Home
About
Poems + Stories
Work With Mindy
Contact
- Contact Mindy
- Mailing List Sign Up

Home
About
Poems + Stories
Work With Mindy
Contact
- Contact Mindy
- Mailing List Sign Up

Portland Book Festival

Mindy Nettifee interviewing the Astro Poets Live at the Portland Book Festival

stay tuned for details, time & location TBD

+ Add to Google Calendar
+ iCal / Outlook export

Date

Nov 09 2019

Expired!

Time

PST

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Share this event

Upcoming Shows & Workshops

No event found!

The Feed

Tonight at midnight PT, the hinge between Sunday a

Tonight at midnight PT, the hinge between Sunday and Monday, the full moon will pass in to the shadow of the earth, giving us a partial lunar eclipse at 5° of Libra. Libra is the cosmic archetype of Justice and Harmony and Beauty, our lady of the golden scales of balance. She is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love and beauty and relationship, and she is symbolic kin to Apollo, god of music and poetry, knowledge and prophecy, enlightenment and the higher, solar Self—the highest possibility of who we could become, only achieved through right relationship. That’s the easiest way to sum up Libra’s vast territories—it’s about relationship dynamics and their utopian ideal.

Wherever Libra rules your chart, this may be the part of you that comes most alive when you have others to vibe with and be reflected by. It might be where you’ve experienced a talent for making things easy for other people. The south/releasing lunar node moved into Libra last July, signaling a time when we would no longer be able to easily and unthinkingly put others first, and where more open conflict would be likely. On a personal level, this time has has been asking us to see clearly where our relationship dynamics have been harmful and inequitable. If you’ve historically been a conflict-avoidant, codependent people pleaser, even if you’ve cleaned that shit up, this has probably resurfaced your awareness of those tendencies in you. If instead, you’ve historically been on the other side of this dynamic, if you’ve received a great deal from the givers of the world without giving back, this period of time has been a different kind of wake up call.

This clearing is making room for a coming upgrade to our personal power. As a reminder, eclipse seasons are times to pause all forceful effort and hold our own agenda very lightly. The cosmos is already conducting its own healing ceremony, and we can just lean into it, surrendering to the forces that are larger and wiser than us. Just take care. May any unconscious relationship pattern that is no longer serving your or others find its way to full awareness, so that you can let it go, and find a wiser, more loving, more empowering way.

*Art by Nata Sin

Today, March 19th, is the equinox, a very holy day

Today, March 19th, is the equinox, a very holy day in the geometry of life on a planet, swirling through a cosmos, spinning around an enormous blazing star. On the equinoxes, the dark and the light — and the day and the night — are equal, back in balance, and we enter either Autumn or Spring under the blessing of this balance and rebalancing. This equinox also marks the beginning of Aries season, and is the new year’s day of the Zodiac, a time of energetic commencement. For all my friends in the northern hemisphere, this is also the first day of Spring.

That’s where I am at right now, and the season has arrived in a kind of classic fashion. My house has been flooded with bright light for the last five days. It’s actually making me dizzy—light headed—which seems very funny to me. I am light drunk for sure. So are my house plants, who are beaming green signals at me and rapidly growing new fronds and tendrils. I can’t be sure obviously, but I think my body is trying to follow their lead, and turn all this light into sugar. Hence the dizzy drunkenness. If it’s any indication of the metaphor this Spring is riding in on, we should hold on for dear life. Outside, obviously, the same tipsiness has erupted. The magnolias went first, blossoming overnight in very suggestive pinks. Then the neighbors, eddying out onto the sidewalks in floral shorts and fat grins, gathering in clumps and chatting happily and then drifting onward. Like, the whole world was suddenly holding an open container.

The message Spring plants in the body and the psyche is this: you, too, given the return of light and warmth and nutrients, could soften and flower, regreen and grow new limbs and leaves. If you’ve been hunched in a contraction, underground, in the dark; if you’ve been stuck somewhere that’s not death but not life either; you, too can surge up and away from your fearful stories into new ways of knowing and opening to knowing. You can hum this heady ditty of trust, and wander back out into the garden of your life. You can have joy, and self-knowledge, and forgiveness, and fuck it. You can lighten up. Put down the heaviness you’ve been carrying, at least for now. Step into this opening.

