INNER ARTS COLLECTIVE

5/8/2020 3 Comments

Body Tools for Anxiety

by Alison Chan, Craniosacral Therapist

"Anxiety is nothing more than sensation in the body that we cannot manage, contain, and resolve, and release." (Irene Lyon, Somatic Experiencing practitioner)

We tend to think of anxiety as a mental issue -- having repetitive negative thoughts, constant worrying, etc. -- but anxiety can also show up as physical symptoms such as:

headaches and migraines
digestive problems or changed appetite
feeling shaky, dizzy, nauseous
not being able to focus, feeling scatterbrained
muscle tension, body pain
feeling jumpy and quick to startle
insomnia, going to bed far later than usual

Alison Chan

Registered Biodynamic craniosacral
Therapist (RCST®)

Today's post is the first of a series on understanding anxiety and addressing it through your body. Each time, I'll include one or two simple things you can do to help yourself feel calmer and more grounded.

Part 1: Your Body, the Survivor

So maybe you're working from home now but it's hard to sit still because you feel antsy. You might be having trouble focusing on tasks -- even sometimes literally, if your vision feels blurry. Or you know you have several things you could be doing right now but you feel kind of stuck and can't settle on one to tackle.

These are all signs that your body's in a survival state. At times like that, our nervous systems can feel really disregulated. And no wonder! We are currently in a situation where life and death is on the line; many of us don't know how we're going to cover the cost of living; our lives have been turned upside down. It's a hugely uncertain time.

At the same time, all these symptoms are actually part of an amazing survival strategy that your body has kicked into gear to protect you, through fight, flight or freeze (or a combination). The problem is that this nervous system response is only meant to last as long as a brief threat -- say, an attack by a cougar -- and then get dissipated in various ways.

But when the stress is ongoing, we have no way of discharging these energies and returning to a more regulated state. That's where working with our bodies can help.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be introducing a series of actions you can take to downshift your feelings of anxiety. You'll help your nervous system to take a break and hopefully experience some moments of calm!

Exercise: Feet, Seat, Breath Body Scan

You'll feel a difference immediately, and the more you do it, the more it helps to keep you grounded and keep your nervous system regulated.

For the first few times, try it sitting or lying down. Then you can adapt it for standing (say, for instance, standing in line).

Throughout your day, take a few moments to do this exercise. You can also do it anytime you start to feel antsy, scattered, or anxious.

Wherever you are, feel your feet in contact with the ground. Maybe wiggle your toes, move your arches. Notice sensations -- texture, temperature, pressure -- both on your skin and within your body.
Feel your seat -- if you're sitting or lying down, really feel the surface your bottom and thighs are in contact with; allow all your weight to be supported. If you're standing, notice the feeling of fabric touching the skin of your legs and bottom. You might shift your legs slightly if that makes it easier to feel.
Notice your breath without changing it. Feel the air moving in and out, your ribs expanding and contracting, raising and lowering. Relax your belly so it's soft. Feel how it moves with your breath.
To finish, notice if you feel a change in your body from when you started the exercise. For instance you may feel slower in your body, less tension in your face and jaw, easier breath.

That’s it! Stay tuned for the next post on using movement to help with anxiety.

How We Heal Panel Series:
Fear

Quelling Fear

5 Things You Should Know About Anxiety

3 Comments

4/23/2020 0 Comments

Quelling Fear

By Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa

The outbreak of COVID-19 can be stressful and overwhelming for both adults and children. According to the Centre for Disease Control, stress during an infectious disease outbreak can include:

Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones
Changes in sleep or eating patterns
Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
Worsening of chronic health problems
Worsening of mental health conditions
Increased use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs

(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html)

Did you know that elevated levels of cortisol also interfere with our capacity for empathy, learning, and memory retention? Daniel Siegal, psychiatrist and leading world authority in the fascinating field of interpersonal neurobiology, explains:

The release of stress hormones leads to excessive death of neurons in the crucial pathways involving the neo-cortex and limbic system - the areas responsible for emotional regulation (Siegel, 1996: 106).

Left unchecked, millions of brain cells in the hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex are destroyed - the areas of the brain responsible for human empathy and impulse control. (Wright, Camden-Pratt, and Hill, 2011). So many of the short-sighted, competitive, violent tendencies prevalent in our society are actually symptoms of a system that teaches fear, shame, and aggression rather than amity and collaboration. Be it the authoritarian, competitive ranking system of our school system, the deluge of "bad" news in the media, or the economic disparities maintained in our societies, it is easy to live in a constant state of self-focused anxiety and shame.

Tips and Solutions to Quelling Fear

Thankfully, we are innately a people of emotion and relationship. Social researchers Miburn & Conrad confirmed that individuals raised under punitive parenting styles tend to prefer harsher law and order policies domestically, and support war as a foreign policy, and oppose pro-environment policies (1996). If we are to take back our own minds and hearts, and create a better future, what can we do?

