Healing

HOLY F*CK: HOW TO CREATE HEALING AS ART

Posted on by Alexandra Roxo

Forget plasticky mats and badly lit yoga studios. Writer, director, artist, and transformational coach, Alexandra Roxo, tells you how to make sacred sexy, and create healing as art …

alexandra roxo ruby warrington healing journey as art the numinous material girl mystical world holy fuck holy f*ck moon club
Photo: Keith Carlsen

>>>

Magic feasts & dark chocolate canoodles …
I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life working as a writer, director, and artist. At age 21, I created an immersive theatre experience, where the music, the aromas, and colors allowed people to be completely lost in the moment, forgetting who they were. 

For a New Year’s Soiree in Portland, OR, in 2007, I hand dyed invites with beet juice. I instructed everyone to arrive in white. I decorated the house with vintage candlesticks. Made little tents out of sheets for couples to canoodle in, with books of erotica and dark chocolate. Throughout the night there were surprise musical acts. Everyone dancing! And in the morning there was a feast around a long table, where declarations were spoken. It was 48 hours of Magic. A retreat into Love. And this way of crafting experiences has continued with me.

Birthday parties, events, rituals. I can “direct” and make art out of any part of my life. And my healing work is no different. I see healing as art.

alexandra roxo ruby warrington healing journey as art the numinous material girl mystical world holy fuck holy f*ck moon club
Photo: Alexandra Herstik

>>>

Full body healing & healing as art …
When I think of healing spaces and rooms, I often think of bad lighting. Sagging couches. Yoga studios with plastic mats and water bottles and the same Kunda tunes on repeat. And as a healer and a director, I want nothing more than to make the healing experience a full body, full sensory experience of art, delight and great pleasure!  

I’ve had practice crafting this in our Moon Club meetups. Just last month, myself, Gaby Herstik and Kaitlyn Kaerheart— the LA pillars of Moon Club— crafted an evening of healing as living art, the whole night directed by me, like a Mistress of Ceremonies and a High Priestess extraordinaire!

We titled the event “There is a Light that Never Goes Out,” after The Smiths song. People arrived to candlelight. Wearing black. I opened with a monologue and setting of the space, an incantation, a dropping in. We were serenaded by Kaitlyn’s sweet voice. Like an angel! Then we shared stories in the dark. We received a magical Gong Bath from North and Nomad, and hands-on healings and oils from Kaitlyn, Gaby and I. The night was a piece of theatre. A true ritual, with every detail intact. No small talk. No chatter. No same-old Trader Joe’s snacks!

>>>

Mix your sacred with your gorgeous …
This is how I will be crafting ALL my healing experiences from now on. Healing is getting a new look. Sex. Art. Fashion. Theatre. No more yoga studios and therapy rooms. I’ll be leading healing work on beaches. In gorgeous living rooms. In the forest. Sacred acts, dedicated to the Divine! A celebration of human existence. A return to the way we once healed and worshipped. Before the puritans took the fun out of it!

And you can DIY mini experiences for yourself and your friends anytime! No more pot luck dinner dates. How about hosting something fabulous and fun and experimental? It takes less efforts than you’d think to turn a night with friends into something magical and memorable.

>>>

Here’s how to create your own artistic healing soirée … 
1// Create your event around a theme. This could be in line with the Moon. An Equinox. A certain ritual you’ve read about and feel inspired to lead. Or your own Solar Return!

2// Art direct the shit out of it! Make Pinterest boards. Choose colors. Start to envision and most importantly to feel the world you want to create.

3// Create a run-of-play. Do you want to put love notes in secret spots for people? Create a hot seat for Compliment Showers? Put sexy questions into a hat for people to answer? Invite a musician to stop by? Have someone lay down and get an 8-hand massage? Get creative and map out a time-line. Imagine the colors. The smells. No hummus and chips and no Pandora on shuffle! Get specific.

4// Ask for help. Get a friend on board to help you execute. This is your Assistant Director. Love them and have fun together. Send them a gift after!

5// Send those invites and test it out. The first one may be clunky. Maybe the music didn’t come on at the right moment. Someone got the dress code wrong. But have faith! Things will get more clean and clear as your faith in your ability to direct gets stronger. When you commit to bringing YOUR presence is when you’ll inspire others to elevate into their own greatness, too. I promise!

alexandra roxo ruby warrington healing journey as art the numinous material girl mystical world holy fuck holy f*ck moon club
Photo: Alexandra Herstik

>>>

In 2018, I’ll be creating my most ambitious healing as art experience to date—leading a Transformational Healing Journey for six women. And I have two spots left! It begins February 1 and will entail a RADICAL six-month healing journey of magic and art and sexiness. A true return to healing and transformation as your own greatest art form!

Our journey will include SIX fully art-directed, 2-day retreats, which I’ll be co-leading with some of the most incredible practitioners from my own healing journey—many of whom I’ve written about for this column. We’ll be dancing with serpents. Suspended by ropes. Sitting in sacred tea ceremony. Diving into the wisdom of plant medicine. Taking cedar baths in the desert. Doing heart-opening work with the Divine Masculine (in divine man form!) And so much more.

Email Alexandra at [email protected] to receive all info and an application! Program begins 2/1.  First retreat is 2/10-2/11.

