Category: Astrology

Reflection and planning for the fourth quarter: Aries Full Moon Goals

29
Sep
2023

So the moon will be entering its next full moon cycle for the year tonight. This means that there is only an day left in September and then we’re sprinting into the fourth and final quarter of 2023.

I will be more than happy to see the end of this year…and if I could find a time machine—I’d jump ahead a few years to say 2026 or 2028.

So the moon will be moving through the Aries constellation—which means that astrologically we’re ‘starting a new year’ since Aries is the start of the Zodiac calendar. It is the time to reassess, redesign, toss, and make new goals if one is inclined.

So what are some of the questions we can reflect on during this time? They include:

Have I been hotheaded, selfish, or argumentative this month?

Have I been going too fast or been impulsive this month?

Have I been brash, blunt, or too competitive?

Have I ignored other people’s finer sensibilties?

Have I had enough fun?

So before answering the questions, I do need to point out that September is basically over, and these questions can be answered in one of two ways: 1) reflecting back on the month of September, or 2) how one want to behave during the Aries phase (which is the first two weeks of October). So as usual I’m going to number the questions 1 to 5 as I answer them.

  1. I would have to say that I’ve managed not to lose my temper, get into any arguments (at least any that are worth remembering having), and I haven’t been acting selfish. September (while it is my birth month), is now just another month I’d rather avoid if possible. I was joking with someone that I was only going to acknowledge half the year, and was debating on how often that would mean I’d have a birthday.
  2. Have I been impulsive during the month of September? Well—yes, if I take into account how many e-books I’ve bought. I probably should keep the phone on airplane mode for majority of the day to ensure that I’m not spending time on social media; also should download another time management app that would ‘block’ my access from different sites (namely Facebook). Have I been going too fast during the month of September? No. I probably have been going a little too slow again. While I have the science/health/med blog/website up and going—I haven’t gotten a blog post up or started any projects to highlight in the portfolio section of the site. The goals for October are not to spend excess money (only order what is absolutely necessary and no new books [other than what’s already been pre-ordered]), and to have at least one if not two blog posts up on the new site, and drafts of at least three different pieces for the portfolio done. 
  3. No, I don’t think I’ve been brash, blunt, or too competitive this past month. I may start being a little more blunt around certain topics (especially education and basic civil rights), but that is a topic for another day. I’m only going to try to be competitive with myself—and only the person I was yesterday.
  4. Well I’m still self-isolating for the most part, and therefore majority of my interactions with people are virtual. I’m working on being more empathetic while at the same time drawing and maintaining my boundaries on certain topics/areas of life.
  5. What is this word fun? The past year has been nothing short of a dumpster fire and we’re going to be stuck dealing with the damn SARS-CoV2 virus thanks to all the idiots back in 2020 that didn’t want to stay at home any longer, and all the idiots that refused to wear masks, social distance, and get their damn vaccines and/or booster shots. While I may have caught COVID—luckily it’s been extremely mild (though it could also still be allergies—need to purchase an in-home test to determine for certain). Therefore, I’m slowly trying to ‘reintroduce’ fun into my day-to-day routine. Fun for me can mean anything from working on my needlepoint project, to sitting outside with the dogs, to making cookies or brownies.

Aries is moves through my sixth house (or my daily work and health zone). This house is where we can sit and reflect on who we are (both in terms of professional/work and personal/health) and decide to work on those aspects that we don’t like.

It’s that time of year (for the second time) to sit and reflect on various things—the good, the bad, and the silly. Figure out where we’re stalling, and then try to develop a plan to start pushing the needle forward again (instead of having it spin around in a circle).

Health wise—I’m still procrastinating on developing a weekly schedule for fitness. I have most of my dumb bells in the family room (the 14-lb and 20-lb weights are still in my bedroom), the exercise bike is in the living room, and I technically have the room to roll out the yoga mat. 

My excuse has been centered more or less around our youngest pup and the fact that if you’re on the ground—he thinks it is playtime (and he plays rather rough—but then again he’s only about seven or eight months old). The excuse for the bike—nothing to watch and I get bored after only a minute or two; and the dogs try to attack the pedals. 

Needless to say—I need to ‘schedule’ the thirty minutes or so for a bike ride, pop on a movie (or pull one up on Amazon video) and get my workout in. Also—can pop in a workout DVD (I do have a handful that I could work out to again), and see how they handle me trying to do a workout in the front of the house.

Nutrition wise—I’m trying to get more protein in each day (starting to mix protein powder in with plain Greek yogurt, chia seeds, and fruit), drink more water, and cut back on the processed foods (mostly the sweets and chips).

Career wise—I’m pivoting to freelance science/health/medical communications. Why—to help improve the science/health/medical literacy in the global community. There is so much mis- and dis- information out there on various things, that if we’re going to try to colonize another planet—we need people who understand these topics.

I’m still working on developing a schedule that will work for life (health/wellness, career(s), personal/professional growth, and crafts/hobbies), and determining different ways of handling the procrastination bug when it bites (which it does on a fairly regular basis). So time and project management skills are still on the ‘improvement’ list of habits.

The Aries full moon is arriving just before the start of the final quarter of 2023. Therefore, my goals for this full moon are going to revolve around getting things going for both the final quarter of the year—and the next year or two. 

The goals of the Aries full moon will then include:

  1. Setting up the October calendar, fourth quarter BINGO card, and the October BINGO card
  2. Devise (and then test) an intentional movement schedule that includes weight lifting, walking, cardio (exercise bike, dance parties, and shadow boxing), yoga, and so forth.
  3. Have at least two mini-book reviews written and posted on various sites
  4. Work through at least part of a personal/professional e-course
  5. Continue reading (and finishing) at least one non-fiction book that I’ve started.

The motto for the final quarter of 2023: ‘Progress over Perfection’.

What is a personal/professional goal that you’re going to work towards achieving this quarter?

