Early Morning Thoughts

"Doing the Soul Work" radio show

2008-04-26T01:14:00.000-07:00

"Doing the Soul Work" radio show

On April 23 2008 I was again Kristin Fontana's guest on her Guiding Stars internet radio show, a weekly Evolutionary Astrology show on www.healthylife.net, Wednesdays at 10 AM.

Here is the recording of the show. Its about 45 minutes long. On this show we are discussing the effects of growth, and how t0 flow and change with life events. In the last minute of the show Kristin gives me 30 seconds to explain to listeners how they can change their thought patterns in the present moment.

Click the arrow button to start the player. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may have to click it twice. To rewind or fast forward, drag the slider on the player bar.

Relationship Types radio show

2008-04-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Relationship Types" radio show

On Oct 10th 2007 I was the guest on internet radio show Guiding Stars, a weekly Evolutionary Astrology radio show on www.healthylife.net, Wednesdays at 10 AM, hosted by my friend and colleague Kristin Fontana.

It's taken a while but I'm finally posting the audio of that show here. It's 42 minutes long. On this show I discuss the EA concepts of relationship types - the sorts of people and dynamics we find ourselves in relationships with. And how we can learn to have more functional relationships, and to be more functional in them.

Click the arrow button to start the player. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may have to click it twice. To rewind or fast forward, drag the slider on the player bar.

Evolutionary Astrology Basics - a 6 week class

2008-02-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

Evolutionary Astrology Basics

a 6 week class presented by Steve Wolfson

An introduction to Evolutionary Astrology and the archetypes of the 12 signs.

Evolutionary Astrology (EA) is a metaphysical system based in Natural Law – that which is naturally observable. It uses astrology as a symbolic language to describe the natural processes of life, forward movement of endless cycles of birth, growth, and decay; leading to rebirth in the next cycle.

EA views the human Soul as the root cause of a human birth. To EA, the planet Pluto in the birth chart symbolizes the Soul’s growth intentions for the current life. "Why am I here?" and "What are my life lessons?" are the core EA questions.

EA helps crack baked-on layers of conditioning that have created a conscious sense of self-identity that is not truly who I am. Growth is the process of peeling back those layers – leading to an open heart, where the innermost Soul can be revealed. This process is not always fun, but it is always real. It leads to increasing Authenticity – the progressive discovery of one’s true voice, and one’s intended life directions. This journey does not stop until the last breath, and no one is too old or too young

We start the classes by discussing the metaphysical principles that are the foundation of EA. The rest will be in-depth discussion of the 12 astrological archetypes (signs). In my experience, a deep understanding of the 12 archetypes is the key that unlocks about three-quarters of astrology.

(Example: Gemini is known as "dual natured" and "indecisive and wishy-washy". But WHY? From an EA perspective, Gemini correlates with the human need to gather information, to use the mind to classify physical reality, so we can feel we have a handle on it. When looked at in this way, we begin to see why Gemini at times must behave indecisively. Thus we become more accepting of how we and others are “wired”).

The classes will be 2 hour sessions, once each Tuesday, for six consecutive weeks, 6 to 8 PM, in Ashland Oregon. The first class was Tuesday Feb 19th. You are welcome to attend even if you missed some of the classes. The classes are being recorded, and CD's will be available. If you are interested in attending some of the classes, please contact me and I will send you necessary details. Cost is $10 - $15 sliding scale, per class.

The classes are accessible to astrology newcomers, and will also hold the interest of more knowledgeable students.

My style is informal and tends towards the right brain - intuitive. We will discuss more concept than details to memorize. As time permits we will work with charts, to ground what we discuss. Example: What does Venus in Cancer in the 10th house look like? (hint: combination of Libra and Cancer and Capricorn…) What changes if we move Venus to the 5th house, or place it in Scorpio? If we complete our sign-work in time, in the last class we will integrate it all through some chart interpretation.

I live in Ashland, where I do astrological life readings, in person and by phone. I also teach and give talks on Evolutionary Astrology, which has profoundly deepened my life. I was a presenter at the last two national Evolutionary Astrology conferences, in 2004 and 2006.

You can read more about EA and my work on my website, http://stevewolfson.com. You can phone me at 201-0825 or email me at steve@stevewolfson.com Feel free to ask questions about the class.
Thank you,
Steve

All things arise

2007-07-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

A friend shared this with me the other day (thank you, friend). It speaks so deeply to what I am looking at in my life. I finally realized I would like to share it.

All things arise,
Suffer change,
And pass away.

This is their nature.

When you know this,
Nothing perturbs you,
Nothing hurts you.

