FEBRUARY 11, 2019
This week’s Horoscopes are coming out on the eve of Valentine’s Day, under the light of a Taurus Moon. True love is in the air! There is so much more to this holiday than meets the eye – and thank God for that because it gives me a chance to talk about what’s really going on, underneath all the chocolate and flowers. The words that follow are excerpted from an article that I wrote back in 2012. I hope that they inspire your mind and open your heart to the creative potential that is stirring up the etheric matrix this week:
HEARTS AND FLOWERS – by Cal Garrison
“…What I love most about February is that halfway through the month, by some strange coincidence, Valentine’s Day brings our attention to the heart…If we have come to think of this holiday in terms of a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, and a candlelight dinner with our sweetheart, it’s because no one told us that it goes much deeper than that.
I have never been into the romantic BS that gets promoted on Valentine’s Day; even when I was young and stupid it didn’t make any sense to me….Being an overly analytical person, years of not caring about these things just so happened to coexist with a burning desire to know why the rest of the world is so hung up on them; and this curiosity led me far enough into the Valentine Mysteries to discover that underneath it all, it is what comes out of the Earth at the Mid-Winter cross quarter that makes our thoughts turn to love on the 14th of February.
NATURAL CYCLES 101
Prior to the invention of the Gregorian calendar, Mother Nature’s rhythms governed our relationship to time. Up until the 15th Century, and in certain countries for the next 200 years, it was the Solstice and Equinox points, along with the four, secondary cross quarter points, that formed the framework for the calendar year. Within that infrastructure the first day of the year was celebrated at the Vernal Equinox, when the Sun made its passage over what is known as the Aries Point. On that date followers of the Old Ways believed that the power of the Sun triggered the impulse that revivifies everything in creation. To them this cross-quarter was akin to the moment of ejaculation, and it was governed by the sign Aries, the only sign in the zodiac with enough raw testosterone to fertilize the Great Mother Goddess.
Anyone who’s ever made love knows that the bulk of what happens during the sex act is already in full swing long before the male releases his sperm. The fact that the Pagans embraced the Goddess as both a living entity and as a sexual entity suggests that for her, the weeks leading up to the 22nd of March are analogous to what goes on, on the female end of the stick prior to the moment of orgasm. If any other woman would be in a state of arousal, and the Law of Correspondence works both ways, it follows that Mother Earth might be on the same wavelength during the month of February.
Looking at the signs it’s easy to see that she definitely loosens up at this time of year; all of the fluids that give life to the world emerge from her womb as invisible currents of sap flow out of it, into the branches of every tree. In attunement with the liquids pouring out of her core the ewes and the cows, and all of the warm blooded creatures, begin to lactate. February is also the time when the birds start singing the songs that open their mating rituals.
If over-civilization has severed our connection to nature to the point where we are oblivious to these things, it doesn’t render them any less significant than they were to the Old Ones, thousands of years ago – and when we stop to connect with their deeper meaning, suddenly this time of hearts and flowers becomes something more than just a month-long opportunity to exchange love notes and play Spin-the-Bottle with our dream date. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that)
So what’s really going on here? For starters; what’s up with all this liquid? Why does the sap start running in February? And what about the milk; why do all of the warm blooded animals fill up with the mother tincture that supplies the next generation’s milk? What makes the birds know that it’s time to start singing their love songs? What triggers these things? What is it that arouses the Great Mother and turns on the waters of life during the month of February?
We know it isn’t Saint Valentine; he and ‘The Groundhog’ are Christian inventions who wound up here by default. They have absolutely nothing to do with it. The only thing we have to go by is the totem for Saint Valentine’s feast day, and what do you know; it comes in the shape of a heart. Whatever that image has come to mean to us, at its core it is only love. With that amount of information anyone willing to take a wild guess would be right on the money if they answered all of the questions in the previous paragraph by saying; ‘it is love that triggers these things’.
