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One of my mentor teachers reminded me that all mirrors are distorted. In deep reflection on this past year, this past season, and in light of the full moon in Cancer, I look to the sky and ask Grandmother Moon to show me what needs to come into the light. No mirror or experience of being mirrored by humanity can accurately show you what you long to see. This year I was reminded of the pain and longing that comes from this place. A place of desire. To be Seen. Heard. Felt. In isolation and far away from my chosen family I grieve. Knowing that Spring will come again. Sitting here in a place of reflection. Here is what came to me. I offer this as an aesthetic response to the end of this solar year of 2020...  The Earth below my feet Covered Quick sands Fast currents Each day a familiar cycle Repetition disconnected from reality Speaking into the vastness Eclipsed moments Tracking every step To find my way back To this steady rock I stand here now Witnessing the tides turn ...Once again Reset Repeat
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Welcome Winter. Welcome Wisdom. Too soon to tell what the season ahead will bring. Everything with 2020 has been ungrounded and unprecedented it seems. The gift? Using creativity and intuition to step forward into the unknown. This winter I imagine opportunities and challenges like any season and like most of 2020 as a whole. I don't usually like to promote items or do promotions of any kind due to my struggles with capitalism. Late stage capitalism is destructive and negligent to all of Creation and lies at the root of oppressive systems. For anyone who is just getting to know me, long before 2020 I have made a commitment to working/living from a social justice stance, looking at systemic oppression from an intersectional lens. In my work I have found that it is embedded into my ancestry, my values, and now shows up in each and every course I teach, each and every practice I hold, into my choices, considerations, and will be until change is steady, sustainable, and real, which may not be in my lifetime. It will also continue to be a process that I am in as a person with passing privilege in many areas of my identity. It makes for difficult conversations, but all ones worth having. This year I see the benefits of extending my offers from a Spirit of giving and within a practice of gratitude. For the season ahead, I offer you dear reader opportunities to access discounts to fuel creative fires and curiosities. In the week ahead until the Solstice begins on 12/21, you will see new offerings pop up around basic astrology readings and other one time session options. You will also see discounted artwork. All items and services in my a shop can be reduced 10 % more than marked with the code ISEEYOU for any purchases over $26 Additionally, in honor of today's New Moon and Solar Eclipse, in the phenomenal sign of Sagittarius, I offer you this reflection and guided meditation. This in effort to keep your inner fire burning as we come to the end of darkness and welcome back the light with the Winter Solstice. Access the 40 minute recording below. I recommend having a post integrative process of some type whether it be journaling or moving. Please enjoy and be well. 
Happy New Moon! Libra mirrors themes of balance, justice, and advocacy. For me there is a shadow of mediating too much, which often shows up as indecision. These days I can hardly make up my mind when it comes to small and big changes. In those moments I am called to rest, reflect, and witness. New moon energy gives an opportunity to pause and welcome reflective energies so new intentions can be manifested. This new moon in particular I am feeling the winds change and the weight of the storms edges surrounding my experience. In our Anishinaabe tradition the wisdom of the season is within the western direction, where we honor the abundance of the harvest, embrace gifts of the mystery, and welcome grief as we descend into the darkness, preparing for winter. At the onset of Autumn I went to Lake Michigan to sing prayers and ask for guidance. I released many tears and came back with the message to wait. I still don't know what I am waiting for, but I know that I have been called to tend to the water elements. So each day I try to find myself in a moment with water. This morning it was the frost lingering on the grasses and my sister and I took a walk with my daughter. Something about the simplicity of the sun meeting the frost gave me a brief moment of presence. There I was able to remember connection is one path to wellness. So my intentions will likely follow this path as I set my new moon altar later this evening. How are you being called to the present? What small moments help you see possibility? How does the moon guide your path? However you spend the season, the new moon, or the days ahead, I wish you wellness as you embrace the changing winds. We need community more than ever to endure this level of upheaval and uncertainty. Please vote, please send prayers for good changes to come, and take good care of each other. "Libra: As Above So Below", Mixed Media Collage, prints available. Read the accompanying poem here. 
 Virgo has arrived and so has our North American academic season. I don't know about you, but I already feel the need to ground and collect and the semester has not officially begun for me.
This season I have the honor of returning to CIIS and will be joining Lesley University as well. Being an adjunct faculty member of 2 extraordinary Expressive Arts Therapy departments is a joy and privilege. One I do not take lightly. One that I feel my Ancestors shining down with pride about. Even with perspective and support, as I get into detail mode I begin to feel the strain of what does not come naturally to me. I look to my traditions for guidance and remember the gifts of the season. This season is a transitional one as we move from the height of Summer into Autumn...One that is full of abundance, as well as danger like wildfires, the pandemic, racial injustice, and all this on the heels of an election that will determine so much of our stability and sense of wellness. My wish for this Virgo season is for all beings to find the grounding energy needed to stay well. Stay organized, stay humble, stay safe. Leo Season is here and gone like that. I am late to the circus, but fashionably so. The issue is still available here. Hoping the New Moon in Leo this past Tuesday was an opportunity for you to reflect on yourself, love yourself, and find compassion for the process you are in. Creating a life worth living is hard work. May the Virgo season ahead cultivate the wellness and growth you seek as Summer light fades into Autumn's harvest. Here is a write up I shared earlier this month about Leo and the artwork I made in reflection of this moment... Happy Leo Season! May we continue on with fierce love and courage in the process of dismantling oppressive systems, unlearning racial biases/behaviors, and connecting with one another in the spaces between opposition. This piece was inspired by my reflection about the archetype of Leo within a patriarchal society that is undergoing massive (necessary) strife and change. An astrology teacher I met with once on my birthday some years back told me that the archetype of Leo was “bastardized by the patriarchy” into being seen as an egotistical, selfish, if not a narcissistic symbol and that has taught the collective that caring for yourself is wrong. What a narrow a view...what a toxic message to shadow all the importance of tending to the self while ignoring the goodness that Leo energy offers. I am starting this season off by acknowledging the big cat energy within me that is courageous, beautiful, fierce, and full of love, generosity, gifted with the art of protection, loyalty, and an abundance of creativity. This collage is set within the South Dakota landscape of the sacred Black Hills of our Lakota relatives. 4 lion skulls replace the faces of former leaders who enacted much violence on the bodies of land and people. Knowing the truth about history is critical to our collective healing. 💖✨stay courageous out there. So. Much. Love. 
As the pandemic continues to bring major changes to life and lifestyles, I am continuing to offer free services each month. Please visit https://www.jilltherrien.com/offering.html for details. Wishing you and yours the support you need to stay grounded at this time.
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