Pilgrimage of the Soul
May this New Moon Light Letter find you well & abundant with grace & gratitude in your heart. As with all letters I send, the intention is always to connect with the value of light and illuminate our consciousness with insight & shared yogic wisdom.
I have been travelling for a couple of weeks and am now deep into masters training at Sattva in the foothills of the Himalayas. It has been a deeply humbling journey filled with awe & profound wonder at the incredible cosmic depth of the Yog-Vedantic teachings. Feeling infinitely blessed and radiating with gratitude, on this New Moon night, here are a few insights to help us all tune into the current energies.. 🌚
January 18 New Moon pulsates with shakti for enlivening our true potential… in the Nakshatra of Uttara Ashada it is a potent reminder that life is about the journey..each life is a pilgrimage of the soul… and each New Moon is an auspicious time for planting seeds and setting intentions for the journey, allowing us to live with greater self-awareness, presence & clarity.
January’s New Moon is in Makara (Capricorn), a sign ruled by Shani (Saturn) that governs (among other things) governments, structure, law & order and architecture. If Capricorn is your rising sign, you will know that slow and steady reaches the top of the mountain and you will not be afraid of hard work.
Chandra (Moon) meets Surya (Sun) in the star of Uttara Ashadha, ruled by Sri Ganesha and is a Nakshatra that spans from Sagittarius into Capricorn. In the cosmos it is located within the lower part of Lyra constellation and is connected to writing, righteous leadership, dharmic living and the profound knowledge that true power and transformation comes out of silent, humble, daily practice… step by step we climb a mountain, for life is indeed a pilgrimage of the soul.
Right now I am blessed to be in India once again, living and training in the Himalayas. Nearby there are may sacred peaks, mountain villages with small, ancient temples and glacial lakes to which countless souls pilgrimage every year. Recently it has become a trend for some to take a helicopter to some of these sacred sites. Once they arrive in Kerdarnath at the temple of Shiva, for example, they receive a “VIP pass” to enter the temple from the side and quickly“receive their darshan”. It is without a doubt, utterly ridiculous to think any of these people have experienced Shiva consciousness like this. Even for those who cannot walk, there are horses and donkeys who will take you up the mountain for the whole point of the endeavour is the pilgrimage… whether it is a literal or a metaphorical mountain we are climbing, the challenges along the way are what prepare us to be find stillness within… only there can we meet our true self.
Every challeng is an opportunity. Each step along the way helps us shed another layer of the ego, to release, surrender and let go of all the burden we unnecessarily carry. To release all the accumulated baggage and toxicity from the mind. To do something that seems impossible to the mind is a way to transcend it… that the ego doesn’t want to do it so it looks for a short cut, immediately reveals that it’s not going to work because then it is just a tourist attraction. Entertainment is not a pilgrimage. Helicopters are wonderful for travel, but to know the mountain, one must connect, surrender and walk the path that takes us to the peak, one step at a time. To know Shiva, one must know stillness. To know life, one must know thy Self…
I share this because this New Moon is a potent reminder of the power we receive by embracing the challenges we have in our lives. Simply by putting one foot in front of the other, the path reveals itself for us - we do not need to know the answer or the outcome.. we simply need to surrender and keep moving the way love makes us move. We have a vision, a call, a dream, dharma to fulfill and we do it all one step, one breath at a time. There is no other way.
Chandra meets Surya and together they dance with Venus, Mercury and Mars all in Capricorn. Depending on where Capricorn sits in your chart, this stellium of planets will have a powerful effect in that particular area of life. However, as the tenth sign of the solar zodiac, it also naturally activates the tenth house of karma (action), work & intention ~ holding the potential to unlock internal pressure, bring clarity & insight into where in life you truly desire to put your efforts & and where perhaps it no longer serves you to do so… it may also offer insight into where discipline (Saturn) is needed, and reveal the results of a silent pilgrimage you have been on that only you really know about.
What have the recent few months, years taught you? How have you grown? What has changed? ✨Now is a wonderful time to sit in stillness, elevate with some pranayama, then meditate in silence and journal.
The next two weeks may bring some profound inner knowings where you suddenly find yourself simply knowing that this next step is one you must take, even if (and especially if) the results are unknown. After all, my beautiful teacher Anand Ji frequently reminds us that to become at ease with the unknown is true power and that is surrender…
To know that it’s all working out the way it’s meant to is not “positive thinking”. It is clarity.It is mastery over the “coockoo mind” that always wants to figure everything out, even and especially when it can’t. The mind can never think its way out of confusion and yet this is exactly what we are trained to do by mainstream society - to analyze everything to death… but, over thinking creates so much anxiety and stagnation in our lives and then we wonder why we suffer..
What if we dropped all the analysis? What if we stopped trying to figure it all out? What if we didn’t have sooooo many opinions taking up real estate in our minds?.. Can you imagine the SPACE that would become available?.. Just, for a moment, imagine it .. because what fills that space when we allow it to “just be” is LIGHT.
This is why in our tradition we say Master the Mind, Master Your Life. In Jyotish, the Moon in our natal chart represents the mind. How we relate to and interpret life can be seen by this. It is very important to understand this aspect of our chart because the mind is the most important tool the Atman (soul) has for this pilgrimage called life.
Right now I am here at Sattva, studying with my Teacher and Guru doing the Masters training in the Yog-Vedantic teachings. Before I came many people asked me what is this training all about?Many have heard of yoga teacher training, but what is Yoga Masters? It’s interesting because the same way that the word “guru” has a slight triggering effect for some in the West, so it is with the word “master”. I can see when I refer to Anand Ji as Guru or Master (which he is that and so much more words cannot fully describe) that eyebrows will raise and I can hear the “crunchy thoughts” from across the studio, but this is simply a misunderstanding.