LIVE AND LEARN
I got into magic back in 1964. Since then, I have made a point to cast a Mid-Winter cross quarter circle either alone, or with a long line of friends who showed up over the years if they happened to be around when the time came. Sometimes these rituals were a totally spontaneous thing; at other times I went by the book, according to the Wiccan traditions that always perform their Mid-Winter, or ‘Imbolc’ ceremonies on, or near the 2nd of February. No matter how I decided to approach it, I knew that in order to get my magic to work I had to invoke the juices that pour out of the Great Mother and ask her to add all of my dreams and wishes in with the sap, and the milk, and the songs that are born out of the love that awakens in her heart on the date that falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox.
If I thought I had it all figured out, or thought that the Wiccan thing was all there was to it, I didn’t really get the picture until about 20 years ago, when I started exploring the mysteries of the human heart. In that time I have discovered that the creation process begins inside us, in a tiny space that lies hidden inside the heart. Whenever we enter that space, the visions that appear form the ‘stuff’ that our dreams and our lives are made of. Like the sap that rises into the trees, those visions flow upward, and in a process that gets stimulated by the tongue, whatever they consist of gets projected via the Pineal and Pituitary Glands out onto the spheres of consciousness that create and define our reality.
At this moment in time Mother Earth is deeply engaged, on a planetary scale, in the very same process that we use whenever we have a desire, or a dream, or a prayer. Her heart is wide open; the Valentines, and the chocolates, and the preoccupation with romance are there to remind us that she is in it, stirring up the love that feeds and nourishes everything in creation. For the next few weeks all of that female passion will rise up and increase until the Vernal Equinox, when the Goddess and the Sun come together at the Aries Point.
If we wanted to we could spend the coming weeks exchanging love notes and playing the games that people play whenever Saint Valentine and Cupid arrive on the scene. Anything done in the name of love would be enough, I suppose; but at this point, if we truly are “The ones we have been waiting for”, doesn’t it seem a little stupid to keep doing the same old thing? Knowing what we know, could we take the customary rituals to a whole new level and actually use this time of hearts and flowers to go into resonance with the Great Mother and begin stirring up the visions of the coming year?
Give it some thought. The heart is always there and it is timed to her rhythms. All of us have a desire, or a dream, or a prayer. The flood of love that is already pouring out of the Great Mother is full of life. This carrier wave has enough raw female power to turn on the Sun. Seen in that light, there is no better time than now to include everything we envision, for ourselves and for the planet, in with the love that is flowing out of her heart.”
I wish all of you a Happy Valentine’s Day, and invite you to take what you can from this week’s ‘scopes!
Horoscopes
ARIES: March 21 – April 20
You are trying to figure out how to get things to work with very little support from anything but 'little old you'. For whatever reason you stopped needing anyone to show up to save the day a long time ago. Depending on the way you slant things, you're either feeling sorry for yourself or you're in a groove that is teaching you a lot about how much strength we derive from knowing we can handle absolutely anything. The power of thought will continue to give you more to say about your life and about the way things go. Keep your heart open, and keep up the good work.
TAURUS: April 21 – May 20
Between a rock and a hard place there is only one option. Finding your way out of this mess will require you to change your MO. Yes, we know that you are real good at taking care of yourself, but right now, your tried and true methods, your tact, and/or your stiff upper lip aren’t working. It looks like people and situations have you by the shorthairs. Whoever, or whatever they are, ultimately you’re the person in charge. As you look at what it will take to shift the balance of power, take the bull by the horns and remind them that you are no pushover and that the jig is just about up!
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20
There’s always a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from being able to say, “I told you so”. You were right about this all along. Now that you’ve been vindicated, the ones who didn’t listen will want to patch up their differences. If that’s the way it goes, don’t lord anything over them and try to forgive them for messing up. This experience has taught you more about yourself than a hundred years of therapy. What you take from it won’t be clear for a while, but the first part of the lesson seems to be about knowing enough to stay humble and trust your intuition 100% of the time.
