Today on June 19th, the planets Mercury and Mars team up and directly oppose Pluto in a galactic face off that has tension, fire, volatile energy and conflict written all over it for us here on earth. It’s kind of the Sons of Anarchy gang confrontation equivalent of the planets. Things have the potential to go south and fast.

Mercury rules communication, technology and travel (you know how it goes when Mercury is in retrograde right?) so be prepared for short fuses, bad drivers, traffic delays and misunderstandings. Mars is an actionable planet that is ready to fight at the first call, so this puts our reactionary impulses in overgear. Everyone is stepping on everyone’s toes today and the energy of Mars is pushing us to stake our boundaries with strong defences, fists and fighting words.

Pluto governs our sense of power and domination throwing an actual time bomb in the midst, along with misplaced ambition and ego. This planetary confrontation is intensified by this week’s full moon with a light at the end of the tunnel on Friday as we welcome Summer Solstice.

In short, things could get ugly quickly today. If you’ve felt the energy around you or within intensifying, situations between you and friends or co-workers or your partner getting a bit elevated, or people overstepping their mark on your space both physically and metaphorically (at work, or in the coffee line at Starbucks) you are not alone. The planets are facing off and we’re all feeling the consequences.

Here are some quick tips and tricks for getting through today with grace.

Embrace the Fire and Repurpose It

While we tend to try to push our intense energies down, try leaning into them. With a mindful approach and understanding that how you are feeling today is not really in your control, nor can you do anything about the actions of others, embrace your intensity and put that fire towards accomplishing something great. Lock yourself in your room, avoid others and crush your deadlines. It’s safer inside today anyways, so why not cross some items off your list as your energies are burning inside? Clean your house with gusto. Go for a killer sweaty run.

Avoid Triggers and Reschedule That Meeting 

We always say alignment before hustle right? Sometimes recognizing that you are simply not in a proper mindset to address certain matters, tasks or conversations is the most mindful and responsible thing you can do for yourself. If you are feeling intensely off today, or that there is potential that a certain meeting, phone call, sales pitch or discussion with your client, relationship partner, co-worker or friend is not going to go the way you want it too, then reschedule it. Being mindful of where we are at internally at any given moment and honour it. If we listen to our internal energies and strive to find alignment before action, we will see better results.

Embrace Woo Woo

There are certain practices in the New Age belief system that will help you get grounded and find your centre fast. Turquoise is the perfect stone to have in your presence today for its grounding qualities as well as its connection to the throat chakra, which will aid in communication and confidence. Burning palo santo regularly throughout the day will work to clear any overly intense energies, while the scent will help get you grounded quickly and back in your body if you find your mind is getting carried away with unproductive stories and thoughts.

In short, a bit of mindfulness goes a long way. If you feel tensions and situations are getting out of hand, put a pin in them and come back to them when the planets aren’t at each other’s throats.

Image by @digital_errors

Super Wolf Blood Moon: January 20th

Key Words: Change, Opportunity, Attention, Creativity, Unexpected Events, Confidence, Frustration, Drama

Change is on the horizon. You may have been feeling slight shifts lately as we softly eased into the new year. Things that appeared a bit murky in December are slowly starting to become clear, even if you don’t really want to acknowledge the truth. This Super Wolf Blood Moon may throw us a few curve balls, but could also bless us with opportunity.

This Sunday evening, around 10:36 EST, the Earth will be positioned between the sun and the moon, causing a “blood red” shadow across the moon’s surface, hence the phrase “blood moon”. The January full moon is called the Wolf moon because in traditional and earlier times, this is the month when the wolves howled from winter hunger, particularly during the full moon. So again, the term sounds much more sinister than it really is.

Move Slowly, Softly

That said, we would do well to proceed with caution, and brace ourselves for unexpected change and resulting feelings of fear and anxiety. There will be shifts in power at play and you may notice them in your work or personal life. Observe closely the relationship dynamics in your life right now and how others around you are unknowingly being affected by this astronomical event. Do you see higher instances of tension, displays of anger, flashes of temper and frustration? Are people overstepping their mark with you, through an unwarranted sense of power and position?

You may find that you are quick to temper yourself, or find that your typically grounded mind is getting caught up in anxiety-driven thoughts. This is not a full moon to broach relationship or work issues. Focus on getting yourself grounded in the present moment and peacefully observe how you can leverage the moon’s powerful energies to your advantage.

Creativity and Opportunity

This eclipse brings with it energies of opportunity. 2018 was a year of inner ground work for profound change, essentially setting the stage for your debut. The time has come for you to step out of the shadows and fully embrace this new expression of who you are and who you want to be. We will be gifted bursts of creativity, energy and focus with this powerful celestial happening and those of us who are wise will use it to our advantage. Listen to your inner being as it will be forthcoming with information on what you truly want, as well as provide insightful guidance on creative ways to go and get it. Don’t shy away from recognition and spotlight over the next few days. Lean into the shifts and changes happening around you and embrace opportunities as they come your way. It’s time to satiate the hungry wolf inside you and get what you want and what you deserve.

Keep Cool 

This shouldn’t be hard as temperatures continue to plummet. Remember we may encounter anxiety-driven situations such as technology that refuses to cooperate, or work/personal relationship upheavals. Knowing that we may be prone to hot tempers gives us the power of mindfulness when we structure our reactions. Face challenges with a level head. Things are never as bad as they seem. And nothing is bad enough to defeat you and your beautiful spirit. Set intentions of joy and you’ll come through this Super Wolf Blood Moon with money in the bank.