You become still.

It is easy.

-Ashtavakra Gita 11:1
From "The Heart of Awareness: A Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita," by Thomas Byrom, 1990.

The Call To Adventure

2007-05-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

I received this quote in today's inbox which to me says quite a lot, the essence of what I've been feeling for some years now. It's from the Mother, from her book "The Sunlit Path". For those who don't know, she was associated with Sri Aurobindo, a wise, illumined person from India who lived in the first half of the 20th century.

The Call To Adventure

We are in a very special situation, extremely special, without precedent. We are now witnessing the birth of a new world; it is very young, very weak -- not in its essence but in its outer manifestation -- not yet recognised, not even felt, denied by the majority. But it is here. It is here, making an effort to grow, absolutely *sure* of the result. But the road to it is a completely new road which has never before been traced out -- nobody has gone there, nobody has done that! It is a beginning, a *universal beginning*. So it is an absolutely unexpected and unpredicatable adventure.

There are people who love adventure. It is these I call, and I tell them this: "I invite you to the great adventure."

It is not a question of repeating spiritually what others have done before us, for our adventure begins beyond that. It is a question of a new creation, entirely new, with all the unforeseen events, the risks, the hazards it entails -- a *real adventure*, whose goal is certain victory, but the road to which is unknown and must be traced out step by step in the unexplored. Something that has never been in this present universe and that will *never* be again in the same way. If that interests you... well, let us embark. What will happen to you tomorrow -- I have no idea.

One must put aside all that has been foreseen, all that has been devised, all that has been constructed, and then set off walking into the unknown. And -- come what may! There. [...]

This courage, this heroism ... why not use it to fight against one's own difficulties, one's own imperfections, one's own obscurities? Why not heroically face the furnace of inner purification so that it does not become necessary to pass once more through one of those terrible, gigantic destructions which plunge the entire civilisation into darkness?

This is the problem before us. It is for each one to solve it in his own way.

Steve - EA radio show archive

2007-05-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

"Pluto and the Nodes - Life Purpose and Direction"

Kristin Fontana, an EA astrologer and friend, is the host of Guiding Stars, a weekly Evolutionary Astrology radio show on www.healthylife.net, Wednesdays at 10 AM.

I was Kristin's guest on her May 9th, 2007 show. My topic was the meaning of Pluto and the Moon's Nodes in the birthchart. I also got into my background, what led me to doing EA work, and talked about my approach to EA and working with clients.

Here you can listen to a 40 minute edited version of the show:
"Pluto and the Nodes - Life Purpose and Direction"

Click the arrow button to start the player. If you are using Internet Explorer, you may have to click it twice. To rewind or fast forward, drag the slider on the player bar.

"We Shall See"

2007-05-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

What follows is my edited version of an old fable. Life has been teaching me for some years now to live in this fashion.

There once was an old Chinese farmer. One day the old farmer's only horse broke out of the corral and ran away. The farmer's neighbors, all hearing of the horse running away, came to the farmer's house to view the corral. As they stood there, the neighbors all said, "Oh what bad luck!" The old Chinese farmer replied, "We shall see."

About a week later the horse returned, bringing with it a whole herd of wild horses, which the old farmer and his son quickly corralled. The neighbors, hearing of the corralling of the horses, came to see for themselves. As they stood there looking at the corral filled with horses, the neighbors said, "Oh what good luck!" The farmer replied, "We shall see."

A couple of weeks later, the old farmer's son's leg was badly broken when he was thrown from a horse he was trying to break. A few days later the broken leg became infected and the son became delirious with fever. The neighbors, all hearing of the incident, came to see the son. As they stood there, the neighbors said, "Oh what bad luck!" The farmer replied, "We shall see."

At that same time in China, there was a war going on between two rival warlords. The warlord of the old farmer's village was involved in this war. In need of more soldiers, he sent one of his captains to the village to conscript young men to fight in the war. When the captain came to take the farmer's son he found a young man with a broken leg who was delirious with fever. Knowing there was no way the son could fight, the captain left him there. A few days later, the son's fever broke. The neighbors, hearing of the son's not being taken to fight in the war and of his return to good health, all came to see him. As they stood there, each one said, "Oh what good luck!" The farmer replied, "We shall see."

