How to not plunge over the cliff ... applying the medicine of ceremony

A year ago with my back against Cedar and JOTS still in the flesh ... there! The messages of NATURE's songs

This weekend Pete and I gathered and created practical ceremony to integrate flexibility and strength into our lives, weaving Feng Shui's wisdom to slow the in and out without dams ... cedar's fingers reach from her slow growing core, 'ohe the bamboo maintains its strength and its gifts. Harvested cedar made into panels are our teachers.

There's a welcoming cool breeze coming from the South. Yesterday ws one of the hottest days of the Summer at 95 degrees while driving on the freeway, the morning is cool and the sky overcast. The wind is present the mutable energy tempering all the heat and contentiousness of the collective.

Saturn is still in Scorpio through September 18, Astrologer Lynn Koiner writes as if she were writing to me personally, "What I am telling my clients is that early 2015 will be a sense of something new about to happen, a new vision and a new direction, but the timing is not right for bolting out of the starting gate. From June through September 2015, Saturn retreats back into Scorpio in the late degrees. Many will be drawn to go back and finish up issues and projects from the past. We cannot move forward with a lot of loose ends from the past cycle holding us back.When Saturn is in the late degrees[as it is now], it is always an ending cycle, a time to end what no longer works in our lives. Once it returns to Sagittarius, according to Jeanne, it will lift the delusions created by Neptune in Pisces. The lessons of Sagittarius are connected with freedom, open-mindedness and truth. Of course, there is a big difference between the Facts and the Truth! " 

How does that apply to HO'OMOKU? The first small group (two new students) gathered for the first class on Friday just passed. Both students were not fragrance-free. I thought I was prepared, and thought I was clear about what fragrance-free means. But, it is a process not a one stop shop of a definition. Another astrologer, Satori, advises " If you try to permanently fill the leaky well? It feels lousy. If you enjoy the process of carrying water and dumping it, that it builds up your strength and feels good in the doing? You make the most of the energy. The process is the goal today." HO'OMOKU means 'make island.' It's a process, it doesn't happen over night. 

Stepping into the flow of the collective (public) meeting space, I had a witness who observed what happened to me when the first whiff of fragrance triggered my adrenal system. "Loss of control" and red lights of fight, flight, fear. But I thought this was a person I could trust to be with ... within minutes of being with my first student the 'big difference between the Facts and the Truth' challenged my desire to belong. I'm a teaching wanting to teach. But, I am a teacher who also must teach my boundaries. The process is difficult because to teach, talk, and offer solutions depletes me as I do it.

I persisted, and managed to get through but I functioned but did not flourish. Recovery and recouping took two days. Applying the medicine of ceremony, and process rather than immediate results there is ... the wind from the south bringing the potential, bringing change. Pete and I made a joyful and easy road trip off island and south to Seattle. We headed for a wedding between one of our Seattle-MCS Group friends and her new love. When we were newly returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2008 this group, and this new bride was our pocket of support. We had to rebuild our safety net, we had to relearn the lesson of safety pins. 

So. While we recovered our balance after Friday's experience with fragranced students, we looked forward to being with people who live with the many-faceted illness of MCS. We came to celebrate marriage for two people in the second-half of life. We embraced what was good about our lives. We had a great time! 

The process of communicating and setting boundaries is a 'chop wood and carry water' experience. A zen koan. A do it and know you do it again sort of thing. Saturn in Scorpio for the last time in my life (probably!) is giving me the opportunity to let go of what no longer works in my life. Unless my decision is to let go of my life and plunge over the cliff, today might be is a time to embrace the good, celebrate pockets of good and carry water. There are adjustments I need to make here at HO'OMOKU.

Can you relate?