Serious Self Care For Retrograde Planets

Retrograde Planets call for something more profound then just self care, it calls for something I call Harae from the Shinto word for rituals of purification. These rituals were created to cleanse us of our impurities from pollution or sin, guilt, bad luck, and disease.  Now, to the modern westerner these words might not seem fitting to our lives but I couldn't agree more with the indigenous folk religion of Japan whom worshipped nature and venerated mountains, rocks, and trees with spirits like all other shamanistic beliefs all over the world. 

Since we now have Retrograde Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Saturn to the line up, we are all feeling some pretty intense emotions in all directions. Jupiter, the expansion of ideas and beliefs are being re-born after our re-jection, Venus, our deepest needs wants and desires are being re-evaluated, Mercury, our thoughts and idea patterns are being re-linquished, and Saturn, our foundations and structure of our lives are being re-built. Just like the prefix Re- we are doing it all again but internally.  It’s quite important to take this time to really ponder and purify so that we can move forward in new ways that are more aligned with ourself, nature, and the cosmos.

Harae or purification rituals will help you to find a center amidst all the movement inside and outside you. First is purification by water. This is the most crucial and should be done as much as possible. Two, reasons this is most important is water realigns us to our emotional body and water holds memory. Since water is a container it washes away or holds our energetic makeup for us so that we may eliminate those things that are weighing us down emotionally and spiritually. Water will hold those elements of our emotional and spiritual body as long as we ask it too. The thoughts and feelings that are removed will be replaced with the new thoughts and feelings that need to surface and the water offers us a constant new opportunity to cleanse ourselves at our will as we utilize it with those intentions in mind.

First Harae ritual, is to draw a bath with clean tepid water, if your budget allows add some spring water to your bath, sprinkle Pink Himalayan Salt with an essential oil of choice, I prefer a mixture of (juniper berry, sage, copaiba balsam, hinoki oils), stay in the bath until water is chilled then release water from bath and rinse yourself from the shower in cool water.                           

In Harae it is crucial that the water is moving since the ancient way calls for a river or waterfall , but we will have to make due.

Second ritual, is get a basin or a large bowl fill it with spring water and get your long wooden spoon out. As you lean over the bowl take the wooden spoon and gather water in it, pour the water first over your right hand, then the left, then take the water in your palms held together and rinse your mouth. Not in your mouth, just the outside, then take more water in spoon to cleanse the left hand again. 

The crucial part of these two rituals are focus, concentration, intention. Hold those thoughts in you while you practice these rituals that need to be cleansed away and imagine the water taking them for you as its gift of love to you. After the ritual, cleanse the bath and bowl with the pink Himalayan salt. 

One other suggestion is to practice the Harae water basin ritual as soon as you get home from a long day, to cleanse off the energy of all the other people you came in contact with through out the day to be clear and attuned to yourself. 

Venus Retrograde will end April 15th and since Venus is the least planet to go retrograde I would recommend focusing on those themes first. Those might be what do I value in myself? What do I want to be appreciated for? How can I help support others in their values and actions that are aligned with mine?

As you continually create and act out these rituals you will find clarity and release and to help create a state of balance through out the day I integrate my Kosmologically Influenced mists to help support my space and peace of mind.

Align yourself with the cosmos…