Sound Healer Valerie Moysey explained to me that the key is coming into coherence: "By introducing / reintroducing a resonant field, we come into coherence". By coherence, in this case, Valerie was referring to the Heart Math Institute's work, which describes coherence as a measure of the pattern in the heart's rhythm, which reflects an orderly and harmonious synchronization among various systems in the body such as the heart, respiratory system, and blood-pressure rhythms (Heart Math Institute, https://www.heartmath.org/support/faqs/research/)

"While a number of techniques can be used (grounding, sound, breathwork, nature, prayer, etc) to come into coherence, the result is an activated parasympathetic nervous system and slowed fight-flight response." explains Valerie.

1. Grounding

When we are afraid, anxious, or overwhelmed, we are ungrounded - we lose our sense of center, get swept off our feet, and lose our ability to make decisions clearly.

Grounding is a process of dynamic contact with the earth, with its edges, boundaries, and limitations. It allows us to become solidly real - present in the here and now - and dynamically alive with the vitality that comes from Earth. (Judith, A. in "Wheels of Life", p. 66)

When we are grounded, we can a sense of inter-connection with life, which brings clarity through stillness, and ultimately enhances our ability to make decisions easily, expand our consciousness, and manifest our goals. In this sense, grounding is quite literally "foundational" to all of the practices suggested in this article. But how do we get there? Valerie Moysey shared a number of easy strategies with me which one can do:

Drink water
Eat something nourishing
Rest

Go for a walk, feeling your feet
Pet your animals
Take time away from screens

Garden or put your feet on the earth
Exercise (eg., do 20 jumping jacks)
Stand with a tree

Valerie also speaks to the matter of "Entrainment" that happens when you spend time and proximity with a person who is grounded. Entrainment describes the way the body gradually syncs up with either a biological or external rhythm. In this case, when one who is in fear is with somebody who is not in fear, and that person is grounded, the fearful person will eventually become more calm. In this way, it is important to choose your company wisely, and ensure you give yourself the chance to resonate with others who are grounded and not in fear. This could be a friend, a family member, or even a paid practitioner. If you'd like to explore or discuss this further, please don't hesitate to connect with Valerie.

2. Take Heart

Human affection produces a biochemical mixture that creates growth in the brain's empathy centers (Gerhardt, 2004), literally building a more empathic brain. According to Heart Math Institute, approaching fear with ease and self-compassion rather than with mind struggle, is key. Heart-based practices for reducing fear:

In prayer or meditation, I would visualize love from my heart streaming into my mind and into all my cells to change my old fear imprints. While breathing, I would hold a conscious intention in my heart to change my old programs of fear and anxiety into feelings of intelligent concern (managed-concern)—which is a much more objective and less stressful attitude than the feeling of fear. (Heart Intelligence: Connecting with the Intuitive Guidance of the Heart, p.223-227).

Take a look at this brief video on the
HeartMath Quick Coherence Technique

For more resources, the Heart Math Institute has some really great tips for managing fear from a heart-based space here: https://www.heartmath.org/calendar-of-events/coronavirus-technique-for-reducing-and-overcoming-fear/

Coincidentally, in the middle of writing this blog, I came across an Instagram post by sculptural fibre artist Marina Dempster, whose craft is a transmutation of materials, thoughts and emotions. Marina's work explores human paradoxes: comfort and discomfort, stillness and action, acceptance and change. Her "Dear Friends // Near Enemies" series of tufted cushions explore the paradox in language and get us thinking more deeply about our unconscious beliefs, urging us to go within for our answers. The cushion that caught my eye was F/EAR, pictured below. I reached out to ask if she could describe for me her take on this piece, and how we move through fear, and her response really resonated with the need for self-compassion, kindness. This is what she said:

F/EAR by Marina Dempster http://www.marinadempster.com

When we have the courage to listen deeply to our fears we may just expose a blind spot or a tricky self-betrayal...we may discover ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’ or we may choose to ‘Face Everything And Rise’. We have an opportunity to ask ourselves if there may an unconscious belief which is the source of our perceived threat that may no longer serve us. A shift in perception may help us to find self-compassion rather than a judgment toward our feelings. By meeting our shadow selves in kindness, we may just find the comfort we seek. If the threat is real, all the more reason to honour your feelings and reach out for empowerment, empathetic support and protection. (Dempster, M.)

3. Breath

At a time when so many are struggling to breathe, it's easy to get caught up in the fear and forget to breathe ourselves. I mean REALLY BREATHE. We are always breathing, but doing so consciously gives us constant access to the sacred, and a tool to shift our attention to what is sustaining us.

Michele Meehan

Registered Psychotherapist and Shamanic Practitioner

If you would like to explore more ways to work with you breath to help quell your fears, increase your energy level, or clear emotional energy, please contact me.

