Where’s your Joy? Virgo New Moon and Equinox is rapidly approaching.

Delicious, lovely!  Happy Magickal, Mysterious, Merry, Melodious, Magnificent, Magickal Manifesting Monday!  

How are you?

Let’s talk about Joy shall we?  Where is your daily Joy metre sitting at?  Is it 90 out of a 100? 50 out of a 100?  Or are you having a dalliance in the negative numbers?  (There is no wrong answer to this and I will not be checking your homework!)

Now what do I mean by Joy?

Let’s differentiate between Happiness and Joy, they are both emotions, however Happiness may be caused by luck, good fortune, or other person-centric pleasures. 

Joy is caused by elation at a moment in time. Joy may not always be about oneself but be about others’ contentment also.

Joy is an emotion composed of feelings of happiness, contentment, and harmony. It differs from general happiness in that it is not caused by a particular event but comes from within the individual. … Joy is a generalised feeling that comes from the person.

To put it bluntly, Joy is an inside job!  

So let’s come back to the original question – Where’s your Joy metre sitting?

If your Joy metre is meh, come with me and write a list.  

Around mid June I noticed that my Joy metre wasn’t nearly as high as it normally was.  It was sitting at about 30/100.  It’s not that there was anything wrong in life, I love my clients, my work, but I had got into a tad of a rut of doing the same things over and over.  

Then near the end of July as the anniversary for my big sister approached and the grief rose up, yet alone the holding space for all the family, I realised it was down to 10/100 and by then I couldn’t seem to muster the energy to change it, it felt too hard (does that make sense?)

So the next day I managed to come down with Covid that kicked 7 bells of Hell out of me and my Joy metre went down to about a negative 50!  

Something had to frigging change and shift as this is not how I chose to participate in life.

So I made a list (not a to-do list, but a Joy list).

My list consists of 59 things or more that I want to see, try, do, feel, taste or experience.  All new things to me.  Note – this isn’t “what do I like”, but more “what am I willing to try that I might like?”

So far they range from trying a new hike, to eating pickled lemons, trying a hip-hop dance class, learning a new craft, trying out the ukulele, going to a new market, and a myriad of others.  

Some are simple and easy, some are a tad more complex.  Some cost money, others don’t, I just have to have the willingness and the curiosity to try something new and different and to look out at the world in a way that invites in new as well.

The miraculous part of making the original list is it ignited my sense of curiosity and playfulness and almost every other day I find myself adding something else onto the list that piques my interest.    So I’ve signed up for an “Alice in Wonderland outdoor escape adventure”, where the streets of downtown are turned into an outdoor escape room!

Since starting my list I have tried 6 new things, one of them being kayaking on the ocean and I will say my Joy metre is steadily rising, I feel much more grounded and I look forward to playing everyday.  And this time next year I will have a list of 52 or more “new to me” things I have tried!  

I invite you to try this process, it’s glorious fun and helps you shift your lens of perception.  

Give it a try.  What do you have to lose?  And if you want to go deeper there are 7 Steps to Reclaiming Your Joy that will help you as we approach this New Moon.

As August comes to a close, we welcome in the New Moon in Virgo on August 27th (Saturday).  

Now if you remember New Moons are a fabulous time for setting intentions and making New Moon wishes.  As Forever shares:-

“Falling in the earthy sign of Virgo, there is a grounded energy to this New Moon. It beckons us to sink our feet into the earth, to feel a part of all that surrounds us, and to remember that life is so much easier when we flow in harmony with the season of our lives.

Use the energy of the Virgo New Moon, to accept your reality, to bring yourself back down to Earth, and to recognize that your soul chose to be here, on this planet, at this time. It doesn’t really matter the reason, but knowing you are walking where you are meant to be walking, even if it doesn’t feel like it, can bring a sense of peace into your being. Allow yourself to find truth in that idea, whatever that looks like for you.

Give yourself permission to fully and wholeheartedly accept that you are right where you need to be, and all that is unfolding right now is leading you to your highest growth and highest expression of your soul.

How can you treat yourself as the sacred being that you are?

So as you make your New Moon Intentions (which will walk with you until March 2023), what will bring you more Joy, creativity, ease and flow and help you really honour yourself?

Okay, let’s crack on with the reading.  So when I went to the cards and asked who would like to guide and support this week I giggled when I saw it was The Oracle of Shadows and Light.  With the invitation to walk into the darkness of New Moon, they are positively perfect!

Now if these guides are new to you, please let me introduce them

Wisdom for Misfits, Mystics, Seekers, and Wanderers. 

Bittersweet…Unheard…Unconventional…Rebellious…Cheeky…Whimsical…Invisible.  They’re not the words you often hear associated with the spiritual world, are they?  

Nevertheless, some of the most spiritual beings who have ever lived are those who have been most at odds with what we call the mainstream.  They do not fit in.  They have had moments of despair.  And they know being truthful, and being real, is one of the greatest strengths and spiritual paths of all!  They ask you to step out from the shadows, to no longer hide your light away, and to consult with an oracle that acknowledges your individuality and strange genius!  

How’s that for a warm welcome?

So darling one, take a moment to just be here now (how many times have you heard that and ignored it?) Breathe deep into your belly, let your shoulders relax and allow in your minds eye the sensation of Joy to swirl. Let your Joy show you what her colours look like and give you images. Then when you are ready, pick the card or cards that whisper.

Did you remember to pick?

Let’s go look shall we?

SEWER MERMAID

Your sensuality is beautiful!

