Full moon Virgo 3/12/17. Well-oiled intention (for “divine perfection”).

Y’all know that when full moons come around I like to talk about the whole axis. I often refer to the Virgo-Pisces axis as the healing-illness axis or the perfection-purity axis. Today I’d like to talk about it as the craftsmanship-artistry axis. Think about the sublime situations you hope to cultivate, and ask yourself if your craftsmanship is solid enough for the sublime to even be recognized.

That being said.

Shit shit shit! Aw man. It’s here. I already know this Virgo moon is going to call me out on not sticking to a writing schedule, staying out too late, and drinking too much. It’s going to nag me about squandering time, energy, money, and hanging out too long in chaotically blissed-out Pisces. It’s gonna get on my case about making a mess, leaving work undone, and daydreaming.

Well, this last Pisces eclipse WAS about letting go, but in Pisces it’s easy to lose consciousness and get washed away with the tide. Enter Virgo with a mop and a bucket.

Virgo irons its jeans, and has designated sleepwear. The pantry is stocked with high quality food, and everything is labeled. There are schedules and routines. Maintenance is regularly performed for optimal functioning. Virgo at its best is well-oiled intention.

On any given evening Pisces might sleep naked, or in their best suit. In the morning they’ll throw on whatever’s closest to them and hope they can remember where the clean underwear is. So engrossed are they with their telepathic conversation with the muse, they’ll forget to eat, but somehow manage to score an invite to a five star fete because someone found them deliciously interesting. Pisces at its best rubs shoulders with divine perfection.

These two are at it again! Yes, we saw the end of the Virgo-Pisces eclipses, but it won’t stop the moon’s visits. This time, life wants to you to get your Virgo on in spite of some heavy Pisces influence. This Virgo moon is going to make you work. Some of you will love this energy! You nerds know who you are. You may even get a gold star at this full moon for your hard work. As you can probably guess, Virgo is very difficult for me personally. But, I have made peace with, it. Nothing happens without it.

This Virgo moon comes with a fresh Mars in Taurus and Saturn squaring a party in Pisces (Chiron, Sun, Mercury). The hammer’s coming down this month. Expect to be shown the crevices you forgot to clean and the bills you forgot to pay (literally and metaphorically). It’s not fun, but we need these reality checks if we are to move forward with our magical enterprise.

Virgo gets a bad rap for being mundane and hypercritical. No, it’s not glamorous, but who cares?! It’s essential. It’s useful. Being useful is beautiful. Virgo is going to ask you if your romance serves a purpose. Are your projects sustainable? Do your dreams serve your fellow humans and your planet, or just your ego? Is your body, mind, or bank account healthy enough to support the activities you’re participating in? ACCOUNTABILITY. This full moon may hurt, but you will have no question as to what area of your life needs retooling.

Virgo cares. Virgo cares enough to get it right. It’s a tending energy (they love to tend to their plants, animals, and peoples). When Virgo loses its balance, that care turns to worry, perfectionism, and nitpicking. So, keep your eye on that.

If you get your ducks in a row this month and bring some of those Pisces visions down to earth, they’ll fly come spring-summer.

So, see you in the produce section, yoga class…at work.

I’ll say more about Venus retrograde next time along with the Aries new moon. X

Solar eclipse Pisces 2/26/17. Baptism by Fire.

I’m surrounded by Pisces. Pisces friends, exes, students, clients, collaborators…I really have no business being around them, being of an Aries persuasion and all. The two really have nothing to do with each other; Aries is individuation, Pisces is unity. Aries is frank, Pisces is occult. Aries is the beginning, Pisces is the end. But, there’s a door in the “other people” area of my natal chart that swings wide open for the slippery sign of the fish.

I’m perpetually enchanted, frustrated, and lost with this energy. It’s an intoxicating miasma. For those of you who aren’t generally beguiled by Pisces’ special charm, let’s see you swim your way out of this eclipse. It’s the grand finale in an 18-month run of eclipses on the Pisces-Virgo axis. So this is the end. The end. (For about a decade anyway). Everything must go! The Pisces-Virgo axis is about purification and healing.