Thank you for reading my TED talk on @bfmasters an

Thank you for reading my TED talk on @bfmasters and her important work in the storytelling community and in my life! Thank you @derrickbrownpoetry for introducing us! It’s been and continues to be the most good times! I love how storytelling took this thing I loved - making meaning with words and sharing truth and inspiring feelings - and gave me a way to do it with people who weren’t all that into poetry. Poetry is my mother tongue, but it’s not everyone’s brew. Storytelling is everyone’s brew. Everyone has stories, and not everyone has had listeners to help them hear their stories, share them, and discover in the process part of what life is about. I know there are many worthy causes. One of the things I do during times where worthy causes are flooding me, and the world and greed and war is breaking my heart, is, im addition to what I feel called to do about that, I look for ways to give locally, to love more within my sphere of influence, to create the world I want us to live in. This feels like that to me, supporting artists and storytellers and people who don’t even know yet that they are artists or storytellers, to get more opportunities. Please consider checking out this kickstarter and spreading its good words. And come out Saturday night to the Alberta Rose if you’re free and like good times!! Link in bio 🥹

Sunday March 10th, but just barely, at 1am PST in

Sunday March 10th, but just barely, at 1am PST in the morning, the moon goes dark and renews herself at 20° of Pisces. Pisces is represented by the twin cosmic fish, swimming forever in the great ocean of Being, a symbol of mutable, transformative water and the nonduality that includes duality. In Pisces, all boundaries and definitions dissolve, all distinct forms find their end. It’s the final sign of the Zodiac. If we take these 12 signs as describing a development arc of the human life, we essentially complete our life’s work in Capricorn and leave our bodies behind in Aquarius to join the collective consciousness and seek visions of new forms and new futures. Then in Pisces, we become the Mystery; we become the cosmic ocean, the formless chaos that those new forms and futures emerge from.

This new moon in Pisces is announcing the final act of winter. Pisces has been busy for the last few weeks, unfreezing the life force and opening channels and doors to change and rebirth. I don’t know how it’s been for you! I’ve personally experienced an extra chaotic quality of time and the entire range of emotions about it. Nothing has proceeded in an orderly, expected fashion. There appears to be a divine logic to it all, just not one I’m allowed to know or understand beforehand or even in the moment. It’s terrifying one minute, ecstatic the next. Whether you are loving this quality of time or hating it, it is extremely open and fertile.

This new moon in Pisces is the right time to call in the life and world you are longing for. Please consider setting any ego agenda aside, or any agenda for status, fame, security, or material abundance for its own sake. This moon is spiritual in nature. Ground your wishes in extravagant appreciation and enjoyment of all the incredible blessings and gifts already given to you, so that they may multiply, and be given away. Please also consider letting hope all the way into your heart. It’s very vulnerable and raw and scary to hope, I know, but that’s what time it is. If we are to effect change, to meet the madness and pain and emergency, we need it online, blasting us fully.

In the first hours of Saturday—4:30am PT to be e

In the first hours of Saturday—4:30am PT to be exact—the full moon peaks at 5° of Virgo. Virgo is the high priestess of exactness, details, and precisely organized systems. She reconciles accounts, cleans up messes, heals ruins, and makes things whole. Guided by Mercury, she calms and clears and orders our minds first, then keenly perceives the world through that mind, constructively criticizing it, sensing precisely where there is imbalance or disorder and what might be needed to set things right. Then she rolls up her sleeves. While all of this might seem mundane—and it is—it’s also the destination of all spiritual paths. Enlightenment means nothing if we can’t apply it. Chop wood, carry water, sing while you do the dishes. Know the gift of being alive while you are alive, and give back gratefully. Meet the chaotic, destructive energy of the world with compassion and firm boundaries; warmly warn it to fucking stop.

