Surviving Family Conflict during the Holiday Season with Jen Gouvea & Kent Bye

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Download Audio

Jen Gouvea and Kent Bye joined Will Hall on 12-09-11 for a KBOO FM 8-9am Talk Radio call-in show, with the topic "Surviving Family Conflict during the Holiday Season." We took phone-in calls and gave ideas about how to deal with family difficulties in a time that's stressful for many people.

Jen is a Flower Essence and astrological counselor and she and Kent are both Shamanic Breathwork facilitators. You can find out more about their work at www.engagedheart.com.

There’s a FREE, all-day Shamanic Breathwork workshop at Portland Insight Meditation Center coming up on January 7th! It’s being put on by our teachers at Freedom Rising Spiritual Community, and we’ll be there helping to facilitate the breathwork process. We had 80 people there last year, and it’s a great way to experience breathwork if you’re curious. You will need to RSVP here since space is limited.

More details are here.

Bleeding Heart Flower Essence, Co-dependency and the Pluto & Libra Generation explored through the lyrics of Ani Difranco

Recently, My partner Kent and I have been reading the book Co-dependance No More written by Melody Beattie. As a Pisces with several planets in the 7& 8th houses learning to love with compassionate emotional detachment has been a key theme for me. This August we will be celebrating our 7th year wedding anniversary. It hasn't always been easy but I am grateful for the wonderful lessons I have learned with him along the way.

Flower essences have been helpful teachers for me. I hope that by sharing this character study I wrote for the FES Certification process about Bleeding Heart I can offer some insight to others exploring the dynamic of attachment and freedom in relationships.

Character Study: Bleeding Heart Essence and Ani Difranco’s song lyrics

Artistic personalities are often able to become a voice or mirror for the collective unconscious or world soul. Ani Difranco is a Grammy award-winning folk-punk singer, guitarist, songwriter, independent record label entrepreneur, activist and feminist icon who has toured for over fifteen years and recorded over 18 studio albums. In 2006, she received the “the Woman of Courage Award” at the National Organization for Women (NOW) conference and Young Feminist Summit. Much of her work is about community activism and social and political analysis, but this global focus in her work also stems from a very intimate sharing of her struggles in relationships regarding love, family and home. (1)

“To me it's all an expression of a perspective, and things are very rarely exclusively either political or personal. They're always both in my mind or my heart or that place that inspires me to write.” (2)

This character study reviews how the lyrical work of Ani Difranco explores the struggle to love others deeply, fully and compassionately with an open heart in a way that allows for emotional freedom. This archetypal struggle between attachment, intimacy, and freedom is the essence of the teaching of the flower essence “Bleeding Heart”. It is also a key generational struggle for people currently aged 26-39 born while the planet Pluto was in the sign of Libra (approx 1971-1984). This generation is sometimes known as Generation X. (3)

The evolutionary lesson for Generation X is to learn individuality within the context of equal relationships and partnership. People in this generation have the capacity to learn how to truly and objectively listen to each other and thus give and receive in relationships what the other actually needs. (4) This knowing of authentic communication and diplomacy in relationships can be the result of an exploration of extremes regarding relatedness and intimacy and can be aided by taking Bleeding Heart flower essence.

Positive Qualities: Ability to love others unconditionally, with an open heart; emotional freedom
Patterns of Imbalance: Entangled in relationships based on fear, possessiveness or neediness; emotional co-dependence (5)

The Flower Essence Society Repertory describes the Bleeding Heart type as a person who “has made the error of living too extensively outside the boundaries of [one’s] own Self. This intense desire for connection is often felt by the partner as emotional dependence causing the partner to feel a need for distance. Such a co-dependent relationship is devoid of real freedom and a balanced exchange of heart energies.”(5)

This need to find completion through relationship can stem from the desire to be needed or taken care of by another resulting in emotional dependence or dominance.
Ani Difranco explores through many of her song lyrics the tensions, power struggles, distortions, and confrontations that can develop in relationships when displaced emotional security or the desire to be needed is sought through relatedness.

In each other's shadows we grew less and less tall
and eventually our theories couldn't explain it all
and I'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall
and when we leave the landlord will come
and paint over it all
and I am walking
out in the rain
and I am listening to the low moan of the dial tone again
and I am getting nowhere with you
and I can't let it go
and I can't get though
So now use both hands
please use both hands
oh, no don't close your eyes
I am writing graffiti on your body
I am drawing the story of how hard we tried
hard we tried
how hard we tried

Another theme prevalent in Ani Difranco’s music is the exploration of projection in relationships. This tendency to project one’s own needs onto another while not really being able to see the other person for who they are is another common distortion that can happen in relationships. Displaced emotional needs projected onto another can lead to unconscious expectations and result in conditional loving.