CANCER: June 21 – July 20
Isn’t it funny what a little time and a change of scenery can do for your perspective? The way things are going you’re wondering why you ever had a problem with this. For the next few months whatever you couldn’t seem to pull together in the past is going to come together in a way that will reaffirm your belief that this is all worthwhile. In between the realization that you really are on the right track and feelings of immense gratitude you might want to think about where this is all going to end up, and prepare the ground for whatever it takes to make it better.
LEO: July 21 – August 20
The desire to stand up for yourself or make your point is understandable, but it’s stupid to be honest with dishonest people. Do yourself a favor and let God dish out the justice. The more you try to reap revenge, or get those who have wronged you to see the error of their ways, the more trouble you will stir up. For someone who pretends to be in tune with letting it be, you should know better than to offer resistance. In some cases your troubles are being caused by the fact that you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Much of what’s messing you up could be fixed with a move.
VIRGO: August 21 – September 20
You are wise enough about worldly things to know how to move and shake them. The bigger part of you wants more than that. At the moment, you are walking the line that keeps all of us wishing we could move between the physical and the magical aspects of earthly experience without losing too much of the truth to one or the other. You have all kinds of reasons to entrench yourself in things that hold space for what money can buy. As you continue to pump life into those things, don't lose site of the fact that we weave everything we create, from within.
LIBRA: September 21 – October 20
The focus needs to be on the present. Too much dwelling on the past and the tendency to fret about the future is making it hard for you to know where you’re at with your life. Much of what’s come to pass in recent months appears to be a knee jerk reaction to things that seemed to be more than you could handle. The quick fix didn’t really solve much; it may have even brought you straight from the frying pan into the fire. Now that you’re here, check out the situation and come to terms with the fact that your future is being written by the things that are going on now.
SCORPIO: October 21 – November 20
In the middle of a huge turnaround, it’s unwise to make things harder than they have to be. You keep thinking that you have to go back to square one before you can get things to work, but if you look around, you have everything you need to move on to bigger and better things right here, in front of you. Others are definitely in your face about it, but that’s their problem. (And PS, it’s why you need to break free in the first place!!) With new people and influences showing up to distract you, be cautious, and ever watchful of the tendency to jump from the frying pan to the fire.
SAGITTARIUS: November 21 – December 20
Every now and then the whole ball of wax melts down, and whatever you’ve created turns into something else. On the verge of your next act, a lot of things will walk off the set and be replaced with people and situations that have more to do with who you are now. If others have a problem with this, give them time to get used to it, or be prepared to wave good bye. From what I can see you are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. If you choose to sit this out, you will wind up where you’re at now. If you choose to go for it, it will open the floodgates to a whole new life.
CAPRICORN: December 21 - January 20
You’re back at it again, doing whatever it takes to turn the tide. If your best laid plans are tied up in a web of frustration, it has a lot to do with the fact that others have not come through with the goods, or been able to keep their word. For a while there you thought you had your head above water. Between Murphy’s Law and a few extra added attractions, you can’t figure out what’s up with all of this. At times like this we have no choice, and the saying ‘Not my Will, but Thine’ calls us to give it up to God and trust that whatever is, or is not happening, is in his hands.
AQUARIUS: January 21 – February 20
You’ve got it made on a lot of levels. What happens next will add to the sense that you’re moving onward and upward. Holding space for this much success needs to be balanced with enough humility to keep your ego, and over confidence from going over the top. It’s a good thing life is going so well because this take the edge off some of the harder stories that have propelled you to get this far. As far as that goes, it’ll be a while before those things come up for review. For now, sit back and relish the fact that you’ve made it to the top with both hands tied behind your back.
PISCES: February 21 – March 20
You are beginning to feel like things are totally out of your hands. If this seems like a sign of weakness, fear not; you've reached the point where you understand that we can only live from moment to moment. With no firm sense of how all of this is going to come together, you don't need to do much of anything but stay honest and be as clear as you can when other people show up to distract you. Something alchemical is about to transform your life, and in the act of doing so, release you from Karmic debts that have all been paid off with your blood, sweat, and tears.
