Search Happy Ganesh Astrology

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Happy Ganesh interviewed bestselling young adult author Nancy Garden on TMW Radio!



"Be true to yourself and your own dreams. Remember that you're supposed to be who you really are. Whether you're straight or GLBT, or a dreamer or a doer, an artist or a scientist, a person who works with others or who works alone, all of those things are ok, if they are you, if they are honestly who you are." -- Bestselling Author Nancy Garden, in tonight's interview

------------------------

I am delighted to report that the Nancy Garden interview aired tonight on April Claxton's The Movement Within Radio Show!

It was the fulfillment of a dream to talk to Nancy Garden, who is the author of over 35 books for children and teens, including the groundbreaking and controversial 1982 novel Annie on My Mind. She's a woman who has learned to stand up to injustice, and is a passionate defender of free speech. Whether she's writing for children or teens, her books explore universal themes, from love and self-acceptance to courage and tolerance. Above all, she writes about what it means to be yourself and accept yourself unconditionally. I was honored to interview one of my personal heroes tonight.

Garden's books have won several awards from the American Library Association, and have enjoyed critical and worldwide acclaim. In the 90s, Annie on My Mind was the subject of a censorship suit and won with help from the American Library Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Garden and I spoke about issues of personal bravery, tolerance, and courage. We also discussed bullying in schools and ways to stop it - and ways to provide support.

If you are reading this and know someone who is bullied in school FOR ANY REASON, please know that that child is are not alone. Please help that child to know that they are beautiful and perfect just the way they are.

If you know of a young adult who needs support for GLBTQ issues, please go to The Trevor Project, or Lisa Smith's wonderful brainchild Outminds.net.

To learn more about general bullying support groups, check out OvercomeBullying.org.

All my love and light to you out there. Thank you for being who you are and showing up for your life.  There are so many lights within us and together, we can light up the world.

Love, love, love. And more love.

Friday, December 10, 2010

HG December Newsletter - and Full Moon AND Eclipse in Gemini!



[caption id="attachment_117" align="alignleft" width="278" caption="Happy Holidays from Happy Ganesh!!!"][/caption]

There are many big astrological changes coming our way. We've just passed the New Moon in Sagittarius, with all of its manifestation potential, and we're heading into a Capricorn Mercury in Retrograde on Friday, December 10th. What does this mean?


Mercury and Mars
As always, keep receipts for electronics and make allowances for the possibility of technology and travel dragging their metaphorical feet. As with any Retro, we're looking at old friends returning. However, with both Mercury Retro and Mars in sturdy, slow-up-the-hill Capricorn, we're deep in the slow learning process. Communication (Retro) may seem frustrating, but with Mars (motivation/sex) in Capricorn, we're going to be buoyed upwards on the lessons we're learning. Some sample Mars Capricorn issues may be:




  1. Turning away from the flighty for the substantial.

  2. Accepting that slow growth is often the best.

  3. Making difficult and important decisions about long term plans.

  4. Being attracted to Capricorn "types" - serious, clear-eyed folks who value substance over flash.

  5. RESPONSIBILITY -  for your own "mountain climb" to the top.


Also, Mars and Mercury meet on the 13th, giving us insight into our path.

The New and Full Moons AND a Lunar Eclipse!

We've just passed through the New Moon in Sagittarius on the 5th, and the Full Moon in Gemini on December 21 will close out the cycle. Remember, New Moons open the door to energy; Full Moons close the door and help prepare for a shift. Full Moons help us to let go - and it's believed that they also bring the manifestations and dreams of the New Moon into fruition. However, this one will be a doozy because Dec. 21 not only brings us the Full Moon, but it also brings us a lunar eclipse. So, to sum up, our Full Moon in Gemini on Dec. 21 (at 29 degrees, which will also match with the Sun in Sag at 29 degrees, making for an uber-powerful connection) will also be a lunar eclipse, imbuing us with the power of intense change. Eclipses make their presence known! They bring us the kind of change that we may not see for weeks later - and they also test our boundaries. According to astrologer April Kent, it's during a lunar eclipse that "something wants to be brought into being." The push/pull between the New Moon in Sag and the Full Moon/Eclipse in Gemini will ask us what our beliefs are. Are our beliefs about travel and communication local (Gemini) or international (Sag)?


Curious about how the eclipse will affect you? Want to schedule a reading? Contact me.

As we begin the end of 2010, I wish all of you wonderful joy and health, parties with friends and loved ones, and many blessings!

Friday, December 3, 2010

New Moon in Sagittarius; Upcoming Mercury in Retrograde!

[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sagittarius"][/caption]

New Moon in Sagittarius

Whenever the New Moon comes along, it's time to manifest! The New Moon goes into Sagittarius on December 5, 2010. Sagittarius energy looks at expansive growth. It ushers in a perfect time to manifest luck, communication skills, and anything to do with higher education, travel, or publishing. Sagittarius energy is boisterous, fun, and larger than life! Astrologer Jessica Adams once found that several famous travelers, philosophers, and comedians had Sagittarius in their charts. Among them were Robin Williams, Paul Reiser, and the cast of Monty Python. The New Moon in Sag encourages us to dream big and live large! Enjoy yourself, which is a rather perfect message for this holiday season!

Some sample manifestations for this New Moon might be

I ask for the power to directly say want I mean. (Sags are direct!)

I ask to clearly manifest international travel to ____ country into my life. (Sagittarius energy adores travel - and the further away from home, the better!)

I find myself easily attracting lucky and expansive situations into my life. (Sag energy is naturally lucky!)

I find myself easily enrolling in _____ class.  (Sagittarius is the planet of higher education and learning.)

I find myself easily enjoying myself in boisterous and fun situations! (Perfect for the holiday season!!!)

I easily create joy and laughter in my life. (Sagittarius energy loves to laugh and enjoy!)

Mercury in Capricorn (Retrograde) and Mars in Capricorn

Mercury went into earthy Capricorn on November 30th. Now, we're on the cusp of Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn, beginning December 10 and going until December 30.  As with all retrogrades (more about that here) this is going to guide us to focus our attention on the areas of communication and travel. To sum up, during a retrograde

  • Don't sign on the dotted line unless it's for something from your past.

  • Redo, Rethink, Reflect.

  • Back up computers.

  • Careful with spoken or written communication.

  • Old friends or lovers (with, in this case, Capricorn planets) may resurface during Capricorn Retro in order to heal past events.


However, intuitively, I feel that this retrograde is going to be much softer with us. Why? Because for most of the time that Mercury Capricorn is in Retrograde, it will also be aligning with Mars in Capricorn.

Mars signs bring us our life force. In a natal chart, our Mars sign shows us how we act or react in the areas of sex, motivation, or aggression. It's how we get mad or sexy; it's how we get MOVING. Right now, Mars is in slow-and-steady-wins-the-race Capricorn. Capricorn is a slow climber by nature. Goats achieve their goals carefully and slowly, charting out every step along the way. Ruled by Saturn, Capricorn is ambitious and determined. Plug this energy into Mars and we may feel like we're not getting anywhere. The wonderful thing about Capricorn energy is that it moves us along. Just when we think we've not done anything or we're not moving fast enough, we look down and see we've climbed the entire mountain. This may be a very interesting time, career wise for a lot of people for this reason. Mars in Capricorn will keep us moving, while Mercury (Retrograde) Capricorn will remind us (with the natural look-before-you-leap Capricorn attitude) to slow down and check our communication. As retrogrades go, I feel this one will be fairly stable, due to that.