This full moon is arriving, as all full moons do, in the midst of the season of its opposite sign; in this case, Pisces. Pisces is the un-doer to Virgo’s doer. It’s messy, shapeshifting. It’s job is to melt what’s frozen, to finish dissolving old forms, to open us up and prepare the way for the big changes of spring. It often does this by flooding us with feelings. We entered Pisces season last Sunday, so if this week has been surprisingly different or emotional for you and not great, hang tight. A Virgo full moon would normally bring a moment of groundedness to Pisces season, but this year, Virgo’s ruler Mercury is in Pisces. It’s making these two extra entangled; it’s making Virgo a little Piscean. Information might be arriving this weekend that will help us navigate the path ahead. But it’s likely the kind of information that arrives in dreams, on walks through the forest, while showering—while our analytical mind is at rest. On this full moon, if at all possible, create some good conditions for that to happen. Practice your spiritual practices, or your sacred organizing practices, whatever they are. Stay open for a notion of how to hold your life and your work more joyfully. Allow for the possibility that all is unfolding exactly as it should.

On Friday, February 9th at 2:59pm PST, the new moo

On Friday, February 9th at 2:59pm PST, the new moon arrives at 20° of Aquarius, the cosmic water bearer. Aquarius is fixed air, peak mind. In the northern hemisphere, it guides us through the frozen heart of winter, the time when the lifeforce is the most contracted, the most inward. Its the archetype of the intellectual, the utopian visionary, the spiritual futurist. It has a tendency to leave the body and earth behind, taken as it is with exploring the far reaches the mind and its multiverse, but it’s just trying to get the most radical, collective perspective. It wants to know what the trees and mushrooms and stars think. It wants to think like they think. As the sign of the mind, it’s also known for its dissociative tendencies, and its struggles with anxiety and fear (fear is the mind killer). But the highest calling of Aquarius is to transform the experience of the Self and the world through heightened consciousness, to return us to our bodies having realized our true nature as enlightened parts of a complex luminous whole. Basically it wants to heal us from being angry, cut-off, paranoid weirdos, to being loving, connected, creative weirdos, who can act in concert to save this planet.

On this new moon, a reset and new beginning is possible. An elaborate manifesting ritual is not necessary, but might benefit from creating some conditions for receiving messages from our highest Self. Find a moment this weekend to really be in the cosmic egg of winter. See if you can empty your mind and not rush to fill it. Laugh at how hard it is. Let go of all hope for a better past. Let go of needing to know the future. See if you can just sense yourself as the force you are, among many other forces. How does the saying go? You are not the thoughts you are thinking, and you are not the part of you listening to the thoughts you are thinking. You are the part of you that’s aware of the part you listening to the thoughts you are thinking. Pull yourself up on that kite string. Be that loving awareness. Take the first step into a new headspace. Let any messages from your inner temple that need to arrive, arrive. And just like that, you will have started this next phase.

Thursday at 9:53am PST, the waxing moon peaks in f

Thursday at 9:53am PST, the waxing moon peaks in fullness at 4° of Leo, fixed fire sign of the glorious flowering Self. Leo is ruled by the Sun, so it needs to shine and radiate. It needs to be wildly free and endlessly creative and expressive. It appears to be one of the strongest signs; it’s associated with the Strength card in Tarot, and the majesty of the lion and big cat energy. But Leo’s strength comes from a full heart connected to its joy and pouring out love, so it also might be the most vulnerable sign. When we love that hard we open ourselves up, we are exposed to the experience of being seen and known and understood, and also misunderstood and rejected and hurt. Oh Leo. The older-kid-but-still-a-kid in us. Enthusiastic to an uncool level, trying out freedom and self-esteem, singing its heart out, showing the world what it’s got, just trying to get a little praise for its praise. This world can be hard to be shiny in. The willingness of that kid to fail and keep going is kind of everything.

…If we let it, Leo can heal us from shame. It can teach us to own the whole of who we are, the bad with the good, to see it all through the eyes of love. It can help us straighten our spines and send some fire up them and fight back against a world that wants us to be different or somehow less. It can teach us how to love this specific life in this specific body, how to have some pride, how to risk being too much in order to be true.