Copyright - Cal Garrison: 2018: ©
HEARTS AND FLOWERS – by Cal Garrison
“…What I love most about February is that halfway through the month, by some strange coincidence, Valentine’s Day brings our attention to the heart…If we have come to think of this holiday in terms of a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, and a candlelight dinner with our sweetheart, it’s because no one told us that it goes much deeper than that.
I have never been into the romantic BS that gets promoted on Valentine’s Day; even when I was young and stupid it didn’t make any sense to me….Being an overly analytical person, years of not caring about these things just so happened to coexist with a burning desire to know why the rest of the world is so hung up on them; and this curiosity led me far enough into the Valentine Mysteries to discover that underneath it all, it is what comes out of the Earth at the Mid-Winter cross quarter that makes our thoughts turn to love on the 14th of February.
NATURAL CYCLES 101
Prior to the invention of the Gregorian calendar, Mother Nature’s rhythms governed our relationship to time. Up until the 15th Century, and in certain countries for the next 200 years, it was the Solstice and Equinox points, along with the four, secondary cross quarter points, that formed the framework for the calendar year. Within that infrastructure the first day of the year was celebrated at the Vernal Equinox, when the Sun made its passage over what is known as the Aries Point. On that date followers of the Old Ways believed that the power of the Sun triggered the impulse that revivifies everything in creation. To them this cross-quarter was akin to the moment of ejaculation, and it was governed by the sign Aries, the only sign in the zodiac with enough raw testosterone to fertilize the Great Mother Goddess.
Anyone who’s ever made love knows that the bulk of what happens during the sex act is already in full swing long before the male releases his sperm. The fact that the Pagans embraced the Goddess as both a living entity and as a sexual entity suggests that for her, the weeks leading up to the 22nd of March are analogous to what goes on, on the female end of the stick prior to the moment of orgasm. If any other woman would be in a state of arousal, and the Law of Correspondence works both ways, it follows that Mother Earth might be on the same wavelength during the month of February.
Looking at the signs it’s easy to see that she definitely loosens up at this time of year; all of the fluids that give life to the world emerge from her womb as invisible currents of sap flow out of it, into the branches of every tree. In attunement with the liquids pouring out of her core the ewes and the cows, and all of the warm blooded creatures, begin to lactate. February is also the time when the birds start singing the songs that open their mating rituals.
If over-civilization has severed our connection to nature to the point where we are oblivious to these things, it doesn’t render them any less significant than they were to the Old Ones, thousands of years ago – and when we stop to connect with their deeper meaning, suddenly this time of hearts and flowers becomes something more than just a month-long opportunity to exchange love notes and play Spin-the-Bottle with our dream date. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that)
So what’s really going on here? For starters; what’s up with all this liquid? Why does the sap start running in February? And what about the milk; why do all of the warm blooded animals fill up with the mother tincture that supplies the next generation’s milk? What makes the birds know that it’s time to start singing their love songs? What triggers these things? What is it that arouses the Great Mother and turns on the waters of life during the month of February?
We know it isn’t Saint Valentine; he and ‘The Groundhog’ are Christian inventions who wound up here by default. They have absolutely nothing to do with it. The only thing we have to go by is the totem for Saint Valentine’s feast day, and what do you know; it comes in the shape of a heart. Whatever that image has come to mean to us, at its core it is only love. With that amount of information anyone willing to take a wild guess would be right on the money if they answered all of the questions in the previous paragraph by saying; ‘it is love that triggers these things’.