Want to know more about how these planets will impact you? Schedule a reading with us here or ask us a question here.

Happy Holidays from Happy Ganesh!

Image reprinted with permission from the following source: Jacopo Montano (Uranographia, Johann Bode) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Saturday, November 13, 2010

HG interviews Annie On My Mind's Nancy Garden on TMW Radio! Dec 13th!



On December 13th at 6:30 PM EST, I'll be be guest hosting my good friend April Claxton's  "The Movement Within Radio Show" to interview award winning author Nancy Garden. Nancy Garden is the author of over 35 books for children and teens, including Annie On My Mind (1983)  an American Library Association award winner and a Booklist Review's Choice.  Annie On My Mind, first published over twenty years ago, depicts the tender love story between two teenage girls and their fight for acceptance and equality. Since its publication, Annie On My Mind has been voted #48 on the ALA's list of 100 Most Frequently Banned or Challenged Books. Garden’s books have an important message for today’s youth, especially those experiencing anti-gay bullying or trying to find their own voice .

Garden continues to explore themes for GLBT and GLBT-friendly youth in her career. I'll talk to her about her experience as a writer, her coming out journey, why her work is so important to GLBT youth today, and how her fiction has helped her and her readers to "Move Within". "Tune In To Move In" with me, as I guest host April's TMW Radio with Nancy Garden on December 13th from 6:30-7:30 EST.

(And a special thanks to The Movement Within's CEO April Claxton , who is generously letting me co-host her wonderful radio talk show, and whose love, energy, and endless inspiration touch all around her.)

-------

Happy Ganesh is also a proud supporter of the It Gets Better anti-bullying project. Happy Ganesh, Inc. is all about breaking through barriers - and hate can be a strong barrier, especially if sometimes it feels like the whole world is against you and you're feeling lost and alone. Geared towards GLBT or questioning teens in response to the recent rash of suicides (among them, 15-year-old Billy Lucas), the It Gets Better project features wonderful, inspirational videos from politicians like President Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to entertainers like Kathy Griffin and Glee's Chris Coffer, or businesses like Gap, to brave, inspirational, everyday people willing to share their stories of how their lives "Got Better".

It Gets Better/Trevor Project was begun to spread hope and prevent bullying-related suicides among GLBT youth but the message of love, acceptance, and hope is for ALL humanity. This is for anyone who's ever felt taunted, abused, hurt, or shamed. This is for anyone who's ever wondered if their situation will improve or how they are going to make it another day. This is about letting out your own light and letting it shine, shine, shine with self-love and pride. Be proud of who you are. Every inch. Warts and all.

For more GLBTQ support, go to Outminds, a wonderful web-based network of support and acceptance run by some very, very old friends of mine. They're good people and they'll treat you right. Tell 'em Happy Ganesh sent you!

If we work together, and let our voices of love and tolerance shine, there is no room for hate. Don't give up. You are loved, infinitely.

It Gets Better.



:)

Marissa

Friday, November 12, 2010

Journeys and Destinations



I believe travel and spirituality are entwined. By moving out of our daily box, we see the bigger picture. You get on an airplane, you feel the world around you move and shift. And WOOSH! You're in a whole new place - and like all vacations - you only have a small bit of time to explore. Travel and spirituality. The line between who you were to who you are becoming.

For example, Eat, Pray, Love has encouraged a universal journey, largely geared towards women, but global enough for people to embrace their hearts, go into the dark and through the dark to find the missing broken pieces and to learn to live from them and to breathe new life into what you never had before. However, the journey talked about in EPL is self-contained. The journey has a start (Italy), a middle (India) and an end (Bali).

As a good friend of mine pointed out, most spiritual journeys do not stay within geographical borders and are not neatly packaged.

Most journeys that remake us, uplift us, kill us, and rebirth us do not come with a passport or an overnight stop to a perfect Italian hideaway or a spiritual retreat in India. Most journeys begin when our lives crumble underneath us, or when we realize that the way we've been doing things has attracted the same things again and again. At least, that's the way every story or biography of travelers that I've ever read has begun.

And that's when we go down fighting. We fight for a while - and then we collapse a little and give up. We say "Ok, I can't control it anymore." (I'm a pretty big, dyed-in-the-wool control freak so this is a hard one for me.)  Surrender means trusting something better is out there and that, whatever it is, you are not in control. And then, things change.

Say what now? Did you say change? Omigod, change!

We start journeys of all kinds for a number of different reasons - but one of the biggest reasons are accidental - that things are just not working anymore and things either stall or we slowly begin to move. We can't see where we are. We can see the ground under our feet, but not the path in front of us. And so, we just go, day by day, until it changes. By "it", it's usually us who change, who rise to meet a new level.

That's part of the popularity of Eat, Pray, Love. In both the book and the movie, Liz Gilbert goes on a Big Massive (Sagittarius style) Journey when her marriage ends. I think the book and movie worked to get pop culture (mostly women) thinking about eastern religions and what a deeper, more spiritual path might mean to them. I enjoyed EPL. We even ran a manifestation class inspired by Eat, Pray, Love. And it's a wonderful message, to open your own door to happiness.

But for my money, I'll take On Pilgrimage (1992) by Jennifer (Jini) Lash, the mother of actors Joseph (Shakespeare in Love) and Ralph Fiennes (The Harry Potter movies). Diagnosed with fatal breast cancer, Jennifer Lash was given only a short time to live. Her doctor told her to make her arrangements and find peace with her life, to prepare for the end, quietly, at her home in the English countryside. He told her to call her seven children home and enjoy the last, precious months.

Jini Lash said No. She would not go gentle into that good night.

Determined to feed her soul and to explore her own love for religion and for her life, she packed a rucksack and made plans. Three weeks after major surgery she left England to embark on her own vision quest and to discover what the intersection of spirituality, illness, love, and God meant to her. She traveled from Spain to France to visit spots of "contemporary Christian piligrimage" and ended her journey at Santiago de Compostela. It's a beautiful book and Jini's style is intimate and random, as if the entire thing was lifted from her private travel journals. "Because of my recent experience of cancer, and all the obviously looking at life and death in a new way, it seemed clear that I had been voting myself out of life and diving for the dark. Considering Death had meant considering Life. I had made a firm decision towards life [which] instinctively meant going back to base, considering roots, the depths of things" (Lash, 28). In 1986 she died from breast cancer shortly after her return to England.

We're going through a lot of astrological changes right now, which make me think of both Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love and Jennifer Lash's On Pilgrimage. We're being forced right now, with Venus still in Retrograde until 11/18, to consider the depths of our relationships and our individual needs. With Uranus Retrograding in Pisces until December 6th, we're encouraged to study the dreamy depths of our rebellious sides. With Saturn in Libra until 2012, we're learning hard but welcome and important partnership lessons of all kinds - what we to establish a give and take in relationships, the same way that Jennifer Lash learned to establish a 'relationship' with God and the unknown. Chiron, the sign of the Wounded Healer, returns to Aquarius, and shakes us awake from the depth of our own routines. We probe through the darkness of our own wounds, yearning to heal them. With Chiron in Aquarius until Feb of 2011, we're destined to awake to our deep wounds and begin to learn how to heal them - in a community-oriented, big picture kind of way.

