‘Unity is the theme of our current issue … and we our sharing some resources to find that sense of togetherness in your community. Read on below!
Walking The Darkness into Light
By Andrew Smith
Highlights of Autumn’s Cosmic Activity
* Sept 1st Virgoan Solar Eclipse
* Sept 16th P iscean Lunar Eclipse
* Sept 18th L iving the Dream as Saturn squares Neptune
* Sept 22nd Freed Mind as Mercury turns direct
* Oct 1st Libran New Moon
* Oct 23rd What do I believe as Jupiter quincunxes Neptune
* Oct 30th Scorpion New Moon
* No v 24th Test of Power as Jupiter squares Pluto
* No v 30th Sagittarian New Moon
It’s been pretty tough of late. There has been so much positive potential within the new seeds that you have planted and yet it hangs there, just at the back of your awareness, sapping the hope from you, just as the ‘genuine’ helper who professes open generosity, yet cuts off your hand in their hungry eagerness to take your money before they reveal further secrets to help you become more abundant. It’s been all about the lies – whether it is the doctrinal believer who regularly attends ‘worship’ to give homage to divinity and scripture, yet has a handgun in the glove compartment having conveniently forgotten that thoroughly humane principle that killing under any circumstances is not spiritual, or the politician who will tell you anything just to get elected, yet has no intention of implementing their mandate… The list is endless. And it is so, so transparent these days, almost to the point of farcicalness. Yet you continue to accept those lies and the disconnect between rhetoric and reality. Why? Because of the lies that you tell yourself.
In the end, the external reality that surrounds you is merely a reflection of the internal reality that only you know exists. Our consensus reality is also a sum of the individual parts and its disease only reflects the disease that exists within. Yes, it is tough to be an outsider. Yes, it is tough to live simply, honestly, creatively and soulfully when the world you live in offers you a patronising placation of encouragement yet is terrified of what your actualisation of your potential really means for it – death. And why should the world support you when you threaten its very existence – hence the draconian authoritarianism and stark rise in fascism that abounds. Whilst there are those who cyclically pronounce that The System is dying, The System can only exist because of you.
Imagine what it would look like if you lived your dream and ignored the fearmongering and doubting Thomases who are only envious at your having the ‘balls’ to stand up and be you; imagine what our system would be like if we truly lived in accordance with what our spiritual values suggest is ‘right’ to live by – those common sense values – and imagine how healthy you would be if you truly believed that you are valuable and worth it? This is what the darkness has all been about – you. Clearing and healing those darkened voices that have been timeless and ageless. Not banishing them and imprisoning them, but openly acknowledging them, naming them and embracing them. And not just on a three day detox. Daily. Living with them. Walking with them. And in those peak intense moments spotting how the sweet seduction of numbness will not work and has never worked.
Two paths lie ahead. To your right a downward sloping avenue descending into a darkened cave. A place where the shadow of your soul roams freely, tempting you to use your power without awareness and consequence of your actions and where the darkness of your mind is projected onto the blackness and the primal fears of your soul haunt you. To your left, a steep, craggy and difficult upward climb, requiring maturity, dexterity and awareness so that you can consciously channel your energy and efforts into a superhuman drive to reach the heights, where awaits a magnificent panorama. Both will take you about nine months to traverse and the experiences of which will last in your life for another three years and both will help you deal with your sense of what power means. Which you will choose is what you are about to discover.
During this winter the issue of your sense of personal empowerment is brought to the forefront of your awareness in a dynamic manner. Work will be required to either battle forces within you that are hell bent in subjugating your will and further enslaving you to a path of dark ignorance and drama or will eventually, through hard labour, support your climb to funnel the elementalness of your being in overcoming the vicissitudes of life as you use the raw energy and determination of your soul to overcome the encouragement of The System to neglect your power or to use it to put people in their place. Neither path is easy as you feel a massive surge of energy that liberates those issues that lie deep within your soul and the intense images that flood your awareness provoke really powerful emotional responses that can serve to test your convictions, ethics, morality and to liberate you from, or enslave you to, your karma. How you handle your soul-shadow and the collective-shadow is what this nine month transit is about.
Handled delicately, this time offers serious growth concerning the issue of empowerment and of using the power of your soul to grow, overcoming jealousy, manipulation, control and a host of other emotions whose purpose is to bind and trap you to the patterns and scripts that underlie the personal interaction. As you confront the emotions that freely coarse through your veins, you are being called upon to find a path to overcome their destructive possibilities and to raise the level to which you deal with those emotions. Therefore you can expect to deal with themes of bullying, deception, propaganda, petty one-upmanship, being sent to Coventry and the abuse of power. How you deal with them is another matter, but deal with them you will because within you are wings to enable you to fly as opposed to crawl and those wings can be unfurled, as the power that exists within you seeks to find an outlet within you and within your world.