I gradually realized it had always been my investment in desired or undesired outcomes that was the source of a lot of the pain I experienced. Life started showing me the natural way to live is to stay centered in this moment. When I found myself off center, I began asking myself "OK, what is wrong in this moment?" Not in an hour or a week or when the rent will be due or the new tranny needs to be be paid for, but right now, this moment, what is wrong? I started noticed that, 95% of the time, my answer was "Nothing".Then I started noticing that almost all of the worst case scenarios I’d feared might occur generally never happened. And then I noticed that the expectations I placed on what would be to me future wonderful outcomes also rarely unfolded in the ways I’d hoped they would. Gradually I learned to stop having so many expectations and demands on Life. Now I set intention, sort of like placing an order. Then I let it go, learning to be OK with whatever happens. If what I ordered is out of stock, so to speak, I learn to be fine with that. I started seeing I only experience disappointment when I hold expectations. The more accepting and appreciative of whatever Life brings I am, the less disappointment I experience.

Gradually I started observing that, in the long run, EVERYTHING that occurred proved in the end to have been for my overall best interest, even things I initially experienced as unpleasant or unwanted. All of them taught me things that moved me further along towards realizing my deepest desires, which are about understanding. Gradually I experienced, knew from within, that Life is on my side, no matter how much it may at certain moments feel otherwise. I saw that I am never being punished, I am always only being given what is necessary to fulfill, over the long haul, my own deepest hopes and aspirations. Which simply can not be fulfilled while I am the way I presently am, simply because the container (the way I view myself) is not yet large enough to hold the truths which would quench my thirst. Thus the container (my sense of who I am) is continually being s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d so I CAN receive the answers, the insights and gifts I seek, which Life would be delighted to fulfill for me, to have them "added unto me", if only I could be open wide enough to receive them! (And it is LITERALLY being "added unto me", for it changes who I see myself as, makes me see myself in a larger way – thus "added unto me".) That I saw is what this while sometimes uncomfortable process is all about – preparing me to be wide open enough to receive the very things I most deeply seek, yet resist.

Sure, it is best to not juice up negative expectation, like "if I think about what could go wrong I am just feeding that possible reality.” Yes, that is true. However, I found that going neurotic in such ways every time I found myself with a negative expectation, is just as self-defeating as thinking negative thoughts. The most important thing of all I have learned is, for me anyway, the core change necessary is to learn to be kind to myself, no matter WHAT is going on, no matter how many of my limits and "flaws" are in my face in this moment. The most significant issue to me is how I treat myself when I find I have "slipped" from being aligned to my highest intentions.

I experience those moments as possibly the most potent moments of all for growth potential. For only when my old familiar stuff is in my face, have I the total opportunity to make a different choice. To be kind where previously I have been brutal, ten thousand times. In those moments, more powerful than any other moment, I have an incredible opportunity to make a different choice, a new choice. And in making a new choice enough times, gradually those old hardened thought habits soften and are naturally replaced with others more aligned to where I am NOW.

And so it goes. Like the old Chinese farmer, I strive to face every blow with "We shall see", and every joy with "We shall see". I am the witness, the observer, while at the same time participating in the play. Yet I am also attuned to a deeper play, one that knows that all of this was going on long before "I" was born, and will remain going on long after "I" am gone. From THAT perspective, nothing can ever be wrong.

Life as Art

2007-04-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

I tend to see my life as a sculpture or work of art in progress, a continuous state of becoming. Will I ever really feel "done", like I have FINALLY achieved all I wanted, there is no more, and now I can retire to Florida for the rest of my happy little days? I don't envision I will EVER feel "done. I expect to be growing and changing and tweaking and sharing until my last breath. That's my intention anyway.

Astrology has taught me that all of the phases of a life are natural and necessary and inevitable, from early youth to the final passage in old age. That we can't hang on to any one phase, and that no one phase is any better than any other. Each has its natural time to thrive and its natural time to fade away, so that the next phase can be born to replace it, ready or not, willing or not. Learning to feel these and observe them; there is natural poetry and meter to it all. A flow of natural creativity, the same impulse as the comings and goings of the seasons, and the gardens the warmer ones bring forth. That we are totally a part of this.

The Demanding Artist (aka "me"...) is never completely satisfied with his creation, so far anyway. Always tweaking this, adjusting that, reworking some other part. As my insights deepen, as I realize that TODAY i would have done this part differently, I proceed to rework it. As my capacity to empathize (meaning to listen deeply to another) grows; as I grow. - Life as art.

That which I express in an outer way, whether or not the world considers it art - could be as simple as washing dishes more consciously, or observing the changes in a Spring leaf between two days ago and now. This is all the flow of creativity, Life as Art.

My outer expressions merely reflect my shifting inner realities - are my attempts to give form to them, to what is continuously growing and shifting. Why do I feel I must express this? I don't even know. The desire to express lives in a deep place within and simply at times demands action and expression - some of which the world may label as Creative.