If you're curious as to how these big changes are going to impact you, contact me here.

Here's Jennifer (Jini) Lash on change, spirituality, the open road, and the unknown:

"Maybe energy is the means of meaning. Endlessly transforming, never able by its very nature to finally unlive."



"I was finding more and more that alone on a dusty road was home. I felt like a fog back at last in its basket. The heat was oppressive but the unknown street ahead was such a joy."



"Her departure was an act of faith, as all true love must be. An act of trust towards a transforming force."

An act of trust towards a transforming force. Bingo. Whether we call it love, God, life or death, trusting in the moment and in the road ahead may be hard and a  little cloudy, but deeply needed. We've got so much celestial support for these changes, how can we stand still?

To the unknown streets and transforming forces,

Marissa

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Hodgepodge

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Happy Halloween!"][/caption]

First of all, a shout-out to all the people who came out to Modern Zen's Round Robin event. You may be reading this because you added your name to my mailing list that night. We had a fantastic time. Intuitive messages get the energy moving and it's a (trick or) treat to meet so many new people.

The four-Monday astrology class goes into its second evening on November 1. We'll be talking about Venus and Mars signs. Local and want to sign up? Contact Modern Zen. To see the class schedule, go here. Want a private astrology session? Contact me.

BOOKS!!

If you like reading fiction or nonfiction books about spirituality, check out our Facebook page to join the new Happy Ganesh Book Discussion Group! The HG Book Discussion Group focuses on fiction or nonfiction books about inner growth, spirituality (of ALL denominations), the creative process, spirituality/travel, intimate relationships, and being more present in life. These are topics that I love to explore.
Right now, The Cloister Walk by American poet Kathleen Norris is a new favorite. Award-winning poet Kathleen Norris lived with monks for a year and in that time, explored her own sense of creativity and the Divine. She discusses in the book her own growth as a poet in the silence and schedule of living within a religious community. She also goes into how this year-long experience helped her to see her marriage in a new light, as well as her relationship with her creative forces. Norris's other books are "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography" and "Amazing Grace".

Have you read this book too? What do you think? Thoughts welcome.

What are you favorite books on these subjects? What books have opened you to new ideas? To joy? To challenging yourself? To creative exploration?

Have a safe and happy halloween.

In friendship,

Marissa,

Happy Ganesh President

Image Credit: lobo235

Friday, October 15, 2010

Scorpio Energy At Its Finest



As we move through October and head into November in a few weeks, intensity will rule the skies. This is for a few different reasons. We have both Venus and Mars in passionate, intense, supernatural Scorpio!

Scorpio: Passion, Determination, and Loyalty

Scorpio energy loves passion and determination, sex and death, vampires, ghosts, deep secrets and revenge. Scorps like nothing better than intensity and passion. Scorpio (or Scorpio-influenced) friends need to know that you’ll be there for them through hell and back. Scorpio lovers need to know that you appreciate their determination, deep emotions, and emotional bravery. Flakes need not apply. So what happens when we have both Venus (the planet of love) and Mars (the planet of sex, motivation, and aggression) in this intense water sign?

Venus is in Scorpio from September 8, 2010 to November 7th, and Venus retrogrades from October 8th to November 18th. (Venus will slip back into Libra from November 7 to November 29th.) Venus is the planet of love and value and Venus in Scorpio will force us to ask ourselves about our relationship values. What is working or not working? With Scorpio’s characteristic black-or-white mentality, the relationships that can withstand will truly be able to stand up under the spotlight of Scorpion intensity.  Venus in Scorpio – and Scorpio energy in general – must know that intentions match actions. Pretty words will not work with this energy. People with many Scorpio planets must know that you will go deep with them, and support them (and make love to them) from hell to breakfast. The positive sides of Scorpio include passion, intensity, piercing/psychic insight, and emotional fearlessness. The negative sides? Obsession, control issues, fury, and power-tripping.

However,  Venus is a little bit out of alignment in Scorpio  (Venus is in its natural home in Taurus or Libra, both ruled by Venus.) Venus in Scorpio is like expecting the goddess of love to show up in your bedroom, only to find a True Blood character instead. Love = major, bone-tingling intensity, if not downright blood and guts and things that go bump in the night. (Perfect for Halloween!)

Venus in Retrograde

Any time we have a Retrograde period, that planet is moving backwards through the skies, making the natural lessons of that planet hard to learn. When Venus is Direct, we'll be learning about love, pleasure, and feeling good. When Venus is in Retro, pleasure might feel a little...well...backwards. However, Retrogrades encourage us to redo, recreate, or remake. Venus will be coming on strong this season. Let the buyer beware – new lovers or partnerships formed in a Retrograde are usually found lacking by the end of the cycle. Venus also rules beauty and beautification projects, so with this spicy sign in Retro, Venus pursuits such as clothing, romance, or pampering (for the body or the home) may backfire.

The exception to this rule is things coming back from the past – I wouldn’t recommend starting up with a new lover during a Venus Retro unless the partner is , for example, an old lover returning or reuniting.  Any reunion of former lovers (or other kinds of previous partners, such as friends or business partners) is favorable now or may bring closure. We may find ourselves in touch with former lovers or old relationship/partnership issues more so in this cycle. Reflect, renew, and recycle things, but please put off any big decisions about love or money (remember, Venus rules values, which includes money) until Venus goes direct on November 18th. Even though Venus will change signs (from Scorpio to Libra on November 7th) , it will not change the fact that it will still be in Retrograde, so the level of intensity may change, but not the position.

Scorpio Mars: The Spiritual Warrior

And what about Mars, God of War? He’s in Scorpio from September 14th to October 27, 2010. Mars loves Scorpio because it’s in the natural placement (Mars rules Scorpio and Aries – the spiritual warrior and the forthright warrior, respectively.) Mars in Scorpio loves determined challenges, getting to the bottom of mysteries, and trusting personal intuition to overcome hardship or confusion.  Let Mars in Scorpio help you get to the direct root of your problems; let him use the surgeon’s scalpel to trim the excess fat away from your life. In the magical and perceptive energy of Scorpio, all things can be renewed. Also, since both Venus and Mars are in Scorpio, they are working together to bring insight about relationships. As I said in the the Blazing Blog last week, Mars is Venus's henchman. He wants to fight for her.

We have a lot of wonderful, intense energy coming our way over the next six weeks. In the end, it can only serve to sever weak relationships/partnerships and to make strong unions (of all kinds) even more productive.

Want to find out how this intense and transformative Scorpio energy is going to impact you? Contact me to find out more.

Also, interested in the brand new Astrology Class coming up at Modern Zen on October 25? Click here for details! Not local and still want to come? No worries. Once the class is over, check back for podcasts from the class!

Image: Paul Garland

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Blazing Blog: Scorpio Planets!

In which Bob Decker and I discuss cards and their relationship to the now-present Scorpio energy. We've got quite a cluster with Venus in powerful Scorpio on the retrograde, and supported by Mars in Scorpio. Click to learn more!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Let the Birthday Party Begin!!!!



Happy birthday to yoooooou

Happy birthday to yoooooou

Happy birthday, dear Happy Ganesh....

Happy birthday to yoooooou!!!




Your party favors are up! If you purchase a half-hour or hour-long reading between October 8th at 10 AM (EST) and October 9th at 6 PM (EST), you get $10 off! It's our gift to you because Happy Ganesh believes in hard work -- but he also believes in thanking friends for support.