Email Michele

Breath offers a powerful, natural way to transform our emotional state. Michele Meehan is a Registered Psychotherapist and Shamanic Practitioner who offers support for integrative healing to bring body, mind, heart and spirit into harmony using shamanic practices, integrative breath work, relaxation and visualization and rituals. In a conversation with her about how breathwork can help us move through fear, she emphasizes that the breath is the connector between body, mind, heart and spirit. This natural function provides us a gateway for transformation. She explains:

Working with our breath gives us a natural way to help mitigate the effects of fear or anxiety. When we feel fearful or anxious, our breathing tends to become shallow – this is a natural response, but it perpetuates the state of anxiety. Deepening the breath helps to shift our mental/emotional state. (Michele Meehan)

Michele explains that the first step is to bring awareness to the breath, noticing the sensation and movement. Then gently slowing and deepening it, we can activate a relaxation response. With practice, a slower, fuller breath will start to become a habit.

4. Vitamin N

Weather you are going for a walk or doing a grounding meditation with a tree, connecting with Vitamin N (N is for nature) has amazing effects on our health generally. Among the health benefits that are being researched, include the impact of nature on fear, anxiety, anger and depression. Researchers in Sweden have found that joggers who exercise in a natural green setting feel more restored and less anxious, angry, or depressed than people who burn the same amount of calories jogging in a built urban setting. Shinrin-yoku, the process of taking in the forest through our senses, was developed in Japan during the 1980s, and is now practiced across the world to reduce blood pressure and stress, while improving immune function, mood, sleep, energy, the ability to focus, and recover more quickly from surgery or illness. No matter your technique, getting outside and really experiencing the natural world can do wonders for releasing and moving through fear and anxiety. Take a look at the video offered here for an introduction to Shinrin-yoku, and consider it an invitation to give it a try!

Enjoy this introduction to Shinrin Yoku

5. Cleaning

While living in a culture that teaches accumulation, it is important to also spend time clearing the physical, mental and emotional debris that we collect. Creating space for the sacred, we bring awareness to the foundation of our being and learn to sift through and release what no longer serves.

7-Week E-Course for Healers and Changemakers with Deborah Brodey April 29-June 10

Outer and inner cleaning belong to the foundation of spiritual practice, and as the monk's broom touches the ground, it has a particular relationship with the Earth. We need to create a sacred space in order to live in relationship to the sacred within ourselves and within creation.
(Vaughan-Lee, L., and Hart, H., 2017)

Whether it's a daily ritual bath, tending to the feng shui of your home, doing a body detox, saging your home, clearing the thoughts that no longer serve you, dusting a shelf, or doing your laundry - it is important to extend your love to clear the clutter (physical, mental, emotional or energetic) as a regular daily practice. In one of her workshops, Deborah Brodey (Transformation Guide, Vini-Yoga Instructor and Sound Healer) emphasized the importance of "saucha", one of the first nyamas in Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, which translates to cleanliness, and there are a number of techniques to help do this. If you'd like to explore this and other Nyamas further, I highly recommend her Radical Self-Nourishment Program, designed for change makers.

6. Sounding Through Fear

When the vagus nerve in our bodies is overstimulated (eg., due to stress or fear) or inactive; the right frequencies can bring it back to normal working order.

“In your ear, there’s the vestibulocochlear nerve, which connects to the vagus nerve, the major parasympathetic nerve in the body. Your parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for relaxation and digestion such as reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and relaxing muscles. (Dr. Martinez-Perez).

"Sounding for a minimum of 5-9 minutes is one way to do this", explains Sound Healer Valerie Moysey. She has offered this simple process / technique to help us all sound through fear:

Get Grounded
Set your intention (to receive support through your fear, to move through fear, to release fear, etc)
Start with a monotone vowel sound (aaa; eeee; ooo; etc), beginning with the outward listening of the sound
When you're comfortable, begin to listen to the sound from within - it will actually become a multi-layered sound. Listen to it being made from inside, and it will carry you through all sorts of intense emotion.

Note: If you are experiencing intense fear or are having a difficult time getting grounded, it's important to have support. It could be a friend or a professional, depending on your situation - somebody you can feel safe with, and who is also grounded and not in fear, themselves. For guided support, contact Valerie: vmoysey@gmail.com.

Valerie Moysey

Sound healer and palliative support

If you would like to receive some guided support in sounding through your fear, Valerie is available for remote sessions.

Email Valerie

7. Prayer / Intention

The coronavirus pandemic is indiscriminate, affecting lives across races and religions. This global angst has simultaneously inspired interfaith unity and solidarity. There are examples around the world of leaders coming together across faith groups as well. On April 22nd, in fact, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze religious leaders in Israel were set to hold an interfaith virtual prayer Wednesday afternoon amid the coronavirus pandemic (The Times of Israel). In a Statement from the Parliament of World Religions, it invokes in us the need to "find new ways to bring comfort to one another, to cooperate with one another, and to overcome the ravages of disease and death." Meanwhile, the The Canadian Interfaith Conversation was pleased to participate in the development of the statement, "Hope, Gratitude and Solidarity: A Message to Canadians from Religious Leaders in Canada in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," released March 30, 2020. They also offered an interfaith message for spiritual and religious leaders to be beacons of support during these difficult times. "Together with over 80 leaders of religious communities, we pledged to "witness hope to each other and so become beacons of light during these uncertain times."