Any relationship that’s been hanging on by a thread, old situations on life support, projects on their last legs will be dissolved.  And you can forget about getting too comfy on that fence. If nothing comes up for you right now, see what washes up on the shore in the next few weeks. Pay attention to intuitive hits, gut feelings, and odd synchronicities. This is how Pisces communicates. Pisces wants you to be emotionally lean, gracefully let go, and float…onto the next thing.

Now, here’s where it gets really weird: at the exact time we get this dreamy eclipse in Pisces (conjunct Neptune and south node, with Mercury and Chiron hangin in Pisces too), we’re getting an exact conjunction of Mars and Uranus in Aries. That’s Mars, god of war, in his own sign conjunct Uranus, planet of rebellion. This is fireworks! This is sudden departure. Traditionally it’s violence, and accidents that arise from unchecked anger. It could be accelerated actions and unpredictable impulses of all kinds.

So, depending on where these aspects fall in your chart and what you’ve been up to the past couple of years, you may feel one vibe more than the other. You may feel both; sort of like floating up from the bottom of the pool and drawing your first breath of fire. 

Full Moon Leo 2/10/17. Eclipse Season. Thoughts on Leo Leadership, and the Ego Axis.

Experiencing the Spectrum

Crazy times. Horrific times. Confusing, and amazing times.  Have you been able to locate yourself inside all of it?

That’s what this full moon in Leo is all about. You’ll read a lot about full moon energy that pits the sun against the moon, and see a lot of the abbreviation, “vs.” When I interpret full moons, I think of experiencing the full spectrum of one concept instead of pitting the opposite ends against each other.

You cannot talk about Leo without talking about Aquarius, and during a full moon, you cannot talk about the moon without talking about the light it reflects from the sun.

Leo	Aquarius
Authoritarian	Consensus
Nobility	Proletariat
Heart	Mind
Passionate love	Brotherly love
Emotional expression	Conceptual ingenuity
Creation	Innovation
Integration	Decentralization
Personal	Public

and so on.

Believe it of not, this Leo moon looks radiant. Auspicious. Full of love and heart centered creativity. It looks like catching your own reflection in the mirror by surprise, and, not only loving what you see, but, noticing something new about yourself; something you’d like to share with others.

It looks like the perfect weather for creation. It’s a fertile time. A baby boom. Children of the body, the mind, the heart, or, the earth. Making a unique contribution to the whole.

Of course, you know, astrology is only weather. If it’s not married to your free will and consciousness, it goes unnoticed. Leo energy that’s left unattended by an adult can just spiral into constant applause-seeking, pageantry, narcissism, and DRAMA.  Well directed, Leo energy is all about productive manifestations of love and leadership. LEADERSHIP, as in caring for your crew and integrating them. Leadership is not a rank. Leadership is not the top-down distribution of orders. Leadership is not making decisions on the behalf of others. Leadership is inspiring others to do their own work with you.

Fun astro homework for students: Our last four presidents have strong Leo signatures: George W. Bush, Leo rising; Donald Trump, Leo rising; Bill Clinton, Leo Sun; Barack Obama, Leo Sun. Do a character study.

Leo wants to interact with and permeate a given social order or structure with their unique expression. Aquarius wants the unconventional and anarchic, rejecting limitation from any established order. This is the ego axis. Along this axis we do everything from exulting the ego to sublimating it.

If you have a strong Leo or Aquarius signature in your chart, you can find yourself swinging from one extreme to the other this month. We all have Leo and Aquarius represented somewhere in our chart. Eclipse season can bring about much emotional intensity for everyone.

Eclipses are portals to new cycles, so they are extremely energetic. They usher in massive change. Clean breaks with the past, and startling new beginnings. They are cosmic ass-kickers.

How to survive eclipse season?  Instead of looking for comfort in an outwardly, well-defined extreme, go inward. Try to sit in the middle of this axis, and consciously observe (Aquarius) how your buttons are being pushed. Create a way (Leo) to hold the best principles of both extremes at the same time…it is one concept after all. Two sides of the same coin. Make something out of that.