No Comments AstrologyBookscareerCraftsfitnessFull Moon GoalsHealthno spend challengesPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflectionsspirituality

Review of Pisces Goals: Procrastination Habits Acknowledged & Progress on Projects

28
Sep
2023

So the moon will be entering its full moon for September tomorrow night, which means I should look back at the goals that I set for the August Super Blue Moon (since it had two). This also means that we’re basically down to the last quarter of 2023.

So what goals did I make for the Pisces Super Blue Moon? They included:

  1. Troubleshooting my weekly ‘schedule’—making notes of what blocks of periods work, what doesn’t work; am I trying to cram too much stuff in on any particular day; are there days that may be better served as ‘brainstorming’/‘learning’ days?
  2. Spend at least fifteen to thirty minutes a day on some type of craft project
  3. Working on both blogs—getting the second blog up and ‘running’ (having the home page & about me pages written, and having the ‘blog’ portion live with at least one post by the end of September); working on editorial calendars, and so forth.
  4. Work through at least part of one personal/professional e-course.

So how did I do with each of them?

Troubleshooting my weekly schedule:

I had hopes that I would be done ‘troubleshooting’ my weekly schedule this week and could commit to a schedule come October. Well—what I’ve found is that my evening block is best spent doing crafts and relaxing, and I’d rather flip and move around times for doing chores and cooking instead of blocking those off in the late afternoon.

I also think that on Wednesdays, I will be dedicating more time to brainstorming and/or e-courses in addition to the chores for the day. I also need to get better at actually doing things on the weekends. Usually I’ve managed to get about sixty percent of things I want done during the week done…goal for the last quarter is to get that percentage up to eighty percent.

Spending at least fifteen minutes to a half hour on crafts:

I’m starting to spend more time in the evenings working on my large needlepoint project (and hopefully will have it done by Thanksgiving weekend if not by Halloween). One thing I’d realized over the past week, is that unless I’m doing crafts (and taking progress photos) there isn’t a lot of new photographs to share (since I was going to try to do a 365-day photography challenge). But that is something again to work on during the fourth quarter of the year.

Working on both blogs:

Well, I have the second blog/website (the science/health/medical) up and ‘running’. Basically other than the blog and portfolio pages, the rest are all visible. I had planned on getting a blog post up last week, but stuff happened (we unexpectedly lost one of our cats) and that blog post never happened. But it is on the schedule for October. 

I have also posted at least four times to this blog, while I had a bigger goal in mind (say weekly)—I’ll take being at least consistent in being sporadic in posting. Again, becoming more consistent is on the schedule for October.

Working through another e-course:

I worked through/watched ‘The Ten Steps for Getting Your Point Across in Writing’ on Udemy. The main thing I got from this course—I don’t spend enough time on the planning and editing stages of writing. That will change (especially for the science/health/medical site) moving forward.

Progress is being made in terms of both time and project management. The fourth goal (which was the only ‘yes/no’ in terms of total completion) was completed, and progress on the other three were made. Scheduling (or time blocking) is the aspect of time/project management that I need to get better at during the next few months. 

I know that I switch things up at the last minute because I feel I will either get bored or not get the task completed to my ‘liking’ (aka fear of failure and my inner critic is rearing it’s ugly head again). How will I work with my inner critic? Well, I could offer it an unlimited supply of cookies and brownies…which means focusing more on baking than content creation. So—maybe (at least every so often). Basically, I need to dedicate a good chunk of time to the planning stage of projects (outlines, determining what style(s) of communication I can get out of said outline; and then making (and sticking) with a reasonable deadline schedule). This means that to begin with I may only have a blog post monthly on the new site, and once I get enough outlines/mind maps made it could move to biweekly, and then weekly.

It is better to start at a slow jog, than to try to sprint my way to a ‘finish’ line that may or may not be the one for me.

The two phrases I need to keep in mind as I move forward with various endeavors: ‘progress over perfection’ and ‘done is better than perfect, because perfect never gets done’.

As the moon moves into Aries, it is time to take a look at things and figure out where I’ve been stalling in goals…and that is the subject of the next Full Moon Goals post.

No Comments AstrologycareerCraftsFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections

Health, time and project management: Goals for the Virgo New Moon

17
Sep
2023

So, we’re going to entering the Virgo New Moon this weekend, and I’m a couple days late in posting my new moon goals. That means the month is literally halfway over, and there are only a few days until my birthday. It also means that we’re almost through Virgo season as well.

While I’m not counting down the days until my birthday (I have too many things that I’d like to get done before hand…that if I start counting down the days—I may have either a nervous breakdown, or just turn off the computer and read), I will try to focus on what goals I can set and achieve during this time.

So what are some of the things that one can do during the Virgo new moon?

Take an inventory of your life. Figure out what is working and what isn’t and then figure out what needs to change for the things that aren’t working.

Be of service—help out more at work (if able), do the little things that can help make someone else’s day a little more bearable.

Be healthy—see what is and isn’t working in your health and fitness routines and then figure out what to fix—what new habits to start working on.

Avoid nitpicking—this is where the motto “progress over perfection” really comes into play

Get organized—pay bills, figure out the monthly schedule (workout, eating, so forth)—things that can make life a little more bearable going forward.

While most would think that the new moon would be moving through my first house (since my star sign is Virgo), it actually moving through my 11th house (or friends’ zone), since I’ve been going with my rising sign (which is Scorpio). 

Last year I wrote that my ‘new normal’ was social distancing (with a few exceptions—meeting a friend for lunch), wearing a mask, and just trying to be considerate of others. That is still part of my ‘new normal’, but now it also includes trying to figure out life post-trauma (death in the family back in May, and loss of a couple of pets in June).

Some of the things one can do in regards to their 11th house include:

Sign up for an evening class in something you’ve always wanted to do.

Ask your friends to introduce to friends of theirs you’ve never met.

Wish on a star every night for a month.

Introduce a childhood pal to a friend from your life now.

Say ‘Hi’ to someone you see nearly every day but never talk to.

Thank your best friend for being there for you.

Even though the pandemic has been ‘dialed’ back to epidemic status—I still don’t get out that much, therefore about two-thirds of the above list won’t be getting done.