To take advantage of your party favor, please click here.

Remember, you can have a distance reading even if you're local - or anywhere in the world. Want one but can't get out of work? Stuck in traffic? No problem. Contact us on your lunch hour. Or we'll be at Modern Zen today and tomorrow. We look forward to your visit.

Whether its through fostering communication with the living and departed loved ones, or encouraging self-expression and self-empowerment through manifestation and astrological classes and coaching, we're delighted to be here for you. (For information on the upcoming astrology class, please go here.)

Thank you again for being a part of our journey and allowing us to be a part of yours.

All blessings,

Marissa

President of Happy Ganesh


Tuesday, October 5, 2010



You are cordially invited to celebrate a very special event: Ganesh will be one on October 9th, sharing a birthday with Beatle John Lennon. (This makes Happy Ganesh prone to dancing around the HG offices to "You Say It's Your Birthday!")

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY GANESH!!!!!!!!

He's a big, happy, dancing half-child, half-god. He represents many things to us here at Happy Ganesh.

Hope. Letting go. A willingness to play and learn and dance. He represents the connection that exists when we help you make contact with your own answers. He represents the eternal love  between people, whether living or dead.  When HG helps you connect with intuitive messages, and the creativity that comes with our manifestation classes and coaching, and the raw self-empowerment of astrological information -- that's what Happy Ganesh is all about.

And, on October 9th, 2010, Happy Ganesh will be one whole year old!

You've helped us get there.

And we'd like to thank YOU. For letting HG help you find your own internal answers and for trusting us with your deepest questions. In thanks, Happy Ganesh has party favors for you!

On October 8th and 9th only starting at 10 AM (EST) and ending on October 9th 6 PM (EST), we're proud to say that we're going to be offering  half-hour or  hour long readings for $10 off!

Also, print out this page and bring it to Modern Zen in order to get $2.00 off the individually purchased astrology class sessions, which begin on 10/25! (Class packages not included in this offer.) Want to learn more about the upcoming Astrology Class? Go here.

As always, distance readings are available. All readings book up fast so please be sure to contact us for appointment times. If you're local, I'll be reading at Modern Zen on October 8th and 9th by appointment.

It's largely by appointment, so, please contact us for availability!

(Also, we've received several questions about the specially commissioned cartoon drawing of Happy Birthday, Ganesh! He was created expressively for us by Clayfoot Jones's very own Nick Moore. He's nifty and talented - and can create business cards, too! Check him out here.)

Thank you for a wonderful year.

With love,

Marissa

President of Happy Ganesh, Inc.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Think Different.

Be you and dance. If you can think it, it can happen.

"The people who think they are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who do."

Saturday, September 25, 2010



Well, it's been a while, admittedly. My trip to San Fran was wonderful - and when I came back my computer was not working. That's why I've had a low profile for the last three weeks. But now, I'm back and all things Happy Ganesh are ready and waiting.

Happy Ganesh Turns One!!!

This is the biggie. On October 9th, HG turns one! Happy  Birthday, Happy Ganesh!!! To your left is one of our very  favorite photos of Ganesh. Ganesh, the smasher of obstacles,  the God of writing and joy, and our mascot ...is also a birthday  boy. (Birthday God?)

Anyhow, Happy Ganesh is very excited to be celebrating his first birthday . He is also very excited to be sharing his birthday with Beatle John Lennon

Imagine...what wonderful, soul-healing joy Happy Ganesh will get up to for his first birthday. If pictures are leaked on the internet, of Happy Ganesh covered from head to toe in cake while jamming to "Strawberry Fields", well, that's just how HG rolls.

He'd like to thank you for coming to the party for the last year. In thanks, watch for some very special sales on Friday October 8 and Saturday October 9th. You'll be able to take advantage of the sales whether you are local, national, or even international. Thank you for visiting HG and for your friendship.

It's been a wonderful first year of business. From the day I stood in the bank office, filling out forms, to the very first official HG mediumship session, to the first professional engagement in support of women with cancer at Gilda's Club's Glamour in the Garden event last March, it's been a year of growth, of potential, and of questions answered.

It's also been a year of connection. One of the most important tasks at Happy Ganesh is intuitive and mediumship readings. Through those, Happy Ganesh can help people communicate with departed loved ones.  Those sessions are beautiful in so many ways and are proof to both myself and my clients that relationships and connection are eternal. Nothing we are dies. The manifestation coaching, astrological services, and blog posts have also been very important in making and keeping the connections between us alive.

Manifestation reminds us that living is a creative process and that every choice we make is a step toward living into our deepest desires, stepping more firmly onto our paths to become who we are. Astrology gives us logical tools to make choices.

Thank you for your business, for your trust, and for your willingness to follow whatever personal spiritual path you hold dear. Hats off to the movers, the seekers, the questioners, and those who dance to the beat of their own drummer. It all starts with you.

The Newsletter

Some of you have been receiving monthly newsletters from HG. Those newsletters are going to be replaced by blog entries (online newsletters). Notifications of sales may still go out via email. If you get a "confirm" email from HG, asking if you want to subscribe to the blog, please hit "yes" to continue receiving astrological, intuitive, and manifestation information!

Pardon Our Dust: The Manifestation Class Is Under Construction

The Manifestation Class will be canceled for the week of 9/30 and will be on hiatus until further notice.

HG will return shortly with a weekly class, and will return refreshed and renewed shortly. The form of the class may change, but the great information and lively format will still be the same. Votes for a weekly class? Drop me a line and let me know what you'd like HG to teach! We're open to suggestions.

Upcoming Astrological Class!

Starting Monday October 25th from 7-8 PM, I will be teaching a four-week astrology class at Modern Zen. Topics will be

10/25       Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs

11/1          Venus and Mars

11/8         Compatibility

11/15        North and South Nodes: Karmic Debts

Individual classes are $30 or $110 for all four classes (save 10!). If you are local, please pay by contacting Modern Zen or by making checks out to Happy Ganesh and bringing them into the store.

If you are not local and want to learn more about these topics, don't worry! An online component will be here soon.

Thank you for reading, for taking part in your own joyful dances, and for letting HG into your hearts (and your inbox!) for the last year. I look forward to the next several years with Ganesh and with you.

Take care,

Marissa

Friday, September 3, 2010

New Moon in Virgo on Sept 8th



Last night in class, we discussed the upcoming New Moon in Virgo on Sept 8th. It goes into effect early that morning, at around 5:53 AM.(Manifesting the night before will be just fine. No need to get up that early.)

As you may have read before here and here, the new moon opens doors, while full moons close them.

If you want to manifest using the energy of the New Moon in Virgo, it's a great time to focus on
  • issues surrounding clarity and organization (ex: "I want to easily find myself organizing my office.")
  • issues surrounding physical health and the mind body connection (One of the things that Virgo does very well is highlight areas and connections between your mind, body, and spirit that are not working - in order to show you how to improve it.)
  • work and career issues
  • your own tendency to nitpick your life or the lives of others
  • editing and writing; schoolwork (Virgo is the sign of the student and writer/editor.)
  • creating healthy routines (For some people, this means creating a schedule out of chaos, for others it means taking personal time to relax.)

Here's a list of key words to work with.

