Pastoring our inner congregation of selves

Pastoring our inner congregation of selves

For the first time this year I drew the Three of Cups as my tarot card of the day.

The Three of Cups is about celebration and connection with others. I immediately thought of today’s Full Moon in Libra, which then brought extraverted feeling to mind, of course:

Extraverted feeling types are generally amiable and make friends easily. They are quick to evaluate what the outer situation requires, and readily sacrifice themselves for others. …there is a genuine rapport with others … The predominant impression is of a person well adjusted to external conditions and social values (Personality Types, Sharp, p. 50, emphasis added ).

That description of extraverted feeling resonates strongly with the energy of Libra, doesn’t it? And considering the Cups in tarot represent the feeling function, it further strengthens the connection.

This Full Moon in Libra highlights the core tension of this sign: the balancing act between Aries’s drive for independence and Libra’s yearning for relational harmony. To truly embody Libra, we must find a way to integrate our individual needs with our desire for connection.

One place to start is to practice extraverted feeling towards the many parts of our psyche first:

For Jung, then, the psyche is plural – composed of many parts, each jostling the others for control. To acknowledge the plurality of identity is to recognize both one’s brokenness and the possibility of growth. To accept this plurality is to realize that one does well to pastor this inner congregation of selves. -Alvin Dueck (The Living God and Our Living Psyche, Ann Belford Ulanov, emphasis added)

A few things that help with this pastoring are dream work, active imagination, and the parts work of Internal Family Systems (Bob Falconer and C. Michael Smith describe using parts work from a depth psychology perspective).

Acknowledging our multitudes ultimately enriches our collective experience so that we can see that “everything belongs:”

I was asked once by someone if I could capture the essence of Jung’s psychology in a single phrase…Finally, it came: everything belongs (Russell Lockhart, Psyche Speaks).

Not just everything, but everyone.

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Working on ourselves, in ourselves, and for ourselves

Working on ourselves, in ourselves, and for ourselves

And so it begins, the much-awaited Aries eclipse and entrance of Neptune into Aries, ushering in a new era where fire will become the dominant element. This marks a shift away from water and earth energy.

Am I the only one who has felt a bit waterlogged as of late, what with various planets all congregating together in late Pisces? Plus Mars is still in Cancer.

So let’s bring one some fire: individuation, freedom, spiritual autonomy, clarity, independence, charisma.

The shift from water to fire is like the withdrawal and return in the individuation process:

The withdrawal must conclude with a return—otherwise the journey was self-indulgent. Creative persons who respond to a challenge have to communicate a sense of their experience. If they can’t communicate their response, if they can’t cause others to listen and hear, they may suffer serious psychological damage within themselves (Sparks, Carl Jung and Arnold Toynbee: The Social Meaning of Inner Work, p. 72).

When we retreat to work on ourselves, we must then take it back outside and help fix the problems in society, otherwise we will remain detached:

By working on ourselves, in ourselves, and for ourselves, we are also working for society. Inner work, done at depth and with integrity, leads us back to the social world insofar as the problems we have addressed and made progress in solving in ourselves are also the problems ailing our times (Sparks, p. 41).

The fire energy is supportive of you doing what you do best.

Be clear on your values and what you stand for.

Remember you are not what happened to you – you are what you choose to become.

Reclaim the lost parts of yourself that you have previously disowned, as they are your treasures.

Learn to feel your fear without letting it stop you.

Finally, as James Hollis says, “keep the fire for freedom, dignity, and respect for all burning with a hot blue flame in your heart.”

We’re all depending on it.

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An Eclipse with Maple Sugar

An Eclipse with Maple Sugar

It’s that time of year where we look for the first signs of spring, both literal and metaphorical; both personal and collective.

The Maple Sugar Moon in Virgo later this week—this year it is also an eclipse—is a reminder how maple trees have a system for detecting spring that is far more sophisticated than ours. This harkens back to a time when maple trees helped people survive:

People living a subsistence lifestyle also know it as the Hunger Moon, when stored food has dwindled and game is scarce. But the maples carried the people through, provided food just when they needed it most. They had to trust that Mother Earth would find a way to feed them even in the depths of winter.

…The Maples each year carry out their part of the Original Instructions, to care for the people. -Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, p. 68, emphasis mine

For just a few weeks in the spring, maple trees use their sapwood to transport sugar to the buds so that they can grow and blossom.

