self-compassion
An Unforgettable Valentine’s Day With Venus In Pisces
Valentine’s Day always has an air of magic about it, but this year it has an extra layer of fateful intensity. The stuff of fairy tales and romance novels!
With Venus, the planet of love and beauty, currently transiting dreamy and ethereal Pisces, love takes on a soulful, almost otherworldly quality.
The energies of love and romance are heightened under this transit, making every interaction feel much deeper, more meaningful, more destiny and fate. Our love lives are infused with an unprecedented sense of compassion, emotional depth, and spiritual connection.
Romantic intuition is heightened during this time, and connections feel more like destiny than chance. The energy of attraction shifts from the physical to the ethereal, making love feel transcendent, poetic, and deeply moving.
Whether you’re in a relationship or meeting someone new, expect emotions and passion to run deep. Every new interaction will be special, every glance charged with meaning, and every intimate moment may feel like divine orchestration.
If you find yourself unexpectedly drawn to someone this Valentine’s Day, or in the coming weeks, trust that it’s not just coincidence. Venus in Pisces is busy weaving a tapestry of soul connections, heightened intuition, and chemistry that transcends the ordinary. This transit is a time when love is more than an experience — it is transcendental.
A word of caution, though. With the passion of Venus and dreamy nature of Pisces, it’s also important to stay grounded during this transit. The enchantment of Venus in Pisces can lead to unrealistic expectations or longing for unattainable love. If you find yourself caught up in a romantic fantasy or longing for an unavailable person, take a step back and get back in touch with reality.
What To Do When A Lost Love Lingers
Many of the readings I do are about love and relationships, and a good percentage of them are about past relationships that continue to linger in the hearts and minds of some callers.
For some people there are often constant, even obsessive thoughts about a former partner, a longing for a second chance, or bitterness and regret for time and energy that now seems wasted. The longer and more intense the relationship, the more battle scars and wounds there often are.
If it was a soulmate or twinflame connection, the aftermath can be especially devastating. The relationship has ended and the connection has been severed in this lifetime. This can be very painful. You know you gave it your all. You hung in there for years, or you made heroic efforts to ensure the survival of the relationship, but it did not work out as you had hoped.
If you are highly sensitive and intuitively aware, you may still be picking up the energy of your former partner, which can be very painful, disturbing and disruptive. Unresolved energetic connections can keep you stuck in a repetitive cycle of repeating the same pattern with that person, or put you on hold, unable to move forward in peace and confidence.
I am often asked, “Is it really over?” or “Does he still have feelings for me?” Of course, the answer depends on the unique circumstances.
New Year, New Habits, And A New You!
Many people make resolutions every year that are never kept. They make a sincere effort for a month or so, and then it just slips here and there until whatever they decided to do just falls by the wayside. This is normal, and you should never beat yourself up if you make a resolution or promise and don’t follow through. Growth is a process, not a straight line.
When I decide to do something, the first thing I do is meditate on it. I ask my guides and angels, “Is this right for me? Will this improve my life? If I don’t do this, will it hurt me or someone else? If the answers are yes, yes, and no, then I know it’s the right thing for me to do.
I do not reserve this for New Year’s resolutions. I do this throughout the year whenever I feel spiritual growth within myself or experience something that sparks change, whether positive or negative. A new year can begin any day you decide to change some aspect of your life. It doesn’t have to be January 1st; it can be any day.
Personally, I make a new “resolution” each month. At the end of each month, I reflect and ask myself if I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. If not, I set it aside and move on to something new. Eventually, I return to the unfulfilled goal, knowing that the timing wasn’t right. I don’t beat myself up about unfinished goals; instead, I send them love and leave them for later.
My most important resolution is to get closer to Spirit. I strive to understand what Spirit has in store for me and to guide me to become the best version of myself from the inside out. The outward appearance can be dressed up or down, but the true self must be healed, clear, and joyful. That joy doesn’t come from another person or thing – it comes from loving myself as it should be for you. Love yourself as you are in this moment, and nurture the new version of yourself with daily love, meditation, and surrender to your higher self.
Forgiving Yourself Is A Spiritual Necessity
Self-forgiveness is more than just a mental health recommendation – it is a spiritual necessity. It is vital for the spiritually aware person to release guilt, self-blame, and self-criticism, because forgiving oneself is crucial to both personal well-being and spiritual progress. It allows for healing, growth, and the ability to live a more fulfilling and harmonious life.
Failure to forgive ourselves can have profound personal and spiritual side effects. Carrying guilt and self-blame leads to chronic emotional distress and contributes to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Over time, this can manifest itself in physical symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, or even chronic illness.
