Today, the Moon is moving through the sign of Libra, where it brings calm, peace and balance. A situation that may have seemed unfair can be brought to resolution now, and everyone can find a way, temporarily at least, to agree to disagree. 

As the Moon is restoring some order to our lives, it's going to trine slower-moving Neptune. As the planet of dreams, creativity, metaphysics and manifestation, this will bring a way to make the stuff of the astral plane physical, so this time is great for manifesting more money, a better job, a soulmate, or some other goal. Since the Moon rules the emotions, and Neptune tends to dissolve us into the disincorporate state, it's important to stay present, and remain in your body! Astral travel is possible, since we're all a little psychic under this placement. But let your mind roam a little (not while driving, of course :)). See what's out there in the ether for you. It may be a wonderful memory to connect you to loved ones, a great idea for a creative project, or just the grace to notice that someone's having a bad day and could use your words of encouragement. 

Let your intuition be your guide! 

Tomorrow evening the Moon, in the sign of Libra, will square Pluto in Capricorn. The Moon stands in for the emotions, which will be focused around Libran pursuits like fairness, balance, justice and dignity for the next few days. But these will come up against (the square relationship) the status quo, the "man," tradition, rules and regulations. As with any tough planetary relationships, it's only temporary. Due to the quick moving Moon, it'll be even more fleeting than with other planets. 

Since Pluto requires transformation of some kind, look to your emotions to see where you can accommodate others a little more or learn to get along. See where you can go the extra mile to see what someone is seen, heard or treated fairly. And of course, you deserve the same. :) 

By Sunday, the Moon (which will have moved into Scorpio) trines Chiron. This gives all of us the chance to develop compassion not just for our own foibles and insufficiencies, but for the things we don't like, or find hard to accommodate. Chiron is an asteroid that means "healing through pain." The good part is that, after the pain can come healing, if we're willing to bring awareness into the smaller things in life, get over ourselves a little and let the good stuff come to us. 

OK, not to get too greeting card on you, but there have been a few things in my life over the past few years that have made me stop and think about what I had, where I was, and where I wanted to be relative to that. Many of us go through this same process every day, from what I can tell. 

But as I move ever more steadily in this direction -- towards more gratitude, more sheer amazement that things get done, that people connect, and inventions get invented -- that it's always a bit shocking to speak with someone, read someone or just interact with someone who seems so out of touch with that reality. After all, who the hell am I to say what the best reality is? But it sure isn't being miserable, clenched,  angry and/or without direction. And I don't mean direction in the "what are you going to do with your life" way, but in the more "I know who I am and what I'm capable of in this lifetime" kind of way. 

So many of us are angry that we don't have the perfect soulmate right now, or stymied by having to make a living, that there's no room for growth. There's no time for the process of development. There's no space to become more fully yourself. I'm reminded of a comedian who used to talk about watching people on airplanes, complaining about the lack of space, the forced air, the crying babies, the lack of adequate pillows and poor food, when all he wanted to do was scream, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE'RE FLYING A MILLION MILES AN HOUR THROUGH THE AIR RIGHT NOW? DO YOU EVEN SEE THAT THAT'S AMAZING?" 

I'm paraphrasing, but you get the picture. So many of us are focused around our immediate needs for comfort  that we miss the rest of the pretty amazing picture. There are miracles all around -- not just flowers, babies and puppies, but everything you experience with your senses. Try seeing the world through that lens today and notice what it does to your mood. :) 

Just kidding. Am I worried that the entire nation of Germany routinely uses a psychic octopus to foresee its victories or, as the case was against Spain recently, losses in soccer? Nah. But it's a pretty funny story. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/opinion/11zafon.html?th&emc=th

Paul is of the 8-armed variety, an aquarium dweller at the Oberhausen Zoo. And he's pretty uncanny when it comes to choosing the right country's flag, when it's placed in a box containing a tasty, snackworthy mussel. He also predicted that Spain would win the World Cup final, which it did just a few minutes ago. Nice work, dude! But there's plenty of work for all of us who travel in psychic circles. I'm just not the jealous type.  

In other news, I attended a great Reiki class yesterday. Looking to add more of this to my readings and to my "other" job, as an energy healer. I'll be fully certified in another month or two, then go for the master level early next year. Loved the unstructured, practice-heavy nature of the class, and the other participants ,who all shared their wonderful stories and energy. 

Also looking forward to the Matrix Energetics Level 3 seminar in August. I've had really great results with Matrix, on  everything from chronic pain to migraines and manifesting new relationships. Try to get an octopus to do that! :) 

If you're interested in just energy work, without the astrology or tarot aspect, check it out at http://www.ShiftEnergetics.com. 

Or just hug a cephalopod. 