The only things I could do in regards to my 11th house is: wish on a star every night for a month (would help improve my astronomy—as I’d probably be wishing on a satellite or a plane), and thank my best friend for being there for me (especially this past year).

So, since I’m still in semi self-isolation, my goals for the Virgo New Moon period will include:

  1. Take inventory of various aspects of life (research/writing/editing, crafts/hobbies, fitness, and mental health/spirituality) and develop a working schedule that will help me increase my productivity throughout the week.
  2. Create a fitness schedule that includes weights, shadow boxing, and getting on the exercise bike.
  3. Continue with the evening meditations, oracle card readings and journaling.

.

Goals are similar to last years—but I removed two of them. One didn’t add anything to the list, and in theory should have just been combined with the first goal (which I did here). The second one I removed was the list of outlines/drafts that I had planned for last year. I still need to make outlines/drafts/lists for both blogs, but I don’t need to do them all at once.

September is now over halfway over, and that means that there are only 105 days left in 2023. I’m more than ready for those 105 days to fly by…while at the same time wanting them to drag (mainly to ensure that I get things accomplished before 2024 gets here).

Progress is being made—I hit ‘publish’ on the science, health, medical blog website, and am working on getting it linked to my LinkedIn profile and the ‘business’ page I made for it on LinkedIn as well.

While I want to say that things are mellowing out—I also don’t want to jinx things, so I’ll just raise a toast (my cup of sleepy time tea) to the last 105 days of the year. Now, off to get some more planning done for the last quarter of the year.

What is one big goal you have for the last few months of 2023?

No Comments AstrologycareerfitnessHealthNew Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflectionsspirituality

Focusing on time & project management during the Super Blue Moon

30
Aug
2023

So the moon will be entering its second full moon for August tonight—making it a super blue moon. I’ve seen it stated that the moon could be either in Pisces or back in Aquarius…so I’m going to go with the first—that the moon will be moving through Pisces tonight.

That means there is only a day left in August of 2023, and four months left in the year.

So if I look to the book “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are five questions that one can ask themselves during this time:

Self-reflection questions:

(1) Have I been dreamy to the point of not getting enough done and making silly errors?

(2) Have I been overly sensitive and too easily hurt?

(3) Have I been acting like a martyr? Or too easily led?

(4) Have I been meditating every day, and if not, why not?

(5) Have I been in touch with my intuitive side? Following my dreams and hunches?

My answers:

  1. I don’t think I’ve been ‘too dreamy’ lately…distracted, semi-depressed, dealing with grief, and still totally irritated with the world? Yep…this year hasn’t been the greatest, I’m working on finding a new routine, while balancing various other things—and working on improving my overall mental health. I haven’t been making silly errors, but I probably haven’t been getting nearly enough things done…though I have managed to three ‘BINGOs’ on my August BINGO goal card.
  2. The past year has been a sh*t show of epic proportions, and I probably am a little more sensitive lately compared to say two or three years ago. I do realize that everyone is busy with things and that if someone doesn’t respond—it only means they’re busy. 
  3. Nope.
  4. While I’m still using the soothing pod app for ‘guided’ meditation at night…I’d say my ability to ‘focus’ on breath for meditating is currently sitting around two minutes (the opening intros of the guided meditations)…then I listen as I pull a couple of oracle cards to ‘read’.
  5. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times—this is something that I’m working on…having spent so many years in higher edu research—I’m extremely good at being in touch with my analytical side, and ‘ignoring’ my intuitive side. I’m working at getting better at being in the moment, taking things slowly, and not having everything planned out. I am going after my dream of having a more independent career away from the bench. I am pivoting to the direction of freelance/remote/contract science/health/medical communications. In other words—writing, creating infographics, posters, slide decks, and other educational type material. Once I have that up and going, I’ll also be working different ideas/directions for this blog as well (creative writing/crafts/photography/travel/book reviews). I’ve chosen these directions because I want something that is location independent, time independent, and allows me to ‘jump’ between different areas/subjects that are of interest to me as I create content. 

So in addition to the self-reflection questions, one should also check to see what house or zone the moon is moving through as well. For me, the Pisces full moon is moving through my 5th house (according to my rising sign), which is also known as the “kids, romance, and creativity zone”.

I’m still semi self-isolating—I’ll meet a friend for lunch occasionally, we try to get out to walk the dogs at a park once a week (temperatures permitting), and hopefully within a month or two I can start trying to get a walk in at Boomer; but there are new variants of the omicron COVID-19 variant popping up—so I may not do the lunch meetup all that often this fall.

I made note last year that when (and if) I move, it would require moving into a small one or two bedroom house, due to my dog…well, now when that happens—it will probably be a two (or three) bedroom house with a basement, and possibly an apartment over the detached garage. Seems mighty specific, huh…well—moving is going to become an ‘family’ affair. My father is going to be retiring within two or three years, and has been talking of moving once that happens. My younger brother is financially dependent on my father, and well—I’m going to have power of attorney…so I’d rather be in the same area in case something goes wrong.  The current ‘specifics’ of the house/property is from how I imagine us being able to move and ‘live’ around each other.

Again, the only ‘kids’ I’m currently around are the furry variety—the two dogs and two cats. My niece is out in CA, and we don’t see them that often; and when I meet up with friends for lunch, if it’s during the school year—her daughter is in school.

I’m doing well with crafts…I’m making progress on my large cross-stitch project, and have started a large doodle/drawing project as well. If I like how the doodle/drawing turns out this winter—the second one will actually be done on a canvas (the current paper is a little too thin for even water colors).

Pisces Super Blue Full Moon goals:

(1) Troubleshooting my weekly ‘schedule’—making notes of what blocks of periods work, what doesn’t work; am I trying to cram too much stuff in on any particular day; are there days that may be better served as ‘brainstorming’/‘learning’ days?

(2) Spend at least fifteen to thirty minutes a day on some type of craft project.

(3) Working on both blogs—getting the second blog up and ‘running’ (having the home page & about me pages written, and having the ‘blog’ portion live with at least one post by the end of September); working on editorial calendars, and so forth.

