Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Newsletter Signup

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy; photo
copyright Adam Block/Mount Lemmon
SkyCenter/University of Arizona
For those of you receiving e-mail notifications about my blog updates but who were unable to subscribe to my newsletter via the embedded form in the e-mail, please use this link to a subcription page on my blog. For those that missed my last post on the Lunar Eclipse, I want to invite you to sign up for my free newsletter. It will be sent out bi-weekly—that’s just twice a month. If you already receive e-mail pings about new posts from my blog that’s great, but my newsletter will be unique because, in addition to New and Full Moon readings, I will be including exclusive content only for newsletter subscribers that will not be available on my blog page. That’s pretty cool, right?

If you’d like to stay in the loop, then sign up here. Include whatever information you feel you need to. And thank you for supporting my work! Also,  I want to assure you that your name and e-mail will be safe and sacred. It will never be exploited or used for anything except receiving the Kosmic Mind Newsletter. 

With Love,
Chad Woodward

Monday, March 21, 2016

Bridging Heart and Mind: Lunar Eclipse in Libra 2016

The spiral galaxy M81. Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/S.
Willner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse @ 03 Libra 17'
March 23, 2016
5:01 AM Pacific
8:01 AM Eastern

As we near the end of the month, the current lunar cycle culminates with a penumbral Lunar Eclipse in the tropical sign of Libra just four days after the equinox (spring in the northern and autumn in the southern hemispheres). As you pass through this first eclipse portal of 2016, you may have noticed a shift within yourself (however drastic or subtle). Eclipses are moments of inner change, change that happens beneath the surface—often relating to an awareness of something new within yourself or your environment.

The challenge is holding onto the new awareness that the eclipse portal has gifted you. These are often brief periods of time where the ego has lessened its stranglehold upon consciousness. It is a fertile period for inner work and self-realization. And there is often an opportunity to accelerate internal growth and change. This Lunar Eclipse/Full Moon seals the deal, so to speak. It brings to a head the process that began just two weeks ago at the Solar Eclipse in Pisces.

Now that the Sun has entered Aries, you may feel a sense of a new beginning. You are responding to a collective shift which happens every year. Astrologers like to refer to this moment as the Astrological New Year because the Sun has begun a new cycle around the ecliptic. For you, that may feel like an experience of starting out fresh. New potentials wait to be revealed and brought to manifestation.

The Lunar Eclipse highlights the sign of Libra, an archetype with a strong association with relationship.The eclipse may correlate with a shift in how you relate to friends, partners, clients or those you work with directly. It may relate to inner changes that will be reflected within the social environment around you. Metaphysically speaking, the outer reality is a reflection of your internal state.

Pay close attention to the people you interact with on the days surrounding this eclipse. Choose to make it a point to simply observe and notice what is happening around you. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is conjunct the Sun and in direct opposition to the Lunar Eclipse. Information, messages, omens, and synchronicity will all play a vital role in the eclipse process. While the mind may be focused on a new pathway that lies ahead of you—blazing that trail, so to speak, the heart feels compelled to focus on the needs, opinions, and perceptions of other people.

This can symbolize a subtle breakthrough in your ability to find common ground and compromise without sacrificing freedom, autonomy, and personal willpower. And realize that the new pathways you seek now will be revealed to you through your relationships. Focus on supporting certain connections and through them, you will find the freedom you seek. The dark side of this lunation is the temptation toward passive aggressiveness due to overt people pleasing and politeness; or conversely, defending a viewpoint to the point of annihilating the possibility of seeing the other side of the issue.

Can you bridge the heart and mind and come to a mutual understanding now, or will you simply butt heads, or totally surrender to someone else’s point of view just to avoid conflict (leading to the repression of your true feelings)? Explore your feelings now; allow them to enter your conscious awareness, and choose the path that has the most heart. To open your mind to another requires that you equally open your own heart.

Also, be mindful that this eclipse takes place near the Aries point. Any event that occurs at the entry of cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) will activate the Aries point (technically the first degree of Aries). The Aries point is the intersection of the personal and the collective. It can often indicate the emergence of collective events which impact us all--that seep into our personal or intimate lives. 

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I’ve been writing astrology posts on my blog since about 2009. That’s seven years. I’ve used this time to develop my writing and to build my confidence as both a writer and an astrologer. I think I still have a lot of work left to do. I’m not sure that will ever end. At this point, I’d like to connect more with my audience (that means you), and to do that, I want to invite you to sign up for my free newsletter. It will be sent out bi-weekly—that’s just twice a month. If you already receive e-mail pings about new posts from my blog that’s great, but my newsletter will be unique because, in addition to New and Full Moon readings, I will be including exclusive content only for newsletter subscribers that will not be available on my blog page. That’s pretty cool, right?