A lack of self-forgiveness undermines self-worth and hinders personal growth and development. Difficulty forgiving yourself also strains your relationships with others, as it can lead to withdrawal, defensiveness, or projecting negativity onto those around you. Without forgiveness, our negative feelings toward ourselves can fester and damage even our most cherished relationships with our loved ones and friends.
Holding onto guilt and self-blame blocks the flow of positive energy through the chakras and hinders spiritual well-being. For example, guilt often stagnates in the solar plexus chakra, affecting one’s sense of personal power. Self-forgiveness is essential for clearing such blockages in the energy field.
Forgiveness is also essential to achieving inner peace and harmony. Without it, one can experience constant inner turmoil and restlessness. When we hold onto guilt, shame, or self-blame, parts of our spiritual essence or inner divinity are suppressed or disconnected. It causes separation from one’s spiritual path or a sense of disconnection from spirit and the divine.
Forgiveness Is Choosing To Take Back Your Power
Ah, forgiveness! Such a misunderstood concept. For many people, forgiveness, as noble as it may sound, is very difficult, even impossible.
Sometimes certain wrongs are so grave to us that the offender doesn’t deserve forgiveness in our eyes. There is also a misconception that forgiving someone is tantamount to excusing or justifying their terrible actions. But forgiveness is not about absolving someone of responsibility. Instead, it is a powerful, personal act of release and healing.
When we forgive someone, whether they’ve hurt us emotionally, betrayed our trust, or even caused us physical harm, we’re not letting them off the hook.
We are not condoning their actions or giving them permission to repeat those offenses. Rather, we are choosing to free ourselves from the weight of resentment, pain, and bitterness that binds us to them and their past actions.
Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. It allows us to move forward without the burden of past grievances and with an open heart, free of resentment.
By forgiving, we determine for ourselves that the transgressor’s actions and the memory of their misdeeds will no longer hold us hostage or march with us into the future.
While we may not be responsible for what happened to us in the past, we are responsible for how we choose to carry the memory of it into the future. This is the power of forgiveness: it gives us the strength to embrace our present reality with clarity, compassion, and freedom. It also transforms our future, for it is ultimately a karmic choice that will shape our destiny in ways we will only understand much later in this life and beyond.
The Essential Spiritual Practice Of Self-Love
The first person each of us is meant to love is ourselves. But somewhere along the way, many of us forget or overlook this essential form of love.
In a world that tends to reward judgment and criticism while valuing perfectionism and material success, many of us become estranged from our own worth and divine essence by falling into these societal patterns of self-judgment and negativity.
To make matters worse, what most people caught in this web of self-criticism do not realize is that unconditional self-love is the very foundation of our soul journey in this lifetime. In fact, it is the essential spiritual practice for a more joyful, deeply meaningful existence and a cornerstone of our spiritual evolution.
We often find ourselves caught up in self-doubt, judgment, and the pursuit of external validation. These patterns hinder our connection to our true essence and limit our ability to radiate divine love and compassion. Embracing unconditional self-love frees us from these limitations and allows us to step into our authentic power.
This journey begins with self-awareness and compassion. By observing our thoughts and feelings without judgment, we can identify the limiting beliefs and negative self-talk that have shaped our perception of ourselves. With gentle understanding, we can release these self-imposed chains and replace them with affirmations of self-worth and acceptance. When we practice self-compassion, we create a safe space for ourselves to heal and grow, embracing our imperfections as part of our unique journey.
How To Embrace Your Shadow Self
Most people tend to shy away from acknowledging their dark or “shadow” side when it comes to spirituality.
In fact, the tendency to avoid the uncomfortable aspects of the self is due in large part to our religious or spiritual background. Throughout history, most traditions have encouraged people to suppress, deny, or transcend their human flaws and shortcomings in favor of higher ideals such as purity, salvation, or enlightenment.
This reluctance to face the shadow within continues to this day, with modern spiritual and metaphysical communities often favoring light, love, and positivity while largely ignoring the messy, difficult, and painful aspects of the human experience.
But by avoiding the shadow within, we deny ourselves the opportunity for a deeper understanding of our soul’s purpose and untapped possibilities for personal and spiritual growth.
According to Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist who pioneered the concept of the “shadow” in psychology, “one is not enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Enlightenment isn’t about avoiding the shadow. Instead, it’s about facing it and integrating it into our being.
When we face the shadow within, we reclaim parts of ourselves that hold immense power, creativity, and insight. By delving into the deeper truths of our shadow selves, we can unravel the unconscious patterns that dictate our lives, allowing for true healing, transformation, and enlightenment.