(4) Work through at least part of one personal/professional e-course.

Four goals, and while only one (the last) will actually have a ‘yes/no’ in terms of completion—the rest can also be considered on-going/continuous goals—but if one doesn’t start them…one can in theory never continue them…

Bits and pieces from previous chapters of our lives usually find their way into our current chapters that we’re trying to write…the bits and pieces from my previous chapters unfortunately right now include: imposter syndrome, inner critic, negative self-talk, and feelings of inadequacy. 

I know that I can work through all of those feelings, and will be doing so—but also just acknowledging them is a huge step in the right direction of self-care/self-acceptance, and healing. 

Therefore, I’m also going to keep the following quote at the forefront: ‘progress over perfection’, and knowing that I’m slowly starting the next chapter of my life (as I’m done re-reading the last one), in addition to limiting the influence of others in terms of what I decide to do with my future.

Question time: what are some of your favorite crafts?

No Comments AstrologycareerFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections

The first stepping-stones of getting back into a routine

29
Aug
2023

So, we’re going to be having a blue moon on Wednesday, August 30th. This means that during the month of August there were two full moons. In addition to being the blue moon, it will also be a super moon (meaning it will look slightly larger than normal, because it is at its closest orbital point to Earth). Depending on what site you go with (and where you are in the world), this blue super moon will either be back in Aquarius or it will have moved into Pisces.

But before looking ahead to the blue moon (and moving through Pisces), I need to look back at the goals I set for the Aquarius full moon and see how I did with each of them.

So I only set a few goals for the Aquarius full moon…in part because I’m just starting to get back into a routine, and because I’ve realized in the past—setting more than four usually means I only get possibly half of them done (or semi-met) before the next full moon (or even the midway point of the new moon).

So what goals did I set for the Aquarius full moon? They included:

A large open-ended goal of working on my time and project management skills. Since I left that ‘open-ended’, I made some specific mini-goals:

Finish reading: It’s Okay that You’re Not Okay by Megan Devine & Oracle Cards 101 by Sunny Johnson

Unplug for at least 90% of one (or more) weekends (knowing that I will possibly give in and check social media on the phone)..

Start creating content for both blogs and various other social media sites as well.

Continue working on my very large abstract needlepoint project

So how did I do with the more specific mini-goals?

In terms of reading:

Well I finished reading Oracle Cards 101 by Sunny Johnson.

This book was basically an introduction to what oracle cards are used for, and the biggest takeaway message I got from it was to not always rely on the guidebook for guidance in terms of interpretation of the cards.

This is something that I’m slowly working on…as I will be the first to admit that I usually open up the guidebook to see what it has to say for each card. This is in part due to just randomly pulling cards at the end of the day (I’m never quite sure if I actually have a question in mind when I’m pulling cards), and other times I’ll continue flipping through cards until I get to one that I hadn’t pulled recently. 

I also realize that I do need to downsize the number of oracle card decks that I own, and that way I’d be using decks more often (currently I can cycle through a different deck each month and not have to use the same deck for at least fifteen if not sixteen months)—so yeah, few decks of cards are key here. I’ll be posting a more consist review of the book during September.

I’m still reading ‘It’s okay that you’re not okay’ by Megan Devine. I’m almost two-thirds of the way through this book, and will possibly finish it before the end of August, or at the very latest early September.

Though I did finish reading another non-fiction book: ‘Survivors: the plants and animals that time forgot’ by Richard Foley. I’m thinking of posting the review of this book on the science/health blog come late September or possibly early October (once I have the blog/website up and running).

Unplugging/staying off social media & the phone:

I did unplug for least 80-to-90% of the time over the weekends. I haven’t been participating in any social Saturday events on LinkedIn for quite awhile, but I usually checked social media briefly in the morning and evenings on the computer; and I still need to work on controlling the ‘doom scrolling’ on the phone during the weekend.

Crafting update:

I’m making progress on my large abstract needlepoint project—hoping to have it done by Thanksgiving (since I’m only putting in about thirty minutes a day on it).

In terms of content creation….

Well, I have an rough outline for topics for the science/health blog that I will hopefully be getting up and running by mid to late September.

I have some ideas for other types of content to put on the portfolio page (to highlight what I can create)…just haven’t lined up what exactly I want on the page.

I know the types of content I want to create (blog posts, infographics, posters, slide decks, and other educational type pieces; in addition depending on the topic, I may also consider mini reviews, abstracts, data analysis type pieces as well)—I just need to put them on to the calendar in terms of research, drafts/edits, and final posted project.

In terms of content for the creative blog—I have a list of bird pages that are ready to be posted, I just need to write the corresponding blog post for them…and then I have about another eighty to eighty-five birds to research.

I’m also going to start trying to do a book review a week (or biweekly to start), since I enjoy reading fiction so much; the non-fiction book reviews will be divided between the two sites depending on the topic of the book—the more science based books on the science/health blog, and everything else on this one.

In terms of other social media sites…I know that I will be using LinkedIn (and possibly YouTube) for the science/health/medical blog, and I’m still in the drafting stages for content for LinkedIn (especially after pausing two series that I had started last fall). I may add in Instagram (but will probably start a new account)…

In terms of social media sites for this blog…I have Facebook (just haven’t really posted on the page for the blog), my personal Instagram account (again may start a new account), Pinterest, GoodReads, and BookBub.

I need to come up with a schedule and ideas for Pinterest and the Facebook page…GoodReads and BookBub will see me posting whenever I do a book review (so hopefully I’ll be posting to those sites at least once a week), and they may see posts from the science/health/medical nonfiction books as well.

Instagram will be used…but a new account started…so stay tuned to for whenever I change the handle….there have been some problems in the background…needless to say I haven’t done changes yet—only because I need to schedule the time to set up a new one.

Launching a YouTube channel (and then a potential podcast) is probably a good year or so off…in part because I need to save money to buy a decent microphone and all that jazz…but also because I will need to figure out how to merge the content types into a video/podcast style of content…so yeah—there is quite a bit of work to be done for this one.