On Creativity

2007-04-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

The essence of Creation is Creativity. The Creator created. As is said in nearly all spiritual paths, we are created in the image and likeness of the creator. Thus the essence of every human is creative.
Because we are created as creative, the denial of self-creativity has to be TAUGHT.

The problem is the numbing programming most people receive in life, starting from day one. Many cultures value conformity over originality. Religions teach conformity. Schools reward conformity and discourage original thinking. "The purpose of life is to obey."

People raised with these values repress their inherent creativity. Creativity inevitably leads to asking the sort of questions such cultures don't want asked. Those who ask them are judged and feared.

Creatives (actresses, musicians, writers, filmmakers) who achieve fame are placed on pedestals and considered above the realm of "mere mortals". The common belief is only the talented few get to break out of the numbness, and I surely am not one of those. Placing them as uniquely gifted and above the crowd allows the mass to continue denying its essential nature

Most of these "specials" came to fame from their ability to give expression to the core emotions of what being human is all about, the archetypal feelings that in an indescribable way bond everyone together at a core level. Typical language is "they are saying (or singing) what I feel but don't know how to express".

Personal creativity unfolding seems to be a natural part of the process of self-discovery and self-realization.

Some begin from the angle of desiring to develop personal creativity. These people, over time, come to understand they are not the source of this creativity, but conduits through which something that already exists flows. This increasing realization gradually births a desire to know more about the Source of all this creativity. What is it? Where does it come from? Those are spiritual questions, and thus the path of personal creativity inevitably (over time) leads to a spiritual quest.

Others begin through wanting to understand what this life thing is all about. Personal creativity may not be something they are seeking or value. Yet it comes as a sort of side effect, since it is at our core. The more I know myself, the more I experience that I and the Creative Principle that flows through me are one and the same.

Giant Ice Mass Breaks Off in Canadian Arctic

2006-12-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

Ice mass snaps free from Canada's Arctic
By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 29, 6:32 PM ET

A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of the North Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major" reason for the event. The Ayles Ice Shelf — all 41 square miles of it — broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the North Pole in the Canadian Arctic.

Scientists discovered the event by using satellite imagery. Within one hour of breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island, leaving a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake.

Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveled to the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw.

"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years," Vincent said. "We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead."

The ice shelf was one of six major shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic. They are packed with ancient ice that is more than 3,000 years old. They float on the sea but are connected to land.

Some scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years and that climate change was a major element.

"It is consistent with climate change," Vincent said, adding that the remaining ice shelves are 90 percent smaller than when they were first discovered in 1906. "We aren't able to connect all of the dots ... but unusually warm temperatures definitely played a major role."

Laurie Weir, who monitors ice conditions for the Canadian Ice Service, was poring over satellite images in 2005 when she noticed that the shelf had split and separated.

Weir notified Luke Copland, head of the new global ice lab at the University of Ottawa, who initiated an effort to find out what happened.

Using U.S. and Canadian satellite images, as well as seismic data — the event registered on earthquake monitors 155 miles away — Copland discovered that the ice shelf collapsed in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005.

Copland said the speed with which climate change has effected the ice shelves has surprised scientists.

"Even 10 years ago scientists assumed that when global warming changes occur that it would happen gradually so that perhaps we expected these ice shelves just to melt away quite slowly," he said.

Derek Mueller, a polar researcher with Vincent's team, said the ice shelves get weaker and weaker as temperatures rise. He visited Ellesmere Island in 2002 and noticed that another ice shelf had cracked in half.

"We're losing our ice shelves and this a feature of the landscape that is in danger of disappearing altogether from Canada," Mueller said.

Within days of breaking free, the Ayles Ice Shelf drifted about 30 miles offshore before freezing into the sea ice. A spring thaw may bring another concern: that warm temperatures will release the new ice island from its Arctic grip, making it an enormous hazard for ships.

"Over the next few years this ice island could drift into populated shipping routes," Weir said.

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remember, this ice mass that broke off is 41 square miles in size....

from Driftglass...

According to Collier’s Encyclopedia, the Island of Manhattan is "Approximately 23 square miles".

Brooklyn is 44 square miles.

The future is coming.

It’s coming fast and in chunks the size of cities.

Pluto, Mars, and the evolutionary process

2006-02-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

Evolutionary intention is a natural phenomenon that emanates from the Soul. For almost every one of us, the Soul is beyond our self-conception of "Me" as personality.