If you’d like to stay in the loop, then sign up below. Include whatever information you feel you need to. And thank you for supporting my work! Also,  I want to assure you that your name and e-mail will be safe and sacred. It will never be exploited or used for anything except receiving the Kosmic Mind Newsletter.    

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Thursday, March 3, 2016

Glimpsing the Miraculous: Total Solar Eclipse in Pisces 2016

Sun Rays at Lake Heiniö, Pieksämäki; photo by Vijo Viitanen, 2006.

Total Solar Eclipse @ 18 Pisces 56'
March 8, 2016
8:54 PM Eastern
5:54 PM Pacific

As the current lunar cycle begins again, the Sun and Moon align to create a Total Solar Eclipse alongside a strong emphasis of planets (including the eclipse) in the tropical sign of Pisces. Pisces is a sign which describes perceptions that are above and beyond the reality of our everyday experiences—those of a “spiritual” and transcendent nature. From my perspective, everything in life is essentially spiritual. Every experience we have is a part of our spiritual journey. Whether you're meditating in a monastery or staring at the television until you die, you're on a spiritual path. But for many people living in the modern world, conditioned by overt materialism and existentialism, the world of the senses is taken entirely at face value.

Eclipses are potent moments in time where we are afforded the opportunity to see beyond surface appearances, and they often correlate with profound inner shifts and changes. In Pisces, we come to the realization that life itself is not what it appears to be. “Spiritual”, when used in the Piscean context, describes the awareness, even if it’s just intellectual, that the world before us is somehow more symbolic than it is literal. To fully integrate the ultimate perception of Pisces, one must accept that events throughout life are not random products of chance or chaos—that what may, at first glance, appear to be chaotic, is actually directed by some intelligence that is far beyond that of our own. A higher spiritual understanding of life is the awareness that we are, always, engaging in a dialogue with an intelligent universe.

This month, the heavy cluster of planets in Pisces including Neptune, Mercury, Ceres, Sun, Chiron (and even the south node of the Moon), draw our attention to this deeper metaphysical revelation about our reality. The world of objects and random events are merely the ghostly emanations of archetypal energies embedded in a vast field that encapsulates the physical world. That is a difficult perception to carry with you throughout your daily life. The mind simply cannot fully accept it most of the time (and for good reason). But at times such as this, or during particular cycles in our lives (such as transits of planets through the 12th house or the cycles of Neptune in our horoscope), we are given an opportunity to glimpse this deeper understanding of the world around us.

We are given the chance to witness “miracles”—experiences that suggest that there is something more going on here than meets the eye. The Solar Eclipse itself makes a conjunction (alignment) with Chiron. This interesting object, discovered in 1977, appears, often, to have a deep correlation with miraculous and spontaneous healings and the reversal of disease processes (physically, mentally, and emotionally). But Chiron’s highest teaching appears to be that one’s attitude towards reality can actually change it and cause it to shift. To witness the miraculous with this eclipse, you must be open to the possibility that magic, synchronicity, and the existence of fate are very real things we interact with on a daily basis.

The planet Jupiter in Virgo lies directly opposite the Solar Eclipse while the planet Saturn in Sagittarius makes a 90 degrees aspect (a square) to both the eclipse/Chiron and Jupiter.This lunation is one that contains a potent dynamic of tension—tension you can use to make something happen and fully manifest. The square aspect from Saturn requires discipline, focus, and considerable effort. But consider that, above all else, your faith and trust in life will be your true ally during this current lunar cycle, even in the face of a reality that may seem quite daunting or challenging.

Jupiter in Virgo invites us to somehow integrate this mystical, Piscean perspective into our everyday lives in some practical way that can be useful to ourselves as well as others. And Saturn in Sagittarius invites us to take actions that require intent and sustained focus to break free of limiting beliefs, routines, and patterns which have halted growth and maturity. There is a way to break through the prison of your current perception, but you must honor the illusion that lies before you as a means through which spirit chooses to communicate wisdom and teachings to you. To successfully integrate this lunation, you must engage with reality in a conscious and sober way. Choosing to escape what you don’t want to face, will make this lunation more difficult. Make an effort with your New Moon meditation to find the magical and miraculous in your everyday life and the affairs of the world.


No matter what difficulties you encounter now, big or small, simply remind yourself that things aren’t what they seem. Explore the possibility that random events, whether painful or wonderful, are a form of communication, a means through which some vaster part of yourself and your reality is choosing to speak to you. As you engage with the world during this New Moon/Solar Eclipse, remain fully conscious and willing to accept that your life is guiding you toward a higher, imperceptible potential that only you can intuit deep within yourself. And then ask yourself throughout the next several days, or weeks, “Am I trusting?” When you do that, when you open yourself to trusting the moment, you may just glimpse the miraculous.

Click the link above for information on personal readings/consultations.