CAPRICORN SEASON 2017: INDULGE YOUR SATURN SIGN

Posted on by Bess Matassa

Capricorn Season 2017 is an invitation to hike to your highest peaks, says Bess Matassa. PLUS how to treat your Saturn sign right … Homepage image: Coach Fall ’17

Capricorn Season 2017 Bess Matassa The Numinous
Image: Marie Claire August 2012

 

Dip your alpine booties in liquid diamonds and prepare for the uphill climb, stellar survivalists. Capricorn Season 2017 dawns icy delicious, and the zodiac’s crystalline Queen reminds us that the things worth wanting are also worth waiting and working for.

‘Tis the season for sumptuously slow unfolding and activating your majestic muscularature. So brave your body against the bedrock, and know that you’ve got exactly what it takes to make it to the ski lodge, clad in faux fur-trimmed dressing gowns and dripping solid gold.

In Capricorn season 2017, with a pack of planets now direct and Saturn entering her native sign, this year the cosmos has truly saved the best for last …

>>>

The keyword: Decadence (check out a luxury treat for your Saturn sign at the end of this post!)

The song lyrics: “If you’re lost you can look and you will find me/Time after time/If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting/Time after time”—Cyndi Lauper, Time After Time.

Check out Bess’ Capricorn Season playlist, complete with self-sufficient songstresses, calls to action, and slow simmering sounds.

 

The color palette: wintry classic and shimmery steel. Champagne, black velvet, deep chocolate, carmine, jade, and sparkling white.

The style: Basic Instinct’s Sharon Stone meets Marlene Dietrich on the Orient Express. Corporate chic, perfectly coiffed locks, statement jewelry, silk scarves, men’s suit jackets, sleek minis, designer handbags, and your sharpest stilettos.

Capricorn Season 2017 Bess Matassa The Numinous
Fall ’17 looks from (l-r): Alexander McQueen, Max Mara, Loewe.

The scents and flavors: hard-earned, haute, and hedonistic. Think truffle butter, Chanel No. 5, caviar, cigars, pine, butterscotch, and osso bucco.

The healing: sumptuous yet structured. Body-rocking boot camps, spa weekends, ski lodge getaways, and creating your own capsule collection.

Capricorn Season 2017 Bess Matassa The Numinous

>>>

Sensuous Invitation of the Month: Luxury for your Saturn Sign

While Capricorn’s austere planetary ruler, Saturn, often conjures images of lack and labor, our Saturn sign reveals where we perceive we won’t get what we really really, rather than an endless emptiness that’s unsolvable.

So this season, give yourself exactly what you deserve, and know that the life you’ve built with your own two hands is worth venerating and celebrating.

New to astrology? Discover your Saturn sign HERE.

Saturn in Aries
Capricorn Season invites you to celebrate your singular identity and fight for your right to a healthy ego. // Your Luxury: Gambling. Throw caution to the wind and your cards on the table.

Saturn in Taurus
Capricorn Season invites you to open the doors wide to sensuous pleasure and trust in your irrefutable worth. // Your Luxury: Jewels. Let yourself drip with gemstones mined from deep in the earth.

Saturn in Gemini
Capricorn season invites you to treasure your voice and contribute your distinctive perspective without trepidation. // Your Luxury: Night at the Opera. Sing it loud and proud with decadent dramatics.

Saturn in Cancer
Capricorn season invites you to come home to a deep sense of emotional security and give yourself all the tenderness you deserve. // Your Luxury: 5-star Hotel Room. Release into silk sheets, room service, and having it all handled for you.

Saturn in Leo
Capricorn season invites you to fully fête your creative contribution and release into the sweet sensation of pure play. // Your Luxury: A Gala. Break out your most glorious threads for a see-and-be-seen night on the town.

Saturn in Virgo
Capricorn season invites you to soothe your sense of endless refinement and give yourself credit for your contribution. // Your Luxury: Tasting Menu. Let yourself be truly served as you savor perfect pairings and the full-range of flavors.

Saturn in Libra
Capricorn season invites you to believe in the power of partnership, and your ability to garner true romance. // Your Luxury: A Dozen Roses. Gift yourself an ultra lovable bouquet of pink and red blooms.

Saturn in Scorpio
Capricorn season invites you to tap into your personal underground and stop apologizing for your deepest desires. // Your Luxury: Lingerie. Strip it down and dress it up with unabashed garments that harness your carnal urges.

Saturn in Sagittarius
Capricorn season invites you to celebrate your sense of adventurous faith in the good life and to inspire others to embrace their wildness. // Your Luxury: First Class travel. Give yourself over to the open skies with style and grace.

Saturn in Capricorn
Capricorn season invites you to honor your commitment to the “hard” work while knowing when to relax in the palace you’ve created. // Your Luxury: Mani-pedi and massage. Treat your pavement pounders and endless laborers to a little R&R.

Saturn in Aquarius
Capricorn season invites you to slough off the status quo, embrace your eccentricity, and trust that you’ll find your tribe. // Your Luxury: Island hopping. Sail towards the sun-baked sensation of glorious exile, and party with like-minded expats.

Saturn in Pisces
Capricorn season invites you to surrender to your full range of feelings without judgment or analysis. // Your Luxury: High-end healing. Book a special spiritual session with a majestic mystic of your choice.

Bess is available for private readings and astro-themed events. Connect with her at bessmatassa.com

9 TIPS FOR RUNNING YOUR SPIRITUAL BUSINESS

Posted on by Lisa Levine

Want to mix your magic with your mojo? Lisa Levine, founder of renowned Brooklyn healing mecca Maha Rose, shares her top 9 tips for running your spiritual business …

I’m an artist and a healer who fell deep into the magic, challenges, and medicine of running a spiritual business. My path was anything but straightforward. After graduating from art school in 2002, and setting myself up as a massage therapist in my hometown of Pittsburgh, I decided to dive headfirst into the fashion world making jewelry.

