PLUTO and MARS RX Reminder: “We Are Spirits in the Material World”

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
When actions come from another section, the feeling disappears.” Rumi

Dear ONE,

If you think that all your external actions have no karmic consequences, think again! This is exponentially true now, with action planet Mars stationing retrograde on April 17 and transformational Pluto doing the same less than a day later, creating spiritual repercussions from our choices which will be affecting us through the Summer, Fall and beyond.

These planetary retrogrades encourage us to go within and are reinforced by karmic teacher Saturn’s retrograde already in force since March 25. The powerful energies building now remind me of Sting’s lyrics (if channeled by the Lords of Karma:)):

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

The best spiritual benefit of this time is to recognize that how we use all our energies has soul-level ramifications, whether we’re conscious of them or not. In each moment, unless we’re absolutely at peace, karma is being generated, as this universal law is a perpetual motion machine of action and reaction, cause and effect.

The root of the word “psyche” comes from the Greek for soul. All our choices and actions are intrinsically imbued with our psychic or soul energy. This means that not only is sex a psychic act (if it’s done right:)), but truly all our activities in Life are on a continuum of being either heart-centered, connected and soulful or heartless, disconnected and soulless.

In the Tantric traditions, making love may be one way of communing on the soul-level with a partner as a vehicle for merging with the Divine and in the Taoist traditions with the Tao. However, if it is viewed as a purely physical act, and experienced as such viscerally, we are devolving instead of evolving.

Sex is just an example, for in reality, with all our choices and actions, we’re either operating at a soul-level of consciousness and evolving or devolving as automatons. I call that “deep cover,” meaning we’re here on assignment, but we’ve forgotten what it is. If we view our relationship with all of Life as our primary relationship, then we can choose to make love with All That Is in each moment from the heart and soul or not.

In the 112 Tantric practices listed in the appendix of my Spiritual Practices Reading List, the senses, emotions and perceptions are all an integral part of the spiritual path as a way to commune with the Divine in manifest form. In the Taoist tradition, there are five ways or modes of meditative mind/body practices to merge with the Tao, the Flow of Life: standing, sitting, moving, lying down and through sexual union.

For more, click here: TAOIST PRACTICES

This season and in the seasons to come, a major theme is looking at how we distract ourselves from being present with our monkey-minds, thus sabotaging our ability to take full conscious responsibility for how we relate to life through our actions—or inactions.

Why is this especially important now? Because Mars governs the use of personal power through our lower centers or chakras, from the midpoint of the heart center moving downwards, and Pluto governs the use of transpersonal power through our higher centers, from the mid-point of the heart center moving upwards in our vertical channels.

And what is the nature of power? Power is pure, neutral co-creative energy from the Universe, of which there is an infinite supply, that we are learning how to use through all seven chakra levels of consciousness in a balanced and integrated way as souls incarnate in the physical plane.

We have at our disposal: survival/grounding power, sensual/creative power, personal power, heart power, channeling power, psychic power and spiritual power. It’s up to each of us to use our discriminating mind in choosing which levels of power are appropriate to be utilized in any given situation.

Now, with both Mars and Pluto stationing retrograde almost simultaneously, the Universe is supporting the focus of our attention on how and why we use power on all levels—or are afraid to—because of limiting karmic beliefs about the true nature of power and our worthiness to own it.

Both of our power planets are now encouraging us to look for the deeper spiritual meaning and significance of how we develop our gifts as co-creators for our highest good, and not just to feed our endless ego desires of what we think we need, but, in reality, just want. There’s nothing like craving and the greed for “more, different or better” to keep us spinning on that infinite karmic wheel.

Here are some tips to make the most of our relationship with co-creative power, especially if we’ve been wondering “What’s the point of it all?”:

1. Being grateful for “what is, just the way it is” on the sense level, emotionally, and through our perceptions by always focusing on the glass as half full. (I used to read holocaust memoirs as needed to maintain optimal gratitude levels:))

2. Letting go of the idea that “If only people, places or things were more to my ego’s liking, then I’d be happy.”

3. Communing with all of Life as a manifestation of the Divine or Tao as our primary relationship—and this includes nature and human nature—through spiritual and mind/body practices every chance we get.

4. Sharing love with family and friends by being there for them and for Self as needed gives much more meaning to our lives than endless external achievements and accumulation of more and more stuff.

For those of you who are having a hard time with tip #2 above, please remember: That which we resist persists, but letting go and accepting the reality of the Now is a very high spiritual action. Doing that is much more likely to allow what we desire to flow into our laps with no effort at the perfect time—especially if we don’t need it anymore because we are content just as we are.

In Mid-June, just as psychic Neptune in spiritual Pisces stations retrograde, whispering “go within” as it always does for the summer season, we also have beneficent Jupiter dancing with the North Node of Destiny in service-oriented Virgo. This gives us the wind beneath our wings to fly higher in our spiritual evolution by making conscious choices that are not karmically regressive. And, yes, we will be tested, as always—so we need to watch for backsliding.

In closing, here are some final perspectives to contemplate:

I. Life just as it is presented in the Earth Game—in all its horror and splendor—is the perfect vehicle for our awakening.

II. Our true nature is ultimately one Being with billions of faces.

III. Not distracting ourselves from being fully present, moment by moment, to whatever is presented is ultimately the goal of the Earth Game.

IV. There’s nothing left to do once we’ve embraced the above truths except to pass them on viscerally to others with an open heart.

Once we own our power and consciously choose to only manifest what is for our highest spiritual good, this always equates—as a Divine law—into the highest good for all concerned. How could it not be?

Smiling with the cosmic humor of it all,

J O A N