Remember in Good Will Hunting, when Matt Damon's character, the brilliant but wounded janitor, agrees to attend therapy sessions with Robin Williams? At his core, he's so jaded, so hurt that he doesn't believe healing is even possible. During the rest of the movie, we see this facade begin to crumble and (OK, maybe it's a little abrupt) change. We know things don't happen as fast as they do in movies, but we want to believe that in this space of 1-2 hours, we can get a little of that healing, too. That's why we go on these vicarious journeys to save the world again and again (I mean, how many times are they gonna tell THAT story?), lose, cry, triumph and move on again. 

Similarly, I deal with a lot of wounded people. They're a curious bunch, most of them looking for a little window into their future. Some people need to talk while others are really looking for direction or answers. And you know what? I admire them all. 

I know psychics, particularly the online and phone kind, have taken a sometimes-deserved hit in the national consciousness. Let's face it. There are a-holes out there who ruin it for the rest of us, who just want to try and provide a service that treats everyone with dignity, and have actual business practices with some integrity behind them :). But there are those, like me, who look at healing like a puzzle, trying to rearrange the pieces in the best way for each  client. It may be a book or a class. It may be some Matrix Energetics, or distance reiki. It may even be a change in location, diet, exercise or friends. It's that strategic, problem-solving aspect of what I do that I love the most. Well, that and talking with the dead. 

After some sessions, I feel very full and sometimes overwhelmed. Though I've been doing this for over twenty years now, my skills are still growing, still expanding, and it appears that there may be no end to where they can go. I talked to someone's dead friend yesterday, gave her the message and she burst into tears. I tried to repeat the exact same words I heard, and she validated their truth. After the session, the same voice said, "You did good, kid," and I thought I was gonna cry. 

So I'm gonna be honest here. I have no idea why I can do what I can do. I don't know where it comes from, and part of me doesn't want to understand. Maybe that will ruin the mystery aspect for some people. I just know I can help people, and that's enough for me -- today, at least. 

Uranus, planet of individuality and sudden change, went retrograde yesterday in the sign of Aries. It's a pretty slow moving planet, and will make its way back to the 26th degree of Pisces before turning direct on December 6th.

Uranus, much like the element Uranium it's named for, can be unstable. It can create volatile shifts in society or the ground itself. The Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles had Uranus in full force, draped across the bottom of the chart -- the earth literally shaking open. But Uranus can also be brilliant, it's that flash of genius that may seem like the stupidest idea ever but turns out, with some work and structure, to be something that benefits humankind for centuries.

During this time, it may feel as if creativity has left the building, that all your uniqueness or individuality just isn't around anymore. But when a planet is retrograde, it's giving us a moment to pause. We may need to consider a new direction for our creative urges, or need to redefine ourselves physically, so we can get our important messages across. We may even need to learn a new discipline, so we have all the tools we'll need.

So don't despair during the next few months. You're still the savvy, creative so-and-so you thought you were. From now until early December, it's time to practice those skills, add to them wherever possible, and keep the strangest ideas, which may be the best ones, flowing into the universe. Since Uranus also rules energy work, use your energy for the positive good of all. If you've never really believed that all of us were connected, of thought it was so much New Age hooey, you'll have every reason to believe when this planetary movement has concluded.  Promise.

Been thinking about independence and what it might mean for a psychic. I talk to A LOT of people every week, from the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada -- all of them from free countries, with access to the Internet, unhampered communication via phone and text. So I don't tend to get asked a lot of questions about how to achieve political goals. 

I do, however, get asked a lot of questions about love, money, life purpose, relationships, health and more. How these might jibe with the concept of independence might not be immediately obvious. But a long time ago, I decided to make some strong boundaries about who I would and wouldn't read. It's not a popularity contest, or way to make people feel bad about themselves, but after doing this a long time, you begin to notice that some people may benefit more from therapy than a psychic's advice, or from making more friends, finding a mate, beginning an exercise plan or even adopting a pet. 

I appreciate being able to read people, to have the luxury of practicing what I love and developing my own skills as far as they will go. I also enjoy helping people move through their own struggles. But I don't feel good about taking people's money past their ability to pay, or beyond what I feel may actually help them. So independence for me isn't just about being able to do this work and make my own hours, but to determine some of the parameters of my job. 

It's also about not getting too trapped into what "reality" is. I make my readings not hard-and-fast sentences to be levied on my clients but open-ended experiences to help them find a way to what they want. It may not be on the path they're currently treading, but I can usually help them see their way into a new reality, then assist in its creation. 

So here's to independence from whatever's holding you back. From what's painful or stuck, whatever just doesn't serve your life anymore. 

If we're going to talk about fighting for our freedoms, those should be right up there, if you ask me. 