When we talk about Pluto/Soul, it's not about whether we decide its time or not time to develop our evolutionary intentions. When Pluto/Scorpio is active (through transit, progression, returns, whatever), this becomes self-evident - events occur over which we have no conscious control. It simply becomes impossible to continue living in the old way. We tend to experience this as life falling apart; as the rug being pulled from under us. The more we resist, the more difficult life becomes. Until, finally, (hopefully) we start accepting that we are simply being called into the new, the unknown. Then the inner pressure can start to defuse.

Pluto/Scorpio/8th house symbolize the forces in life that remove from life that which has become outmoded. As the outmoded disintegrates, it leaves behind space into which what is new progressively enters and starts growing.

Astrologically, the entry of the new is symbolized by Mars (the lower octave of Pluto), and the related archetypes of Aries/1st House/New Phase. These archetypes represent the continuous state of becoming that we all sense we are continually in.

Life is continually dying and rebirthing itself. Being alive, we are automatically a part of that process, regardless of personal preference or our opinion about it. The one thing that works in these new spaces is instinctual action in response to this unfolding inner sense of what is new being birthed within us.

The old life stops working because our sense of identity and awareness of how to walk through life is based on what has come before, and Pluto is effectively ending all of that. We are simply no longer the same person. We are being rebirthed, on a small or large scale.

In a birthchart, the location by house and sign of transiting Mars and Pluto indicates the areas in life where the evolutionary process is currently active in a person's life,
operating through the archetypes of the houses and signs and planetary archetypes of the natal planets they currently aspect.

Integration

2006-01-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

I see it now as what is required for true evolution is integration of our various parts - spiritual, mental, emotional, physical. Patriarchy has taught the superiority and inferiority of some of these parts. This has resulted in splits and denials within our consciousness, within the way we relate to self - judging some parts of self as better and others as worse, than other parts, leading to fracturing and self-denial. And of course we have all had plenty of outer experiences, some quite painful, to prove to us that we are "right" in feeling as split off as we do.

Some of us try to transcend the earthly - the emotional and physical - to hang out in the so-called perfection of spirit. But this is not truly doing the work - it is not balanced.

I increasingly see splitting off as the essence of trauma - where, due to emotional overload, we simply split off parts of self, to the point we are in denial they even exist; fracturing, fragmenting as strategy to avoid the pain of facing past (or experiencing additional) hurt and pain.

I am finding that the actual process tends to be slower than I would like. Experiences pointing to God that I've had have forced me to honestly admit that divinity is the essence of my core. So when I deny myself, put myself down, split off from parts of myself, in essence I am denying God, splitting off from God, putting God down. And that does not fly in my value system. Through being honest with self, I've had to rearrange my relationship with myself, to get it more aligned with my feelings about my inner divinity. I HAD to learn to be nicer to myself because not being nice to myself was obviously not aligned with the nature of God/dess.

This leads to a necessary, ongoing growth of self-acceptance. This is the Virgo to Pisces principle - acceptance of the inherent imperfection of everything, leading to accepting my imperfections and limitations. If God and Life are imperfect, then the patriarchal-based belief that I have that there is something wrong with me being imperfect simply has to go. Lately I have been asking Virgo-like people to "show me one person or thing on the entire planet that is perfect". And of course they can't. Then I add "Well, how realistic then are your beliefs that you can and must be the first?". That is the point - we have learned to believe we must.

Starting to change those beliefs kicks off a process that inevitably leads to increasing self-acceptance, including acccepting of the limitations inherent in being in human form. Self-acceptance, when practiced regularly, of itself neaturally brings on self-love. And self-love leads to deeper experiences of divinity, because self-love inherently heals and integrates. It is a natural process that has been thwarted under patriarchal beliefs. The more integration that occurs, the deeper the God experiences that can occur.

I keep seeing that self-acceptance, leading to self-love, is the key to integratng the fractured parts of the personality. We are all just fine, exactly the way we are - wounds and fractures and imperfections and all. As we resolve our beliefs that there is something wrong with us, its creates space for more and more awareness of divinity to enter our life, bringing increasing wholeness and balance, step by step.

The key seems to be to be OK with going at the pace the process has in mind, not getting frustrated because it's not unfolding at the pace I think I would like it to go at. Ironically, the more I accept it as it shows up, the faster it seems to go. Yet the only real effort that's required of me as this speeds up is to keep accepting myself as I am, the way I am capable of showing up, as imperfect as I may previously have judged that to be. The rest pretty much resolves itself over time, slowly but steadily.

This is NOT an easy reality to live in, especially at this time. But in some ways thats probably a big part of the point in the first place - to test ourselves against such strong opposition. How else can we know how much we are really capable of?