You’re being reminded of the treasures you have that you may have labelled “bad” and perhaps even pushed away, forced underneath.  We often have negative thoughts – that we are too short, too tall, our thighs too large, our breasts too small, our hair not right, our face not pretty enough.  We speak to ourselves in negative ways, and we begin to feel we are not good enough.  

And when this takes place, the result can be that we begin to create negative experiences, blockages, and difficulties.  

We push away, rather than attract them.  We hide for fear that what others see will not be good enough. 

But this mermaid of the hidden spaces is here to show you that your dark thoughts have told you lies about your great beauty; you are your own self, and all that you are is perfect, whole, and complete.  

You may try to push her away and refuse to believe that you are beautiful.  But when you are ready, she will swim to you and free you from all the harmful, negative thoughts and experiences, all the “sewage”.  You will begin to believe that no matter what, you are a beautiful being, healthy, attractive, and one who deserves love, respect, and affection.

It’s time to believe in yourself – that you are attractive, beautiful, and worthy of love and respect.  She will show you how to see your body as a place of health, delight, and strength.  Let’s clean up your physical and mental acts.  Let’s love all aspects of the physical self.  

Let us not criticise and hate ourselves, no matter our size, shape, or differences.  We are all unique expressions of the Divine – and that truth most certainly applies to you.  Let us not be ashamed anymore.  

Let us celebrate who we are, and learn to love the differences, and be grateful for all that we have, are, and will be.  

It is time to clean up your act – not of your natural looks, but of the way you have thought about yourself!  Something beautiful has been treated badly.  It is now up to you to begin to reframe your ideas and thoughts and therefore your experiences of yourself, your body, your worth, your ability to attract others, and to see yourself as worthy of love, respect, and consideration.

You are beautiful and very worth loving.  This is the only truth that must be told at this time.  

VIOLET DUCHESS

Stifled, bored and stuck.

Bored!  Stifled!  Ah yes, she’s trying to be “good” and “nice” and polite – but it’s not working.  This lovely and very passionate aristocrat has her fairy wings tucked firmly in, not visible at all, and is sitting stiffly, listening to someone give a lecture on manners.  

She’s polite on the surface, but it’s easy to see (and feel) that she is bored, frustrated, and ready to fly away at the first opportunity.  For now, she will bide her time, but  you can see the frustration growing beneath – and frustration is, after all, only your own life force, turned within, and longing to break free of its restraints.  

In your admirable quest for balance, you can actually become too neutral, pretending to be serene, acting polite, not making waves – and not speaking your truth!  Now that I’ve arrived showing you exactly how you feel, it’s time to discover – or rediscover – a raw and honest emotional reaction you had to a person, or to an issue, and express it. 

It’s all very well being a lover of harmony and not wanting to be a “troublemaker” but being a lukewarm person in regards to situations that really matter is not going to do you any favours.  

Bottling up your true self leads to unhealthy relationships, aches, pains, and even illness!  

Go for the passionate and truthful option – and rediscover just how strongly you can feel, and how much fun you can have! 

Your desire to be liked, to please to be seen as a “lady” or a “gentleman” is cheating yourself out of something wonderful that you deserve to experience.  Sometimes, there are rules that simply need to be broken.  Keeping to the spirit of the law sometimes means breaking the letter of the law, that’s how things change.  

There is a situation at the moment that has revealed itself as unjust, unfair, and absolutely unattractive to you, but you have yet to speak up! 

The most inspiring thing about this situation is that you’ll discover just how safe it is to stand up for what you truly believe in.  Others will be inspired, too, so while it feels like you’re taking a risk, at first, after a while you’ll realise you’ve started your own small revolution.  

THE THREE FATES

What comes around…..

It’s happening again!  Many of us have faced difficulty and troubled times in our lives.  Sometimes the impact of a negative experience is so profound that it leaves us with physical, mental, and yes, spiritual residue for months, even years, after the actual event.  

While you’re still vibrating – as the Three Fates put it – to the energy of a negative experience, you tend to repeatedly attract echoes of that exact experience.  

It seems you need another cosmic reminder of something that needs to be cleared and mastered.  Letting go is this moment’s very important lesson for you to learn.  It’s not about forgetting this lesson – because where’s the wisdom in that?

The Three Fates are suggesting that you move on and learn and actively replace this experience with completely different versions of the same theme.  No more repeats!  This is the opportunity to try something different, and see what magick takes place when you vary the approach!  

You may have been enjoying your own life’s reruns lately – wallowing through the memories and feeling sad, bittersweet, and nostalgic about the Good Old Days, whenever they were, exactly.

You know what?  It’s fine to muse on the past – your memories are precious and do need to be tended.

But it’s another thing altogether to be filled with regret, wishing you’d one things differently.  Life is a constant do-over.  You get a fresh chance every second you are alive.  So stop beating yourself up.  You have an opportunity to heal, to clear, to no longer hold onto and feel sad about the same thing anymore.

You can do things differently – you are not a prisoner of how they have always been done.  What  you have done – even if you judge it to be a mistake – can be reworked and learned from.  That is its wisdom!

You are so not alone – we all have karmic lessons, themes, stories that seem to repeat.  Learn from this.  Beware of what is taking place as a fateful encounter to master Life.  

If you take this approach, you’ll be all the richer for learning – wise, free, and able to help others, too.  

Okay seriously, frigging fabulous guides.  As we talked about Joy and then we expanded it with sensuality, bursting out of the confines and releasing the past – perfect for this New Moon on Saturday.  Sending you massive hugs and squeezes and have a fantabulous list.  Play with Joy!