Tomorrow, the Moon will conjunct Neptune, planet of dreams, past lives, creativity and karma. It moves through the last few degrees of Aquarius, when it will conjunct Neptune, and then move into the sign of Pisces (which Neptune rules). When it makes it all the way into Pisces, the Moon will conjunct Chiron (an asteroid meaning "healing through pain"). 

When Neptune conjuncts any planet, the danger is there to become fuzzy around the edges. Maybe we should bend the truth a little, we think. No one will ever know. We can exaggerate our accomplishments, or downgrade something we don't want to claim in our lives. We may even be tempted to lie outright, or hide something from our friends, family members or mates. Since the Moon represents our emotional nature and expression, this can also manifest as emotional confusion, at least for the early part of the day (this will depend on where you live). 

The thing is, if you decide to lie, or even to hide information that's better examined and released, the conjunction between the Moon and Chiron can either feel really bad, as when someone figures out that we're lying, or be really karmic, in that someone punishes us because we've hidden the truth. 

Best to use this planetary movement to confront the truth, even if that's internal. From there, we can decide which path of action is most skillful and respectful to those we care about. 

You'd want the same from others -- right? 

I've been reluctant to write about the season finale of Treme last Sunday because I didn't want to react too quickly. The season has been interesting, frustrating, slow, revelatory, annoying and moving by turns. While the show still cuts away at the most maddening moments, robbing us of the emotional moments we crave as an audience, it's still some of the coolest TV you're gonna get at the moment. 

Creighton, as it turns out, did do himself in by jumping off the Algiers ferry (don't think that's a spoiler alert by now). It had to happen, I suppose, but it robs the show of its righteous anger, it's sputtering "I have no freakin' idea what to do about this but I wish I did" moments. Hopefully, they'll replace him with someone else to balance the loopiness of Steve Zahn's character Davis. Creighton's death gave us one of my favorite television moments ever, when David Morse's character (a cop who has been complicit in Daymo's death and subsequent cover-up if only by not taking action) tells Toni that he'll look the other way if she wants to remove anything from Creighton's truck -- anything that might point to suicide, since they're characterizing the death as an accident, for his daughter's sake. Toni gets in the car, sees her husband's wallet in the glove compartment -- how he's obviously been planning this -- and the note inside saying "I love you." 

This is a complicated emotional moment, one that only someone of Melissa Leo's talent could handle. Her face collapses in grief, and we can see how much she will miss him. But this is quickly replaced by a steely anger -- that he's left her, copped out of any future fights they might have fought together against injustice. She shoves everything back into the glove compartment, including the wallet and note, and walks away with that terrible look on her face that seems to say, "You made your bed now lie in it, buddy." 

It's genius in the scope of the season. Now she's not only helping LaDonna get justice for her brother's death, but now she knows, perhaps too intimately, how she feels. People are still dying from the storm, only a little slower and by indirect means. These two women, played admirably by Melissa Leo and Khandi Alexander, have been the backbone of this show for me, and I hope to see much more of their arcs next season. 

I've been thinking about how we establish rules and parameters -- at work, in relationships and just in the way we perceive our realities. Though I've been studying numerous metaphysical and spiritual disciplines since high school, I have yet to figure out why we box ourselves in as humans, or limit our experience. Maybe it's needing to focus on one or two things at a time. Maybe it's laziness, or the need to control our surroundings. Maybe it's fear, that we don't know what we'll find on the other side of a new thing. 

Discursive thoughts, or those little voices inside you, don't help. They're constantly sending us into the past, to reopen old wounds or have that same fight with our ex-boyfriend (maybe we hope that this time, we'll win). Or they drag us into the future, where we're immediately met with fear because we don't really know what's coming. 

One great way to deal with discursive thoughts on an ongoing basis is through meditation. No matter what style of meditation you choose, sitting quietly and watching the material of our minds can be illuminating. I remember when I started meditating, around 14 years ago. I'm a pretty mellow person, but I was shocked to find that my thoughts truly resembled monkeys leaping around on branches, pulling each other's tails, screeching and being as anti-social as hell in order to get my attention.  It was fascinating, maddening, embarrassing -- you name it. All I wanted was for it to go away. 

These days, my mind is a lot calmer, without really trying. That tends to come naturally with practice, and I've had plenty of that. Alongside my study and practice in metaphysics and energy work, I've had the opportunity to sit and do nothing, which may sound easy. But it's really not. Today I'll sit again and I'll watch to see where my mind wants to go -- to the dream I had last night (airplanes and trip wires and clouds -- oh my!) or to the TV pitch I'll be writing in the future. 

Maybe it'll stay right here in the now, at least for one more breath. :)