Image by
Anders Jildén

The Blood Moon is coming in HOT this Friday, bringing with it the longest lunar eclipse of the century. If you thought that the new moon energies of July 12th were intense, Friday’s full moon will bring some serious cosmic energies that may test our human capacities for stabilizing emotion and our responses to touchy interactions and not-so-sweet situations.

However, there’s no need to be fearful of a Blood Moon or a lunar eclipse. In fact, these phenomenons are a wonderful opportunity to work with intention towards achieving our goals, become more self-aware and to let go of everything that no longer serves us.

In order to do that, it’s great to have a clear understanding of what we are working with.

What’s a Blood Moon?

It’s totally not as sinister as it sounds. A Blood Moon is what happens when the Earth’s moon is in total eclipse. As the moon passes the Earth’s shadow, it adapts a rusty or reddish hue, as some sunlight that goes through the Earth’s atmosphere bends around the edges of our planet and will fall onto the moon’s surface.  Unfortunately, us North Americans will not be able to see the Blood Moon, while our friends in the Eastern Hemisphere will be able to get a good glimpse.

How Will The Lunar Eclipse Effect Me? 

Listen, there’s no sugar coating it. If you are a subscriber and believer in the forces and power behind the moon’s phases (and if you’ve found yourself on this site, you probably are) then yes, this one’s going to be intense. This lunar eclipse is highly influenced by the planet Mars, the planet that rules our feelings of aggression, desire, anger and survival. Mars focuses on immediate action as opposed to calculated and intention-based reaction.

This means that we may be more susceptible to reckless behaviours, especially if we are faced with particularly important decisions or situations. It is important that we are mindful to react from a space of being calm rather than giving into aggressive instincts.

The trick to navigating this celestial phenomenon is to remain mindful, grounded and full of intention. A Lunar Eclipse brings with it similar energies to a full moon, only much much stronger. Therefore, while there is opportunity for disaster if we do not stay mindful, there is also great opportunity to call into play the things you want to change.

How Do I Work With The Lunar Eclipse? 

Set Intentions

At Age of Lapin, we set our intentions every new moon and use the energy of the full moon to either emphasize our focus through ritual, ceremony, yoga, self-care, intention-focused meditation and mantra or journalling, OR we use the opportunity to course-correct, and set a new intention.

This powerful lunar eclipse offers us an incredible opportunity to highlight and focus on what we truly want to call into our lives. Not only is it an excellent time to reiterate what you may have set down as your intentions during the new moon, it is also an incredible opportunity to call in to play what you want to focus on and bring into your life over the next few months. Leverage the moon’s powerful energy on Friday to your advantage with an intention setting practice, such as journalling, vision-boarding or mindful meditation. The most important thing to remember is to write your intentions down, say them out loud or collage them on a vision board. Get them outside of you, into the air, the universe and into play.

Ditch What No Longer Serves You

This Lunar Eclipse is still leveraging that transformative and rebirthing energy from July’s new moon. Friday’s full moon is the perfect time to declare that you will not be carrying that which no longer offers you anything of value going forward. Look at your life and determine what you have been holding onto that has no more benefit to you. This could be an old friendship that is dragging you down, a pattern of self-doubt or a bad habit that is holding you back from your goals (i.e. negative self-talk or smoking).

Letting go is hard, but leveraging Friday’s energy will make it so much easier to stick with it. The universe wants us to have what our hearts desire so it is important to take advantage when the forces at play offer us natural gifts to rid ourselves of things that may be holding us from achieving those desires.

Embrace this time of rebirth by letting go and saying goodbye to anything that is taking you away from receiving your goals.

Gather and Embrace Ritual

One of the best ways we can leverage the energy of any full moon is by gathering and embracing a practice of ritual with likeminded friends and people. If your close group of friends aren’t into woo-woo or the moon, no worries. We love to curate full moon and new moon events happening locally from places like Eventbrite and our own beautiful community. No matter what your budget is, there are always beautiful gatherings happening throughout whatever city you live in, even free ones like the Soul Sister Gathering. 

Ritual can be practiced in a group or also on your own. If you are not so inclined to join a group, embrace a time of peace for yourself where you can focus with intention on what you want to achieve and let go of. This can be something as simple as attending a yoga class, embracing quiet meditation or even indulging in a ritual of self-care and self-love.

With the moon in Cancer and the intense cosmic happens occurring this month (a solar eclipse, a supermoon, a blood moon, etc.) many of us are computing these cosmic energies into highly emotional vibrations. Whether you’re feeling sad, tense, irritable, nervous or uncertain, agate is recognized for its loving ability to help us get grounded and focused.

Agate stones can be identified by their stunning layers and signature bands, with an appearance akin to marble. Agate comes in a range of beautiful colours such as blue, green, grey, red, brown and yellow. It is a stone that is deeply connected to the Earth and vibrates at a slow and steady pace, making it an ideal crystal for balancing and harmonizing our chakras. In fact, different colours of agate vibrate and align with certain chakras. And while some colours will soothe and open up certain energy flows within the body, agate in any colour can help us find our balance in times of trouble or unease.

The slower vibration of agate makes it an excellent crystal for daily use, offering a soothing presence that can help us centre when we feel scattered or unfocused. It is a great crystal for when you are feeling overwhelmed as it will not overstimulate or interfere with our internal frequencies, but rather help us align with a more steady energy, stabilizing the aura and bring a sense of calm and harmony.

Beautiful Ways to Incorporate Agate into your Day-to-Day

Blue Lace Agate Bracelet

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Destera Pendant

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Moss Agate Mala Beads

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