This dive brought me to my knees and I searched for tools to maintain my sanity- yoga, then meditation, then Amma. My path with her and the practice of devotion brought clarity and a different sense of purpose. I closed my jewelry store in Williamsburg, completed acupuncture school, and officially opened Maha Rose in 2013 (though the roots date back to 2007). It’s been a wild ride and a beautiful one, ever shifting, quickly evolving.

I’m always learning and seeking to be of service to others in finding their path and purpose in this life. Read on for my top tips to keep your spiritual biz magically real …

>>>

1// Cultivate a Beginner’s Mind. When we sign up to serve the divine, we are signing up for a lifetime of school. The Universe is always asking us to evolve, and the uncomfortable places are the places of learning and growth.

2// Commit to the Dirty Work. As a healer, the most important healing work we do is our own personal work. Do your spiritual and healing work, and everything else will radiate out from your own heart and fall into place.

3// Lean Into the Fear. Running a spiritual business is a calling- an agreement between you and the Universe. When you offer your life in service to the divine, opportunities will present themselves. If they make you feel excited and a little nervous, you are probably on the right track.

4// Find the Thing That Gets You Hot. My teacher David Elliott says, “The holy spirit is hot.” You can tell when you are in alignment with your path when your temperature rises, the hair on your arms and legs stands up, your senses sharpen, and your heart flutters: you’re on your path.

5// Head In the Stars, Feet On the Ground. Many of us healer/artists have resistance around legal, governmental, and financial structures. But if we signed up to make magic in the earth realm, we have to play by the rules of that realm. Free up the rest of your energy to make more magic by doing the work, calling the lawyer, buying the insurance. When the foundation is solid, then you can play and dance and heal for the rest of the day and night.

6// Trust Your Social Media Intuition. When you’re overwhelmed with how and what others are doing on social media, go inside and listen to find your unique expression. Play with social media and interact with it if it is uplifting and inspiring, but walk away if it is making you feel down or depressed.

7// Receive. Receive. Receive. Many healers are very comfortable in the role of giving but less comfortable in the role of receiving. When we are giving we are in the position of power. To receive we need to be open and vulnerable. This is challenging. But we must have this sacred exchange so we don’t get burnt out. Know that you don’t have to do this work alone. Who are your advisers? Who are your mentors? Who’s done this before you who can help you on the path? Let people support you.

8// Treat Money as Energy.  My first massage teacher said to us, “You’re all going to have to get used to exchanging love for money.” It may feel weird at first, but we must charge for our time and because this is our life’s work. Figure out what works for you- this could be keeping your day job and doing work on the side, or bartering. But know that there must be an exchange. Otherwise, there is an imbalance in the Universe that leaves people owing you. And then things get super funky and weird in the energetic realms …

9// Don’t Push the River. When I first starting giving Reiki treatments, I still had my jewelry company and if I had immediately started pressuring myself to make rent and pay all my life expenses, it would have taken a lot of magic away from my sessions. You can’t push spirit. Let is grow organically and keep the magic as things evolve.

>>>

And remember, we are channels. Just like healing energy comes through you, let your business do the same. Rather than thinking “I have to [fill in the blank],” think “We (the Universe and I) are [fill in the blank] together!” Just show up, and be available for the magic, healing, light, and love to move through you …

From January 2018, Lisa Levine will be writing a monthly “Ask a Spiritual CEO” column for The Numinous, in which she will respond to readers’ spiritual business Qs. Got a question for Lisa? Email [email protected] with the subject line: “Spiritpreneur Questions”

HOLY F*CK: HOW TO REALIGN SEXUALITY AND SPIRITUALITY

Posted on by Alexandra Roxo

Tired of disembodied meditation and higher chakra holiness? Alexandra Roxo tells us it’s time to get down and dirty with our healing, and realign sexuality and spirituality …

sexuality back in spirituality holy fuck holy f*ck alexandra roxo ruby warrington caitlin mitchell the numinous moon club material girl mystical world
Photo by Caitlin Mitchell

How many times have you walked into a yoga class and had the teacher speak to your womb or your balls or your anus?

While you can find cute articles about sacred sexuality, breathing with your partner, and yoni eggs, the nitty gritty WHOLE body is largely left out of the modern spirituality and wellness conversation. And of our healing journeys as a result …

>>>

:: Sacral Shutdown ::
Right now, many of us are caught in a cycle of closing our “lower” chakras (a.k.a. our connection to Mama Earth and the body), as we focus on higher ones. This cycle often looks like:

PHASE 1: Make unconscious choices around sex, the body, and pleasure for a certain period of our lives (i.e. eating unconsciously, using sex for self worth). This phase is often impacted by everything from sexual trauma to eating disorders, which affect our ability to receive joy and pleasure.

PHASE 2: We find comfort as we begin our spiritual paths, manifesting in attempts to “transcend” the body with meditation, mantras, and other external spiritual tools (astrology, tarot etc.)

PHASE 3: Once “woke,” we wonder, why do I still not feel whole? Why am still not able to experience pleasure, and feel JOY on a regular basis?

>>>

:: Returning to the Raw ::
With millions of women coming forward as sexual abuse survivors through #metoo, many of us are more painfully aware than ever that trauma and shame live in the BODY, not just the mind. This means that more than ever, we have to figure out how to include sexual healing and a return to bodily pleasure in our modern spiritual journeys.