Virgo

Green

Career

Work

Clarity

Schedules

Time

Editing

Proofreading

Homework

School

University

Schoolbooks

Diet

Health

Food

good health

strong body

clear intent

looking at what is right, rather than what is wrong

exchanging worry for relaxation

lower stomach healing (Parts of the body that deal with bowel movements and stomach issues)

The New Moon in Virgo is an open gateway, as are all New Moons - and since we're also in Retrograde til the 12th (more about that here), this period, thanks to Retrograde, will actually, according to astrologer Robert Wilkenson, will actually stabilize us, forcing us to make choices that will improve and stabilize the overall picture, even if it does not remotely seem that way. Here's the good thing about all of this Virgo energy - wherever Mercury ruled signs (Gemini or Virgo) fall in your chart is where you will see the influx of ideas that may lead to publishing, communication, and writing opportunities.

Thanks for reading. I was thinking today, as I work with Happy Ganesh and watch it (and myself in relation to my business and work) grow and change, how lucky I am that I can wake up, do this, and be supported.

Til next time,

Marissa

Photo Credit: zeevveez

Monday, August 30, 2010

Last week, starting on August 24, the Full Moon was in Pisces. What's that about? Well, forget about it being opposite the Virgo Retro (messing up electronics and communication until 9/12!), the Full Moon in Pisces was a whole bag of wax all by itself.

Full Moons end cycles. It's the cosmos closing the door on a chapter of your life. If you know where Pisces is in your chart, that is likely where you felt the effect. (If you're curious about your chart, go to Astro.com for free charts or contact me here for a proper, full length astrology reading.)

To use the same idea we used with the New Moon, here are some themes or issues that may have been closed out.

Fish

anything to do with a certain kind of dream or spirituality

religious ideas

the ocean

the beach

psychic concepts

ghosts/spirits/imagination

I had one client ask me in horror, "So the Full Moon in Pisces takes away dreams?" No, no, no. It just means that a certain type of dream or Piscean-themed issue may not be working for you anymore, and the universe will remove it for a time. For example, I had a client with Pisces in her 2nd house of money realize that a certain way of dealing with her finances was not working anymore. The kicker? The client's money was tied up in a beach front condo. Very Pisces! (And very Full Moon in Pisces.)

The Full Moon in Pisces also highlights mysteries, depth, and keen imagination. Did you feel keenly emotional about the mysteries of life, daydreaming or spirituality? Then you were feeling the effects of the Piscean Full Moon.

Next time, we'll talk about the New Moon in Virgo.  The Manifestation class preparing for that

will be on Thursday, 9/2 at 7:45 PM at Modern Zen and the actual New Moon in Virgo will happen on Sept 8th 2010.

Just a reminder = that there will be no class (and no blog update) the week of 9/9. Classes will resume the following Thursday and so will updates!

-----

Here's the most recent Blazing Blog with Bob Decker - man, do we ever have fun.



Until next time,

Marissa

(Photo Credit:  Shudrbug.)

Monday, August 23, 2010

New Date: Eat Pray Love class moved to 9/16

Due to travel plans, the second Eat Pray Love - inspired Manifestation Class  Thursday (7:45p) at Modern Zen will be moved from 9/9 to 9/16. There will be no class on 9/9. Class will resume as usual the following week.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Last night our Manifestation Class became a passport to all things travel related.

The class was geared around and inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. Spirituality and travel were our keywords for the evening. Armed with magazines, scissors, glue sticks, and a healthy sense of adventure, we snipped our way into exotic destinations. We also used prompts directly related to spirituality and travel.

I know a lot of people expressed interest in this particular EPL-inspired travel class. Couldn't make it? No worries. I'll be holding another one on September 9th! The cost of the class is $10. Bring a journal and an questioning heart.

Want to manifest from home? Here's some sample prompts from last night:

  1. Elizabeth, in both the book and the movie version of EPL, is trying to “find her word”, which is “Antevasin” – a Sanskrit word meaning “one who lives at the border.” What is one word that sums up your travels? That expresses you on your spiritual path?

  2. Elizabeth goes to Italy (where she finds pleasure), India (where she comes to terms with her past), and Bali (where she finds balance and love). Where do you dream of going? What would your journey look like?




Here is the class schedule for the next few weeks.



8/26 - AstroManifesting:  Full moon in Pisces and Mercury in Retrograde (*Bring  birthdate and time for a mini-interpretation*)



9/2 -   AstroManifesting: New Moon in Virgo



9/9 -   Eat, Pray, Love Travel Class! (for those who could not attend the first time!)



9/16 – TBA



9/23 – AstroManifesting: Full Moon in Aries/Libra



9/30 - TBA




Have a great weekend!

Take care,

Marissa

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Blazing Blog and UK Band Bloc Party's "Mercury in Retrograde"

It's that time again. Bob and I are back! (Due to some now resolved computer issues, but better late than never!) We talk about the Princess of Disks (Page of Coins), Judgement, and 4 of cups. Click below to see how these cards impact your week.



Also, here's a musical accompaniment to Mercury in Retrograde! As of tomorrow, August 20, we'll be in Virgo Mercury Retrograde. (In order to read more about it, go here.) I love this song - it's rare that bands talk about astrology in their songs, but the lyrics to this one are pretty dead on. No, this is NOT a good time to sign a lease or find a new love - or start anything new.

Turn it up to eleven.



Til next time,

Marissa

(This video belongs to Bloc Party and was posted by jimbodoteleven . The copyright, the lyrics, and the song all are Bloc Party's.)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010



Last Wednesday, my computer refused to do things like hold power or  charge itself. I called the Help Desk. A few more moments and I had a human on the phone. Derrick, to whom I will gladly donate a kidney or lung, was able to send me a power cord free of charge. Problem 1, solved.

However, while I was fixing Problem 1, Problems 2, 3, and 4 were erupting like boils. I even pictured them as small flash fires, proceeded by  a popping sound, something like what Westley and Buttercup encounter in  The Fire Swamp. In short order, while I was on the phone with my  computer company, my printer decided that it didn't like ink anymore and  stopped printing. The publishers were unable to open any kind of word file   I sent them. And, best of all, Florida was hit with enough wind and rain to uproot the Titanic, resulting in an air conditioning unit that dripped over the ceiling, down the wall, and inches away from a freshly laid floor.

Pop, pop, pop!

After calling A/C people, I went to Office Depot to print out what I needed. I stood there, a jump drive in one hand, 57 pages of an editing assignment in the other, with a crazed, wild eyed look on my face, as I explained to the computer guy the many ways that electronic items can break, causing a perfectly ordered life to go off the rails in a matter of hours. I may have even sobbed. I am not sure.

"It just doesn't make SENSE!" I ranted, red-eyed and panting. "How on earth could everything in my entire office break? Everything! My computer isn't charging. My printer doesn't want to use ink to print and it has brand new cartridges! And there is a three foot rain leak in my upstairs hallway, despite the fact that I've just checked the roof and the A/C unit!"

"Well," he said, sitting back and giving me his best Gandalf face. "That just sounds like a vortex of odd."

Vortex of Odd.

Or as astrologers call it, Mercury in Retrograde.

Here's the thing. I'm an astrologer. I understand the power of Mercury in Retrograde, how to harness it, how to make the most of it. And I have no normal recollection of last Wednesday or Thursday.

We were in Retrograde Shadow, which began about two weeks before the actual retrograde. Currently, we're still in shadow, but if this story is any example, I'm sure you must also be feeling the effects of the upcoming Mercury Virgo Retrograde.