Andrew’s private practice is in Blackrock, South Dublin. Email him on dastroc@gmail.com for further information on consultations, workshops or classes. Join him on Facebook for daily updates.
This is an excerpt from our Summer 2016 issue. Read the rest of Andrew’s article by subscribing soon so we can post you a copy or picking up a magazine from one of our lovely stockists all over Ireland. Tell them we said hello!
By Andrew Smith
To be frank, pursuing a dream can be tough. Sometimes things just flow, with the Muse speaking to you on a frequent basis and serendipity abounds. There are other times when it is just slow, painfully slow. And it is on those latter days that you get to see the depth of your self-belief and in to what you have invested your heart. It is on those days when you don’t feel it, that you would prefer the soft option of procrastination, watching daytime TV or whatever distraction you can muster, that the truth of your commitment is shown and all dreams are tested. Even the ones made mythological by the media. And all you can do is keep going, even if you can no longer feel your legs moving and you feel as if you are going through the motions. “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.” Oscar Wilde
As part of an overall process that helps you to keep on top of your dreams, refining, testing, modifying and manifesting them, the mid-summer reflects a time of taking stock, slowing and reconsidering your effectiveness in living soulfully, spiritually, creatively and inspirationally. The issues arising during this walk through treacle revolve around the delays and ‘setbacks’ that are happening ‘to’ you to force you to slow and gather, to refine and define your creative essence, as you also challenge the depth to which you believe in your Path. This time will pass by mid-July so the obstacles arising should not be read as a sign that you are doing it wrong. They are merely a test to your commitment and to help you shed some of the illusory notions in your life.
This is an excerpt from our Summer 2016 issue. Read the rest of Andrew’s article by subscribing soon so we can post you a copy or picking up a magazine from one of our lovely stockists all over Ireland. Tell them we said hello!
Choosing Wisely in a New Atmosphere
By Andrew Smith
“Keep your heart clear
And transparent,
And you will
Never be bound.
A single disturbed thought
Creates ten thousand distractions.”
? Daigu Ryokan (1758-1831)
2015 has been a profound year. Your values tested, your dreams challenged, your sense of reality questioned, your beliefs re-evaluated, your hopes reborn, your heart enriched and reignited, nothing has been left untouched. Nothing. Every structure in your life have been torn down; nay the structures of our entire social infrastructure have been challenged – work, politics, finances, communication, social, religious, spiritual and most importantly, our friendships and intimate relationships. A frenzy of letting go swept through your consciousness ultimately affording you a space to create a new matrix to house your life, at all levels of your life.
Yet, as 2015 wanes and another solar year dawns, a relative calmness descends upon the Earth Plane as the intensity of planetary activity dulls down, leaving you in a space to reflect and bathe within a gentle and restorative tide of cosmic energies.
December is marked by a strong impetus to retreat, to be still and to simplify. The karios is ripe to start planning what you need to fill the space left by the massive deconstruction you have gone through.
There is no need for action, yet, especially considering the state of your physical energy after a long hard, but profound, year.
Read the rest of the article in the winter 2015 issue of Positive Life. Subscribe | Stockists
Authentic Voice & Protection of the Archangels
Time to express your heartfelt desires.
This is a sneak peek from our autumn 2015 issue, out now. Pick one up free in one of our stockists around the country to read the full article, or subscribe to have it delivered.
By Andrew Smith
Having reluctantly emerged from the warmth and security of her recent embrace with Sol, an invigorated, selforientated, youthful Venus lights up our early morning skies this coming autumn. Her appearance as the morning stars heralds the dawn of a time where the old fear-based, poverty values can be released; and a death knell tones as the slavery of your time, your energy and your creativity by a system designed to shut you up and dull you wavers, further reinforced by other Autumnal Cosmic omens.
Henry Thoreau once said that, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” The song he refers is not music per se but the creative essence of Infinite Intelligence within you seeking an outlet; that song may not be music at all, but may be something that gives greater expression to your divine nature, to the creative life-force that flows through you.
Yet for many, it is difficult to confidently and unequivocally speak openly and honestly about topics that matter. I am not referring to public speaking, but to initiating an authentic conversation about the values that you hold dear. Perhaps it has something to do with residing within a world that encourages you to not believe in yourself; wherein your opinions do not matter; and, moreover, that you do not really matter? Perhaps it has something to do with the innately human desire to be accepted, to fit in?