But this integration can’t come in a neat and fragrant package; we need to welcome the body and sexuality to the door in all its messiness—raw and bloodied, awkward, weird, and slightly unsettling. Because the conversation around sexual healing IS unsettling. IS raw. IS painful.  

How do we start bridging this gap? I’m not suggesting you start masturbating on the meditation cushion (through you can if you want … I have!) But we do need to get more fearless and more courageous in our conversations about the body, sex, pleasure, and pain, and in the way we heal.

Here are 4 ways to start integrating your sexual story with your spiritual one, right now …

sexuality back in spirituality holy fuck holy f*ck alexandra roxo ruby warrington caitlin mitchell the numinous moon club material girl mystical world
Photo by Caitlin Mitchell

>>>

1// Woo your body back from numbness. If you spend 90% of your time on the computer and the rest in a seated meditation practice, most of your life is disembodied. I prescribe the Sofia Loren/ Italian housewife style of medicine, where you eat and dance and dress and fuck with such joy, that your pleasure begins to heal the Earth—because she’s so happy you’re enjoying her gifts!!  

Practice: Make a Pinterest Board with your fave women who embody RAW pleasure. I love Penelope Cruz in Almodovar’s films, Brigitte Bardot, and Sofia Loren. Eat food as if it’s your LAST meal! Feel how amazing it can taste when you slow down and savor every bite.

>>>

2// Explore. Last month I lead a retreat in Los Angeles that combined Japanese rope bondage and sexual healing (more on that here). And if you follow my work you know I dance with snakes too which awakened my sexy like WHOA.

While ropes and snakes may not be your thing (my Mars is in Scorpio, what can I say), find ways ways that feel safe and good for YOU to reclaim and LOVE your sexy side. Does taking a floor dance class sound fun and healing? Or learning how to make your body an offering to a lover with a sexy lap dance? Get curious! 

Practice: There are conscious kink classes in major cities (Babeland in NYC has rad classes!) I also highly rec reading erotic books, and exploring practices and women integral to this movement like Vanessa Cuccia of Chakrubs, Cycles and Sex, and Kimberly Johnson, aka The Vaginapratcor. 

>>>

3// Talk. Hold an intentional sharing circle for sexual stories, embarrassing stories, and erotic tales. Implement a timed sharing policy with no cross talking so people can share their stories without needing validation, approval, or advice. Or hold a dinner party themed around fun and sexy talk, and draw anonymous questions from a hat.

Practice: Here’s a sexy Moon ritual and an erotic recharge activation that can be used anytime AND done in a group!

>>>

4// Bring your shame and pain to the table. One barrier to embodied healing is compartmentalization. Often, we don’t think it’s possible to feel JOY while also experiencing PAIN. Or you may start an excited conversation about your new crystal dildo but also feel ashamed. Remember, your body knows that it’s possible for multiple feelings to exist at the same time—hold space for all of them, express them, and don’t shoo them away. 

Practice: When navigating shame, I choose my 3 go-to shamanic tools—BREATHE, SOUND, MOVEMENT. Lay on the floor, breathe into your belly like you’re pregnant with air, and make sounds while moving your spine. Breathe the shame, sound it out with a HA, a growl, a moan. Cry in your car. In the tub. And then put on a song and dance!

>>>

Bottom line is, the sexual and body healing that is necessary on this planet in our times is not going to happen from the MIND. 

It will only happen when we begin to integrate and come home to the body. Seek pleasure. Make space for joy. Sensation. Rage. Crying. Screaming. Cumming. As we come back to the body, and release old programming about it being shameful and dirty, we will come home to Mama Earth and her environment, which has been abused for far too long.  

*I am taking on 5 clients from February 2018 to July 2018 for a 6 Month Transformational Healing Experience around sexual healing, expression, and embodiment. It’s going to be a radical return to the body, pleasure, love, sexuality, and healing. For more info, please email [email protected]

ALTERNATIVE HEALING AS “CURA” FOR ADDICTION & TRAUMA

Posted on by Elyssa Jakim

Can meditation and visionary medicine break cycles of addiction, trauma, and poverty? Elyssa Jakim sits down with the makers of new documentary Cura to talk alternative healing as a tool for empowerment …

Yolanda commemorating her son’s death at a ceremony led by Ananda Ray

“When you find this disciplined practice, you discover that you can support yourself—you can be a sovereign being. That’s the big takeaway from medicine work or any of these other modalities: they help you find a way to stand up for yourself and to know when to ask for help”—Yolanda Frausto 

Cura is a feature length documentary in progress that tells the story of Yolanda and Donny, a Mexican-American mother and son breaking cycles of addiction, trauma, and poverty using community, meditation, and visionary and alternative medicine. When Yolanda loses her younger son while in police custody, she strives to save her other son, Donny, from addiction and the possibility of suicide.

As the film preps for debut (the Kickstarter is live through December 17th), Elyssa Jakim sat down with producer Ismail Ali, who’s also the Policy and Advocacy Counsel at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and Yolanda Frausto, the film’s subject, to talk film as medicine, the war on drugs and, ultimately, the healing power of community.

**Watch the trailer HERE. 

>>>

ELYSSA JAKIM: You call Cura an “An evocative soul portrait of a mother and her son healing generations of family trauma with natural and alternative medicine.” What is a soul portrait?