Then, because mature leaves make more sugar than they need, the leaves send sugar back to the roots of the tree. “And so the roots, which fed the buds, are now fed in return by the leaves all summer long” (Kimmerer).

It seems not entirely coincidental that the Maple Sugar Moon occurs in Virgo. The Sun in Pisces, representing the sweetness of sap, is combined with the harvesting energy of Virgo.

Kimmerer tells the story of Nanabozho, who was dismayed when he came upon villages where people had become lazy and were found sitting beneath maple trees with their mouths wide open to catch the syrup.

Because they were taking the gifts of the Creator for granted, he poured water into the maple trees to dilute the syrup. Today, sap only has a trace of sweetness. “And so it is that it takes forty gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup” (Kimmerer, p. 63, emphasis mine).

Saturn is co-present with the Sun in Pisces during this year’s Maple Sugar Moon, so it may be feeling like it takes even more than forty gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, metaphorically speaking.

Nanabozho made certain that the work would never be too easy. His teachings remind us that one half of the truth is that the earth endows us with great gifts, the other half is that the gift is not enough. The responsibility does not lie with the maples alone. The other half belongs to us; we participate in its transformation. It is our work, and our gratitude, that distills the the sweetness (Kimmerer, p. 69, emphasis mine).

There is much talk these days among astrologers about the huge shift at the collective level from earth and water to air and fire in the common months and years.

This makes me appreciate our Maple Sugar eclipse in earthy Virgo all the more.

There are two questions that Kimmerer mentions in her book that haven’t been far from my mind since I read them. She said her students were unable to answer the first one in the affirmative, but became very talkative in response to the second.

I’ll close by leaving them with you to ponder:

Do you think the earth loves you?

What would happen if you believed that?

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How you are is who you are

How you are is who you are

How you are is who you are and not what you are said to be by your personality type, astrology chart, a medical diagnosis, job title, your role in your family, and so on.

That is a key concept of James Hillman’s “acorn theory” as described in his book The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling.

We are not able to see how any one is when we try to see by means of types, categories, classes, diagnostics. Types of any sort obscure uniqueness. (p. 124)

The acorn is “concealed invisible potential” that is visible in the how of an action. For example, it’s not that James Hollis is a Jungian writer but how he writes. It’s not that Jon Batiste is a musician but how he performs and composes music. (His song “Waldstein Wobble” is playing on repeat as I write this and I highly recommend it!)

As someone who speaks the languages of astrology and typology I, of course, see the irony here. Are not type and astrology just ways of putting people in a box, as the critics like to say?

On the contrary, astrology and typology are tools that have the potential to facilitate the “imaginative perception” that Hillman says is necessary to look “with the eye of the heart.” They also provide the language with which to craft a narrative of insight that says what we see:

To see the acorn requires an eye for the image, an eye for the show, and language to say what we see.

Failures in our loves, friendships, and families often come down to failures of imaginative perception. When we are not looking with the eye of the heart, love is indeed blind, for then we are failing to see the other person as bearer of an acorn of imaginative truth. (p. 124).

Hillman goes on to describe how psychological jargon is often used instead of describing what is really happening. For example, “your husband is not ‘mother-bound’, he whines and expects and is often paralyzed.” Defaulting to jargon happens in the astrology and type worlds too.

An example in astrology is when someone blames the planets – a sort of archetypal bypassing – when saying something like, “Mars retrograde in Cancer is making it hard to deal with my mother right now!” In actuality, astrology is divinatory; the planets are metaphoric mirrors that reflect what is happening but don’t cause things to happen. A thoughtful approach would include asking questions and exploring what material is being activated and brought to their attention regarding their relationship with their mother. From there, when the story is revealed, one can take a closer look at the archetypal ground of Mars in Cancer.

An example in typology is when someone says something like, “That’s my J talking!” It’s better to instead ask questions and explore how they used their extraverted thinking parent/caretaking function with a colleague in such a way recently that was close-minded and too focused on achieving the project’s goal.

John Beebe describes his archetypal model of typology as one that “opens life up the way a novelist does.” So, too, can astrology.