For the uninitiated, a Retrograde is when a planet moves backwards in the heavens. Mercury is the planet of communication and travel. When it goes backwards, it means that written or verbal communication may be more confusing than usual. Travel plans may go awry.

We are in Mercury in Retrograde from August 20 (aprox 4pm EST) to Sept 12 (aprox 7pm EST).

Mercury in Retrograde gets a bad rap for stories like mine. It can cause computers and phones to die without warning. Whole computers may need to be airlifted to hospital wards. To keep yourself sane, here’s some tips about how to survive and even thrive during retrograde.

  • Don’t sign on the dotted line if you can help it.

  • Double and triple check travel plans

  • Double and triple check anything in writing

  • Wait out any big decisions if you can help it.


The good parts of Retro?

  • Ample chances to wait it out and redo.

  • Old friends or family coming back

  • Old communications working for you instead of against you


If want to know more about how Mercury in Retrograde will affect you, email me about a reading. I am available for in-person and distance readings. Pop over to the Contact page and drop me a line!

Saturday, August 7, 2010


In the recent manifestation class on August 5th, 2010, I discussed New Moon Manifestation, specifically the New Moon in Leo. The New Moon will be in Leo on August 9th, moving from Cancer into Leo at approximately 11:08 PM.

 

New Moons and Full Moons

 

We can use New Moons to harness fresh energy. Full Moons do the opposite - help us to get rid of old energy or close out old issues or projects. And while we're on the topic, what is a New Moon?

A New Moon is when both the sun and the moon fall in the same sign. This creates a clear flow of that sign's energy. On August 9th, both the sun and the moon will be in Leo. (Full Moons are when the moon is in the opposite sign from the sun. For example, a Full Moon would be Sun in Leo/Moon in Aquarius or vice versa.

 

New Moons and Manifestation

 

The New Moon in Leo on 8/9 will be in effect for about 2 1/2 days - plenty of time for manifestation!

 

During the New Moon in Leo, it's a perfect time to create a space to bring in any wishes or manifestations that deal with Leo energy: creativity, children, love relationships, fun, excitment, and play are just a few examples. Do you want to manifest more freedom to create? Clearer and happier relationships with children? How about the kind of lover or love relationship that you desire? Good, old fashioned fun? Use the New Moon in Leo to support and facilitate these dreams and desires.

 

Colors to Manifest With

 

If you choose to work with candles or colors, your best bet is a candle that either relates to the 4th Chakra (Heart) or is red, yellow, or orange, the vibrant colors of the sun, the ruler of Leo! Many of my clients write their favorite Leo keywords on their candle. You don't have to use a candle, however; many people also use vision boards. Some simply find a quiet space to meditate on their "Leo" desires. (Having a candle helps because it gets you physically involved in the process of creating, but intention is all about a clear, focused heart. Have a strong desire? Then you're good to go!)

 

Keywords and Colors to Manifest With:

 

Joy

Confidence

Excitement

Children

Grandchildren

Other People's Children

Fun

Theater

Writing

Acting

Heart

Heart Centered

Regal

Kings

Queens

Lovers

Love Affairs

Fireworks!

The Sun

Solar

Orange

Red

Yellow

Jan Spiller also did  great work in this area - "New Moon Astrology" deals with these issues.

 

 

What New Moon in Leo area do you want to create or improve in your life? I'm interested to hear your stories of manifestation. Shoot me a comment and tell me!

 

 

Be well,

Marissa

Thursday, July 22, 2010





On July 21, Saturn, the planet of hard lessons, seriousness, time, and teaching moves out of Virgo into Libra.

Saturn is a rigid and formal taskmaster. This planet is much like the       Schoolmaster or Old Father Time. Saturn was in Virgo from September 2, 2007 to October 29, 2009. It moved into Libra on from October 29, 2009 to April 7, and then doubled back into Virgo until now. Now, as of July 21, its in Libra until 2012.

First of all Virgo issues deal with editing, writing, health, clutter/cleanliness, health/disease (literally dis-ease). For those of you born between July 1978 and Sept 21, 1980, you saw Virgo hit your Saturn Return. I watched friends and clients reeling from Saturn Returns. During a personal Saturn Return (in the ages of 28-31), the heavens and your personal astrological chart see to it that you learn hard lessons - and that you learn them well. No ducking, running, or hiding. Where Saturn falls in your chart shows where the lessons were learned.

One woman experienced her Saturn Return in Virgo in her 4th house - the house of home and family. She lost close family members and found herself in a position of rebuilding an inherited family home -- Virgo Saturn Return in the 4th at its finest. During this process, she had to get real about her own emotional and physical health issues and learned a great deal of 'Virgo' lessons about home organization and clutter. Another woman had her Saturn in Virgo hit her in the 5th house --- getting real about yoga-inclined, healthy, tofu eating romantic interests was the order of the day. (To learn more about this go to Astro.com and learn about where your Saturn is!)

Now, Saturn's got a brand new bag, baby - and we saw this recently, between October 29, 2009 to April 7, 2010 when Saturn was in Libra, before going back to Virgo until July 20, 2010. Think about the issues that were up in relationships between that time frame. Saturn in Libra is coming back with a sequel of that energy.

Now, from July 21, 2010 to October 5, 2012, Saturn turns up the heat - it can help you, Pluto-like, to burn away things that aren't working. What is not needed will be dropped on the journey, but its here to teach us lessons. We're going back into Saturn in Libra. This means, the journey of Saturn will shift from Virgo-based principals such as editing/writing, health/disease, clutter/cleanliness, and mind/body healing connections to relationship based patterns. Do you feel your relationships and friendships are balanced? Do you give and receive what is needed to ensure positive outcomes? Are you giving too much without having your needs met? Or are you taking too much from the other person? This also plays a role in business and family relationships as well, the key word being 'relationship'. Do you have clear communication in all of your relationships or is your communication muddled? Saturn in Libra will help you in these areas. Saturn in Libra will also help you smooth out areas of legal discord - or help you get much clearer on how you should proceed.

The big lessons taught with Saturn in Libra are

  • treating yourself and your partner/friend/business partner with fairness

  • seeking balance in relationships - and learning how to create it, sometimes in situations that seem like Big Massive Lessons

  • learning where or if you compromise your own needs to meet the needs of another --- or if you are asking someone else to compromise their needs for you

  • understanding your needs - and the needs of others. For some this means noticing how radically unbalanced or unhealthy certain relationships are. For others, this will mean coming to a deeper understanding of their own needs and being clear about communication.

  • control-freak issues (common with Saturn in Libra). Do you want control of someone else? Do they want control of you?

  • accepting responsibility for our own happiness - no matter what the other partner/friend/associate is doing.


Remember, progress in this area may be slow, since Saturn takes its time to make sure we REALLY GET IT. Saturn is all about taking personal responsibility for our own lessons. Saturn says "Look, here's the hard stuff. Get in there and get to it!" And careful -- since its Saturn (also known as the Big Sourpuss), we may find ourselves getting awfully touchy and/or devoid of a funny bone around these Libran Lessons.

Don't be scared of Saturn in Libra. For some, this will bring wonderful clarity about love relationships and partners. It's a chance to really get down to brass tacks and learn what makes you tick in relationships, units, double-acts, friendships, or partnerships of any kind. Some may be guided to end marriages or relationships during this period. If this happens, that's the work of Saturn, teaching you what can or cannot sustain for the long haul -- and what can, by bringing in new chances for love, friendship, or union. Saturn is all about lessons that are well learned, sturdy, and built to last!