While we witness this outpouring of support and solidarity from spiritual and religious leaders around the world, many of us are also turning to prayer more and more in our own daily practices, to ask for support in with our fear. When we bow our heads, bring our hands to our hearts, or kneel on the ground in prayer, we open up to the invisible world and the intangible presence of our heart, mind, and soul. When we listen with all of our senses from this place, we connect, participate with, and witness the Divine and attune to the sacred.

Valerie also strongly recommended prayer: "Set a strong focus / intention for help, ask what is it that you need to move through this time, and listen to what comes through". It reminded me of this quote by Rumi, which seems to thread all of these tips and strategies together.

Make everything in you an ear, each atom of your being, and you will hear at every moment what the Source is whispering to you, just to you and for you, without any need for my words or anyone else's. You are - we all are - the beloved of the Beloved, and in every moment, in every event of your life, the Beloved is whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know. Who can ever explain this miracle? It simply is. Listen and you will discover it in every passing moment. (Rumi)

This quote really touches me, and the words can carry all of us through each of the practices recommended throughout this article.

May you be blessed by these medicines as you listen to, navigate, and learn from your fear, into a place of beloved expansion, compassion, and hope. And through all of this, please know that you do not need to navigate this alone. You are supported and loved.

Living Seasonally

Self-Care Tips for Spring

Sigil Making
to focus and manifest intention

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4/15/2020 0 Comments

Spring Reflections

By Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa

The shift from winter can now be felt as the streams thaw, life reawakens, and the buds emerge. Since the Spring Equinox in March, when the day and night were of equal time, the light has been gaining momentum. We can feel the effect in our own restlessness as the seeds and buds make their way to the surface.

Life emerging at the Rosseau Sanctuary

Historically, there are many myths and archetypes of reawakened life. Here are a few examples:

The return of Persephone from the underworld
Flora, the Roman goddess of Spring and flowers
Cerunnos, the Celtic god of nature and fertility
Ashanti the fertility goddess and Nyame the sky god in Ghana

The return to life has so many qualities that we experience in our own lives when we live seasonally. Renewal takes strength, endurance, and eagerness in order to amount to an abundant harvest. Just look at how hard yet how calm that seed has to work to reach up through the mud to the surface. Like those seeds, we need to root around in the dark, make mistakes, and clarify our boundaries. With the heightened energies abounding, fears and doubts also emerge as a barometer for change, exposing opportunities and processes to bring you us closer to peace, or expose an area in our journey that is being called to grow. Renewal also requires discernment around what to keep and what to release, to make room for the new - it's the perfect time for Spring cleaning, both inside and out.

5 Personal Reflections for Spring

Developing confidence in your innate ability to shed and rise up will both strengthen your connection to yourself as well as your ability to trust and surrender to your soul's yearnings. To help you on this road this season here are some personal reflections to consider:

Spring is a great time for asking Who Am I? Who WAS I? What makes me happy? What do I want to nurture? Let the questions pour out of you, paying attention to the guidance that you encounter in your daily life. This is the time to redefine and realign - what comes up for you?
What animals are crossing your path these days, and what do they have to tell you about what you're working through right now? You might check out Steven Farmer's "Animal Spirit Guides" book, or do some searches online for the metaphysical meaning of the animal that has crossed your path.
Allow the inspiration and creativity that is sparked within you at this time, to nourish your soul. What are you being inspired to do this year? Tune into the rhythm of your soul and trust the pace that your inspiration requires to express itself. While clarity will help you make a plan, remember that you can't rush the river, or a hurry a seed to bear fruit.
Do a chakra cleansing, and an energetic cleansing for your home. This will allow you to become more receptive, intuitive, and aligned with your core essence and how it is manifest in the temple of your body, mind, heart, and home.
Make a mind map of the following key words for Spring, how they are taking shape, and notice which are qualities stand out as priorities, areas to nurture, what needs to be cleared away, and what are the areas to heal:

Activate
Life
Awaken
Light
Beauty
Renewal

Beginnings
Calm
Innocence
Fertility
Purification
Youth

Gentleness
Healing
Hope
Increase
Rebirth

Blessings of Growth, Healing and Renewal,
Melanie-Dawn

Read more about Living Seasonally, by Melanie-Dawn

Interested in a palm reading or Reiki session with Melanie?

Click here to read more about Melanie and her services.

Session Info

Renew your heart and home with this PWYC palmistry workshop

April 26th, 1-4pm

Info and Reg

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4/13/2020 0 Comments

Living Seasonally

by Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa

Imagery of the Earth's seasons and cycles surround us every day, poking and prodding us to pay attention to the messages that each season has to offer. Seasonal Living is about listening to those messages. But with all that's going on in life, it's easy to pass these messages by, and it gets harder and harder to even see why listening to the signs of the seasons and living seasonally is so important.

