a dialogue. All is keenly felt as
the practice tunes you to more and more
sensitivity.

Welcome to Spirit’s Kingdom.

 

During these days of great storms
and upheaval we can experience
turbulence consciously with the tools of
our practice. The tools themselves are
not any kind of answer but rather a key to
turn our awareness on to the openness of
that which is bigger than ourselves.

It is easy to see why my father drank.
It was his only tool and expression for
what he could not control: his grief and
the hardship of enduring his pain without
a connection to the Source.

His gift to me was watching him turn
his life over to his Higher Power- a Power
greater than himself restoring him to
sanity. He always shied away from using
the word God and instead chose, Good
Orderly Conduct, or more casually The
Big Guy Driving the Bus.

Tricia is a local yoga teacher as well
as a professional astrologer. See www.
sunandmoonhealingarts. blogspot.com for
a full range of services.

 

Damsel in a Deficit: A step by step process of release

Step 1. Detoxification

By Stephanie Trembath,
Life and Style Editor

s a result of my current
Anise to being what some

like to call “a broke student”, and
having my boyfriend repeatedly tell me
that I have the bad habit of forgetting that
I am a student 99.9% of the time, I have
decided to go on a detox. Not your regular
detox; I’m not Beyonce, and I don’t do
liquid diets. Instead I have made a list
of all the lovely things I am detoxifying
myself from and to rid myself of the
toxic financial mess I am in at the present
moment.

Detoxification: “the physiological
or medicinal removal of toxic substances
from a living organism, including, but
not limited to, the human body, and
additionally can refer to the period of
withdrawal during which an organism
returns to homeostasis after long-term use
of an addictive substance”.

So dear readers, I have acknowledged
my addictive personality and wanton

behaviours, and am ridding myself
of these substances for an indefinite
amount of time. I have found in the past
that whenever I put an exact date to
something, things go awry a lot faster (I
am a commitaphobe). Instead I have said
that maybe around March 11, or perhaps
March 20, I will end my detox, because
that is at least a month. However I must
end it before March 25 as it’s my sister’s
birthday, and I know myself well enough
to quit while I am ahead.

My personal list of toxic substances
which I will be refraining from
consuming for the next month includes:

Specialty coffees: I am honest

enough to realize that I will need to
purchase coffee (or at least ground coffee
to make myself) over the next 30 days, so
I am limiting myself to plain black coffee
for under $2.00 if necessary. No more
white mocha Americanos for me.
Clothes: considering that I bought
new runners and snowboarding boots
today I think it is appropriate that I quit

buying clothes and other accessories for at
least a month. How will I stop myself you
ask? Well, I have forewarned an ample
amount of people who will put me to utter
shame if I break this detox so hopefully
that will do it.

Liquor: some of my worst decisions
occur when I am intoxicated, or best
decisions depending how you look at it.
Ata friend’s birthday Monday night I
wound up at the casino (I won money
so that worked out) and then somehow
thought it a fabulous idea to add a $300
ticket to the Sasquatch music festival to
my arm-length credit card bill. Needless
to say I sold the ticket to a friend, but I
think for my own personal sake and for
my own advantage, that I should not drink
or party for the next month. On the plus
side, I will save more money, work more,
do better in school, and refrain from
ridiculous spending decisions.

Books: I am a book junkie and I
cannot find the books I need and want
at the library all the time. Thankfully, a
good friend of mine who shares my taste

in literature, has agreed to be my personal
library for the time being (Aldous Huxley
and William Blake are currently on my
dresser). This will also endear me to read
my textbooks and course materials I have
been putting off for the last 5 weeks. Or
so I hope.

Sushi: my staple meal. I made fried
rice with steamed shrimp in a Thai curry
sauce the other night and it tasted like
absolute garbage, so I settled for PB&J. I
tried a delicious spinach salad with quinoa
and beans mixed in an Asian dressing,
and it was lovely. Perhaps I am on to
something.

At any rate, I will personally keep
my dear readers up-to-date on how I am
doing, and my trials and tribulations of
detoxifying myself from these awful
treacherous substances that have left me
a poor damsel in a deficit. On the bright
side, at least I will be busy cooking,
reading, working, and having a jolly good
time sober and Starbucksless.