Copyright Happy Ganesh, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

Photo Credit By: Zeevveez

Blazing Tarot Blog!

Bob Decker and I are back with another Blazing Tarot blog! (To see more Blazing Blogs, go here.)

Friday, July 16, 2010

New feed, The Psychic Fair, and Distance Readings!

The RSS feeds and Twitter feeds are up and running! Huzzah! Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight....by subscribing to Happy Ganesh! You'll always get fresh content here, direct from HG and sent - with love and sushi - to you.

Also, if you're in South Florida, stop by Modern Zen tomorrow for the Psychic Fair! Want details? Check out the Modern Zen Facebook page, listed in the Blogroll to the left, or just click here  modernzenstore.

Also, I do distance readings as well as in-person readings. If you want one, scoot on over to the Contact Me section.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Guest on "The Bob Decker Show"!

Today, I was a special guest on The Bob Decker Show! Click here to listen. Good times were had. I took some call-ins and answered some questions.

Live radio shows are always wonderful because everything starts to flow.

Thanks to Bob Decker for having me on - and thanks to everyone who listened or called in. I am so grateful to be able to do this.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

On July 11th we enter the New Moon in Cancer. First of all New Moons dedicate themselves to getting rid of the old and ushering in fresh starts. The sign tells us what area of life we’re being encouraged to restart.  What’s even more powerful here is that – as usual, the sign the New Moon is in, is also the sign that the Sun is in. Therefore, we have Sun Cancer/Moon Cancer on July 11th!  Do you feel all that “mom” energy?

The New Moon in Cancer encourages us to take care of ourselves in Cancerian areas: nurturing, food, and caregiving. Where in our lives do we want to see new, fresh changes in these areas? Perhaps we need to discover what helps us to feel personally secure. We may want to manifest things like “During this New Moon in Cancer, I will discover new ways of communicating my needs”, “…. I will discover and be able to put into practice a healthy relationship with food.” “I will begin to try new things to increase security in my relationship with my mother/mother figure.”

Let yourself be guided in your own internal mysteries --- Cancer is the sign of feminine mystery. If you’re a man, you may find that it is easy and deeply satisfying to begin healing work that deals with women or that deals with your own emotional process. If you’re a woman, this may call up issues that deal with mother and femaleness, food and protection, care giving and care getting. Cancer rules images of Mother and the Divine Feminine. If you're thinking somewhere between Betty Crocker or Donna Reed, pearls gleaming and apron tied tightly around her waist, that's half right. The other half is pure Diana, goddess of the hunt - independent and free, and running with her pack of goddess friends.

We’re in an interesting time right now as this New Moon is coming right in the middle of a Cardinal T-square.  In other words, Cancer (sun and moon) is opposed to Pluto (the planet of deep soul-level changes) in Capricorn. Capricorn is stable and deals with foundations.  Since it’s in Pluto, things are changing in our lives, deep changes. The dual Sun/Moon in Cancer will put us back in touch with our family roots, our feelings about nurturing, security, home (and homeland) and motherhood. Not only is Pluto rocking the ground underneath us, but also we are being supported to make positive changes in these areas.  This is a great time to explore your feelings and share them, look at patterns of behavior that are or are not working, and explore your imagination (Cancer rules loony funny thoughts and imagination).

Copyright 2010, Marissa Cohen/Happy Ganesh, Inc. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit by: joiseyshowaa

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Manifestation Station, July 8

First of all, there are still some small kinks being worked out on this site.

  • The RSS feed and newsletter "sign up" button are still under construction. Those should be up and running in the next few days, so keep checking back.

  • Ditto the Twitter sign up from this page. However you can still click through to the HappyGaneshInc Twitter account by using the Blogroll on the left side of the page. (See it? See it? That's right.)


Tonight was the weekly manifestation class at Modern Zen (the building formerly known as Griffin's Loft). This is a class that seems - by its very nature - to work best when I am not prepping and when I haven't read fifty theories and nine thousand books on Manifestation and Creation (which to me sounds an awful lot like Manifestation in motion -- just letting it be). I thought I'd take the bull by the horns tonight and actually prep - i.e. -- discuss notes and theory.

See, I recently went to the library looking for books on spirituality, on manifestation, even on being present. I came away with an armful of books (the same armful I mentioned in the July 1st post), determined to Learn More About Manifestation.

Riiiiiighhhht.

Here's what happened. I remembered that I knew a lot more than I thought I did. I also learned that at some point, manifestation links into many, many ideas of spiritual surrender.

  1. Thoughts Create Beliefs Create Action

  2. Letting Go Will Help You On Many Levels

  3. In Letting Go, We Can Only Control Ourselves

  4. In the space of "Letting Go", create.



  • How do you know you're manifesting what you need?


Someone asked a really great question tonight. "I want to do X thing. How do I know if I am on the path?"

By how you feel. If everytime you think about X thing, about YOU being in this situation, purely, you feel awesome and amazing and want to dance in your shoes and kiss small puppy dogs, then this is GOOD. If , on the other hand, merely thinking about X situation makes you feel drained, unhappy, or angry, then maybe this is not really something you want to do.

  • Feelings are facts.


My mom used to throw this one at me and I used to look at her like she was insane. "What do you mean feelings are facts?" I would say. "Facts are facts." Well, mom really meant that feelings show where you are in the middle of a situation. How you feel often shows you what your needs are or are not. Where are you? What is happening for you? It's a biggie.

  • "Good feels Good" -- Esther Hicks


I love this one.  Look at that. Good feels good. Was there ever so simple a statement?

That's it? Centuries of people being taught that pleasure of any kind means surefire damnation?

All of us, going forth, thinking that if we reaaaaalllly roll around in pleasure and catnip, the great hand of Big External Force (and sometimes Big Mamma or Papa SuperEgo) will destroy us in a blazing fire?

Think about all the ways society teaches us to put this aside. Don't have too much fun. Have a good time, but after that, come back in because supper's on the table. Good feels good. Let's start there. Good feels like alignment. Good feels like being with yourself. Good feels like whole. Good feels good. Brilliant.

  • Negative Manifestation: "I was waiting for the other shoe to drop"?


Does the Universe ever wear shoes? Shoes are there to move us from point A to point Z. They are not there to hinder me, or you, or to drop into our existence and end what was, up until that point, a perfectly lovely time. This reminds me of that Monty Python sketch about The Hand of God.

  • Are there any absolutes? (Or, Oh My God, I'm the Teacher.)


I love teaching. I love it. I love connecting with people. I also find myself coming up against the 'image' of a Teacher Who Needs To Know Everything, Ever, About Manifestation. In general, I must have all the answers for you, my student. Some days I believe this. (Those are the days where my beagle looks at me like "Weren't you questioning that five minutes ago?" She's right. She's a smart beagle.)

I walked into class tonight and basically said, "Look, I am your teacher and right now I'm having a small crisis of faith around what that means. It does not mean I know all the answers." I have no idea. The truth is that I know what I have read and studied, and what has worked for me, and what I have seen.

I am also learning about manifestation and some days I break all the rules of it (clamping down, clenching down) five times before I'm out of bed. I'm human. It happens. Sometimes I let go and am able to create and pull things to me in all kinds of awesome wonderful ways. Often, I am able to let go and create more and more. That's fun and wonderful.