And I just want you to live up to
the image of you I create
I see you and I'm so unsatisfied
I see you and I dilate

Ani Difranco’s lyrical poetry also explores the urge to become a chameleon to what the other person needs in order to maintain relatedness. This giving up of a self-identity in relationships can lead to the loss of self-actualization and depression. This tendency to become dependant on the other for a sense of identity and meaning is also a common relationship pattern.

I'll be your biggest fan, I will be your fool
I'll be your exception to every rule
and I ain't the type to bitch
I ain't the type to cry
I'll sit at your red light
and wait for your ship to go by
And this vague little smile is my all-purpose expression
the meaning of which I will leave to your discretion
yeah my distraction is my defense against this lack of inspiration
against this slowly deflation
yeah the further the horizon you know the more it warps my gaze
the foreground's out of focus but you know I kinda hope it's
just a phase, just a phase

The tendency to put another on a pedestal as a result of one’s own projected needs for actualization can create discomfort in partnership. The soul’s innate urge is to learn to love through mutual exchange of heart energies, independence and equality based on both partners ability to actualize their individual soul paths. When one person projects one’s own un-actualized qualities on another, then this may result in the partners’ need to distance him or herself.

You were so in love
that it was all you could talk about
and I think I felt a little left out
you were on cloud nine all the time
while I was leveling
I was wringing my hands and you were reveling
but then why shouldn't you?
it was such a beautiful thing to do
Would that I could get me some
of your yum yum delirium
I could level off the ground that we stand on
but with you down on bended knee
always looking up at me
that feeling of standing up together is gone

This kind of projection in relationships can create entanglement and thus lead a person to lose track of one’s own soul path.

You confused your journey
with my journey
You tried to nail me
Like Minerva to your bow
But my job here
Is not to deliver you
But to hold a mirror
Till you see how
Oh say can you see me
Oh say can you see me
Oh say can you see me over here?

Learning to develop healthy partnerships based on mutual independence can be quite challenging and require a lot of soul searching. Trying on ways of being in relationship is the only way to learn to love. The gift that can be found through the exploration of “a Bleeding Heart” is the healing of one’s own wounded parts.

But I don't wanna wear you
Wear you like a band-aid
Wave you like a ticket
Out of my good grief
I just wanna know you
Know you like I know my garden
What you smell like when you're bloomin’
What lives underneath
Deep down underneath
Way down underneath
We do a whole lotta laughin
At the shyness that surrounds us
I do a whole lotta lookin
Somewhere else
I don't need to look
No, I can just feel you
Besides every time I see you
It just forces me to look at myself

Bleeding Heart can help a person to learn to stabilize in self-knowing and thus be able to truly give and receive unconditional love within the context of partnership. The FES repertory explains, "Through Bleeding Heart flower essence, the soul learns to fill itself from within with strong spiritual forces, so that the capacity to love another is based on the ability to honor and nourish the Self". The FES affirmation card for Bleeding Heart reminds that by releasing emotional attachment love can be given freely.

I release emotional attachments to others.
I fill my heart with the peace of inner strength.
I ray forth my Love to others as a free gift. (6)

True emotional security can only be found by rooting in the self and the actualization of one’s own inherent individuality, identity and soul path. The age-old truism “a person cannot truly love another until they have learned to know and love himself/herself” becomes apparent through Bleeding Heart. Once individualized sense of self is established, the mutual exchange and interdependence of partnership can be based in true sharing rather then unconscious emotional projection. When this happens relatedness can become a source of strength.

I search your profile
for a translation
I study the conversation
like a map
'cause I know there is strength
in the differences between us
and I know there is comfort
where we overlap

References

  1. Electronic reference. Retrieved August 1, 2010 from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani_DiFranco#cite_note-21
  2. Electronic reference from Righteous Babe Website. Retrieved August 1, 2010 http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/knuckledown/interview.asp
  3. Stephey,M.J. (2008). Gen-x: The Ignored Generation? Time Magazine. Retrieved Electronically August 1, 2010 http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1731528,00.html
  4. Greene, Deva. Electronic reference from “The School of Evolutionary Astrology”. Retrieved August 1, 2010. http://schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/school/articles/pluto-in-libra
  5. The Flower Essence Society Repertory: http://www.flowersociety.org/Repertory-on-line.htm
  6. Flower Essence Society Affirmation Deck: http://www.fesflowers.com/fes-store/index.php?cPath=13&main_page=index

Visualization of Outer Planet Astrological Transits 1901-2020

Here is a visualization of the outer planet transits for the next decade from 2011 to 2020:

2011-2020
Uploaded with Skitch!