Empathy is the main requirement for imaginative perception:

[Empathy] enable[s] people to see through typical conceptions and into the heart of the other. Put yourself in your husband’s place, your wife’s, your child’s. Imagine how they feel, how would it be to be them? Imagine! Maybe you can discover a kernel of truth in their behaviors if you look again by means of imagining. (p. 125)

“To be is to be perceived,” said the Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1686-1753). We are all wounded healers of each other, whether therapists, astrologers, typologists, atheletes, or customer service representatives, it doesn’t matter. “Perception bestows blessing” as Hillman says, and by having the patience to perceive someone, we bestow blessing. “In your patience is your soul.”

How are you?

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Following in your own footsteps

Following in your own footsteps

The Great Mother does not tolerate childish dependence.

Cancer is the sign of the Great Mother archetype, and under today’s Full Moon in Cancer, co-present with Mars, the god of war, I can’t help but think of the Great Mother’s dual nature:

She has two aspects: in her light aspect she is compassionate, filled with maternal love and pity, and in her dark aspect she is fierce and terrible and will not tolerate childish dependence.” -M. Esther Harding

Harding reminds us that the Great Mother embodies both nurturing compassion and fierce demand for growth. This Cancer Full Moon highlights where we lean too heavily on others—or let others lean too heavily on us—hindering the balance she represents.

Mars in Cancer stirs up family karma — drama, conflict, and old patterns tied to parental complexes.

Rather than getting caught up in all that, how about pondering what you ask of others that you should instead do for yourself?

Also: do you take too much responsibility for the emotional well-being of others?

If you are a parent, this Cancer/Mars combo is a good time to remember Jung’s oft-quoted statement that a child’s greatest burden is the unlived life of the parent. Ouch!

This applies even if you aren’t a parent, as you likely mentor or take care of others in some way. There’s no Jungian author better than James Hollis on these points:

As parents, mentors, leaders of one kind or another, we are called to grow up, take care of business, gain our own authentic journeys, and thus lift this terrible distraction to the soul off those whom fate has brought into our care. That is how we are healed, our children healed, and their possibilities liberated. – James Hollis, Living an Examined Life

On the flip side, the assignment for adult children is to not just blame the parents and instead work with the Mars energy to become more conscious:

Being a grown-up means, essentially, that despite whatever formative things happened in my life, I am responsible for what spills into the world through me. I cannot just blame my personal parenting, however influential it might have been. I cannot blame ignorance. I cannot blame unconsciousness. In fact, Jung once said the unforgivable sin is to *choose* to remain unconscious. -James Hollis, The Broken Mirror

Mars in Cancer could find us saying “you can’t go home again,” but as Clarissa Pinkoloa Estés says, “While you cannot crawl back into the uterus again, you can return to the soul-home. It is not only possible, it is requisite.” Journaling, working with dreams, drawing mandalas, active imagination, and contemplation are a few ways to connect with your soul-home.

I shared the below quote on Instagram last week and a couple of people commented on how it is appropriate for Mars in Cancer:

For some, home is the taking up of an endeavor of some sort. Women begin to sing again after years of finding reason not to. They commit themselves to learn something they’ve been heartfelt about for a long time. They seek out the lost people and things in their lives. They take back their voices and write. They rest. They make some corner of the world their own. They execute immense or intense decisions. They do something that leaves footprints. – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves

As the Full Moon casts it light, leave your footprints boldly, and follow them with courage and curiosity to your soul-home.

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Saturn’s rain and repenting dragons

Saturn’s rain and repenting dragons

Saturn is raining!

Specifically, Saturn is losing its rings; water particles are leaking out of its rings at a “worst-case scenario rate.” That sounds alarming, but it will be a hundred million years before the rings completely vanish as a result of the”ring rain.” (source: The New Yorker)

That’s a slow pace even for Saturn. Due to the way Saturn will tilt in 2025, however, it will create the illusion that the rings are invisible (which sounds Saturn-Neptune-ish, too, but I digress). We’ll get a sneak peek of how Saturn will look a hundred million years from now.

This cosmic phenomenon, with its slow pace and inevitable transformation, feels aligned with the reflective wisdom of the I Ching, which also speaks to cycles of change and decisive action.

At sunrise today, New Year’s Day, I asked the I Ching oracle for wisdom for the new year to share here on the blog.

Creative Power, the first Hexagram, was the reply.