Recap of my progress:

Overall…I would say that I managed to probably hit 80% of the goals. I read two non-fiction books (and am slightly over halfway through with the second one I stated I would read). I did unplug on the weekends—but still ‘doom scrolled’ on the phone, and broke down at the end of each day to check email and social media (briefly…but I still did it). Total unplugging is something that I’m still working on.

Progress is being made on the needlepoint project—not as much as I had done during June, but that is because I’m also slowly starting to focus on other things as well (so, yea progress in other areas of life)…and if I can focus thirty minutes or so each night, I may get it finished by Thanksgiving.

Two non-fiction books have been read, while probably another dozen or so have been bought and added to the list (which is up to roughly 442 books—I say roughly since I think there are some historical fiction books that are on the list, so if that’s the case…there are probably about 430 non-fiction books on the list).

I’m actually going to be trying to schedule more time for doing research for the various topics for the science/health/medical blog…but also doing some for the creative/hobby blog at the same time. In other words—when I get slightly bored doing research for the science/health blog, I may look up something for this blog.

So—that’s my recap of my goals for the Pisces full moon—I managed to do each (though possibly not 100% for unplugging and content creation). I’m looking at those as stepping stones, and realizing that I need to make note of when I start getting back onto social media (when I’m trying to unplug) and see if it’s because I’m bored or whatever.

Now, it’s time to look forward to the blue moon—making goals, and also putting aside time to journal, have a brain dumping session, and try to get all ideas into one central notebook (instead of being scattered among a dozen different notebooks and journals).

So tell me, how did you do with your Aquarius Full Moon Goals?

No Comments AstrologyBooksFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentReflections

Breathe…self-care and productivity goals for the Leo New Moon

17
Aug
2023

So, while I will be a day late in posting my August new moon goals…it will be the second time this year that I’d done my new moon goals (last time was back in January or maybe February). 

It’s been a rough year…and I’m slowly getting back into a routine. I’m slowly working on a schedule/idea list of things I want to talk/write about on this blog…and also for the other blog (which will be possibly getting a little more attention to get it up and running this year).

The new moon is happening roughly mid-month (since at noon on the 16th marked the half-way point since there is 31 days in the month)..that means that there are roughly 137 days left in 2023, and it’s about five weeks until my 43rd birthday.

So, what are some things that one can do during the Leo New Moon? If we look to ‘Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles’ by Yasmin Boland—we’ll find suggestions such as:

  1. Show off–celebrate life
  2. Flirt
  3. Be creative
  4. Love thyself–self love, work on confidence, and leadership skills
  5. Spoil thyself

Well…I’m probably not going to be flirting with anyone…while the ‘pandemic’ has been downgraded to local ‘epidemics’—I’m not much for going out…

Celebrate life…yeah, I should do that this year…but I’m not one to show off…so this is a total maybe.

I’m still working on self-love, improving my self-confidence, and leadership skills; at the same time being creative, and possibly spoiling myself (well within reason).

Self-love is being kind to myself but at the same time working on setting a schedule for doing things—and keeping to said schedule. Improving my self-confidence includes publishing more on LinkedIn and interacting more on the site as well. Last year, I stated doing a video intro…but haven’t worked up the nerve to do one yet…maybe this year.

Why haven’t I done one yet?? Well…I could say that I don’t have the proper equipment, lighting, and so on…but truthfully while I’m not super vain–I just don’t like seeing/hearing myself on replay…something to work on over the next several months.

These are all good for being within the Leo constellation, but one should also look to see what house/zone the moon & Leo constellation are progressing through as well. For me, that means that Leo is going through my 10th house, or my career zone. This is about my career & reputation (professional brand).

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time in regards to the career zone? They include:

  1. Speaking to your boss about how you’re doing
  2. Helping a colleague out of a rut
  3. Check that you’re not becoming status mad
  4. Start a new business as close to the new moon as you can
  5. Apply for new jobs with confidence
  6. When you’ve earned it, take the credit
  7. Plot your next best career move

So, we get to focus (a little more) on our career zone twice a year (whenever the moon moves through our tenth house—which it does twice—new and full moon); not to say that one should be ignoring their career zone/reputation the other ten months of the year. My 10th house (via the new moon) always seems to be around the start of a new academic year…and it’s always fitting that I should be focusing on the career at this time. I’ve been on my reboot/career break for a couple of years (though I had plans of getting things up and going this time last year…and those fell flat)…and now I’m going to be putting more focus on getting the science/health/medical blog/website up and running.

So, I could talk to myself about how I’m doing (or better yet—schedule a chat with someone else)…I’m doing okay—but need to create that schedule and aim to stick with it (at least ninety percent of the time). Going to try to schedule more virtual water/coffee chats with people as well. I’m not status mad (never have been), and in regards to the last four things:

Starting a new business—I’ve got the domain for the science/health/medical blog/website already. I just need to start creating content, get two pages ‘rewritten’, and start posting.

Career move—ultimately, I want to do freelance work, but will also accept remote work. The reason(s)—I want location independence, time flexibility, and not having to answer (for the most part) for fluctuating productivity times.

Apply for jobs with confidence—I’m slowly getting there. I need to update my functional resume (mainly to reflect a shift to more science/health writing than medical writing), and continue working on optimizing my LinkedIn profile, in addition to getting a portfolio put together for the new website.

The science/health blog/website will be the current focus of the ‘new business’, but I will also be spending time with the creative blog, and doing crafts/photography (and figuring out the best ways of monetizing those areas).

So looking at these two lists, my goals for the Leo New Moon will include the following:

  1. Continue developing my self-care/self-love routine. This will include meditation, time outdoors (when the temperatures/humidity play nice), journaling, stretching, craft time, and getting back into lifting weights.
  2. Create an editorial calendar for the two different blogs, and possibly LinkedIn. While I created one for August, it was only really for this blog (and I have managed to stick with the schedule). Possibly create a calendar for other social sites as well…
  3. Create my September BINGO card for goals, and get my September calendar drawn up.

