Hi! I’m Anastasia Wasko. Thanks for visiting my blog, The Practice. I’ve got this transformation thing down to a practice: self reflection, creative expression, and thinking ’bout the world as energy. My practice is how I can show up for life, be authentic, and get through whatever I need to get through. My practice is how I write my own story. So make yourself a fresh cuppa and pull up. I’ll share some things to think about, learn, and do. Spend time with me in my world and you’ll change for realz. BTW: I love tattoos and coffee.
Reflection Prompts: October 2021
2021 has come knocking: The raps are sounds of the past and the future opening in your mind and expression of soul. October is the door that this year has brought you to. I invite you to go through—journey further with the inner work and reflection work you did over the summer (and rest of the year); the fruits can be harvested now, and the consumption offers new lessons. Step into what you have cultivated. You are meeting yourself at the door to walk yourself into the liminal space that opens during this time of the year.
The energy this month is “be ready to show up & go”—as if you were waiting for the knocks on the door and your bag was packed. Go into the past to go forward. That’s what the compass of 2021, and the Practice and work, have gifted you—a direction of going backward to go forward.
Libra season sees the society planets (Saturn and Jupiter) going direct (October 9 and October 16, respectively) after a retrograde period. I think about retrogrades like “sit and think about what you’ve just done.” Reflection, and the ability to reflect, is a privilege. So, the planets of constriction and expansion, good hard work and serendipitous gifts, society and culture are asking you, “What do you think now?” Just sitting with the strong mix of energies is a task that requires dedication. Mid-month, post retrograde periods, ask yourself how are you showing up in relation to the place you occupy in established institutions. A measure of growth might be your ability to reach out or become integrated in narratives that are not similar to your own. This is about each other. (And, in the next couple of months, transpersonal celestial objects Neptune, Chiron, and Uranus go direct—and that will be the time for the journey beyond yourself, your circle of friends, but to the ecosystem of life on Earth and in the solar system).
Mercury (in retrograde) squares Pluto on October 1. I invite you to listen to the inner ghosts because they are the ones who told you you need this journey forward. The lunar cycle starts with a new moon in Libra on October 6. This moon is inconjunct Uranus (challenge to resolve through revolution) and is steeped in relationship depths, or, the depths of relationship dynamics. Pluto stations direct the day of the new moon. Libra, the sign of diplomacy and recognizing the other, asks you expand your capacity to walk the high road or right relationship—one in which we can acknowledge other people’s narratives and not need to subsume, own, or change or other them. But the patterns of relating by othering have roots in the past time. What will future time, measured by karma and effects whose cause happen now, bring? The exploration is internal and individual, but the liberation from a past (old) way of relating is the crux of the collective integration lessons that Jupiter and Saturn’s retrograde periods have offered.
The imbalance and movement toward more darkness, the liminal season of fall, the overarching mood of Pluto in Capricorn (where power imbalances, the messiness of evolution, the angst of being forced into change although the foundation isn’t built correctly) isn’t something to fear. Maybe the visitor, the you at your door, is ready to walk through a new energetic field. The full moon in Aries allows us to meet whatever comes up with love. May this beautiful moonlight reach you and illuminate the journey. Follow the light through the season of darkness—the spirits, memories, the liminal space that allows you to be in contact with the ghosts in your mind-body machine, the ones that affect the way your soul expresses, the way your presence relates.
- Can you see how the different energetic points and going between layers of time constellate forward motion in the story?
- Can you rely on intuition, and be guided by somatic (body-based, felt sense) information? Does taking two steps back get you four steps ahead?
- Were you waiting for someone? Were you waiting for yourself?
Whether you’re exploring your inner world or the simply idea that there is some correlation between the celestial activity and your experience, be kind to yourself. Track your experiences throughout the month. Each contain a spark to explore, express, and evolve a part of your being.