Its energy is all yang (masculine). It correlates with the beginning of summer. It advises that what has been hidden is now on the rise but we should pause before proceeding:

Know who you are. Know where you came from. Be humble and modest. Be above reproach—then those who seek to harm will be rendered harmless. You will become the dragon that emerges from the depths, visible and rising above your peers. A pillar of beneficent astral light guides your movements. You face a moment of choice: the temporal or the spiritual. Endurance and patience will be required of you, as what is to unfold shall do so for a prolonged length of time. – Benebell Wen, I Ching, The Oracle

The dragon, a symbol of power and wisdom, emerges from the depths to guide us; Saturn helps provide the endurance and patience. Although it sounds awesome to be like a dragon guided by astral light, changing line six echoes the caution to remember where you came from. If creative powers are misused, they will be retracted. “The arrogant and reckless dragon will repent.”

Decisive Action (Hexagram 43) is the follow up hexagram to this, suggesting the possible future state. Its image is of an impending flood and having to plan and act decisively.

Instead of all yang energy, there is now a hint of yin (feminine) added to the mix, as one of the six lines is yin.

After a long period of tension, there will be a breakthrough. Be careful, as there may be risks ahead. Your interests are not the only ones at stake in the endeavor; be sure to warn others about the risks involved, but do not yet reveal your intentions. No gains from reactive combat. You intuit that you must take decisive action, but how? In which direction will you go? Send a prayer upward to Heaven. Place full faith in the Divine that blesses your path, and your prayer shall be answered. The solution will be a different path from the one initially conceived. – Benebell Wen, I Ching, The Oracle

It correlates with late spring, before summer’s Creative Power, and is referred to as Grain Rain in the I Ching calendar. Grain rain is rain that brings forth a hundred grains. Whereas Saturn’s ring rain reminds us of the impermanence and cycles within the cosmos.

May we, like dragons following astral light, rise with the wisdom to navigate life’s impermanent yet fertile cycles, sowing the seeds of transformation in the new year and for generations to come.

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Finding Ground: The need for contemplation and a dash of humor in astrology

Finding Ground: The need for contemplation and a dash of humor in astrology

As someone who contemplates astrology every day, I’ve noticed how astrology can sometimes feel like a disembodied experience — lost in theory rather than grounded in reality. I found myself in one of those moments just last week.

While driving to the grocery store I was listening to a podcast episode about the October astrology forecast. They were discussing the upcoming Mars-Pluto opposition in early November in grim terms, as Mars’ intensity clashes with Pluto’s transformative force, a potent recipe for upheaval.

Before I knew it, a wave of anxiety overwhelmed me for a few minutes.

To find balance, I turned to reading, seeking something to ground my thoughts. A few days later I stumbled upon the essay An Urban Farmer’s Almanac: A Twenty-First-Century Reflection on Benjamin Banneker’s Almanacs and Other Astronomical Phenomena by Erin Sharkey (from this book). It was a wonderfully grounding experience to read it.

Sharkey said “I was uninterested in astrology until I learned that farmers had used it.” Farming! What a great entry point into astrology.

She made references to the The Old Farmer’s Almanac in clever ways throughout the essay, so I went to the library yesterday and picked up a copy of the 2024 Farmer’s Almanac.

Of course I took a look at what it said for the first day of the dreaded Mars-Pluto opposition. “On the 1st, Mars, now a brilliant magnitude 0, rises at midnight just below the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, with dazzling Jupiter high above them.”

Confession: I didn’t know what “magnitude 0” meant so I asked ChatGPT. It turns out magnitude measures the brightness of celestial objects. The sun is the brightest, at -26. A full moon is -12.7.

“Mars, at magnitude 0, would be bright but not as overwhelmingly luminous as Jupiter.”

Overwhelmingly luminous Jupiter! It’s too easy to forget that Jupiter is still in Gemini, adding magnitude to our collective astrological garden.

With Jupiter here we would do well to consider that the founding editor of the Almanac said back in the 18th century that his mission was to be “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor.”

I can’t help but take a fun jab at Pluto by noting that Pluto’s magnitude will only be +14.6 on November 1, which means it will be “incredibly faint.” Take that, Mars-Pluto!

In the the astrology section of the alamanc, called Best Days of 2024, while Mars and Pluto stir cosmic drama November 1-3, the Almanac urges us to “brew,” “demolish,” and “straighten hair” – down-to-earth tasks that remind us to stay present in our bodies.