Only three goals…but one is open-ended (self-care/self-love routine), and the other two are tied together somewhat.

I will accomplish these goals, and at the same time remind myself: progress over perfection, and done is better than perfect.

Based on the house that Leo is passing through for you–what is one of your Leo goals??

PS…if you have kids returning to the classroom (K-12 or college)–good luck, remember to breath, and reach out if some science help is needed….

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Back to Goal Setting by the Moon: Goals for Aquarius Full Moon

02
Aug
2023

So, yesterday, the moon entered the first full moon cycle of August (August 1st)—and is moving through the Aquarius constellation…and I’m a day late in posting.

This marks the first time back at doing goals via the moon since the beginning of the year. I (unintentionally) took a six month break due to various family issues (possible additional post this weekend).

As the moon makes it’s first transition through Aquarius—there are twenty-nine days left in the month, and then four months afterwards left in 2023…and I’m so ready to be done with this year (and actually the decade).

The moon is going to be transitioning through Aquarius, and if one looks at the book “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland there are a series of questions that one reflect on during the next few days:

Have I been pragmatic to the point of losing the romance of life?

Have I been living too much in my head and not enough in my heart?

Have I been trying to do things my way, just for the sake of it?

Have I been trying to hard to befriend people, and for the wrong reasons?

Have I allowed myself to move forward this month?

So if I were to number the above questions 1-5, my answers would be as followed:

  1. According to vocabulary.com a pragmatic person is someone who is sensible, grounded, and practical. I could (and have) answered the question in terms of relationships…where I’ve stated that I’m not in the mood to try to mingle and date—I’m actually quite content being a single female. In terms of life in general—I have been striving to be more mindful in my days—looking for the various silver linings each day. 
  2. I ended up totally burnt out on life due to being overly analytical and trying to make a career for myself in research…I’m good at research—but learned that I do best when I can vary what I’m researching and able to constantly challenge myself.  Therefore I’m trying to listen to my inner voice/heart more often and focus on things that make me feel good, energized, and rejuvenated. It also means looking for things that I enjoy doing in terms of fitness, and foods that I actually enjoy eating in terms of nutrition. I’m also focusing on daily craft time as well. 
  3. No two paths are the same…even when borrowing ideas from someone—you usually inject a little bit of yourself into the project, making it your own. Last year I stated that I was starting to get serious about freelance/remote/contract work in science/health comms—and I am, now that the huge drawn-out family medical drama came to an end in May (still working on finding my new normal though)…so I will probably be implementing ideas from various sources, but putting my own spin on them. So—it will be a mix of ‘my way’ and ‘help from others’.
  4. I haven’t been very active in terms of networking the past seven or eight months—therefore I don’t think I’ve been trying to befriend people for the wrong reasons. Networking and connecting (or following) is about learning about others, finding common ground, and figuring out how I can be of service to others. Hopefully over the next few months, I start (again) at pushing myself out of my comfort zone and set up more virtual water/coffee chats.
  5. Well, since this particular full moon falls at the beginning of the month—I can safely say that so far, no I haven’t pushed myself forward during the month of August. In regards to last month—I’d pushed myself slightly…and I will be working at pushing myself a little more each month as I strive to make progress on numerous fronts. 

Aquarius is also moving through my 4th house or my home and family zone. This is the time when one should try to find a balance between one’s personal life and one’s career. 

The past year has been anything but smooth. Early August 2022 saw the start of a family medial issue that lasted until May of this year…an ending of which I’m still struggling through to find my new normal. The SARS-CoV2 virus is still running around, and it’s thought that this coming winter is going to be a bad one in terms of the flu, RSV, and SARS-CoV2—meaning I’ll probably be back to self-isolating and obsessively washing my hands.

I’m going to be focusing on self-compassion this month, as I realize that I’ll probably try to over-plan what I want to get accomplished during the two period between the full and new moons (or the four weeks between the two August full moon periods). I’m going to be striving for harmony more than balance…

My open-ended (in terms of time) goal for the Aquarius full moon is working on my time and project management skills. This will be done by finding time each day for crafts, intentional movement, and making progress on various projects—and knowing that I did my best each day.

While that is a totally ‘open-ended’ goal, some specific mini-goals are:

  1. Finish reading: It’s Okay that You’re Not Okay by Megan Devine & Oracle Cards 101 by Sunny Johnson
  2. Unplug for at least 90% of one (or more) weekends (knowing that I will possibly give in and check social media on the phone)..
  3. Start creating content for both blogs and various other social media sites as well.
  4. Continue working on my very large abstract needlepoint project

As I move forward with my career transition, I know that some (probably most) companies won’t like the idea of an employee building a freelance business on the side…though I’m sure that it is more common than I think…remote work starting out may be the way to go—though I’m not sure how I feel about someone dictating my daily schedule again…therefore I do need to put a lot of time and focus in to developing the two sites in regards to freelance work.

This blog/website is going to be dedicated to crafts, photography, travel, reading, and personal/professional growth. The second blog/website is going to be dedicated more to science/health communications (possibly adding in medical comms again within a year or two—need to move past the trauma of this year a little more).

Time and project management are always going to be works in progress (especially when one is tired, bored, or any other potentially ‘negative’ emotion)…but baby steps (even a shuffle back and forth) are still progress—as long as you’re moving forward.

So, I’ll leave you with the reminder that perfection is a myth, and inquire what are some of your favorite time and project management tools or tricks?

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Working on project & time management skills; goals for the Leo full Moon

07
Feb
2023

So Sunday night marked the second full moon of 2023. We’re a little over five weeks into the year—and I’m already over it. That is due to family issues going on—which are currently becoming extremely draining—all the way around. Also in a few months, I guess it’s going to be declared that we’re moving from an pandemic to an epidemic status…not too thrilled with that either…

I really do need to get back into a research/writing/editing/posting routine…I haven’t really been doing much of anything for the past five to eight weeks or so—again, due in part to being emotionally/mentally/physically drained due to the on-going family medical problem.