This is a sneak peek from our autumn 2015 issue, out now. Pick one up free in one of our stockists around the country to read the full article, or subscribe to have it delivered.
One from the archives. From our Summer 2009 issue. Subscribe here to start receiving the quarterly print magazine in the post for just €15 per year.
By Aoife Calnan
People spend a lot of time and money these days looking after their health. Mostly we are concerned about what we put into our bodies and try to eat a healthy nutritious diet of fresh, natural and organic foods. But we should also give thought to what we put on our bodies and how this can affect our health.
On average, women absorb 2kg of chemicals from personal care products in one year. Up to 60% of anything applied to the skin is absorbed into the body. So, it makes sense that the products we put on our skin should be as natural and organic as the food we put in our mouths.
There are now a huge number of companies producing fabulous alternatives to all the conventional lotions and potions on the market. From eczema and psoriasis to teenage acne and rosacea, there is a product to suit every skin type and problem.
The reason these products work is that the companies producing them follow strict guidelines and only use ingredients of the highest quality. Every single ingredient is chosen with care for its nourishing effects. Some companies, such as German based Dr. Haushka and Weleda, go so far as to produce most of their ingredients to the same high standards as those they put into the homeopathic and anthroposophical medicines they make in the same facility. A vast majority of the herbs and plants used are grown on the company farms using biodynamic or organic means. Those not grown on site are ethically sourced.
At the core of their products is the nurturing and healing benefits of the rose. They use various extracts of this precious plant from the wax to the oil to the fine water that comes from a very delicate distilling process. This means that you are being provided with much more than rich skin care – the circulation and metabolic activity of the body is stimulated along with the defence system of the skin, resulting in the skin protecting itself. A truly holistic beauty regime!
The things that strike most people about natural skincare the first time they try it are the wonderful silky textures of the creams and oils and the fresh, sensuous and uplifting fragrances. There is something very wholesome about the aroma of fresh lavender, exotic coconut or zesty lemon on the skin. It awakens the senses and fills the mind with images of purple fields in Provence, white sands and palm trees and sun kissed lemon groves on Spanish hills.
A company that knows all about the power of natural fragrances is another German company called Lavera. They have a beauty regime to suit all skin types, full of gorgeous aromas. You just have to sample them and find your favourite to suit your mood, your personality or how you want to feel. They also have a full range of make-up that is suitable for even the most sensitive skin and is available in co-ordinated natural colours. This is very good news as many women suffer from sensitivities to conventional make up. It is also comforting to know that while your skin looks flawless on the surface, the deeper levels are being repaired and renewed to create a flawless complexion even when the make up comes off.
All this natural pampering makes us look and feel good on the outside but we have the added bonus of feeling good on the inside knowing that the products we are using are causing little impact on the environment. With all the ingredients being ethical, packaged in recycled and recyclable containers and also being biodegradable, they’re helping us do our bit for the future of the planet.
So, if you want this feel good factor in you life, drop into your local health food store and try out some of the fabulous beauty products they have to offer. For one of the widest selections available look no further than Evergreen Healthfoods in Galway. They have all the above-mentioned brands plus many more and friendly, knowledgeable staff to help you choose the perfect beauty regime for you.
By Edie O’Reilly
Ayurveda teaches us that we all have a natural balance of the 5 basic elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth). These elements will fluctuate and change depending on what we are eating, what we are doing, where we live, what our age is, and what season it is. While the elements are always moving, we can learn to be in tune with our bodies to counter the effects of them getting too high in our systems. It is only when these elements get too high that there is a concern for our health.
Summer time is the time when the element of fire is dominant due to the closeness of the sun to the earth. Some of us may be experiencing signs or symptoms of too much fire within our bodies. These symptoms would include increased anger and irritability, skin irritations such as rashes and acne, loose stools or diarrhoea, acid reflux, heartburn and infections. These are all signs that the fire element in your body has become too high, which is common during this season. If these symptoms aren’t taken care of they can lead to more serious illnesses that can have an effect on your health and well-being.
In Ayurveda, we learn that the qualities of an element can be balanced by using their opposites. The qualities of fire are hot, light and dry. You can counter the effects of too much fire by choosing foods that have the opposite qualities such as cooling, heavy and moist. In general, foods that are naturally ripe or ready to eat will balance most people during a specific season. For example, melons are ripe during summer; they are cooling to the body, heavy due to the water content, and moist. Melons are a natural way to beat the heat.
Here are some more ways to beat the heat.