My preference to focus on astrology as an embodied experience is why I like weaving in nature references from the Book of Changes/I Ching when writing about astrology and avoid writing typical horoscopes. I find there is a lot of value in focusing on the simpler things like the Moon and Sun and going deeper in learning more about the zodiac signs.

According to the I Ching calendar, we are near the end of the 15 day solar term that began with the fall equinox and are in the five day micro-season called “water begins to dry up.”

Per this calendar, which is similar to a farmer’s almanac, the Contemplation hexagram is the one presented to us:

A wind rustles the earth. Watching, observing.

Kings past call upon the four guardians of the universe to aid them toward the correct guidance of their people. You must see and also be seen. Others will then put their trust and faith in you.

…There is a need for contemplation. Reevaluate your motivations… Observe. Observe the wind. Observe the earth. — I Ching: The Oracle by Benebell Wen

As we move toward potent astrological shifts, the I Ching offers a timely message: contemplate, observe, and be seen.

Much like the wind rustling the earth, this Mars-Pluto opposition will be an opportunity to watch closely, not react hastily. There is wisdom in letting things unfold while staying rooted.

In astrology, as in farming, timing and observation are everything. Whether it’s the magnitude of planets or the rhythm of seasons, both systems remind us to stay grounded and to approach life with contemplation—and, when possible, with a little humor.

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Growing with the Flow: Pumpkins and the Psyche

Growing with the Flow: Pumpkins and the Psyche

Virgo season is associated with the harvest, and around here, we’re getting ready to gather seven pumpkins from our little patch.

We planted three pumpkin plants during a rainstorm on the last weekend of May. I’m no expert gardener, and I’ve never tended to pumpkins before.

I searched for a “Pumpkin Gardening for Dummies” book but found nothing, so I ended up having more than a few ChatGPT consultations about pumpkin care. In the end, I mostly left it to Mother Nature, trusting her to handle what I couldn’t.

Before long, the vines outgrew the space I had set aside for them. They stretched into the front lawn and claimed half of the porch. The result? A bit chaotic, and not very Virgo-like!

Speaking of which, with today’s full moon in Pisces, I’m reminded that Pisces sits opposite Virgo in the zodiac.

If you were to add a hint of Pisces to Virgo, it might resemble this beautiful description of the virgin archetype from Marion Woodman: “As I understand the virgin archetype, it is that aspect of the feminine, in man or in woman, that has the courage to Be and the flexibility to be always Becoming.”

One of the things I love about depth psychology is Jung’s idea that we often outgrow our problems rather than solve them. As James Hollis puts it, “This capacity of the psyche to enlarge is what makes healing possible.”

Fittingly, some of our pumpkins are the Big Moon variety. They remind me that, much like the psyche, true growth rarely follows a strict design. Instead, it often requires giving nature—and ourselves—the freedom to expand beyond the limits we first imagined.

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Devout preoccupation on the court of Virgo

Devout preoccupation on the court of Virgo

After the brisk square dance of energies in August, I re-evaluated my astrological macro diet and realized that I didn’t help myself to enough servings of Jupiter in Gemini in August.

Maybe we need a MyFitnessPal app equivalent for astrology!

While playing pickleball this morning, on this day of a New Moon in Virgo, it suddenly occurred to me that I was actually having fun.

Pickleball, like tennis and other back and forth games, is the domain of Mercury, the planetary host of Virgo and Gemini. (A fun aside: Roger Federer has Virgo rising and Steffi Graf is a triple Gemini).

I also remembered that the New Moon is happening in a section in Virgo that has an association with Deliverance in the Book of Changes (I Ching). “The obstacle has been removed, the difficulties are being resolved.” Whew!

Jupiter in Gemini also happens to be in a relationship with this New Moon.

For me pickleball is mindfulness disguised as a sport. Everything I try to do on the court is just as applicable off the court. Pickleball, like any other sport, is a microcosm of all of life.

While preparing to serve the ball I focus on my breathing and have an inner and outer routine I follow that is a form of active meditation.

After the ball is in play, practicing that old maxim of “keep your eye on the ball” is another form of meditation that keeps me in the now perhaps more than any other activity I engage in.

Because I always play doubles, the game also requires taking others into account. Sometimes mindfulness takes a hit as a result and is replaced with shadow work! Ideally playing with others should help us attune ourselves to the energies around us.

