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January 29 through February 4, 2024

This will be a relatively quiet week after all the transitions of late, as no major astrological events are on the calendar. The Moon will travel through Virgo on Monday, making this the ideal day for research, details or organizational projects. Once the Moon moves into Libra on Tuesday, we'll have a few days to breathe as we restore balance, catch up on correspondence and focus on some self-care. The Moon will move into Scorpio on Thursday an create a more intense energy through to Saturday. Some of us will gravitate toward more spiritual pursuits, while others will take on projects that require intense focus and attention (like taxes, haha.) Luckily the week will end on a fun note thanks to the Moon's entry into Sagittarius on Sunday. Make plans with loved ones to get out of the house and have some fun!

An Excerpt from Let Us Be Greater by Michelle Madrid

As an international adoptee and someone who has worked with adopted adults and youth as a life coach, I’ve identified eight adoptee pain points, places of hurt that adoptees need to heal. These pain points can cause challenges in the adoptee’s life, keeping them from a place of peace and wholeness within. Setting the course to compassionately and soulfully heal and reframe these eight primary sources of pain — transforming points of pain into points of light. The adoptee pain points are:

The pain of feeling unwelcome in the world

The pain of broken bonds and a deep sense of loss

The pain of being denied access to truth

The pain of familial rejection and of words that harm

The pain of distrust

The pain of banished biology

The pain of pleasing others versus pleasing the self

The pain of lack of transparency and acceptance

Adoptees may feel out of control and at the mercy of one, several, or all of these pain points. Our work here, together, is to transform this pain and to empower our lives as adoptees.

The motivation to transform can be found in this question:

What if this is as good as it gets?

Is this what you’re asking yourself as an adoptee about the pain you’re carrying? Do you believe that the pain will never get any better? I learned, through an exercise called the Dickens Process, to sink into a painful limiting belief and imagine what it would feel like if I was still living with it one year, three years, five years, or ten years down the road. The Dickens Process is an NLP (neurolinguistic programming) technique that guides you to use your conscious mind in identifying the consequences of a limiting belief and in deciding whether you want to continue with that belief. The essence of this exercise is based on the character Scrooge from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Scrooge is famously shown his past, his present, and what his future will look like if he doesn’t change his ways. The Dickens Process has you identify a limiting belief and then look at it in depth through the lens of three questions:

What did this limiting belief cost you and your loved ones in the past? What have you lost because of this belief? See it. Hear it. Feel it.
What is this limiting belief costing you and those you care about in the present? See it. Hear it. Feel it.
What will this limiting belief cost you and the people you care about one year, three years, five years, or ten years down the road? See it. Hear it. Feel it.

Once you’ve dwelled on the pain of this limiting belief and experienced what it feels like to hold on to it, you will be motivated to create a new limitless belief that inspires and empowers you. Here’s my question for you:

What limiting belief is holding you back today? What if the pain you feel right now, because of this belief, is exactly how you’ll feel one year, three years, five years, or ten years down the road? Maybe you’re telling yourself, as I once did, that you’re just one of those people meant to live a life that’s smaller than the dreams you hold inside. Maybe you believe that staying quiet and concealed, as an adoptee, is how you’ll stay safe from rejection. Maybe you’re living on someone else’s terms. Are you? Are you living someone else’s narrative for your life? Are you falling in line but secretly falling apart inside? I don’t want you to feel this way — not for one more second. What would it be like for you to leave your limiting beliefs behind, once and for all, and move forward with new and limitless ones? Take time to consider the questions of the Dickens Process. It’s a game changer. It works! We’ll revisit this process in chapter 1 during a reflection exercise.

My adoptive mother once told me that I could start finding out more about my first family and my ethnicity once she was no longer around. This was a damaging comment, and it came from my own mother. The comment was based in fear, only I didn’t know that at the time. Mom was fearful of losing me, and I was petrified of being rejected by her. Neither one of us was operating from a space of unconditional love.

And so I did what my mother asked. Like a good adopted girl, I sat inside the waiting room of my own life. The only thing that grew during that time were the pain points. Like thick vines, they entangled me in fear. I felt trapped and lost. Maybe you do, too.

We’re not here, as adoptees, to live someone else’s life. We’re here to live our own lives, our big and beautiful lives! We’re here to be who we are and who we’re destined to become. We’re here to do that from the purest place of authenticity and essence.
My desire to get to the truth of me and to reignite the light within me has taken me on a transformational journey of self-discovery, self-compassion, and self-love. That journey began when I picked up a book by Louise Hay in graduate school called You Can Heal Your Life. The title didn’t say that you can heal your life — unless you’re adopted. No, it offered me the assurance that I really could heal my life, even as an adoptee. Hay’s book awakened me to a place of pure love, empowerment, and self-acceptance. I wanted to get to that place in my own way and through my own experiences. I want to help you get there, too.

My potential once seemed so limited. Today I view my potential as vast and without boundaries. I used to perceive adoption as my weakness, but now I see it as a source of my strength. I’ve traveled deep within in order to transform my life. I’ve learned to shift limiting beliefs into limitless truth. I’ll be asking you to do the same as we, adoptee to adoptee, move through the pages of this book.

You see, the pain you may be struggling with right now isn’t as good as it gets. It’s not all there is! There’s so much more awaiting you beyond the pain. Do you have the power to heal your life? Yes, I believe with all that I am that you do.

