by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke
(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)
By now you are probably worn out from the holidays, and not particularly interested in thinking about the challenges of the New Year. But a personal perspective on the New Year is important for you, and you need to consider it in reference to your own "road map" for the year.
Christmas (Yule) and the New Year
It is not by chance alone that we recognize the start of a new calendar year and celebrate the re-birth of the solar year on nearly the same day. Death (at least the appearance of it) and re-birth are core symbols deeply reflecting the reality of life and our experience of it. And the important message is that life does continue onward in a new cycle built upon the past.
In some cultures, the New Year celebration included the forgiveness of debts. That, of course, is not possible in the modern economic world, but it is possible to forgive one's enemies for their "trespasses"—the emotional hurts we experience. And we have a tradition of honoring our friends and relatives with gifts at the holiday season. We send "greetings" of friendship and remembrance, often including our personal stories of the past year and expressing good hopes for the coming year.
Forgiveness and honor of past and present, and the hope and promise of the new beginnings: here we have a message that resonates across all boundaries.
A Roadmap for the Future
President Bush made the word "roadmap" famous in the proposed solution to the Palestinian Crisis. We all need a roadmap and a plan for the year ahead. But a plan starts with an understanding of our current situation and what we want to accomplish, as much as where we want to go. We must know about our starting point, as well as the intended goal, in order to determine our route and the resources that we need to employ to accomplish the mission.
And the analysis of our current starting point includes a new understanding of the political, economic, and societal realities that surround our personal choices. Our self-understanding must include and be interpreted in relation to our "world-understanding."
The problem of inadequate planning and of shifting goals is always a source of disappointment and even failure. A responsible person must be informed about worldly affairs, and must interpret and apply that information and new understanding to their own viewpoint in order to make the best choices in personal (and family, work, and community) matters.
We can't do that for you—although through books and media there are rich resources at your disposal. But we can help you with your personal roadmap. Two powerful technologies are available to you: Astrology and the Tarot. Each operates in a different way. Astrology provides an analysis of the energies operating in your life and throughout the coming year, while the Tarot provides an analysis of the emotional and archetypal factors that are equally important. Each offers the foundations for intelligent goal-setting and decision-making—the keys to your personal roadmap for the year(s) ahead.
Mapping Your Future
Our products are tools for you. You can read about a particular tool, Mapping Your Future, and the other tools in the Astrology Made Easy series.
My goal is to encourage you to give yourself a plan, a roadmap. Our goal at Llewellyn is to help you make the very best of your life. This "New Age" is all about personal empowerment. It is not—and don't let anyone tell you otherwise—anti-religion or anti-science, nor is there any agenda other than to provide you with the opportunities and resources for a better life.
Love and Romance
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the core importance of love and romance also highlighted at this time of the year. Emotional relationships make life rich and rewarding, and give meaning to everything else. We have the need to unite with others, to have families and to protect and provide for these others.
Our roadmaps need to reflect our emotional lives, and the Tarot is the tool of choice in understanding our emotional needs, the human and spiritual factors involved in our current situation and the choices we can make.
Love and blessings, and best wishes,
Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, Chairman
Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005. All rights reserved.
"Life happens. Life in the flow."
We learn over time that nobody can solve our problems, but someone can guide you how to solve the problem. You may receive guidance through a teacher, a guru or even strangers that you run into every day. As we practice yoga we learn that the more we know, the less we truly know. Every day I am reminded how much I truly do not know; a very humbling experience.
Yoga teaches me to be present. To just live for being and enjoying life as it is right NOW. Not ten minutes from now, no five days ago, but right now. We are taught to get out of our heads, to release worries and fears of the past or the future and to only live for this very moment. Presence.
"Lead me from untruth to truth, lead me from darkness to light." ~ Buddha
Through yoga we are reminded that we do have a dark side as well as a light side. We are not to repress the dark side, but embrace that side of our Self. We are the yin and the yang. We ultimately cleanse the dark stuff we hold inside. We shine the light on this. We must make friends with dark side. Both positive and negative balance out the whole. Daily practice refines and improves our inner vision to see our Self more clearly. We no longer need to run from fears. Face them and say I'm not running from you anymore. So much is in our heads, so much dark is only in our heads, self-doubt judgment betrayal. Yoga grounds the body so that the light and dark sides of ourselves become clear. So much is truly untrue. But as we diligently practice we are able to find the middle ground and walk our centered balanced line in life. We gain balance in centered lightheartedness. We can have harmony in both light and dark.
"Yoga tells us that the world is actually a projection of our own thoughts and we can modify our inner world to manifest into our outer world. When our inside realm is at peace and in harmony, our outer world shines this projection back at us." ~ David, Jiva Mukti Yoga co-founder
Yoga is observation.
We can observe our world and see what part that is in us is begin reflected back to us. We can then see what part of us needs modification or adjustment in order to have our outer reality reflect back to us the peace, happiness and love we so greatly desire and deserve.
Yoga is already inside of you. Happiness is there. Yoga helps you peel away the onion layers to get to the core. To freedom. The deepest Divine connection to the Ultimate Light Source.
Come out of wanting and back into acceptance and Joy. A yogi or yogini can turn any situation into bliss. That is a yogi. Yoga is being now. Ultimate yoga is meditation. Just BE.
Yoga is love.
"Love is the light that dissolves all walls between souls." ~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Through a dedicated practice of all forms of yoga we can participate in the world with a sense of freedom, unaffected from trauma, depression, anger, etc. The freedom is balance in both.
Maggie Anderson is a Yoga & Spiritual Teacher, Reiki Master Teacher, Integrated Energy Therapy® Master Instructor, Soul Coach®, Past Life Coach, Magnified Healing® Master Teacher and Angelights Messenger. She is the author of How I Found My True Inner Peace and Divine Embrace. You can contact Maggie at SpiritualCompassConnection.com.
"Follow Your Bliss. It's Your Spiritual Compass."