Cucumbers: Cucumbers can be eaten or used in body products to help cool down the system.
Aloe Vera: Aloe is used for many body products and is best used in the summer time when our bodies have extra heat. The aloe plant can also be consumed as juice or gel to aid in cooling down the body internally.
Fresh Coriander: Coriander is an herb that will naturally cool down the system, especially the skin. For any heated skin irritation, you can blend fresh coriander leaves with a little water or aloe gel to help in greatly cooling down and combating skin irritations. You can also assist the skin in cooling down by adding coriander to foods as a spice.
Rose: The rose flower is great for cooling down the body and again it has been used for centuries in beauty products. You can drink rose water or smell the essential oil of rose to aid the body in cooling down. Adding a tablespoon of rose water to fresh lemonade in the summer time will make a refreshing drink that will cool you down.
Mints: Any mint will help to cool down the body. You can make a tea with fresh mint by boiling water in a saucepan. Then, once the water has boiled, turn off the heat and add the fresh mint leaves to the water. Never boil fresh leaves, as it greatly depletes the vital, medicinal oils found in the leaf. You can also add fresh mint leaf to salads, sauces or drinks.
Green leafy vegetables: Now is the time to eat salads. Green leafy vegetables are considered bitter and will greatly cool down the body. If you are feeling over heated this summer, having a fresh green salad with a variety of raw vegetables will help to keep the body in balance and will give you a kick of energy.
There are many foods you can eat this summer to aid you with whatever ails you. Knowing what your body needs in each season can greatly improve your health and your overall energy levels.
.
Edie O’Reilly is a Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist trained in the United States and India. She offers consultations, body treatments, workshops and courses in Ayurveda. edie@ayurvedaireland.ie
www.ayurvedaireland.ie
Cultivating within, reflecting without.
This is taken from our Summer 2015 issue. Subscribe here to have the autumn issue and the following three issues delivered direct to your door.
By Andrew Smith
The creation of your reality is contained within a simple truth – that which is within reflects that which is without.
In the same way that you attract and subsequently bond with people who share your values, you also create systems in your life that reflect those values. Similarly on a larger scale, the systems that we live within, including the patriarchal, hierarchal, authoritative corporations, religious institutions and political systems, only exist because we have given our consent to them to exist.
The massive deconstruction of the external world that has taken place over the past five years is largely a result of a monumental inner awakening. You have had to face, name, understand, heal and embrace your Shadow; you have had to get to a point where you can LOVE it. In doing so your Shadow no longer has a hold over you. By clearing your inner world, you clear the outer world. Without those inner enemies the System has no hold over you and cannot exist. The System can only feed off your unprotected Self. Therefore there is nothing to stop you other than you yourself!
However, many people tend to recreate what is familiar when they travel to a foreign country, seeking comfort in an Irish bar despite being in Havana, because the fear of being free is as powerful as the fear of being trapped and controlled.
The key to living freely and openly is to face your inner enemies. When you lay down your worries, you leave behind your frustrations and anger; when you give up your position and your dreams of your special status, you will learn to find ease in risk. Fear and self-doubt are the part of the old way and not the way forward. As long as they exist within, the old order will attempt to survive by nurturing in you those egoic vanities.
Shedding the last vestiges of those deeply ingrained limiting thought forms is precisely what the energetic conditions of the summer of 2015 are all about. Saturn is a term that astrologers use to describe how you define how you limit yourself. Pluto symbolises the process of deep, inner change. Throughout the summer these two planetary archetypes are engaged in a deep conversation concerning what inner enemy you need to face, name, understand, heal and embrace. Over a 40 day period during the late summer, you have a chance to go inwards and understand the hold that matter has over your soul, binding you to your addiction to fear and anxiety.
Myriad spiritual traditions speak of a set of common themes interwoven into the notion of ‘40’ – ritualistic cleansing, purification, prayer, inner reflection, stillness in preparation for a renewal of spirit and ultimately a rebirthing of the light within. This inner conflict tends to cease, having emerged from a cave, mountain top or desert, illuminated, enlightened and at peace.
Our stories are ultimately cosmic ones and they retain the knowledge of our stellar origins encoded in the lives of those who have inspired our spiritual traditions. This 40 day purification, replenishment and revitalising of your consciousness is the story of the Inner Journey of the Light Bearer, Venus and it takes place in late July through to early September Venus. This is a perfect time to face your Shadow as you are offered a time to gauge how free your spirit is from the control of matter. I would ask you to keep foremost in your meditation the following questions:
- Are you being seduced by the allure of security and playing it safe?
- Do you trust in your body’s intelligence to guide you to do the right thing?