Well, I realized I basically updated the mini-rant that I did last year around this time, so I’ll weave the story back to the Leo full moon.

What are some questions to reflect on during the first few days of the full moon? According to “Moonology: working with the magic of the lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland:

Have I been too self-centered, egotistical, or proud?

Have I been treating the people around me like minions?

Have I been arrogant, vain, pushy, or pompous?

Have I been expressing myself creatively enough?

Have I shown myself enough self-love?

If I were to number the above questions one-to-five, my answers would be as followed:

  1. If I was being self-centered or egotistical—I would have my second blog/website up, running, and would have landed several freelance projects by now. I usually only make it through the day by literally ignoring everything that I know I should be doing and doing things that don’t ‘tax’ my reserves that much. I’m working on trying to get the mental/emotional/spiritual health back onto a somewhat even keel.
  2. Let’s see—the person I’m around the most is my father—so nope, currently no minions here. I’m pretty certain the pets think we’re their minions.
  3. I don’t think I’ve been arrogant, vain, pushy, or pompous lately—though I’m sure that my mother would currently argue with me on those points (logic versus illogical arguments). I really haven’t been out of the house all that often (at least during the week). 
  4. Basically early December saw me falling into a rut of not working on any craft projects at night and either reading or playing silly games (on either the kindle or phone). I had managed to complete a couple of cross-stitch projects last fall, but haven’t really done much since about early/mid-December. I want to actually sit down and trying to create some jewelry (bracelets and necklaces) this month—just need to finish straightening up the combo work space. 
  5. Have I been having a high regards for my own well-being and happiness? If I gave it a number—that number would be 55. To where I’m not totally disregarding my own well-being and happiness, but at the same time not advocating for my own well-being and happiness. While people would say that your self-love shouldn’t be tied in with others—currently a decent percentage of mine is tied with my immediate family—hence it sitting roughly around not totally full, but not totally empty. One thing that will help—is getting my mother from the current hospital to another (or possibly a nursing home)…we’ll have to see how things play out. So, yes—I still need to work on improving my health: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and social (all of which have been up and down over the past five years or so).

With focusing on self-care/love, this will include doing intentional movements (anything from lifting weights, to walking, to cardio and yoga), meditating at night, doing a oracle/tarot card reading, starting to listening to podcasts again, reading, and just trying to figure out what works for me.

Looking at my chart—the Leo full moon is going through my 10th house, which is also my career zone. So, with it going through my career zone—two years ago, I stated I was still technically on a reboot break, last year I stated I was going to start moving forward with the second half of my life. 

While I had decided 2021/2022 that I was going to go in the remote writing/data analysis direction, while trying to build a freelance writing business—this year I need to focus probably a little more on freelance aspect of things (essential, especially since I’m not sure what my schedule is going to be like once we hopefully get my mother home from the hospital). Now I just need to determine the types of content I want to spend my time researching & creating—hopefully allowing me to combine my core values (learning/knowledge, spirituality/inner harmony/peace, creativity/curiosity, and evolution/growth/transformation) with my strengths (learner, intellection, input, achiever, deliberative/ideation/arranger, creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking), while also improving some of my ‘weaknesses’ (such as communications, significance, and bravery).

So what are my goals for the Leo Full Moon? Since I’m two late in posting, the goal list is going to be somewhat ‘short’ but at the same time be on-going goals. Those goals will include:

  1. Develop an flexible intentional movement calendar–focusing on things that I enjoy to do or are wanting to try.
  2. Develop a flexible daily/weekly schedule
  3. Spend time working on crafts (start a new cross-stitch project, doodle, color, make jewelry, and when the weather warms up—photography time up at Boomer Lake)
  4. Evening oracle card reading, straighten up my meditation altar, and designing a new meditation ‘area’ (one that can be easily setup and dismantled each evening). 

Goals are similar to last year’s goals–but that’s how goals become habits–repeat, repeat, and repeat again.

So—basically everything is going to be around the goals of getting organized and planning out things for the rest of the first quarter and looking towards the second quarter of the year as well. Progress over perfection, done over continuous revisions, and getting some writing/research done daily. 

Plus reminding myself of the following quote:“Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.

What are some of your Leo goals?

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Acknowledging where growth is need: Review of Cancer Goals

04
Feb
2023

So the moon is transitioning into its second full moon phase of 2023 tomorrow—moving into Leo, and that means before looking ahead to the Leo full moon and hopefully setting a set of reasonable goals—it’s time to look back at the goals I set for the Cancer full moon and see how I did with them.

What were the goals that I set for the Leo full moon? They included:

  1. Continuing with my nightly meditations and oracle card drawings, and trying to work in at least one morning meditation sesssion
  2. Draft a three-to-five year plan (with breakdowns-yearly/quarterly/monthly/biweekly/daily)
  3. Finish at least one more non-fiction book
  4. Start working through (or watch) at least part of another personal/professional development e-course

So how did I do with each of them?

In terms of meditation:

I’ve been fairly consistent with meditating at least a few minutes every night—and usually would finish listening to the meditation while doing an oracle card drawing. 

I haven’t been that good at trying to do morning meditation sessions—something to work on this year—cause I need all the little moments of zen I can grab.

In terms of non-fiction reading this year:

I’ve finished ‘Creativity: A Short & Cheerful Guide’ by John Cleese, and am probably about halfway through ‘Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman’ by Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson.

It’s been one of those years so far (and we’re only on February 3rd) where I’m falling back on favorite series to read or playing mindless games on the kindle (somewhat bad habits for avoiding various tasks that I need to be doing).

In terms of personal/professional e-courses:

I did watch a couple of short courses on skillshare during the full moon period and they were:

The Art of Planning, Master Time Management, and Increase Productivity

Planning a life you love: Creating, organizing, and utilizing a agenda

I just need to actually start utilizing information from both short courses—and that ties in with the next goal:

Drafting a three-to-five year plan:

Well—right now my main goal is to get through each day without having a breakdown. I haven’t been nearly as productive as I need to be…I avoid being on the computer most of the day for the past week or so—enjoying the digital detox—but at the same time feeling a little ‘guilty’ that I wasn’t doing any work.

