it’s wednesday, december 31, & moon is in taurus, in the starspace called kṛttikā until midday, then rohiṇī. after getting up & going in aries, taurus invites us to sit with what we’ve got, be content, IN-joy our material existence, be grateful for what we have, including, especially, the people in our lives. which is a good note on which to end one year & start another, isn’t it?
i seriously can’t think of anyone who embodies the spirit of joy & gratitude more than jon batiste, who claims, unnecessarily imo, b/c it’s sooooo obvious, to be a joy warrior. he personifies hope, resilience & communal celebration—in his music as in his life. joy is the means, the cure, the goal.
“you can’t hate the person next to you when you’re laughing & dancing together,” jon has said. or, as osho said: “life should be a continual celebration, a festival of lights the whole year round. only then can you grow up, can you blossom.”
kṛttikā is ruled by agni, the spirit of fire personified, & has the power, not surprisingly, to burn, to purify. rohiṇī is ruled by brahma, who in the trinity of the gods—brahma, vishnu, shiva—is the essence of creation/creativity. thus, rohiṇī has the power of growth, including the growth of desire, so we get to be careful about what we desire & how we use our power to create. what gets to get tossed into the sacrificial fire? how might you use your creativity to, say, bring friends & loved ones together to celebrate communally?
it’s the twelfth lunar day (tithi), the twelfth phase of the waxing moon, until midday, then the thirteenth, & i’m just gonna say, b/c this post is already way long (i don’t write linearly), that the trinity of rohiṇī + the thirteenth tithi + mercury produces amrita yoga, a nectarful combo, that nectar being the fave bev of the gods, the juicy juice that made them immortal, brought them eternal bliss. may you get a taste of your immortal nature today! may you be infused with bliss!
wednesday is ruled by mercury, the fun guy in the planetary pantheon. he likes to laugh & dance with others, socialize, keep things light, not be divisive, which is a great, good way to roll if you are celebrating communally.
bonus track, b/c it’s new year’s eve: on the hot topic of resolutions, jon’s wife, suleika jouad, fittingly another joy warrior (they are two peas in a joy pod), despite harrowing health challenges, suggested this week (i highly recommend subscribing to her substack, the isolation journals) that ritual trumps resolutions, b/c who keeps them, right? they just stress us out, make us feel less than when they fall by the wayside, which is pretty lickety-split.
what is your relationship to ritual? i’m a kind of creature of ritual, of daily rituals, including writing these posts. but/& one yearly ritual i engage in is reading tarot cards with friends (i don’t read; one of my friends does). what about you?
still, there is always room for more ritual! so my invitation to you is to reflect on what ritual might be useful for kick-starting your year (i’ve already reflected on one for me), might bring you joy. set a timer (for 30 days? 100 days?) & feel into the joy of it, let the joy of it be your inspiration, your only motivating force, your north star. if it doesn’t feel joyful, toss it. if it does, IN-joy.
“this & only this can be the new year’s resolution: i resolve never to make any resolutions because all resolutions are restrictions for the future. all resolutions are imprisonments. you decide today for tomorrow & you have destroyed tomorrow.
“allow tomorrow to have its own being. let it come in its own way! let it bring its own gifts.
“resolution means you will allow only this & you will not allow that. resolution means you would like the sun to rise in the west & not in the east. if it rises in the east, you will not open your windows; you will keep your windows open to the west.
“what is a resolution? resolution is a struggle. resolution is ego. resolution is saying, ‘i cannot live spontaneously.’ & if you cannot live spontaneously, you don’t live at all—you only pretend.
“so let only one resolution be there: i will never make any resolutions. drop all resolutions!
“let life be a natural spontaneity. the only golden rule is that there are no golden rules.”—osho
wishing everyone a safe, joyful, spontaneous & blissful new year’s eve! 🥳
& that’s your daily bliss! which is a sort of lunar weather report. may it allow you to align with the day’s cosmic energy so you can find & create a little more bliss.
p.s. jyotish is the science of light—if you want to shine more light on your life, click here to book a session with me.
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