  • In Class: Manifestation Fortune Cookies


Tonight we did Manifestation Fortune Cookies. I passed around a small bag and every person pulled out a quote on manifestation. Weirdly (or actually, Purely Manifested!!!), every person seemed to draw the exact fortune that somehow mirrored something they had expressed during the class. Perfect. Total Manifestation at work.

Manifestation is faith is creation is God/Source/Divine/Us is letting go. It's all tied up somehow. It's one weird golden thread where all of it -- - becomes something we can hold on to and let it hold us.

Here's to being held and holding back.

G'night, all. Sleep well.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Mourning, Feelings, and Pema Chodron



Since starting Happy Ganesh in October of 2009, I've noticed something about certain parts of the healing field in general.  It seems like we encourage ourselves and others to have compassion. That's fine, ok. But all too often (at least in certain parts of the healing field) I feel like we're encouraged to have compassion in a way that actually sticks us firmly in the spiritual rather than really being HUMAN.

I also hear this a lot when it comes to grief. I've heard people in the healing field say to the grieving that the people they love are around them anyway, that they just miss the physical body. And that's true.

I feel angry about that idea. It  sounds like the reality of being human and feeling grief is being poo-pooed and traded in for a loftier, more spiritual model. Grief is grief. Love is love. Grief lays us low. It takes out of us everything we had to give --- and if we follow the path of grief, it really can bring you back to life. My experience with grief is that it destroyed me - and it showed me what I needed and what I didn't need. It showed me who I was, my own sense of humanity, my own terrors. It allows me to understand that I am alive. That, five years after my father's death and three years after my mother's death, I want to be alive.

If you are reading this and have lost someone, trust your grief. That's the best advice I have for you. Trust your feelings and trust the process. Since I started HG and started seeing mediumship clients, I've noticed that sometimes the session becomes open space for a lot of things to be worked through. I've had clients come in and tell me again and again that they "shouldn't be so sad because they just miss the physical body."

Somewhere along the lines, if my clients are really active in the healing path, they seem to feel guilty about their human losses. It's been five years, or two months, or ten years. Why do I still miss my husband/sister/mother/wife/father? Why can't I just look at their death as energy and be done with it?

Being human is the root of all of this. That means being in some of the most uncomfortable and scary emotions ever. It also means being in joy and happiness. My prayer is that we all find the courage to grief. To really grief for what's been lost. To get in there, get to the root of it, learn about it, and come back up, refreshed. And to go in again and again, if needed, to get to the root and then rise up to joy.

Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and author, wrote a fantastic book called The Places That Scare You. In it, she basically talks about the danger of, basically, having a special set of neuroses that develop as a result of practicing bodhichitta (the awakened heart). In other words, in trying to *feel* our feelings and be *on a path*, we can drive ourselves a little nuts! If we're hard on ourselves in areas of life, we'll be hard on ourselves as healers, as humans, as people who are mourning, etc.
"One way [of developing neruroses] is to [...] use the training as just one more way that we don't measure up. If we train to become good or to escape from being a 'bad' person, then our thinking will remain just as polarized, just as stuck in right and wrong. We will use the training against ourselves." (p. 106)

In other words, rather than just letting ourselves feel, we'll put ourselves in a category and leave ourselves there. Good/bad. Good/bad. Should/Should Not. Fake BS concepts of spiritual/unspiritual. Being spiritual does not mean giving up being human. It - as I am learning constantly - means rooting yourself in your humanity. (Whew. What a ride.) It means doing it constantly. It means allowing yourself to be human because that is what you are. Your emotional system guides you to where you need to be.

Once, I had a newly grieving woman tell me that she knew she 'should' be over the loss of her husband because she'd read books on energy - and she knew that his energy was released. And she felt guilty for feeling as she felt. Was her husband released into energy? Sure. Did she have every right to miss his human form? Absolutely. To be human? To feel the depth of her own grief without shame? Yep.

Grief is not something that our culture teaches. Feeling feelings is not something that culture teaches. Letting yourself feel grief may be the hardest thing to feel. My first year without my mother was terrible. I leaned on friends. I was numb. I got washed out and washed back in again. And I went deeper into my own soul and into the reality of myself than ever, ever before.

In mediumship, I found -  very recently - that I had been totally submerging my own feelings of grief by buying into the whole concept of "I'm a medium. The fact that I can talk to my dead makes it better. I'm fine." It makes it easier and gives me a sense of spiritual connection, yes. But, what I learned was that I'd hidden certain parts of my very human grief and exchanged it for the purely spiritual. Working with people who have lost loved ones got me going deep within my own grief - and still gets me moving through it.

I hope I never stop.

I hope I can keep moving through my own process around grief and rage, loss and life, joy and gladness. Excitement to joy. To being fully human and accepting of my losses and excited about my open heart and its capacity to feel. This might take me until I'm 97 to really have it down to a science, but I'm willing.

I hope you can too. I hope that, for those of you reading this who are in mourning of some kind, whether its from a death, a letting go, or a moving on (such as an end to a personal relationship, friendship, move, or another big change), that you can keep following and trusting your own heart and your own process. Move through your grief. Let it come and go. Follow your uncomfortable feelings, your pain, and your grief, to your joy and your humanity. Your process is holy and sacred, and different from every other person's on this planet. It's different from mine. It's different from your neighbor's. And let your intentions be what they will be for you.

But for all that, to quote Stephen Sondheim from the musical Into The Woods, "No one is alone."

Thank you for reading.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Balancing Mediumship with Knowledge



Balance is important in every aspect of life. I have never noticed it as accutely as I do being in the "business" of spirituality. If I neglect myself, my heart, my needs or my own ability to stay grounded, I can see a difference in the way I connect to everything around me, including my clients. The way that I connect to myself comes first. It's the cornerstone of this work, so that in my own connection, I can exist. Once that connection is made, I hold space for clients.

Today, I stopped by the library and, now, a huge stack of books awaits me. Everything from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's classic, On Death and Dying, to books about American Medium Edgar Cayce, and books on manifestation. If I see how others navigated their own spiritual questions, surely I can understand my own path.

Books and learning help - but when I step into a mediumship session and it's on and the air is alive and someone's loved one is talking to me, well, there is no book to guide me through that.  There never has been. In those moments, mediumship (or channeling or reading for someone) is like the working definintion of Present. As in "I am present." Being somewhere else is out of the question because I am connected. We are - all three of us in the room - me, the dead person, the client - all connected.

We become connection.

The truth is that we are all connected, I believe. The dead don't leave us, ever. We only think they do. We become fixated on the physical - of course we do! I know that I do, and have. Of course we miss our mother, our father, our child, or spouse. We miss the physical presence, don't we? The holding, the hugging, the words that we can hear, the face we can touch.

In almost every mediumship session, the first question a client asks is "Is my loved one ok?" In my experience, the answer is always yes. Not only do they not leave us, but I believe that if we think about them, they come. All the cliches are true - as close as a breath. Nothing leaves us.

But in that is also very real grief. When people come to see me, it's there. It's a part of this type of work. I understand that. It's also there for me, some days, too - "healer, heal thyself".

I'm committed to this path. I am not sure exactly what it means and I can only see the angles I can see today. But I am here to learn and understand, and to connect, and to hold space for you to connect.

Thank you for reading.