You can download a PDF of outer planet transits for the last 100+ from 1901-2020, where it's split out one decade at a time: http://engagedheart.com/sites/default/files/Outer-Planet-Transits.pdf

I recommend listening to an interview I did with Rick Levine where he talks about both Uranus in Aries, but more importantly the Astrological Aspects from now until 2020 while taking a look at the full-resolution version of the graphic above.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

I've had a deep desire to able to see the big picture when it comes to being able to see the outer planet transits because I find some of the existing solutions to be really lacking. You can look at a lot of different astrological natal charts, but that is really constrained to be one moment in time. And you have to sample lots of data points before you'd be able to see some of the trends, but it's also extremely difficult for your mind to piece together up to 10 different transit trends in your head at the same time from looking at individual data points.

So that's great if you're dedicated to doing that, but I have a feeling that most astrologers rely upon other people or resources to help keep up with the big upcoming transits. There's tools like Jim Maynard's Celestial Influences calendar, which shows both the inner and outer planet transits on a daily basis. Or there's something like thePlanet Watcher calendar, which distills the planetary transits down to the most essential and powerful transits and planetary ingresses (i.e. planets moving into a new sign). There's also a number of written and spoken commentaries on upcoming aspects online and in publications like Cosmos and Psyche, which essentially takes an exhaustively academic look at the history of outer planet transits throughout many centuries of history. I'm primarily most interested in the last 100+ years since the turn of the 20th Century, and looking foward towards the next 10 years primarily because just about everyone alive right now was born sometime after 1901, and so that's the time period I focused on.

I had attempted to take a look at this issue by creating a Graphic Planetary Ephemeris from 1901-2020. It plotted the outer planets as they progressed from sign to sign. It turned out that it was super easy to visually see when a planet would change sign, and also to be able to see a conjunction since it was when two lines crossed each other. But it turned out to be extremely difficult to be able to easily spot when the lines where exactly 90 degrees, 120 degrees or 180 degrees apart. If both planets happened to be entering in new signs at the same time, then it was easier to spot, but the majority of time that wasn't happening. So this initial visualization failed to be very useful because outer planet transits turn out to be one of the most significant astrological influences since they move so much slower and therefore the aspects are in orb a lot longer than the inner planets. So while this Graphic Ephemeris PDF was useful to some extent, it certainly wasn't as useful or intuitive as it could have been.

This prompted me to take a look at visualizing the angular difference between the two outer planets, so it would be much easier to spot the 0-degree conjunctions, 90-degree squares, 120-degree trines and 180-degree oppositions. I tried to plot out the aspects between Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto since that would be 10 lines and hopefully not too overwhelming. I wanted to create a quick and easy way to be able to look at that line and be able to tell what the aspect was. In the process, I had an insight to normalize the difference between angles so that it'd always be positive and never be more than 180 degrees. Why did I do that? Because I noticed that there's a very interesting symmetry as you progress from a conjunction to an opposition back to a conjunction. You can see the progression of aspects looks like a mirror in this graphic taken from this post on Elsa Elsa's astrology blog:

For example, when two planets are 120 degrees apart, then they in a trine. But when they're 240 degrees apart, then it is still a trine. But if I set the modulus to 180 degrees, then I would be able to transform that 240 degrees by subtracting it 360 degrees. And I also made sure that all negative degrees would be transformed to being positive. Ultimately, it was possible to plot out the angular difference between two planets such that it was always greater than zero but less than 180 degrees. The Microsoft Excel formula that I came up to do this was: "=IF(C2>180,(C2-360)*-1,IF(C2<0,IF(C2<-180,C2+360,-1*(C2)),C2))" Where C2 was the difference between two planets in cells A2 and B2. Anyway, the result was a very intuitive chart of how the outer aspects progress over time.