Why should I live seasonally?

Each season has it's own unique attributes, purpose, mythos and medicine. When we shift our inner world so that it aligns with the natural world, we open up to a power that is deep, real, and empowering. As a divination arts practitioner, reading the signs and symbols in the world around me has become a very natural part of each day. But I remember when I didn't have this connection - it was a lonely, overwhelming, and confusing time. If we open up to listening to the messages in the seasons and cycles of nature, we will find some real gems to help us cope with our human experiences. Here are a few that come to mind:

1. We are not and never will be, truly alone. When we open up to the life that surrounds us in all things, we see how interconnected we are with it. Like trees sharing a communication system beneath a forest floor, we are not separate from nature but a part of it. Separation is illusion.

Bees are a symbol of community, brightness and personal power, while Echinacea is a medicine for strengthening one's core integrity, integrating a sense of Self, and strengthening the immune functions. What a strong and affirming message to hear when I was asking myself if a particular business partnership was the right fit for me.

The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.

~Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

2. All things have a time. There is a rhythm to all life, including our own. Tuning into the rhythm of the sun, moon, stars, and the cycles of growth and decay, connects us with a deeper pulse and the ability to cope with the ebb and flow of our own life in all it's stages.

3. Awaken the sacred in everyday life. When we live seasonally, we realize quickly that all of nature is sacred, our own included, and that the sacred surrounds us and moves through us. Connecting with this truth through seasonal living is awakens a deep truth and awareness that we can access wherever we are.

4. Access the plethora of medicine and wisdom that nature provides. Each day we pass by medicine and wisdom teachers without realizing it. The animal, plant, mineral and water kingdoms are rich with medicine and teachings, guiding us and mirroring the wisdom that lies within, every single day - we but need to listen.

Personal reflections on living seasonally

To live seasonally, it might be as simple as noticing and accepting what you have in that moment, and in that specific time of the year. If it's pouring rain outside, you might choose to go within, or to step out into the storm and wash it all off. Try taking advantage of what each season has to offer, doing things best suited to that particular season.

If you're wondering how to get started, here are some reflective questions to ask yourself:

What am I yearning for and how does that yearning show up in nature? How does nature respond?
How can I show up for myself more, and how does nature support me in that?
What is the phase of the Moon? Learn how to incorporate the lunar cycles into your own monthly cycle.
What is the stage of growth or decay that is showing up in the season? How does it reflect or mirror my own processes?
What myths and archetypes are associated with the season, and how are those myths playing out in my own life?

All of these reflections and contemplations are empty without a very important ingredient - you are required to spend time in nature - walking, breathing, sitting, and sensing. More and more, you will see that living seasonally isn't about a place you have to go or having the perfect conditions. It is around us and within us all the time, with every step. Living seasonally is a state of being, and the foundation of life.

Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa

Melanie is a mother, eco-spiritualist, palm reader, reiki practitioner, and owner of the Inner Arts Collective.

About Melanie

Looking for other ways to enjoy the season?

Our Members are offering opportunities to tune in, nourish your soul, and keep connected to yourself and the world around you. All within the comfort of your home, while we work through this time of social distancing.

7-week e-series with Deborah Brodey starting April 29th

Monthly shamanic drumming circle with Michele Meehan. Next circle April 30th 6:30-9pm

Learn palmistry with Melanie-Dawn. Next workshop to be held April 26th from 1-4pm.

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11/25/2019 1 Comment

Infinite possibilities: Welcoming the New Moon in Sagittarius + Neptune direct (by Liz Worth)

“I’m so tired of feeling like I’m in a rut, running around in circles, doing so much but not doing the things I want…”

Does this sound familiar?

It’s been a common theme in the conversations I’ve been having with people this season. It seems like we’re all so…busy. Busy catching up, busy watching the clock, busy checking emails, busy with the errands and the chores and the plans we’ve made…

And as soon as a window of time becomes available to be alone, at home, with nothing to do…another invitation, text message, or task appears to fill that space.

It’s not always easy to carve out time to step back and look at the bigger picture of where all of your energy is going each day.

If you’re pouring yourself into the things you love and want to do, it’s a lot easier to go with the flow and feel aligned with the hustle and bustle.

But if you’re feeling resentful, burned out, over-committed, under-appreciated…

If you’re realizing that days, weeks or even months have gone by since you last had time to work on your art, read a book….

…or just have a day where you could do whatever you wanted, without having to watch the clock or plan your whole day around a specific schedule…

The days ahead give you a window of opportunity to step back and take a bird’s eye view of where your energy is going, and whether it’s time to redirect it elsewhere.

The New Moon in Sagittarius arrives on Tuesday, November 26 at 10:06 am. This is a new threshold in the rhythm of life that encourages you to reconnect to creativity, freedom, and spontaneity.

