Welcome October 2021 – the adventure of self-care!

This October opens with the invitation from the astrological energies to adventure into your inner child to explore new ways of bringing loving care to yourself and, by extension, to those you care about. As you begin this adventure, know that part of what makes it an adventure is the challenges you’ll face along the way. All the usual monsters (masquerading as Really Good Reasons) for putting aside your own neglected emotional needs will surface in a big way – you’re too busy, work is very demanding, your personal relationships need your attention, etc. But here’s a weapon of Truth with which to fight those monsters: “you cannot give to others what you do not possess yourself,” and here’s another:” we teach others how to treat us (and themselves, especially if they’re our children) by how we treat ourselves”.

I’m not suggesting that you neglect those who need you, that would be counter to the effect you’re trying to create, one of balance. It’s time for some focus on the other end of the seesaw of life. Act towards yourself with whatever loving, nurturing kindness feels like to you. Maybe you need some milk and cookies, or a hot bubble bath and some rubber ducks. A foot massage. Read yourself a bed-time story. Or just do something, anything, that excites and delights you, that makes you happy, even if only for a short time. Balance, people, balance.

It may be that the real adventure, and expression of nurturing, will take the form of finally committing yourself to getting some therapy (whatever form) for those inner demons that won’t go away and keep giving you such grief and pain. Maybe you’ve tried it before, and it didn’t work. But one of the things that astrology teaches us is the Art of Timing, and for many of us, this may be just the right month. Right now, the three planets of emotion and nurturing are in water signs – and water represents emotions – and in supportive relationships with each other. The planets are the Moon, Venus, and Neptune. The Moon is in its own sign of Cancer, Venus s in deep-down-to the-roots- of- things Scorpio, and Neptune is in Pisces, the great dissolver of blockages and healer of wounds. We also have Pluto supporting transformation of old patterns of repression, and Uranus opening new pathways to self-value. There’s a lot of energy to support bringing ourselves and others by extension into balance by nurturing our inner children.

Here’s what my commitment for nurturing myself during this remarkable start of the month looks like: I’ve made some appointments with my medical professional to have some of those supposed-to-be-regular health checks made, and one to examine a pesky problem that’s not getting better; I’m following up on a reading done by my friend, the truly awesome Maria Haswell (www.mariahaswell.com and www.MysticGoddessTarot.com) which basically told me to get up off my butt and DO things to get myself out in front of people to support my new business as a professional astrologer, and I’m MAKING time – even if only five minutes – to meditate during the work day.

How about you? I would absolutely love to hear what you are committing to for the start of October 2021!