I also wanted to accurately represent the orbs of each of the different aspects since the orb of the hard aspects like the conjunction and opposition are larger than the orb of a trine or square, which are both larger than the minor aspects. To make things more confusing, the orbs change depending upon whether the planets are applying or separating. I created a band around each aspect that was proportional to the default and recommended orbs from Solar Fire, which can be seen below:

Windows XP
Uploaded with Skitch!

If you look closely at one of the graphics orb bands in the chart, then you'll see the lighter colored section there to help distinguish from applying or separating. The way that I think of whether the planet is applying or separating is whether it's moving towards a conjunction (applying) or away from a conjunction (separating). But then there's also the retrograde movements, which makes it more confusing. Either way the scale is large enough that it's more symbolic to represent to you that software programs like Solar Fire are taking that under consideration whenever you're looking at the aspects in a specific natal chart.

I also tried to color the lines the same color as the planetary glyphs appear in Solar Fire. I tried to privilege the color to the outer planet. Hopefully it's not too confusing, but I made the Jupiter transits fatter since Jupiter is Expansive! But once you start to know the relative rates of angular velocity (i.e. the slope at which the lines changing vertically), then you can start to spot the different transits pretty quickly. Jupiter transits are the steepest, then Saturn, then Uranus, and then the Neptune-Pluto transits are actually relatively flatlined for most of the century sometimes going an entire decade hovering as the 60 sextile angle.

That's about all the technical thoughts I have in the process of creating these graphics. I'm a Virgo, I'm just interested in processing the data. So I'll leave it up to other actual astrologers to help interpret and talk about the meanings of these transits for the collective and for individuals.

The obvious follow up for me was to personalize this type of chart by visualizing the planetary transits for my own chart. I did some preliminary experiments, which were kind of interesting. For example, here's all of the planetary transits relative to my Uranus over the next decade. I'm 34 years old right now, and so my Uranus opposition is coming up here with a brief section when I'm turn 42 in 2018 and then hits pretty strong for most of 2019 and into 2010.

uranus & north node
Uploaded with Skitch!

But I wanted to try and visualize ALL of my planetary transits for the next decade. And to see if I could see it all on one page of my 30-inch computer monitor. It was possible since I have a number of conjunctions, but still a bit overwhelming. I listed the plants in order of it's house starting with my Saturn in the 3rd and going up to Jupiter in the 12th. Here's the result:

Transit-visualization
Uploaded with Skitch!

And finally, here's a link to my chart if you're curious in decoding those transits further.

Free Webinar: Flower Essences: Lighting the Way to Health and Happiness

Steven Horne and Isadora Tavens are herbalists who recently provided an excellent introduction to flower essences in a free webinar.

Free Webinar: Flower Essences: Lighting the Way to Health and Happiness

In their two-hour webinar, they explained how flower essences can be used to resolve emotional issues, and described the differences between homeopathy, flower essences and aromatherapy. Their webinar reviews key flower essences for anxiety, insomnia, anger, and grief.

Horne and Tavens also discuss how contemporary issues such as economic concerns, environmental pollution, political corruption, wars, natural disasters, and global warming affect individuals emotionally. They then talked about how flower essences can help us process these emotions, and step into our greatest sense of empowerment so that we can contribute to solving these problems during chaotic times.

This webinar is part of a larger series of paid classes for learning about flower essences for three phases of life: healing the inner child, supporting midlife, and supporting life as an elder.

Graphic Planetary Ephemeris from 1901-2020

I created a visualization of how the planets move through the various astrological signs over long periods of time. If you've ever wondered what the progression of the outer planets looks like, then you can see how they weave through time with their various retrograde cycles. You can also start to see the big picture of the generational effects of the slower moving planets like when Pluto entered into various signs like Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio.

For an idea of what this looks like, then here's how the outer planets were progressing from the beginning of 1971 to the end of 1980:

1971-1980
Uploaded with Skitch!

I gathered the zodiacal degree data for Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the North Node, and plotted it as it progressed from Aries to Pisces a decade at a time from 1901 to 2020. I then colored all of the fire signs red, the earth signs grey, the air signs yellow, and the water signs blue, and also delineated the different modes of Cardinal (solid line with the years labeled), Fixed (grey line), and Mutable (dotted line).

It can be hard to spot aspects within orb with such a large set of data, but you can definitely see conjunctions as whenever two planetary lines of motion intersect. Planets in the same color are in a trine aspect of 120 degrees. Two planets that are near the next similar line style are a square aspect of 90 degrees (3 lines away), and an opposition of the 2nd similar line (6 lines away) of 180 degrees.