All of that warm, loving Leo energy is meaningless without its implementation and usefulness by and to the group. All of the genius, groundbreaking Aquarian concepts will remain just that…concepts, without emotional relevance.

What will you do with your strong urges to create and be recognized?

What new things do you notice when you look in the mirror?

How will you change and/or cultivate these new aspects of self?

 RAWR!

New Moon Aquarius Astro Report: What a weekend! How about next weekend?

New Moon Aquarius January 27^th

More work to do. TOGETHER.

Could there be a better energy for the current socio-political climate. (The answer is no.) Aquarius is the cool customer of the zodiac. Detached. Dispassionate. Aquarius is also quite complex. While, on the one hand it’s about the populace, equanimity, and fairness to a fault, it also has the reputation for eccentricity, individuality, and straight up rebellion. How can this be?

When working with Aquarius energy I like to think of the value of every “weird” part of every “strange” individual in the context of the whole. Aquarius is the other end of the spectrum of Leo’s energy (“I am most important because I’m most special”). Sorry Leo, I love you, but you get a juicy spotlight, loaded with an eclipse in a couple weeks. Aquarius on the other hand announces “We are all equally important because we are all so different.”  Every different type of person is needed for change. Every different type of experience is needed to understand our whole story. This energy will be strong for the following month regarding all endeavors that favor group effort, respecting (even extolling) differences, and re-distributing power and responsibility from a selected few to the many.

This time does not favor passion, but logic. Cool heads. Group effort for the benefit of the group. Aquarius is also a visionary energy. Forget about working creatively within an existing structure. This time favors epiphanies, break-throughs, break-outs, and break-downs! Tapping into information streams that we didn’t know existed. Until now. Busting through tired traditions and concretized systems that do not allow for the natural movement of the humans that live within them.

An exact Venus/Saturn square accompanies this new moon, so expect a side order of restriction, and an extra helping of “cold” during this period.  Not the warmest and fuzziest of times. But that’s ok. Let’s see what happens when we put our subjectivity and sentimentality on the backburner for a while. Mental clarity and objective decency toward our ALL humans, animals and our planet is a beautiful thing.

Mars comes home to Aries as well on this special Friday. There is massive energy with plenty of fight available to do all the work we need to do. There’s plenty to be angry about. But, to be effective, we have to channel that Aries aggression with the help of that very sober Venus/Saturn square. We have to consciously unite our power with EVERYONE else’s. You say you wanna revolution…

Still here. 2017.

Dear Body Intelligence, Astrology, and Other Projects friends,

Well, we’re still here. We’re alive. Which means we still have choices to make about the way we live our lives. I hope we’ll still be making some of those choices together in the coming year.

I want to thank you for your patronage, support, and friendship this past year.  It was a rough one.  Your trust in me is not taken for granted.  I know that I’m usually the first one to poke fun at myself for being “unorthodox,”  “experimental” or “professionally casual.”  But, your collective kindness and support has made it possible for me to maintain a small business in the midst of some radical leaps.

Around this time last year, I was prepping you all for a lot of “new.”  And, while there was a lot of  “new” that was thoughtfully planned, I also had a lot of “new” pop up unexpectedly.

The small farm and artist’s residency I co-manage, Gemini Hill, had an unexpected growth spurt, which has me living in the city part time more quickly than expected. And an emergency evacuation from my Brooklyn apartment has me in living in Manhattan for the first time in over a decade.

More opportunities to do work in a medical capacity popped up which had me in doctor’s offices, med schools and doing hands-on work more than I expected as well.  The new focus in the work is (hopefully) well explained on my new website.

I started finding new applications for astrology. Through teaching workshops and collaborating with others, I’m trying to find ways to share this work outside of one-on-one consultations. Been practicing my podcast/webcast skills with sex coach Myisha Battle. We have some sketches I'd be happy to share with you. Just email for the "secret codes."