In today’s world, “freedom” can make some people bristle: “How dare you even think about working less, doing less, or saying no when we are all supposed to be producing, hustling, and available at all hours?”

But that’s the issue, isn’t it? The relationship we have constructed with time, productivity, and efficiency is so entwined with guilt that some of us have forgotten that we’re allowed to question why we do what we do.

Here’s the thing: Change is always possible.

It doesn’t have to be drastic, or dramatic. It doesn’t have to happen overnight. It doesn’t have to rock all the boats in your dock…but it may cause a wave or two.

That’s okay. The fiery energy of Sagittarius offers a boost of confidence to create a little more freedom, fun, and excitement in your life.

The Sagittarius New Moon can remind those around you that you are capable of saying no if you need help in that arena. And like the Eight of Pentacles, it encourage you to think about new possibilities and experiences.

On Wednesday, November 27, Neptune goes direct after being retrograde since June. This imaginative, poetic planet will help encourage you to nurture more of your dreams, make more time for creative pursuits, and manifest a gentle dream into reality.

If you are ready to look to a new horizon in your life, create new freedom, and expand your energy into the things that matter most to you, my New Moon Meditations are specifically designed to help you create the life you want to be living.

Get your meditations in time for Tuesday’s New Moon in Sagittarius and start making the changes you’re ready for now.

What will become possible for you this week?

Until next time,
Liz xo

p.s. If you’d like to work with the New Moon in Sagittarius using tarot as well, here’s a spread that will help:

1. What does freedom mean for me at this time?
2. What can I do to feel freer?
3. What is it time for me to focus on?
4. What dream of mine wants to become real?

1 Comment

11/18/2019 1 Comment

Are you ready for Sagittarius season? (Plus: Updates on Mercury retrograde + more) - by Liz Worth

If you have been struggling to take action, or get back to yourself lately…
Or stay focused on your priorities, you might want to check in with Mars.

The planet of action has been stretched a bit thin in the sign of Libra since October 4, putting an emphasis on relationships, community, and social time.

Which are not bad things at all. But in Libra’s people-pleasing world, Mars sometimes has trouble saying no, or sticking to its own to-do list. Except rather than slacking, it tries to do it all.

If you’ve been trying to be everything to everyone lately, or you’ve said “yes” more times than you should have, things can start to calm down when Mars enters Scorpio on Tuesday, November 19 at 2:40am.

Mars is powerful here. It’s a time to regain control over your intentions, your schedule, and your energy. To recharge your batteries in Scorpio’s quieter terrain and reconnect to some of the plans or projects that may have gotten pushed off to the side since early October.

Another factor that can help get things back on track is Mercury stationing direct on Wednesday, November 20. After being retrograde since October 31, the planet of communication, strategy, and ideas is getting ready to go

I have shared before that Mercury retrogrades can be fertile creative times. New ideas, perspectives, or opportunities can present themselves during these times – if you are paying. If you can, take some time to reflect on any breakthroughs, questions, or ideas that have come up for you in the last few weeks.

While it might not have felt like the right time to take action on anything just yet, those thoughts might actually be new windows of opportunity that you can open up in the weeks and months to come.

On Friday, November 22, the Sun enters Sagittarius, bringing Scorpio season to a close for another year. This is another dynamic shift in energy, as we resurface from Scorpio’s intense depths and warm up in Sagittarius’ warm, fiery influence.

As a fire sign, Sagittarius wants to envision, create, and experience. The Three of Wands is supporting this week’s message, asking, “What is your next step? What is on the horizon that you are ready to move towards?”

The pace of life can change towards the end of the end, and any hesitation or distraction you’ve experienced lately can start to lift.

It is all systems go from there on in.

Until next time,
Liz xo

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11/11/2019 1 Comment

How to work with this week’s Full Moon in Taurus (by Liz Worth)

Here’s a question to meditate upon this week:

What is your relationship to growth?

Growth can come in many forms. It can be personal growth, such as maturity, better self-care plans, or deeper self-awareness.

It can be professional or financial.

It can be health-related, such as making conscious choices or changes that take you from one state to another.

Whatever growth might mean for you right now, and whatever kind of growth you might be focused on, this week’s Taurus Full Moon highlights themes of growth.

Arriving at 8:34am EST on Tuesday, November 12, this week’s Full Moon connects back to the New Moon in Taurus back on May 4.

Did you set any intentions around that time around stability or security? What were you hoping to solidify around that time? Was anything feeling tenuous, or due for a change?

This week’s Full Moon encourages you to check the strength of your foundation. Like the Emperor card in the tarot, this energy likes to be firm and solid, without any wavering.

That being said, full moons can also highlight necessary changes or cycles that are coming to a natural conclusion.

When you commit to a specific kind of growth, it often comes with some kind of sacrifice or ending, like a lifestyle change, or a commitment that has run its course.
Things might be due for a change at this time, but you can also find signs of progress emerging this week, too. The key is staying clear about what you intend to make happen, and how you want to get there.

