Hey Beautiful!
Have you ever met someone with an “infectious” personality or an “infectious” laugh?
According to Webster’s Dictionary (when’s the last time you heard that phrase?? Lol) one definition of infectious is: “spreading or capable of spreading rapidly to others.” And one definition of viral includes: “quickly and widely spread or popularized.”
The medical meanings of this terminology is troubling, yet harmful diseases are not the only things that go viral. The popularity of TED Talks, for example, is based on “ideas worth spreading.”
Whether it’s your infectious vibes, your curious ideas, or your clever puns—this week, the universe invites you to let it ripple across time and space to reach people who could be positively affected/infected by it. Our society could use a “viral infection” of compassion, clarity, courage, truth…
In the fertile ground of this new moon, we can plant our intentions like making a wish on a plume of dandelion seeds and watching them go airborne, dispersing to take root in new places. Or maybe we’ll feel called to let ourselves be a fertile heart and mind receiving and nurturing the worthwhile ideas and dreams seeded by others.
The celestial conversation this week carries multiple meanings, and the notion of virality is really a prompt to reflect on the reality that the ideas, words, and actions of one person can have widespread influence or impact far beyond their individual self.
Unfortunately, people with harmful impact have been operating with this awareness. I hope more of us inclined to healing, equity, and wellbeing for all will begin to move with this awareness with greater depth and persistence.
Flavor of the Week: Accepting Your Virility
Astro-Ingredients:
Elaborating on this new moon’s invite to emanate viral vibrations, the sun and moon are meeting in Leo, the zodiac sign most associated with fame and popularity and of being seen in all senses of the word.
The new moon and sun are directly opposite, and thus tethered to, the planet Pluto in the sign of Aquarius. Pluto deals with transformation, death, and viruses in the literal and symbolic sense. The energy of Aquarius is the sign of collective society and humanity.
This axis of an individual exercising wholehearted, courageous authenticity (LEO) balanced with the collective of the people (AQUA) currently experiencing a rebirth of power (PLUTO) is what this call to go viral is all about.
This new moon is in direct conversation with Saturn and all of the outer, intergenerational planets (the planets that take an entire generation or more to orbit around the Sun).
This leads me to think the new moon won’t be a flash-in-the-pan, 15min-of-fame, viral moment. Rather, this moon will be a moment to plant the seeds of new ideas that will grow over time into new social ideologies, social systems and structures. So no worries. This week it’s enough just to be open to dreaming and imagining what could be. Then collectively and intergenerationally, we’ll find ways to plan, to build, to iterate, to practice what comes next.
“Now, everything I do, I do because I want to. And I believe the best is yet to come.”
This is why our flavor of the week is Accepting Your Virility. Yes, there’s the play on words between viral and virile (hopefully this doesn’t get me sent to spam). More than that, it’s a call to recognize and reclaim your power. You have power. You have power to seed something. You have power to create something. And WE have power to co-create in community.
Part of what I’m channeling as I write this is that part of our collective fears they have no power, while another part of our collective fears that they do have great power. If this is you, then you shrink from your own power because of all the instances, personally and societally, where great power amplified corruption, abuse, manipulation, harm, oppression, and exploitation. We shrink from our power because of too few examples where great power was wielded with integrity for collective good.
We must then leverage our capacity of imagination and communal accountability. The intention is not to become all powerful, but to think of our power as an individual voice in a chorus. The more of us who find our voices, have the courage to raise our authentic voices in harmony, the louder and more powerful the chorus becomes. A performing chorus of individual voices is actually a great analogy for the LEO-AQUARIUS axis of the zodiac wheel.
This is how worlds change. Will you be part of the critical mass of voices singing truth to power?
Tarot Ingredients: Eight of Earth, Three of Fire, Nine of Earth
“Once you clearly see your vision for where you and your work are meant to go, it’s a matter of habit as to whether you will get there. It’s about what you iterate… Keep up the good habits and you will find treasure of your own making ahead… What are you practicing?”
The Eight of Earth in this deck includes an image of pencil shavings, which I see as a visual representation of cultivating craft, habit, practice, and iteration, as well as the sharpening of ideas, skills, talents, and gifts, including spiritual ones, which for some of you includes writing (ergo: pencil shavings!).
Speaking of this question: What are you practicing? — our second card, the Three of Fire, reminds us that:
“Interdependence is a practice—our fate and luck come from the relationships we build and the ways we prepare for the lives we want… How can you prepare yourself to feel joy?”
The Three of Fire also indicates that many of us have already started planning, preparing, and practicing to feel joy and building the future we hope to see. And we have reason to be optimistic that what we do now matters for our futures as we persist.
“Love myself so heavy so thick so consistent that anything that comes my way bursts into love. As it should. As it should. Because love is my gravity and my air. Love is all that happens here. And here you are.”
The Gumbs quote paired with the Nine of Earth in the LOCT is a stunningly poetic expression of going viral. This is going viral in the best way possible. Going viral with love. How can we make our love so contagious that it spreads to anyone and everyone who gravitates into our orbits?
What’s Brewing? ☕️
New Coaching Offer coming in August!
I mentioned a few weeks back that my speaking and coaching is being revitalized! I’m really excited about the coaching service for those who want their spiritual cups filled to The Brim! It will be a premium extension of this email newsletter with monthly 1:1 live sessions, ongoing email support, and bonus email content focused on helping you build momentum toward your vision. It will be a monthly subscription, so no obligation to a predetermined amount of time. You can go at your own pace and pay based on the actual amount of time you need to reach your personal milestones.
Open Mic 🎤
For this week’s Open Mic feature, I pull from our quoted voices and welcome to our Soul Café virtual stage: Alexis Pauline Gumbs! Reading a brief five-minute poem saturated with ideas that deserve to spread…