If my partner is not coming up to the kitchen line when they are supposed to, which is a common court position error, it leaves us vulnerable to losing the point. It is always best if I adapt and reposition myself to help fill in the gap rather than think about how they are playing “incorrectly.” It goes without saying that my partners have to deal with my court position errors, too.

When I notice that the players opposite me are new to the game, I will slow down the pace on my serve most of the time. But not all of the time, because learning how to return faster services is important, and I also don’t want them to feel like I am dumbing down my game for them.

It’s always best practice to say things like “good shot” or “nice effort” and never give unsolicited feedback to a player about how to correct their shot.

“Bangers” are a common type of player in recreational pickleball. They focus on hitting the ball hard all the time. Admittedly, I sometimes get triggered by them. It works best if I focus on counteracting that energy with finesse, gracefulness, and a soft game. It also motivates me to be attentive to stretching my muscles regularly and work on hand-eye-coordination exercises off the court.

I was going to close with a quote about tennis by Jungian therapist Thomas Moore, but then found this in my stash of quotes and was happy with how well it fit with the theme:

In tennis, I am happiest when I am surprised by focus. When the concentration falls over me like the shadow of a bird overhead. Maddeningly, when I try to narrow my mind to a single outcome—hitting early, following through, footwork, even breathing correctly—I fumble. When I urge myself to just “enjoy” the contact, something clicks. I can see the ball spiraling toward me, and I hit it however I feel like. It is closer to forgetting than remembering, closer to “devout preoccupation” than “planning.”

And isn’t this our own plight, as adults at play? That we are at once trying to “cultivate” a skill, even as we seek that elusive “gladness”? What if we dared to replace the mindfulness paradigm with playfulness?

Racquet magazine, Issue #15

I’m up for such a dare.

Practical, earthy Virgo—rooted in planning, cultivating, and service—blended with a dash of Jupiter in Gemini, might just help us embrace playfulness and devout preoccupation as the ultimate mindfulness.

Continue ReadingDevout preoccupation on the court of Virgo

Like a Virgin?

Like a Virgin?

Is there any archetype more misunderstood than the Virgin?

We are now at the beginning of Virgo season, which is associated with the Virgin, so it’s as good a time as any to ponder this question.

For starters, the word virgin in Greek (parthenos) and in Hebrew (almah) simply meant “unmarried” and was also used in reference to unmarried mothers. Virgin wasn’t associated with being chaste and innocent.

Now let’s consider the deeper meaning of Virgin in this quote from the late Jungian analyst Marion Woodman:

The virgin is the being-ness in us, the I-am…One-in-herself. That is what the word really means. I’m talking about the initiated virgin, not the 14 year-old-maiden who is not initiated yet, but the virgin who has worked on her feeling, knows what her values are, has the courage to live those values. Use the word as you would the word “virgin forest” where the forest is untrammeled, there’s nothing foreign in it, it is clear to be itself, but it is full of all kinds of seeds so that there is immense potential.

The Crown of Age by Marion Woodman

Here is Esther Harding’s description of the virgin goddess:

She is essentially one-in-herself…Her divine power does not depend on relation to a husband-god, and thus her actions are not dependent on the need to conciliate such a one or to accord with his qualities and attitudes. For she bears her divinity in her own right.

Woman’s Mysteries by Esther Harding

For a visceral sense of what this is like, even a very brief encounter with a young child will present you with “One-in-herself” in action.

My mother has often told me that when I was around age four I would go around saying, “I’m the boss!” She always found that amusing and her coworkers would often ask her “how’s the boss today?”

There certainly wasn’t much I could be boss of at that age, other than my stuffed animals, but that child was in touch with her inner authority in a way that my adult self marvels at and has often struggled to replicate.

One can also sometimes see “One-in-herself” in the elderly. There are many Jungian analysts, for example, who are in their 80s who are “full of all kinds of seeds” and continue to write, see clients, and travel. James Hollis is just one of many that come to mind. He maintains a full client load and writes books in the evenings, even though he has had significant health challenges in recent years.

For the rest of us in between childhood and old age it can be hard to bear our divinity in our own right. But perhaps in those fleeting moments when we truly know ourselves, we can reconnect with that inner authority and, like the Virgin, stand fully in our own power, untrammeled and whole.

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