If it helps, here is a tarot spread to connect with this week’s Full Moon in Taurus:
1. What is my relationship to growth at this time?
2. What is coming full circle for me during this Full Moon?
3. What has taken root since the spring?
4. What can I do to nurture my path moving forward?

Until next time,

Liz xo

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11/4/2019 0 Comments

It’s the last Mercury retrograde of 2019. Here’s what I want you to do (by Liz Worth)

Mercury went retrograde last Thursday, October 31 in the sign of Scorpio, where it will continue to backtrack until Wednesday, November 20.

This year’s Mercury retrograde periods have all taken us through the watery depths of the zodiac. First it was Pisces, then Cancer, and finally Scorpio this fall. These periods have been ripe for intuitive development, self-reflection, and heart-centered decision making.

Take a moment to reflect on the kind year 2019 has been for you, as well as what you’re noticing in the world around you.

Maybe you’ve taken a big leap of faith this year.

Maybe you’ve started to make changes in the way you think or make decisions, especially if you tend to ignore your heart and listen exclusively to your head.

Maybe you’ve reconnected to your spiritual self, or awakened to a spiritual side you didn’t know you had.

This year has been a strange ride in many ways, but I think for many of us it will also be one that we later look back on and see as a major turning point in many ways, too.

Mercury retrogrades always get attention when they happen. We start blaming all kinds of things on them: travel delays, busted computers, lost emails. But what’s important to remember is that all astrological events, including Mercury retrogrades, are part of larger cycles and stories.

They are not stops-and-starts along the path, and are not meant to be looked at as isolated incidents. They are part of the seasons of your life, and part of the fabric of the collective and universal energies we all experience together.

There may be things that have happened to you this year that were painful and confusing. When Mercury travels through the element of water, things get distorted. People aren’t always thinking as clearly, or presenting themselves as honestly as they could be.

Misunderstandings arise because it’s hard to hear when your head is under water, which is what is happening to us right now. Mercury rules the mind, and it’s swimming in the ocean right now.

These are the times when you really start to see that not everyone thinks like you do. Or feels like you do. Or wants what you do.

And that can lead to personal transformation that comes in many forms.

In the Two of Pentacles pictured above, we see a person in motion, putting one foot in front of the other.

It is a reminder that life is always in motion, that every day brings an opportunity to take another step forward. During Mercury retrograde, those steps might sometimes feel slower, or like big detours. You might zigzag, or hop from side to side, wondering, “when will the road even out again?”

Relationships, plans, dreams and aspirations don’t change because astrology made it so. They change because they all have seasons of their own, and no season lasts forever.

So I want you to think about Mercury retrograde as being part of a bigger story that you are living through. I also want you to think about any changes you are going through and how they fit within the seasons of your own life.

Ask yourself: “What part of the plot is unfolding for me now?”

Until next time,

Liz xo
If you are looking for clarity and guidance along your path, I have some availability for private readings in November and December. You can connect with me from anywhere in my virtual office. Book an appointment here.

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9/23/2019 0 Comments

Welcoming the Fall Equinox and the Libra New Moon

Liz Worth

Tarot reader, AStrologer, and Author

Check out these New Moon Meditations to help you with the coming moon:

LizWorth.com

Libra season has begun: The Sun slipped into the sign of the scales earlier this morning, at 3:50 am EST.

Libra initiates us into the fall season. The scales are perfectly balanced with equal measures of night and day. Symbolically, this turning of the wheel can be a powerful time to retreat into personal ritual – even if only for a few moments – to reflect on what is balanced on your scales.

I pulled the Five of Swords for this week’s message. In working the Cosmic Tarot, the image we get is one of surrender. A person is flat on their back, centered in a pose that may suggest renewal, or ritual.
On the dry land depicted here, perhaps they are waiting for rain, or simply resting.

What have you been waiting for this year that hasn’t arrived yet? What kind of work have you done to invite it in?

In my work, it’s not uncommon for people to come to me with the assumption that a reading will tell them exactly what’s going to happen in their lives: They ask for the date they will meet their future love, the gender of their yet-to-be-conceived children, the name of their next employer…as though it’s already set up for them and all they need to is wait.

Well, are those people ever surprised when I tell them I don’t believe the future is written yet. They assume I do, because much of my work looks ahead to what’s coming up. Even when I write these weekly message, I am connecting to what’s coming up.

Also, we have been conditioned (and misled) to believe that tools like tarot and astrology grant us omniscience.

But through my work, I am looking at energies, themes, and the possibilities they hold. I am looking at the strongest inclinations those energies may have, or the types of activities an astrological event or a tarot card can best support or suggest.

But there is no better certainty to landing at a destination than paying attention to what your own energy pours into. Which is why being present to where you’re at right now is just as important as paying attention to what’s up the road.

The Fall Equinox is a wonderful time to check in on what your energy is flowing into.