ISMAIL ALI: With this film, we want to show people that there are methods to healing that are beyond the body; that require a relationship between the body and the mind, and even the spirit. As a form of soul portraiture, the film is a snapshot of the lives of Yolanda and Donny. So, it’s about their lives in a mundane way, but it is also about them as spiritual beings—a portrait of their spirits. We’re saying this is a look at who they are at their core, framed by them living in Oakland and coming from poverty.

>>>

EJ: How did the title “Cura” come about? It seems like a word with multiple meanings. What does it mean to you?

YOLANDA FRAUSTO: To me “cura” means “here’s how we heal together. Here’s how you can find healing in yourself through my story.” There’s no one cure. It’s like the grief process—it’s a fact of life that we all go through it, but nobody can tell you exactly how it’s going to happen, you have to figure it out. I come from a background where it’s common for somebody to get stabbed or shot, overdose, or commit suicide and we don’t talk about it. So to be able to talk about grief is where the name “cura” helps. It means “let’s heal from what’s too hard to deal with and let’s do it together.” It plants the seed for healing.

elyssa jakim ruby warrington the numinous cura material girl mystical world yolanda frausto donny frausto ismail ali ethan goldwater hover pictures
Yolanda and her son Donny

>>>

EJ: How did you discover natural medicine, Yolanda?

YF: I got sober from drugs in 2005. I needed to change my life because I was headed in a really bad direction and I just stopped using. Three years later, I was working in a hotel in San Francisco and I learned about yoga from a woman doing a teacher training there. I started practicing, eventually up to six days a week. Then I got really serious about meditation. About a year later, I found plant medicine and I was like “Oh, this is my jam!” I felt that my whole life happened the way that it did so that I could find this as a spiritual practice. All of these things fell into my path, I didn’t seek any of it out, but inside of me I knew I was ready. 

>>>

EJ: How has plant medicine helped you work through a trauma?

YF: It allowed me to have that one-on-one communing time with spirit that people can also find in prayer or in a deep meditation practice. I found the medicine around the time my mom became sick with ALS, and when I lost my son, I was already in the medicine community. Both times that I lost family members, I found that I had this community of people praying for me, showing up for me, bringing me food. I’d never had that kind of support before and they really taught me what it is to be supported. Also when you find this disciplined practice, you discover that you can support yourself—you can be a sovereign being. That’s the big takeaway from medicine work or any of these other modalities: they help you find a way to stand up for yourself and to know when to ask for help.

>>>

EJ: Do you believe that you have this kind of medicine work or curandera work in your ancestry?

YF: I hear the land where my great grandparents come from is peyote lands. So somehow I have a funny feeling that my great grandmother has been guiding me throughout my life and brought me home to the traditions by showing me a path. I believe strongly in the spirit world and how they lead us back to what’s home for us. When I was a kid, my grandma would cure us with folk remedies. And now I’m that person. I know the recipes and natural remedies, I know what to do. I feel like it was something that was instilled in me, but that no one taught me. I’m always saying “There’s a tea for that!” My sons would say “Oh, you’re just a witch.”

elyssa jakim ruby warrington the numinous cura material girl mystical world yolanda frausto donny frausto ismail ali ethan goldwater hover pictures
Yolanda

>>>

EJ: As plant medicine gets more popular, what kind of responsibility do people need to be taking when they take the medicine or administer it? Is it something you believe can find a place in a more Western medical mindset?

IA: Donny and Yolanda have experienced a tremendous amount of trauma as a result of simply being Mexican-American people who grew up in a place with huge amounts of drugs and violence, and which was not set up for them to have access to power or influence. I believe the strong pushes to decriminalize or medicalize or otherwise create access to pant medicines are in many ways responses to that harm.

So how can you leverage this harmful system to bring about some sort of benefit to the people who have suffered this exact kind of trauma? We need to take an honest look at what will be necessary to make this possible, and I think that during the next five or ten years we’re going to really crystallize what those systems look like.

>>>

EJ: Does the film speak to the phenomenon of wellness practices and techniques being inaccessible to people who aren’t of a particular ethnicity, or of a particular socioeconomic background?

IA: That’s actually why I started working on the film. These beautiful practices often require you to have resources—at the very least to be able to afford to take time off to care for your own mind. So many people are limited in this way. So accessibility is real, colonialism is real, and being aware of all these concepts and then shifting our behavior in line with addressing them is really important. The film is really about two people who are deciding to do some really serious work to break the cycles of their lineage, despite the fact that they don’t have the time and resources.

>>>

EJ: Did you find the process of filmmaking itself to be a kind of healing?

YF: I was able to process grief in a way that I did not know was possible. I reenacted the scene when I was driving and got the phone call from the coroner about my son. After we shot it, I cried for about an hour and then felt so much relief. I only got to process my grief in that visceral way because I was part of this film-making process. How else could you act out something in your life? Whenever things become challenging to film, I know it is creating space for me and my family to process. It’s hard to have these conversations but we’ve also found a way to communicate differently while filming.

>>>

EJ: What would you most like to see for the film?

IA: We hope people will be inspired to involve their own communities in it. We want people to watch this and to talk to the people in their lives about what all of these themes mean to them. We really think that yes, all of these healing modalities themselves are great, but part of the reason that Yolanda and Donny are where they are now is because of the community in their lives.

YF: I believe it will speak to specific people, who find something in it to help them. Maybe it just means they’ll find a way to say, “I can talk to my family, this isn’t so hard.” Quite a few friends have told me, “for you to come out and tell your story really gives me hope, trust, and faith in a future for myself and my family.” The goal was for my story to help other people heal.