As Hope returns to the Earth (as Jupiter ingresses into Virgo), you merely have to take the time to listen to Nature’s intelligence within and around you. So find a spot within a leafy glade; lie with your eyes open, watching the cascading clouds rolling over each other on the jet stream, behind the ceaseless swaying of the branches of the trees; bring your attention to the susurration of nature all around you as She talks to you through the rustling, murmuring and whispering of the leaves and the heaving and creaking of the boughs or limbs. Whilst listening to Her tender voice, draw your awareness to your breathing, drawing the vital energy of life, murmuring the Aramaic word, Inanna, and exhaling whilst susurrating the word Rakhma. Within this still place, you will start to observe how the trees around you have synchronised with your rhythmic breath, leaning towards you as you inhale and veering away from your as you exhale. Within this space, ask whatever your heart desires and listen. Whatever image arises within your mind’s eye, trust, as within this quiet space you have connected consciously with the vegetable intelligence within and around you and the answer has been symbiotically passed into your consciousness.
A new world is birthing. There are new rules. There is an alternative agenda – to live to your highest potential. Why shouldn’t you make a living from what you love; from what you are passionate about; from your heart’s desire? Remember, with a heart free from fear and limitations and with gentleness, you can shake the world.
Andrew’s private practice is in Blackrock, South Dublin. Email him on dastroc@gmail.com for further information on consultations, workshops or classes. Join him on Facebook for daily updates.
This is taken from our Summer 2015 issue. Subscribe here to have the autumn issue and the following three issues delivered direct to your door.
Cultivating within, reflecting without.
This is an excerpt from our Summer 2015 issue. Subscribe here to have the summer issue and the following three issues delivered direct to your door.
By Andrew Smith
The creation of your reality is contained within a simple truth – that which is within reflects that which is without.
In the same way that you attract and subsequently bond with people who share your values, you also create systems in your life that reflect those values. Similarly on a larger scale, the systems that we live within, including the patriarchal, hierarchal, authoritative corporations, religious institutions and political systems, only exist because we have given our consent to them to exist.
The massive deconstruction of the external world that has taken place over the past five years is largely a result of a monumental inner awakening. You have had to face, name, understand, heal and embrace your Shadow; you have had to get to a point where you can LOVE it. In doing so your Shadow no longer has a hold over you. By clearing your inner world, you clear the outer world. Without those inner enemies the System has no hold over you and cannot exist. The System can only feed off your unprotected Self. Therefore there is nothing to stop you other than you yourself!
However, many people tend to recreate what is familiar when they travel to a foreign country, seeking comfort in an Irish bar despite being in Havana, because the fear of being free is as powerful as the fear of being trapped and controlled.
The key to living freely and openly is to face your inner enemies. When you lay down your worries, you leave behind your frustrations and anger; when you give up your position and your dreams of your special status, you will learn to find ease in risk. Fear and self-doubt are the part of the old way and not the way forward. As long as they exist within, the old order will attempt to survive by nurturing in you those egoic vanities.
This is an excerpt from our Summer 2015 issue. Subscribe here to have the summer issue and the following three issues delivered direct to your door.
This is an excerpt from our spring 2015 issue, out now. Stockists | Subscribe
As Spring dawns, the end is in sight! The end to this Tempest of Transition! An end to a profoundly intense period of five years – wherein you have witnessed not only the creation of an alternative paradigm, new cosmic categories and several new dimensions of reality, but a testing of the fabric of your conscious reality at all levels. No one has been left untouched. The matrix has crumbled. Every system created to enslave your consciousness within fear and uncertainty has been challenged; every sector of society; the entire foundation of civilisation; the core beliefs held as a culture; these life transformative impulses have touched every single living individual. Seismic – to sum up in a word!
The distractions aren’t working anymore as the neurotic wheel that has bound you to guilt, unworthiness, avarice, greed and flattery stops spinning. You have experienced a great leap of spiritual advancement, which by divine force has ultimately blessed you with a more conscious life. You are no longer able to hide out from your unique natural perfection, pretending you are unworthy. You are no longer able to assert your unlovability as you have discovered that what you are is love itself. You can see so clearly that there is no ‘you’ here and ‘love’ over there as it is this very paradigm that has been burned up in the fires of transmutation.
This is an excerpt from our spring 2015 issue, out now. Stockists | Subscribe
Andrew’s private practice is in Blackrock, South Dublin. Email him on dastroc@gmail.com for further information on consultations, workshops or classes. Join him on facebook.com/andrewdhsmith or tsu.co/dastroc for daily updates.
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