This full moon is the peak of something that started back in August, during that intense Venus retrograde in Leo. Back then we were under some pressure to be a little more honest, a little more uncompromised in our self-expression. This is a good time to review how far you’ve come with letting yourself be heard and seen. Recounting your breakthroughs and achievements, and let that clarify and strengthen your faith in yourself. Celebrate all tangible progress individuating, and then turn your attention to the current of healing and liberation now beginning. What could you use it for? What are you carrying inside that you no longer need? What’s holding you back from shining your light?

The Sun is leaving practical world-building Capric

The Sun is leaving practical world-building Capricorn and entering the visionary collective-mind of Aquarius today in conjunction with Pluto. It’s a threshold, another beginning in a series of beginnings, of what - we can sense but not yet fully know. I wrote something about the Sun and Moon, and the argument they are having about soul purpose and the physical limits / sweet promise of embodiment for my substack project In the River of What’s Happening Now. If you are doing some deep winter searching and planning, crystallizing some new visions, and you’re into studying your birth chart for inspiration and advice, you might be into it:

“In traditional astrology, the position and condition of the natal Sun and Moon are primary significators of a life’s path…The symbolic interpretation is roughly that the Sun is the soul and the Moon is the body…We turn to our Sun sign when we want to know more about the sacred purpose, function, or telos of our life. Just like the sun, that kind of thing is hard to look at directly, it’s so bright. But communing with the Sun as an astrological symbol and archetype can help us see beyond our ego’s agenda and defenses to something more elemental about who we are and why we are here—our own primal fire. We study our Moon sign when we want to reflect on our tangible life as a limited physical being that might have a mysterious sacred purpose, and how that’s going for us. The Moon will be real with us about the kinds of limits and realities and tendernesses our soul/solar purpose must negotiate with, if it wants to be realized at all.”

You can find it by following links in my bio or on thecultofmindy.com. Most of the piece is behind a paywall, but if you’re not in a position to be giving money, hit me up for a free copy - if Aquarius Sun time means anything, it’s that we are all in this together.

Thursday morning at 3:57am PST, the moon renews he

Thursday morning at 3:57am PST, the moon renews herself at 20° of Capricorn, the holy sea goat. All earth signs teach the art of manifestation. Capricorn is cardinal earth, initiating earth, and it can teach us how to take an idea or spark of an idea, a nothing, and make it into a something; how to do the hard work of bringing something into existence and making it solid and real. It’s also the most expanded and ambitious of the earth signs, because it’s in charge of what we build in the outer world, the large structures and artifacts and offerings, the abundance we share.

One of things I’ve learned from Capricorn as an artist and doer of hard things is the importance of focusing my attention on where I am at on the mountain right now, on the step right in front of me, rather than trying to see the top of the mountain or where I am going. Goal setting is an extremely useful skill, but a focus on destination or outcome could interfere, badly, with the kind of presence and openness needed to make a long climb or journey, or create something that’s never been created before. Another thing I’ve learned from Capricorn is how to spiritually love a process, how to go all in and not actually care where it’s taking me. There’s a secret joy, one we can open up when we consent to hardship because we know we are on the path. It’s that joy that makes the impossible task possible.

Mars is close by for this new moon, supercharging Capricorn’s practical, diligent, work-ethic-y vibes with the courage and energy to back it up. Pluto is also hanging on to the final degree of Capricorn, likely offering some us profound perspective. This is a lot of activity for Capricorn, and it’s all supportive. In a very real way, we are all standing at the base of another mountain, at the start of a Capricorn current of manifestation. We get to ask ourselves, what might fulfill me, long term? What possibility is thrilling and moving enough to me that I could commit to the long, mundane grind of making it a reality? Commitments to building things that serve both our personal spirit and the world at large will receive Capricorn’s blessing.

***
Andy Goldsworthy’s ice sculpture Snow Circles

Home
About
Work With Mindy
Contact

©Mindy Nettifee 2018, all rights reserved.