I just wanted to give everyone a little heads up for December, since some wonderful things are ramping up on my end. I will have very limited availability the second half of this month, for a variety of happy reasons including, but also in addition to the holidays. If you would like to book one of the December Specials or another kind of session sometime this month, I strongly recommend getting yourself on the calendar sooner rather than later. I will likely not have last minute session flexibility even with working from home.
For Gift Certificates, I normally make a custom PDF certificate that you can then email or print out for your loved one, but again, please do not leave these off until the last minute, as I have a lot of sessions and events already on the books. I want to be able to create the custom PDF for you and your loved ones, but if you leave this off until right before Winter Solstice or Christmas, I cannot guarantee I will have time to get the PDF immediately created for you. Please order by Friday, the 16th to be absolutely certain you’ll have the PDF in hand or in email in time for the holidays.
On December 13th, we’ve got a Full Moon in Gemini, also known as “The Long Nights Moon” or “The Goose Moon.” This will be our final Full Moon of 2016, so if you mark time by cycles of the Moon, then this would be a perfect occasion to reflect upon this past year and whatever has rolled along to completion. What have you achieved? For what do you feel gratitude? What did the intense energies of 2016 reveal in your life?
On December 19th, Mercury goes Retrograde, another cycle that often makes people nervous about communications, contracts and travel plans. I’ve got Mercury all over my natal chart and long ago learned to harness and enjoy the energies of Merc Rx. This link is an old post, with different planetary alignments, but it goes into detail about ways to thrive in Mercury Retrograde. In short, focus on anything that begins with “re”: revise, rework, reconnect, review, release, and I would even add … rejoice! In my own life, so many wonderful things have come to completion during Merc Rx’s that I look at these periods as progress markers and for restructuring — reconsidering and tweaking the old so that a reaffirmed new can reveal itself. Lots of re-‘s!
Winter Solstice/Yule follows Merc Rx, and we’ve got another re: the Return of the Light! As the Darkest Night of the Year passes, the Sun remains still (Sol-stice) for three days and then the longer days begin again. David and I appreciate the Wheel of the Year as a powerful way to move through time, and Winter Solstice always seems particularly eventful for us. We look forward to saying our goodbye’s to this past year’s cycle that included so many changes in our own families.
Winter Solstice 2015 marked David’s daughter’s college graduation and a deeply healing reconnection with old and new people in all our lives.
Mercury went Retrograde in early January 2016, and just as it went direct, my father’s long term battle with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma took a major turn for the worse. He could suddenly no longer tolerate the medication he was convinced had kept him alive. February brought my brother and me to Pennsylvania to help manage our father’s care, and then March included lots of returns and release as my father began his obvious transition beyond the veil.
Family reunions, memorial service, and funeral filled those months, and then I began moving my mother from their home of 30 years into the home my father purchased just two days before he died. I spent several more weeks creating a beautiful haven just for my mom, so that her grief would be tempered by delight in all the new and tailored-just-for-her decorating and feng shui. I then spent May’s Merc Rx returning to Pennsylvania, clearing out and staging the old house, which had its first showing on my birthday. It sold within three weeks, but the final paperwork went through in August’s Merc Rx, which brings us here again the upcoming December Merc Rx.
David’s family went through big transitions in 2015, but 2016 was no slouch for them either! As we celebrate Winter Solstice 2016, we will honor and release all of these things and more, welcoming the Return of the Light after a rich, but deeply challenging and growth filled twelve months.
In more traditional circles, Christmas follows on December 25th for those who celebrate the Christian holidays or just the Westernized version of the original Christmas story. Hanukkah also begins on December 25 this year, with Kwanzaa following on the 26th and the UK Boxing Day. In this action packed December, please accept my apologies if I’ve missed another holiday. There’s plenty of time to celebrate whatever feels relevant and important to you, whether or not anyone else recognizes your moments. I will continue to blog here and there through 2016 until New Year’s Eve, but I just wanted to give readers a heads up on my schedule, as well as the potent energies and opportunities in this month’s mix.
Wishing all of you wonderful holiday and energy blessings!
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![An illuminated Way ... [Image shared in an e-message from the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism]](https://laurabruno.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/mason-jar-lights-in-tree.jpg?w=570)
“The first steps toward the creation of wholehearted empowerment in our lives are to leave space for it and ask for it with sincerity. We can’t overlook the power of devotion to create the feeling of possibility in our lives. … this seemingly outer devotion also opens doors to our inner community of voices — in Aramaic terms, the naphtha or subconscious soul-self. It is there that we find the seeds of malkuta — empowerment, the inner revolution.” ~ Neil Douglas-Klotz, 
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