LIVE AND LEARN
I got into magic back in 1964. Since then, I have made a point to cast a Mid-Winter cross quarter circle either alone, or with a long line of friends who showed up over the years if they happened to be around when the time came. Sometimes these rituals were a totally spontaneous thing; at other times I went by the book, according to the Wiccan traditions that always perform their Mid-Winter, or ‘Imbolc’ ceremonies on, or near the 2nd of February. No matter how I decided to approach it, I knew that in order to get my magic to work I had to invoke the juices that pour out of the Great Mother and ask her to add all of my dreams and wishes in with the sap, and the milk, and the songs that are born out of the love that awakens in her heart on the date that falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox.
If I thought I had it all figured out, or thought that the Wiccan thing was all there was to it, I didn’t really get the picture until about 20 years ago, when I started exploring the mysteries of the human heart. In that time I have discovered that the creation process begins inside us, in a tiny space that lies hidden inside the heart. Whenever we enter that space, the visions that appear form the ‘stuff’ that our dreams and our lives are made of. Like the sap that rises into the trees, those visions flow upward, and in a process that gets stimulated by the tongue, whatever they consist of gets projected via the Pineal and Pituitary Glands out onto the spheres of consciousness that create and define our reality.
At this moment in time Mother Earth is deeply engaged, on a planetary scale, in the very same process that we use whenever we have a desire, or a dream, or a prayer. Her heart is wide open; the Valentines, and the chocolates, and the preoccupation with romance are there to remind us that she is in it, stirring up the love that feeds and nourishes everything in creation. For the next few weeks all of that female passion will rise up and increase until the Vernal Equinox, when the Goddess and the Sun come together at the Aries Point.
If we wanted to we could spend the coming weeks exchanging love notes and playing the games that people play whenever Saint Valentine and Cupid arrive on the scene. Anything done in the name of love would be enough, I suppose; but at this point, if we truly are “The ones we have been waiting for”, doesn’t it seem a little stupid to keep doing the same old thing? Knowing what we know, could we take the customary rituals to a whole new level and actually use this time of hearts and flowers to go into resonance with the Great Mother and begin stirring up the visions of the coming year?
Give it some thought. The heart is always there and it is timed to her rhythms. All of us have a desire, or a dream, or a prayer. The flood of love that is already pouring out of the Great Mother is full of life. This carrier wave has enough raw female power to turn on the Sun. Seen in that light, there is no better time than now to include everything we envision, for ourselves and for the planet, in with the love that is flowing out of her heart.”
I wish all of you a Happy Valentine’s Day, and invite you to take what you can from this week’s ‘scopes!
Horoscopes
ARIES: March 21 – April 20
You are trying to figure out how to get things to work with very little support from anything but 'little old you'. For whatever reason you stopped needing anyone to show up to save the day a long time ago. Depending on the way you slant things, you're either feeling sorry for yourself or you're in a groove that is teaching you a lot about how much strength we derive from knowing we can handle absolutely anything. The power of thought will continue to give you more to say about your life and about the way things go. Keep your heart open, and keep up the good work.
TAURUS: April 21 – May 20
Between a rock and a hard place there is only one option. Finding your way out of this mess will require you to change your MO. Yes, we know that you are real good at taking care of yourself, but right now, your tried and true methods, your tact, and/or your stiff upper lip aren’t working. It looks like people and situations have you by the shorthairs. Whoever, or whatever they are, ultimately you’re the person in charge. As you look at what it will take to shift the balance of power, take the bull by the horns and remind them that you are no pushover and that the jig is just about up!
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20
There’s always a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from being able to say, “I told you so”. You were right about this all along. Now that you’ve been vindicated, the ones who didn’t listen will want to patch up their differences. If that’s the way it goes, don’t lord anything over them and try to forgive them for messing up. This experience has taught you more about yourself than a hundred years of therapy. What you take from it won’t be clear for a while, but the first part of the lesson seems to be about knowing enough to stay humble and trust your intuition 100% of the time.