Understandably if one has not experienced being in the presence of a true guru, then one will have all kinds of projections and concepts about what these words mean. For us in the West, these words have very different meanings than within the Himalayan lineage… for you see, we do not become masters in order to be somebody else’s “master”. No. We do not train to become powerful yogis in order to have power “over” another. No. A true guru’s work is to lead you to yourself… your true Self.
We become, and every day practice becoming, yogis and Masters because we are learning how to become masters of our own mind.. only then can we become true masters of our lives. It is a pilgrimage with no short cuts. As you may have heard it said, “the mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master”. The mind is not meant to be the master of our lives but if we do not learn how to train it, how to liberate it from all the conditioning, vrittis and kleshas, then it, as ego, will create our experience of life… and generally speaking, we won’t enjoy it… and in our tradition we very much know that Life is meant to be filled with joy for the nature of Nature is bliss. We must learn to master the mind if we want to live fulfilling, luminous, joy filled lives,and… most importantly, we must first realize… we are NOT the mind…
Becoming a master teacher isn’t about anybody else except in the context of sharing these teachings with those who also wish to learn. There is no dogma. Yoga is not a religion. It is the most ancient and sacred spiritual science of consciousness. The Yog-Vedantic teachings liberate the mind but we must do the work. I will forever remain a student, for to be a great teacher, one must always be learning.
The yogic path is a pilgrimage that offers liberation from endlessly suffering the conditioned, ego mind living the hallucination of an isolated identity. Very little is promised but very much is learned and unlearned as we peel away the layers of the false self and remember our true divine nature. How one”s life transforms and the experiences one has along the way are all the “proof” that is needed.
We learn these most ancient, powerful, sacredpractices and yogic technologies so that we can practice living a dharmic life of purpose, of love, abundance, grace, beauty and embodied wisdom. We heal. We release incorrect bio memory and clear karma and samskaras with powerful technologies and diligent, daily practice.
As Carl Jung wisely taught, “until you make the subconscious conscious, it will forever dictate your life and you will call it fate”.Unknown to many is that Jung himself was a student of the yogic teachings and the Vedas for he was truly beyond his time, but this famous quote is exactly what we are doing in our practice. The beauty of the Kriya Yoga lineage is that the technologies available for us work so effectively that one does not have to wait years or lifetimes to experience the result. We still have to climb the mountain but we are deeply purified and elevated along the way. The key is the consistent, daily practice ~ Sadhana ~ regardless of how we are “feeling” about it (for that is the mind), we show up and practice. This is discipline that eventually becomes devotion. This is daily effort that the more we grow, eventually becomes effortless…
We are not interested in being better than anyone else for this is simply another game the ego plays. We aren’t in competition with life or anyone else. We are here to evolve and learn how to transcend the mind so that we may live life from soul, so that life may happen for us, move through us and we can live in great harmony and alignment with Natural Law. This is mastery, one step at a time... This is how we remember our true, blissful nature. Here in the now. Not “one day”. Now.. with each step and each breath we step into our power because we remember breath is consciousness.
This New Moon reminds us that we must have long term vision and short term goals to grow and evolve into the kind of life we wish to live. Walking the path only you can walk, one step at a time … Sun in Capricorn is a humbling of the ego, widening the path to include deeper wisdom, expansive consciousness and to allow for consideration of the whole in our vision, prayers and dreams.
It’s all about the journey… the pilgrimage from head to heart ~ that which may appear as 12 inches but can take lifetimes to master. And remember that none of these teachings are judgments in any way. We ALL have deep work to do if we are here. We ALL have challenges. We ALL have monkeys swinging around in our minds… We ALL have pain we cannot escape and must face, embrace and discover the bliss hiding inside it. There is sweet nectar available for everyone who seeks it. Sincerity is the key and never forget, small keys open big doors..
The cosmic invitation of this New Moon is to practice presence and move with intention as a way of honouring this great privilege we call life.. and remember, there are no short cuts given to anyone.. Life is a pilgrimage from head to heart. It is a journey up the mountain we can only ever take one step at a time… and my deepest prayer for you at this time is that you may find a little space in time to honour this sacred journey you call “my life”. Light a candle, sit by a river, watch a sunset without taking pictures… find a way to simply be with life for it is you and you are it. And acknowledge the pilgrimage you are on and how far you must have come to be here now… honour the sacred pilgrimage your soul has taken by coming here this life by turning inward and connecting with your beautiful, sacred heart.
With deep Gratitude & LOVE, I thank you for being here now.
With prayers for peace & healing,
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti, Hari Om Tat Sat
🪐 For deeper personal insight and to schedule a 1:1 Jyotish reading of your own, please email me. I am travelling for some time but I have a few slots available and am adding requests to a waitlist now so please let me know if I can serve you in any way.
🕉️ Stay Tuned:
Dates to be announced soon for upcoming initiation into the Sattva Himalayan Kriya Meditation - online and in person retreats.
From the most ancient Himalayan Kriya lineage, this kriya & mantra based meditation technique is only ever taught orally, directly from teacher to student and includes initiation into your own personal mantra. This is a profoundly effective, simple, sacred & transcendent meditation technique that, with consistent daily practice, is proven to evolve & transform your life.
More information will follow soon as well as online group meditations during my upcoming break between trainings at the end of the month. If these offerings charm you, please message me to express your interest. 🙏🏼