You can also try to find the approximate location of your birth time within this collective context to see what types of big trends were happening, and the easy thing to spot is which planets were in retrograde. You could also visually look your Saturn return by paging up three pages, and what I noticed is that often times Saturn crosses through the natal location multiple times.

So here's a PDF that contains the Graphic Planetary Ephemeris data for the 12 decades from 1901 to 2020: http://engagedheart.com/sites/default/files/Graphical-Ephemeris-1901-202...

Using Flower Essences with Astrology

Flower Essences for Coping with Life Changes and Crises

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Download Audio
(18:11 / 16.7 MB)

In this first interview, Jen Gouvea, MSW explains how she uses the combination of flower essences and astrology to facilitate self-development and recovery from crises and change in her counseling practice. She describes specific essences that are useful for people coping with life changes and traumatic events such as divorce, job loss, home foreclosure, fears concerning financial stability, loss of a loved one or even natural disasters.

She also explains how change can become an opportunity for finding one's soul purpose and discusses specific essences that address the transformation from crises to resilience to renewed purpose. The essences that she discuses are from the Healing Herbs, Quintessentials and the Flourish Formula practitioner kits made by the Flower Essence Society (FES).

Some of the FES articles mentioned in the Podcast are Flower Essence Formulas: Powerful Remedies for Times of Crises as well as Report on the Relief Efforts with Flower Essence Therapy for the Sichuan Earthquake in China


Borage flower essence helps the heart to develop
resilience and optimism when faced with adversity.
Photo Credit: matsuyuki

The following Essences are discussed in this podcast:

CAREER ISSUES

  • Voice & Decision: Cerato, Scleranthrus, Centaury
  • Depression: Borage, Gentian, Gorse
  • Anxiety: Chamomile, Larch, Mimulus
  • Creativity: Star Tulip, India Paintbrush
  • Manifestation: Cayenne, Blackberry, Madia, California Wild Rose
  • Family of origin: Mariposa Lily, Baby Blue Eyes

CRISES & NATURAL DISASTERS

  • Loss & Grief: Bleeding Heart, Forget Me Not, Love Lies Bleeding
  • Traumatic Incident: Arnica, Echinacea
  • Fear: Borage, Rock Rose, Oregon Grape, Red Clover

MY FAVORITES

  • Sensitivity: Golden Yarrow, Pink Yarrow, White Yarrow, Yarrow Environmental Solution
  • Home and Belonging: Sweet Pea

The Cardinal T-square of Saturn, Uranus and Pluto and Vibrational Essences

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Download Audio
(29:06 / 26.7 MB)

In this second interview, Adam Gainsburg, the founder of Soulsign Astrology, explains the meaning of the Cardinal T-square of Uranus, Saturn and Pluto coming up over the Summer of 2010. He describes specific methods for connecting the heart space with the spirit and why cultivating and sustaining a soul connection during periods of outer chaos and uncertainty is important. Finally, he explains how his Soulsign Planetary Vibrational Essences can be useful to take during these transits.


This article is featured in A Collection of Articles about How to Combine Astrology with Flower Essences published by Vibration Magazine as Part of the 2010 International Astrology Day Blogathon. The purpose of this web-based event is to create a permanent library of articles about how to deal with the stresses of the Cardinal T-Square of Pluto, Saturn and Uranus. The main page for the Blogathon collections is at The Cardinal T-Square of 2010: Saturn, Uranus, Pluto.


Jen Gouvea Jen Gouvea first began using flower essences in 2004. They have had a remarkable influence on her own ability to recover from physical and emotional challenges. She has a Masters of Social Work and has experience working with issues of mental health, relationships, diversity, trauma, loss, and grief. She has also used mind-body and mindfulness techniques to work with clients in substance abuse recovery as well as with combat veterans coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In her healing practice, she uses Evolutionary and Soulsign Astrology as a road map for understanding soul development. She is currently completing her flower essence certification process through the Flower Essence Society.

Adam GainsburgAdam Gainsburg has authored three books, including Chiron: The Wisdom of a Deeply Open Heart. Adam is the founder of Soulsign Astrology and an active teacher and lecturer at astrology conferences since 2007. His work emphasizes the Heart's evolutionary intelligence at the core of all astrological method. His next book, Bridges of Union, will present a comprehensive delineation model of the 13 phases in the Mars and Venus synodic cycles. Adam also records a monthly podcast on the synodic cycles of Venus and Mars and is developing an online tool to merge astronomical advances with astrological wisdom.