>>>

Cura is a project of Hover Pictures, directed by Ethan Goldwater. Please support the film by visiting the Kickstarter page, and sharing the link. Be on the lookout for information about future events during the campaign in Los Angeles (December 13), and New York City (December 15), and make sure to follow the film on Facebook and Instagram. 

ANDRE J ON SELF-EXPRESSION AS A SELF-LOVE PRACTICE

Posted on by The Numinous

A-gender trendsetter and spiritual mentor Andre J shares how a lifetime of fearless self-expression has been the ultimate self-love practice …

Andre J self-love The Numinous

I was raised by a single parent in the Projects of Newark, New Jersey. Our building was a shambles and the hallways had a foul odor, but the interior of my apartment was always spotless. I was a late baby, my mother was in her forties when she had me, so I was truly conceived out of love. However, I’m also an incest survivor, molested repeatedly by my older male cousin for years.

Raised by my mother I had feminine tendencies, and growing up I was called a fag and a sissy. When you live in the Projects, it’s easy to become engulfed by this air of unhappiness. People are always nipping and pulling things apart, because unhappiness only breeds more unhappiness, or hopelessness. But that was not my story.

I didn’t see people the way that they saw me. I only saw them through the eyes of love, because that’s what I received at home, despite the abuse I suffered from my cousin.

It was aged around 10 that I remember catching sight of my reflection in the bathroom mirror, and the words just fell from my mouth, effortlessly: ‘Andre, I love you.’ In that moment that I understood the importance of loving myself.

It was almost like the Universe was saying to me, ‘Baby, you have a choice. Either you will be an evil man, probably a pedophile yourself, a repeat offender. Or you are going to find an inner peace within yourself, and you are going to take this journey, and you are going to live your best life.”

Andre J self-love NYC The Numinous

I always had great style, even as a kid. My first job was in corporate America, and I would wear a twill blazer that fit really well, with high-waisted pants and snakeskin shoes. An ascot around my neck. But it was working at Patricia Field, in sales and then as the PR director, that Andre J came about, with the facial hair and the women’s garments.

It’s what the Native Americans call “two spirits,” to identify beings that embody a balance of masculine and feminine. It’s only Western culture that tells us that these things are taboo, that gives us these labels and names.

There was one point in my life where there was no one, in New York City or in the world, who actually looked like me. I had created a whole new idea of beauty. The British stylist Joe McKenna saw me and put me in V magazine. Then I was cast by Bruce Weber for the cover of French Vogue.

But I wasn’t trying to get on the cover of a magazine. Dressing the way I do is truly just about me expressing myself. And what I have found, is that to stick out like a sore thumb no matter where you are, walking down the street, or taking the subway to the airport, takes courage. It takes strength, it takes tenacity, and it really takes self-love.

You don’t really notice how many people are on the street, until all eyes are on you, yelling at you from a taxi cab, coming at you from every angle. ‘The fuck?’ ‘Oh my God.’ ‘Faggot.’ ‘Sissy.’ ‘Your father must hate you.’ ‘You must have disappointed your mother.’

To still walk with dignity, peace, and courage, and kindness—instead of building thick skin, it actually really softened me, because it taught me how to love others. It was because I was so happy and so free, that BS coming from some strangers didn’t matter.

And I began to realize, not only are you not free, you’re a hater, and I feel like I really just need to give you a hug! I saw that the fear was not of me, it was of whatever was going on within themselves. As I learned in the projects, if someone is unhappy, they want you to be unhappy too.

Andre J self-love NYC The Numinous

My journey has led to me working with LGBTQ youth, who are not getting acceptance from their families. A lot of them cannot look at themselves in the mirror. When they do, often they will sob, to the point where they have no control. And if there are eight kids in the room, and that one child is crying, we rise and we console this individual, and build a community around them. Because schools are not teaching how to build community.

To see everyone console this young lady or this gentleman who is going through this emotional imbalance, not only is it teaching them how to share their pain in community, but it is also teaching them how to feel empathy for someone else. An understanding of what compassion is.

My work is to have them look in the mirror, and actually acknowledge themselves for the first time as an individual, as an adult, as a person taking responsibility for their own life. To say to them, ‘Too many times we seek love outside of ourselves, and well guess what. If your parent hasn’t told you or if you haven’t heard it from anybody else, today you are going to give love to yourself.”

Most of them are closed, and frigid. The only emotion they have is anger. Anger, anger, anger. And I want these kids to understand that the anger is not going to get you anywhere. The anger is only going to kill you. That you cannot receive anything if you are closed. I want for them to understand that they can feel love.

Andre J self-love NYC The Numinous

For me, this work is helping to transmute all the name calling, and the incest from my past. It is dissolving. I have been able to show these kids that I am as loving as I am, BECAUSE I know what it feels like to be hurt. To be ridiculed, and to be truly counted out. To be disregarded, as if you are nothing. And that when you learn how to shift it, it is possible to realize that this has never been about me. This has been about what everybody else is going through.

The message I am passing on to them, is that my job is to focus on my journey. That my job is to focus on my path, and to focus on what my purpose is. And that not only do I need to focus on it, I need to live it. And not only do I need to live it, I need exude it from every crack and crevice of who Andre J is. I choose to give this service back to those that do not know. And I sleep very well at night.

