Guru Purnima

Blessed Guru Purnima!  The July full moon is the full moon of the Guru. It is a very special time to honor our teachers and gurus, and a time when we receive powerful blessings from those teachers not on the physical plane. We appreciate and honor deeply the complex and beautiful interactions between teacher and student.

We honor the guru-principle. Guru means "heavy" or "weighty". Another definition is remover of ignorance. The guru is the weighty one, saturated with wisdom, permeated with Grace.

The moon will be in Capricorn, which invites us into the realm of the wisdom of the ancestors and ancient ones. The Kosmic Kula has been exploring and expanding on the concepts of purna for a year or more, and it will be an exceptional adventure to deepen our experiences of purna during this most auspicious full moon.

I invite you to let your home become heavy with the scent of incense and the sounds of prayers and chanting. Clarify intentions in candlelight and offer respect in your own way to the Great Ones. Contemplate purna as it feels today, and reflect on who and what you are heartbreakingly grateful for. 

The primordial yogi, the great yoga adept and teacher Lord Shiva, is celebrated wholeheartedly as the Adi Guru. Om Namah Shivaya! We honor the Great Mother. Sri Maa Namaha!                                                  

May our hearts become sanctified and saturated with the nectar of the bliss of the Divine. May we become full like the moon with the soma of honey-like awareness. 

May we practice pada puja; pranams and offerings at the lotus-feet of the Beloved.

May we remember we are whole and holy!

Shivo'ham! Purno'ham!

We love you Mercury

Mercury is retrograde today, until it turns direct June 19. Neptune is retrograde today too. Tomorrow the waning half moon will move into Pisces.  The planet Mercury is the planetary muse of communication (and thought and travel). It is close to the earth and so we humans feel the effects of its retrograde period in pronounced ways. Mercury governs all things that deal with communication, such as listening, sharing, travel, phones, computers, and other such technologies. When Mercury retrogrades for three weeks several times a year, these communication technologies often break down, communication with friends and lovers can become sticky, and travel plans may come to a halt. It is a time when many get more parking or speeding tickets than usual, some miscommunications arise, and people literally trip and fall.

The message that Mercury offers us is... slow down. Take your time. Don't get in a rush or you may trip, or get a ticket. Or miss your flight anyway. So let Mercury retrograde be a reminder to ease up on your fast pace, your frantic scurry. Play "Slow Ride" on your ipod (if it still works today) and take it easy. For the next three weeks, let Mercury create a cosmic coffee break for you. Rushing around and forcing communication is going against the flow. Use this time to be quiet, to enjoy silence, listen to nature, listen to your own guidance and intuition. Send people blessings just by thinking of them. 

During Mercury retrograde, the Kula and I focus on reviewing. We focus on reviewing, renewing, revisioning. All the re we can do in honor of retrograde. So for homework, review something that you already know, but spend some extra time thinking about it, feeling it, journaling about it. How about ...    First Principle.... Open to Grace. Review what it means to you.

Some practical advice to always think about for Mercury retrograde:

Drive and walk slowly. Pay extra attention to those those drivers and bikers that don't know Mercury is retrograde. Back up your computer! Try to avoid signing contracts or making really big decisions until after Mercury goes direct. Wait to make big purchases. Give yourself extra time to get there - to appointments, at the airport, etc. Don't take miscommunications personally. Be quiet more often than usual.