Change your schedule to move towards more of what you want. Correct any imbalances in your priorities, boundaries, and sense of time.

And by all means, don’t forget to look at what you are doing to rest, renew, and recharge amongst it all.

This Saturday, September 28 brings the Libra New Moon at 2:26pm EST. Venus and Mercury are also in Libra right now; this weekend will be emphasized by the element of air, making each of us more open to connection and conversation.

Libra likes to get to know you. It likes to be inspired, and likes to take time for beauty, art, and elevated senses.

What are you hoping to make a little more room for these days that will help you feel more inspired about the world around you?

Now is the time to get clear about what will make your life feel a little more beautiful to you.

If you sometimes struggle to keep your energy focused on your own priorities and want to clear your head so that you can take better control over your time, my New Moon Meditations will help.

These guided meditations take you through each New Moon to help you shape the life you want to be living. Get ready for this weekend’s Libra New Moon by purchasing these meditations today.

Until next time,

Liz xo

p.s. Want to connect with this weekend’s New Moon in Libra through tarot? I’ve got a spread for you right here:

1. What is coming into harmony for me?
2. What is out of balance at this time?
3. Where is my energy being misdirected?
4. What can I flow my efforts into instead?

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9/16/2019 0 Comments

Checking the strength of your foundation with Saturn direct (with Liz Worth)

Liz Worth

Tarot Reader, Astrologer, and Author

LizWorth.com

This is a week to check the strength of your foundation.

Saturn stations direct on Wednesday, September 18 at 4:47 am. The planet of commitment and restriction, discipline and boundaries has been retrograde since April 29.

Throughout that time, you may have found yourself working through some of those themes. Late spring and summer have been asking all of us to pay attention to where our energy leaks away unnecessarily.

That energy can come in the form of money or finances, work or responsibilities, or loose boundaries that end up blocking us from making the kind of progress we want to see.

With Saturn conjunct the south node in Capricorn, there is something fatalistic about the doors we might find ourselves closing the year. There is something weighted to the decisions to break our patterns, to “get it right this time” or “quit for good and never look back.”

Take some time this week to reflect on the changes that have occurred for you since late April:

Where have you decided to take your work more seriously?
Where have you defended your time or priorities, and drawn protective barriers around your commitments?
Where have you buckled down, put in the work, and committed to grow?
Where have your weak spots been exposed, and what has felt vulnerable?

Saturn retrograde can sometimes bring up things that worry us, because it shows us where the work remains, or where we need to improve.

But the purpose of these lessons is not to send you running in the opposite direction: No, Saturn wants you to do the work. It rewards those who fix those leaks and prevent future cracks from forming in the foundations of their lives.

Like the Queen of Pentacles, Saturn reminds us that there is no such thing as overnight success, and quick fixes are always too good to be true. The real secret to success is developing a sense of discipline and patience, accepting that anything worth having is worth waiting for.

So check the strength of your foundation as Saturn prepares to move ahead. If you have been neglecting any work, make a promise to yourself to tend to it this week.

As Saturn picks up speed again, he will begin to deliver building blocks to add to your foundation – and you’ll want make sure you’re able to sustain the new opportunities that come.

Until next time,
Liz xo

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YOUR CART

Body Tools for Anxiety

Part 1: Your Body, the Survivor

Exercise: Feet, Seat, Breath Body Scan

Quelling Fear

Tips and Solutions to Quelling Fear

1. Grounding

2. Take Heart

3. Breath

4. Vitamin N

5. Cleaning

6. Sounding Through Fear

7. Prayer / Intention

Spring Reflections

5 Personal Reflections for Spring

Living Seasonally

Why should I live seasonally?

Personal reflections on living seasonally

Looking for other ways to enjoy the season?

Infinite possibilities: Welcoming the New Moon in Sagittarius + Neptune direct (by Liz Worth)

Are you ready for Sagittarius season? (Plus: Updates on Mercury retrograde + more) - by Liz Worth

How to work with this week’s Full Moon in Taurus (by Liz Worth)

It’s the last Mercury retrograde of 2019. Here’s what I want you to do (by Liz Worth)

Welcoming the Fall Equinox and the Libra New Moon

Checking the strength of your foundation with Saturn direct (with Liz Worth)

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YOUR CART

Part 1: Your Body, the Survivor

Exercise: Feet, Seat, Breath Body Scan

Tips and Solutions to Quelling Fear

1. Grounding

2. Take Heart

3. Breath

4. Vitamin N

5. Cleaning

6. Sounding Through Fear

7. Prayer / Intention

5 Personal Reflections for Spring

Why should I live seasonally?

Personal reflections on living seasonally

Looking for other ways to enjoy the season?

Archives

Categories

Location - 257 Danforth Ave Toronto

Contact UsE | melanie@innerartscollective.com​T | 416-569-7241MEMBER ORIENTATION PACKAGE

Contact Us

E | melanie@innerartscollective.com
T | 416-569-7241

MEMBER ORIENTATION PACKAGE