Andre J will be speaking as part of a Numinous panel discussion on “Inner vs. Outer Beauty” at Soho House NY on December 4 2017 (members only, 7pm). Discover more about Andre and his work @andrejworldwide

HOW I AM COMMITTING TO RAISING A CONSCIOUS MAN

Posted on by Nina Endrst

In a climate of deeply wounded masculinity, Nina Endrst was dismayed to discover she was having a boy. But she soon realized this was a calling to declare her credo for raising a conscious man …

nina endrst ruby warrington the numinous material girl mystical world dru nadler conscious man
Photo by Dru Nadler

I consider myself pretty intuitive. It’s been my work, especially in recent years, to release doubt and follow my heart in whatever direction I’m led.

Shortly after I became pregnant, I felt I “knew” I was going to have a little girl. I felt it in my bones. Saw visions of her during deep meditation and healing sessions. We were going to raise a little feminist.

Wrong. Well, sort of. My 22-week ultrasound revealed that I was in fact having a boy. A BOY?! Of course my only hope is and was to have a healthy baby—but I’ll admit I was knocked off my intuitive pedestal in that moment.

When we got in the car, I looked at my husband and said, “UGH! He is going to watch porn?!” I was totally freaked out for a good few minutes, going over all the things he definitely couldn’t do or be.

How the hell am I going to raise a man? Despite having strong relationships with good men, something about being responsible for ensuring that mine wouldn’t grow up to be a chauvinist asshole was daunting. It is impossible for me not to be enraged daily by the toxic masculinity that exists in our society, and around the world.

As I pondered what it would meant to raise a conscious man, I asked myself, where do I begin?

Then, I remembered a dream I’d had about an old boss (privileged, white, good looking by most people’s standards, probably rarely hears or understands the word “no”). This dream triggered a real memory of the sexual harassment I experienced while I was an employee and had “forgotten” about.

Because I, like most women, experience sexual harassment ALL the time. Many of us have also been victims of assault (I was age 9, and wrote about it here). The recent #Metoo shed some light on the epidemic, but this is not and cannot be perceived as “normal.”

So how do we heal such a deep and devastating wound? The conversation feels bigger than I can possibly wrap my head and heart around. And it raises serious doubts about how I will raise a conscious, sensitive, compassionate, FEMINIST man today.

Below is my individual process to tending to this wound daily—for myself, my son, and the whole. It’s where I am beginning my commitment to raise a conscious man …

nina endrst matthew johnson ruby warrington the numinous material girl mystical world conscious man
Photo by Matthew Johnson

1// I commit to regularly sharing with the men in my life how I am and have been mistreated as a woman.
Practice: I will not assume that everyone is awake, watching, and listening. This does not mean I will excuse sexist behavior or abuse—this means I will educate men around me through my personal experience. I will share how it made me feel when I was cat-called earlier that day, when I do feel safe, and discuss the long-lasting emotional and energetic damage that I and most women have to continually work to undo.

2// I commit to teaching my son that women are not things to be “had.” We are human beings to be respected.
Practice: I will surround him with strong females, both in real life as well as through literature and media. From the time he is born, I will introduce him to men that speak to and about women with love and respect, and will continue to work with my husband to show him what a healthy and equal partnership looks like.

3// I commit to helping my son understand that silence is unacceptable.
Practice: I will speak up in his presence and explain to him that with privilege comes responsibility. That we are put on this earth to protect each other and it is not OK to sit quietly on the sidelines if and when we witness injustice or abuse.

4// I commit to speaking honestly to my son about dangerous and unhealthy body standards placed on women.
Practice: I’ll raise him to look for intelligence, kindness, and humor in women, and people in general, before beauty. I will show him that beauty exists in many forms and do my best to limit his exposure to messaging that is damaging to women.

5// I commit to teaching my son how to show emotion—that sensitivity and compassion are part of what make him “a man.”
Practice: I will ask him how he feels and listen to him with an open heart. I will allow him to express himself and his emotions fully and praise him for it.

>>>

My son will be born in a few weeks. I feel mostly at peace and a little clueless and naive. I do not know how our lives will unfold from here, and am very aware that much of it is out of my control. But I do know that I will try every day to be the strongest, softest, version of myself, both for my son, and for our collective healing of the wounded masculine as it unfolds.

Nina lives her yoga and is inspired by traveling to places outside her comfort zone, both physically and emotionally. Currently based in Hudson, NY, she leads retreats around the world and welcomes students of all levels. Connect with her at ninaendrstyoga.com and on Instagram.

SHAMAN DUREK SAYS SPIRITUALITY IS JUST COMMON SENSE

Posted on by Ruby Warrington

Shaman Durek is a visionary for the Now Age. In this excerpt from a talk he gave at the Obonjan wellness festival in summer 2018, he why spirituality is simply Common Sense—and how, with loving interrogation of our darkest places, it is within all our power to heal ourselves …

Photo: Nick Hopper

The spiritual path is not how many times you go to yoga class. It’s not how many workshops you’re doing, or how many healing sessions you got. It is found in the loving interrogation of the places you are vulnerable to the dark intelligence of “the system,” and how much Love you are willing to let into your being instead. Spirituality is actually a matter of Common Sense. Of tapping into the intelligence, the common knowing, of Spirit, of all that is.

This is what makes each and every one of you a powerful pastor, a teacher, a healer, an artist, a creator, an innovator, an edge maker. Someone who’s here to bring forth something that I need to learn, that we all need to learn.