So—this goal wasn’t accomplished, and will be worked into future new/full moon goals. In addition—I really need to try to figure out where I would like to settle within a few years (I’m willing to do possibly one more big move)—cause, I’m getting tired of being in this particular state.

So there it is: sixty percent of the Leo full moon goals accomplished: nightly meditation & oracle card drawings; working through an e-course, and continuing to read a non-fiction book. 

Fleshing out long-term goals has always fallen slightly short of being completed—mainly because I either throw everything down on to paper for every category of life—or I’m not realistic in the time frame for accomplishing said goal. Something to work on this year.

But progress is being made–especially when I can acknowledge where some of my time ‘wasters’ are….

Therefore I know that I need to remove the games from the phone and kindle..find a good time management app to download onto the computer (to help keep me off social media)–and also to be totally realistic in the timeframes that I initially come up with for the three-to-five year plan. Some goals may be accomplished quicker than others…and there may be some major setbacks as well…just have to remember to breath in and breath out.

How did the Leo full moon treat you?

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Aquarius Goals: Organization & Planning for the year(s) ahead

24
Jan
2023

So the moon has entered the Aquarius constellation over the weekend (Saturday night for those within the Central time zone in the US), and I’m several days late with the post. This is the first new moon of the year, and I can hope that things will start to mellow over the next few months…I’m not going to hold my breath though (I gave that up as a child—it never got me what I wanted)…

Is 2023 going to be better than the past few years? One can hope, there are so many problems going on in the world—that the only thing we can control is our responses…and I am working on better control of my emotions (especially when in stressful situations).

Looking at “Moonology: Working with the Magic of Lunar Cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are again several things that one can do during this period:

  1. Detach ourselves from things that are no longer serving us
  2. Be true to ourselves
  3. Be inventive
  4. Be charitable
  5. Be social

So, I’m still somewhat semi self-isolating. I leave the house only a few times a week—and that is to go visit my mother (who is still in a hospital). I do try to meet up with a friend once a month for lunch (but haven’t gotten around to that so far in January). Other than those few times—I’ll walk at Boomer Lake (but I try to avoid sharing the sidewalks if possible).

I’m still working on trying to detach myself from negative self-talk and stories, diet culture and mentality, and various other aspects of society that just really do a number on my mental health.

Being true to myself, also requires quite a bit of work—mainly on figuring out who I am…I’ve realized that I spent a large number of years, burying parts of myself to blend into the surroundings/background and not call attention to myself…so at times it is hard to be true to myself, when I’m not sure who I am.

Aspects I’m working at being ‘true’ to—my spiritual health (I’m more Wicca/pagan than following a monotheistic religion), my career direction (freelance writing), mental health (dealing daily with burnout, anxiety, depression, stress, and a dollop of PTSD), and personal/professional development path(s).

I’m trying to be ‘inventive’ in those areas—foraging my own paths (while asking for advice when needed from people I trust and respect).

How do you go about trying not detach yourself from things that no longer serve you? How do you ensure that you’re being true to yourself?

Then I turn to see what zone (or house) the moon is moving into in regards to everything. Remember there are basically three ways to determine which house/zone the moon is in for any new/full moon: your star sign, your rising sign, and your moon sign. I usually go with my rising sign, which is Scorpio; while my star sign is Virgo, and my moon sign is Pieces. 

So this means that the moon is entering into my fourth house, or the home and family zone. So this can also be a time when one can spend cleaning (getting rid of things), possibly moving, and spending more time with family. So there are several suggestions from “Moonology” on what one can do during this time:

  1. Have a garage sale
  2. Hug your parents
  3. Sort out your photo albums/digital photo files
  4. Invite friends over
  5. Renovate or redecorate so you’re more comfortable at home
  6. Sell your home and/or change locations, or even countries
  7. Ask your grandparents about your family’s history

So, there are several things from the above list for my fourth house that I probably won’t be doing this year:

Well, if I feel like hugging my parents—it is fairly easy to hug my father, but hugging my mom is another issue (she’s in the hospital in an ICU unit).

Inviting friends over—hello, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, and if I’m going to be meeting up with friends, I’d prefer a ‘neutral’ location that neither of us has to clean.

Both sets of grandparents are deceased, but we do have some family history from my father’s side (my grandfather started putting together a family tree), and I have a letter he wrote me back in the late 1990s that talked about life during the Depression, ‘Dirty Thirties’, and fighting in World War II.

I don’t think we’re going to be selling the house, and I currently don’t have plans for relocating anywhere (yet).

Things that might happen this year (not necessarily during the new moon):

Garage sale—there is a talk of doing a garage sale at some point this spring, to hopefully earn a little money back in terms of what we’re going to be having to put into the house to semi-remodel a bathroom (or two).

I’m in the process of rearranging my bedroom, and semi redecorating it—just need to finish organizing the desk area and closet.

I do need to sort through my digital pictures. I have way too many Gbs of pictures on my one external hard drive (and I haven’t downloaded the handful of pictures I’ve taken up at Boomer Lake this month).

I noticed that sorting digital pictures has been mentioned for a couple of years in a row—and I do sort through some and slowly get rid of them. My problem is that I take so many walks at Boomer Lake, I literally have probably four or five dozen folder of pictures from my walks up there and I have trouble deciding which pictures to keep and which ones to delete.

Since I’m a few days late in posting my goals for the Aquarius new moon, I’m going to keep the goal list fairly short:

  1. Continue working on my three-to-five/ten year vision/plan
  2. Continue going through my clothes and decide what I’m keeping and what can be either sold in a farage sale or donated
  3. Finish organizing the desk area of my room so that I can hopefully start working from said desk (at least two or three days a week).

Finding a new normal is one of the big goals for this year…but also remembering that it may be slow, winding, and at times possibly even backtracking slightly—but if I keep striving to making forward progress and focus on my strengths it will lead to this being a year of happiness and prosperity.

When doing long term planning–vision board, goal lists/to-do lists, or something else?

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