And then there’s the writing. Those of you who know me a little better, know I’ve been struggling to dedicate more time to writing and performing my work. I think I made some headway in 2016 and would like to keep it up. Next reading is here.

And, you’re still here. Talking to me, studying with me, and that’s no small thing. I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. Your flexibility and generosity only inspire me to give more back to you.

This has been a tumultuous year for so many of you as well, and THE WORLD. I don’t think we’ll see anything resembling calm or a status quo for a long time.  I hope to keep these communities together in whatever way I can, and show you as much generosity and flexibility as you’ve shown me. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you need to move, breathe, talk, collaborate, or just hang. Being together is what matters most now.

I’ll finish up here. I hope we can create some new ways to be…that work. I really hope to see you soon, put our heads together, wrap our arms around each other, and navigate new territory. Together.

Love,

Cory

Astrology Basics Workshop: Archetype & Narrative

Hi There Astro Friends!

The time has come for me to help you learn to read your own charts!

For those of you who have been enjoying your readings and monthly Astro-Counseling, I would like to offer you another way to deepen your personal and creative work. Knowing how to study your own chart is a highly valuable skill that you can use in a variety of ways, and is a different experience than a reading or Astro-Counseling session.

Studying your own chart is a meditation and internal adventure. It’s navel-gazing with intention. It’s creating with purpose. We spend a lot of time looking out at the world and investing our energies in the external environment, interpreting ourselves through our daily activities and relationships with other people.

Working with your own chart offers a space for deep exploration of the self…with tools! It provides a time to honor your complexity; to know, understand, and integrate the many parts of yourself that are sometimes in conflict with each other, hidden, or exaggerated. It’s a great way to situate yourself in nature, develop a unique relationship with time, and discover new ways of seeing.

I would like to teach a beginner’s workshop this summer in late August or early September. If you are interested, please get in touch with me, with preferred times/dates. I will select a date that works for most people.

About Astrology Basics:

·      We will study planetary archetypes and astrological signs.

·      We will touch upon a few lenses to help you begin to construct narrative in your birth chart.

·      I would like to keep these workshops small (no more than 6).

·      We will be using your personal birth charts (unless you don’t want to, we’ll make up a fake one).

·      Yes, I would like to do this regularly, going forward. If I hear from more than 6 of you I will add   another workshop date.

·      If you are one of my west coast or nomadic clients, I would like to offer you a free workshop and reading if you host me in your hometown for a few days. I will also be taking reservations for private groups and special/advanced topics, i.e. relationships, Saturn return, etc.

Please spread the word to anyone who might be interested. More info: here

 

Love, SPF, and Hydration,

Cory

Body Intelligence Summer Fellowship. Apply Now!

Happy Almost-Summer!

Educators and bodyworkers of all stripes,

I’m happy to offer a paid summer fellowship to one practitioner who’s looking to advance their teaching skills. Read on for more info:

Looking for one special practitioner to study with me this summer, July-September, and possibly work with a couple of clients when I’m not available.

I’m open to practitioners who work in a variety of body-mind modalities. In fact, my only hard and fast requirements are X-Ray vision, a psychic scalpel, and commitment to facilitating deep transformation in those you work with (also, please have 5+ years of teaching/therapy experience, a passion for educating people, and continuing to develop your personal teaching practice). That's all! Preference given to former mentees and teacher training students.

Examples of modalities that I’m open to, include:

Pilates, yoga, Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, Zero Balancing, Klein technique, Body Mind Centering, Rolfing, Crainiosacral therapy, DermoNeuroModulation, and students from The Breathing Project.

Fellowship includes:

·      Travel /food stipend (provided by SGF Foundation)

·      Observation and practical study with me on real clients

·      Mentorship

·      Possible clients after study is completed

Focal point of study:

·      How to identify, create, and implement a course of movement treatment

·      How to cultivate an intimate and safe environment for clients to work in (and do it very quickly).

·      Given the subjects we’ll be working with, you’ll get a closer look at conditions like Scoliosis, chronic pain, anxiety disorder, and PTSD

Please email bodyintelligence@gmail.com for an application