CANCER: June 21 – July 20
Isn’t it funny what a little time and a change of scenery can do for your perspective? The way things are going you’re wondering why you ever had a problem with this. For the next few months whatever you couldn’t seem to pull together in the past is going to come together in a way that will reaffirm your belief that this is all worthwhile. In between the realization that you really are on the right track and feelings of immense gratitude you might want to think about where this is all going to end up, and prepare the ground for whatever it takes to make it better.
LEO: July 21 – August 20
The desire to stand up for yourself or make your point is understandable, but it’s stupid to be honest with dishonest people. Do yourself a favor and let God dish out the justice. The more you try to reap revenge, or get those who have wronged you to see the error of their ways, the more trouble you will stir up. For someone who pretends to be in tune with letting it be, you should know better than to offer resistance. In some cases your troubles are being caused by the fact that you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Much of what’s messing you up could be fixed with a move.
VIRGO: August 21 – September 20
You are wise enough about worldly things to know how to move and shake them. The bigger part of you wants more than that. At the moment, you are walking the line that keeps all of us wishing we could move between the physical and the magical aspects of earthly experience without losing too much of the truth to one or the other. You have all kinds of reasons to entrench yourself in things that hold space for what money can buy. As you continue to pump life into those things, don't lose site of the fact that we weave everything we create, from within.
LIBRA: September 21 – October 20
The focus needs to be on the present. Too much dwelling on the past and the tendency to fret about the future is making it hard for you to know where you’re at with your life. Much of what’s come to pass in recent months appears to be a knee jerk reaction to things that seemed to be more than you could handle. The quick fix didn’t really solve much; it may have even brought you straight from the frying pan into the fire. Now that you’re here, check out the situation and come to terms with the fact that your future is being written by the things that are going on now.
SCORPIO: October 21 – November 20
In the middle of a huge turnaround, it’s unwise to make things harder than they have to be. You keep thinking that you have to go back to square one before you can get things to work, but if you look around, you have everything you need to move on to bigger and better things right here, in front of you. Others are definitely in your face about it, but that’s their problem. (And PS, it’s why you need to break free in the first place!!) With new people and influences showing up to distract you, be cautious, and ever watchful of the tendency to jump from the frying pan to the fire.
SAGITTARIUS: November 21 – December 20
Every now and then the whole ball of wax melts down, and whatever you’ve created turns into something else. On the verge of your next act, a lot of things will walk off the set and be replaced with people and situations that have more to do with who you are now. If others have a problem with this, give them time to get used to it, or be prepared to wave good bye. From what I can see you are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. If you choose to sit this out, you will wind up where you’re at now. If you choose to go for it, it will open the floodgates to a whole new life.
CAPRICORN: December 21 - January 20
You’re back at it again, doing whatever it takes to turn the tide. If your best laid plans are tied up in a web of frustration, it has a lot to do with the fact that others have not come through with the goods, or been able to keep their word. For a while there you thought you had your head above water. Between Murphy’s Law and a few extra added attractions, you can’t figure out what’s up with all of this. At times like this we have no choice, and the saying ‘Not my Will, but Thine’ calls us to give it up to God and trust that whatever is, or is not happening, is in his hands.
AQUARIUS: January 21 – February 20
You’ve got it made on a lot of levels. What happens next will add to the sense that you’re moving onward and upward. Holding space for this much success needs to be balanced with enough humility to keep your ego, and over confidence from going over the top. It’s a good thing life is going so well because this take the edge off some of the harder stories that have propelled you to get this far. As far as that goes, it’ll be a while before those things come up for review. For now, sit back and relish the fact that you’ve made it to the top with both hands tied behind your back.
PISCES: February 21 – March 20
You are beginning to feel like things are totally out of your hands. If this seems like a sign of weakness, fear not; you've reached the point where you understand that we can only live from moment to moment. With no firm sense of how all of this is going to come together, you don't need to do much of anything but stay honest and be as clear as you can when other people show up to distract you. Something alchemical is about to transform your life, and in the act of doing so, release you from Karmic debts that have all been paid off with your blood, sweat, and tears.
Copyright - Cal Garrison: 2018: ©