Michelle Madrid is the author of Let Us Be Greater: A Gentle, Guided Path to Healing for Adoptees and host of the Electricity of You Podcast. She is an international adoptee, former foster child in the UK, and an adoptee empowerment life coach who has been recognized as an Angels in Adoption® Honoree by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) and inducted into the New Mexico Women’s Hall of Fame for her work in adoption. She lives in Los Angeles and you can visit her online at http://TheMichelleMadrid.com.

Excerpted from the book Let Us Be Greater: A Gentle, Guided Path to Healing for Adoptees ©2023 by Michelle Madrid. Printed with permission from New World Library — www.newworldlibrary.com

Two years ago I visited a so-called clairvoyant after I encountered difficulties in a relationship. In my vulnerable state, he managed to convince me that the man I was seeing was my soul mate, and that work needed to be carried out to get our relationship back on an even keel. After some deliberation, I parted with a large sum of money. I was told by this charlatan that my partner and I would resolve our differences, and that we would eventually marry. The clairvoyant told me to report to him regularly so that he could check our progress. Every time my partner and I had a disagreement, I would call the clairvoyant, and he would tell me I had nothing to worry about and that I should burn another candle and that he would pray for us. I could see that the relationship was going nowhere, and tried to get my money back as promised by the clairvoyant. Again, he was very persuasive and told me if I loved this man the way he loved me, I would hang in there. This scenario continued for another year, and our relationship wobbled along until July 2004, when we had a huge argument after he stood me up. I eventually walked out. I have been trying to get my money back, but this clairvoyant still insists that I have a future with this man, and keeps telling me to call him. When I do, he says he can't talk and to call back the following week. When I confronted him and stated that I wanted my money back, he said he was still working for me, and that I should be patient. Do you agree that two years is more than enough time to reach a resolution? I need to move on, but how can I when I feel this way? How can I get my money back and close this chapter of experience for good?

Jay

Dreamchaser:

I absolutely agree that two years is way more than enough time. I hate to break this to you, but you have fallen prey to one of the oldest tricks in the book. This guy is what some people call a "gypsy psychic." As always, I mean NO disrespect to my readers and friends who really ARE Gypsies. Basically, you and your money were taken.

I do not know where you live or what the laws are in your particular area of the world, but I would start with the police. I would stop into your local police station, ask to speak to someone, and relate your story. Do not hold back facts for fear of looking foolish. Be very honest so that they have ALL the details. If it's necessary, they will file a police report and take it from there. If they do not deem that necessary, or the laws in your area do not cover this sort of thing, they can at least tell you what you should do from there.

I would next contact the equivalent of your local Better Business Bureau, and ask them what information they need to file a complaint about this man. You might also consider suing him in a court of law. I don't know if you fall under the small claims court guidelines, but I would call the Clerk of Courts and ask what the guidelines are, and how you might go about filing a small claims suit against this man.

I want you and all of our readers to understand that a reputable psychic, clairvoyant, spiritual counselor, etc., will always tell you up front exactly how much a service costs, how long it should take to complete, and exactly what you are getting for your money. For example, if you visit Psychic Chat, you will see a listing of how much things cost, what you get, and how long it should take.

As far as "love spells," I say this time and time again in this column: We CANNOT mess with, alter, change or cast a spell on someone's free will. Everyone has a right to exercise their own free will. If we try to mess with someone's free will, the Karmic fallout will be regrettable. This man has a right to his free will, just as we all do. We absolutely, positively are not allowed to try to make someone do what we want whether they like it or not. You learned this lesson the "hard" way, unfortunately.

The Universe has a plan for each of us. If someone we think we want does not work out, we can bet there is someone else even BETTER down the line. We need to stop getting hung up on what's in the past and look forward to the future, which will be better if we just allow it. You CAN have new love - you just have to let it in.

I wish you prosperity of ALL kinds.

*****

Astrea:

Oh, Jay, you're probably not going to get your money back from that fake psychic, but you CAN report him to the police. Find someone in the fraud division of either your local sheriff or police department. While they can't get your money back for you, they MIGHT be able to address the GUARANTEE you were given, and via this approach, help you get your money back. The laws vary from state to state, but where I live, someone's word is a contract, and giving a money-back guarantee and not honoring it is a crime.

Also, contact a lawyer and see if you have grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. Once again, his promise that you would be with this person isn't the issue - the issue is he guaranteed he would refund your money. You should do this as soon as possible, because in some states, two years is the limit on the time to file a lawsuit. I don't know that you could get your money back even if you did sue, however, because I see this man distributing his money to a large, extended family to stay one step ahead of child support enforcement agencies.

No one can guarantee with certainty whether anyone is going to be with another person. Any time there is free will involved, things can change. With TWO people, that's twice as likely.

However, I've had clients who waited as long as ten years to be with the person they loved, and things worked out. I have clients now waiting in that 3-5 year lonely emotional gulch, but I KNOW that they will eventually find that person they love receptive again. It tears me up to counsel them to continue to wait, but some people are willing to do anything for love. I don't know if you and your boyfriend fall into that category, but it's certainly possible you could.

There is one OTHER situation in which NO ONE can really see what is going to happen, and that is if one or both of the people in the relationship are married to someone else. If, for instance, the man you're with is married, a fake psychic might use your guilt to manipulate you into giving him money.

In the end, you're the one who has to be patient and wait. I'm sorry that you lost all that money, but you should have known better from the beginning. These people are slick criminals and prey upon vulnerable people fresh out of relationships to support themselves and their families. You were desperate for help, and this person recognized it, because he was TAUGHT to do that from childhood.

Call the police and see what they will do for you. If you scare the guy enough, you might be able to recover some of your money. Good luck.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.