I believe that we all have power. There is no hierarchy here. I don’t believe in gurus. And one of the things I’m here on the planet to do is to educate other spiritual leaders to stop playing their power games. To start delivering the truth and the teachings that have been made available to all by Spirit. To share the knowledge about how to access and use these tools.

I’m about, “Here it is. This is it. Take what you want from it. Go ahead. All the stuff in this box from the ancestors, all those tools over there. Just take it all, and use it because you’re powerful.” Because these are not the times to be playing small. You gotta be a rebel if you’re going to survive what’s happening at this time on the planet Earth.

Building Shamanic Communities in the Now Age Shaman Durek Maestro Manuel Rufino Golden Drum NYC Ruby Warrington The Numinous
Durek will lead a special Shamanic Tongues healing session at our NYC event on 11/10. Click for info

 

>>>

We Shamans call the Earth a “type two” planet. Meaning it’s a slave planet. That the species has been conditioned to work against itself in its own process of evolution. Has been enslaved by the idea that it needs to be validated, loved, appreciated, and seen, as its reason for functioning. Instead of knowing that it is already loved, and that the embodiment of this Love is what will drive the species forward. If we truly knew this, we would not create bombs. There would be no war. Because Common Sense tells us that this would only hurt the species.

And yet we accept this paradigm because we have been abused.

When I say this, people often reply, “but I had a perfect life, nothing ever happened to me.” Well bullshit. It did happen to you. It happened to all of us. We have all been treated like dogs and trained in the idea that if we’re not acting a certain way, passing a test, getting good grades, doing something useful, we’ll be punished. That we will not be loved. This creates the belief that there’s always something to prove. That we must become something else and that we must accumulate certain things in order to be valuable as a human being. This in itself is abuse.

And the “dark intelligence” that created this system, is smart. It knows that if it can suppress the feminine, feeling part of you, you will become disconnected, from yourself and from each other. You will become disconnected from your intuition. Disconnect from your ability to recognize yourself as a Creator. Meaning you will keep looking for validation from the outside to acknowledge your power. Keep producing, keep consuming, versus knowing that all you need is in you, always.

We’ve been programmed to believe that our safety is based on how much we collect. How much we have. How much we hold on to. But these things only tie us down you down. Because you start to believe that your personality is tied to all these things, when in fact the only thing that matters is in the way you give someone a hug. The way that you sit and look someone in the eyes and you’re there for them.

We are living in a system that did not provide us the emotional intelligence to feel safe to simply be ourselves. But we must rebel against this conditioning. Meaning we have to rebel against every single thing that we sit in judgment about.

Shaman Durek interview the numinous ruby warrington

 

>>>

When I asked Spirit: “Why is there so much suffering and pain on our Earth?” she told me that all suffering is the result of a malfunction in thinking. I asked, “What about war?” A malfunction in thinking. “Sickness?” A malfunction in thinking.

And our whole system is built to keep our thinking, our creative energy, and our powers of manifestation, focused on the suffering of the world. So that we will keep getting more of it. And it will never stop.

For example, if you see someone who’s sick and you focus on their pain, you’re accepting this reality and you’re locking it in. It will make it harder for that person to get better. You will recognize your power when someone tells you, “my God, I’m going through such a hard time.” And you don’t go into that story with them. You choose instead to see them where they need to be. Within this simple shift, you’re pulling the negative energy out of their life. You’re doing powerful energy work on them.

You see, you think these negative thoughts are yours. They are not, but you don’t question them. Because that’s what the system wants. That’s why they tell you if you talk to yourself you’re crazy.

But when you hear a voice that tells you, “You are an idiot,” it’s your turn to ask, “Why am I an idiot?” The voice may reply: “Well, because you did this when you were at school.” And again, you can ask: “But that was a long time ago, and why does it mean I’m an idiot?” The voice will continue to try and convince you … “Well, you know, because blah blah.” But if you keep questioning it, after a while you’ll show the voice that you’re not going to accept it. Soon, the same negative voice will appear in your head, and you’ll be like, “nice try, thanks for calling. Click.”

Shaman Durek interview the numinous ruby warrington

>>>

So start questioning. I call it loving interrogation. You lovingly interrogate yourself when confronted with that nonsense. You lovingly interrogate the voice about the lies you have been told that are limiting you from realizing your ultimate power as a Creator.

Because every time a negative thought comes into your head and you let it ride its course, you’re drinking poison. Every time a doubt enters your being and you accept it and let it affect you, you’re drinking poison. Every time you get into a negative conversation with someone and you sit there and just continue listening, you’re putting poison in. I don’t care how much green juice you drink. I don’t care if you’re meditating twice a day. As long as you’re letting negative thoughts come into your mind, it’s all cancelled out.

It’s not enough to say, “I am spiritual because I do this or that.” The very things that we don’t like, the very things that make us the most uncomfortable about ourselves, the very things we are most afraid of in the world, are the very things we must learn to interrogate with Love.

We each embody four elements—the spiritual, the mental, the emotional, and the physical. But there is a fifth element, which is Love. When all four elements are working in alignment, all your visions, your dreams, are within reach, and all that’s required to make them manifest is love. And when Love happens, oh my God, then let’s talk about power. This is what we have come here to move into. Then there will be no more playing small in your life. This is it. This is the end of it. It’s done.

Numinous founder Ruby Warrington will be in conversation with Shaman Durek and Maestro Manuel Rufino for Emergence: Building Shamanic Communities in the Now Age on November 10 2018 in NYC. Click HERE for more details + to sign up.

SCORPIO SEASON 2017: HEALING FOR YOUR LILITH SIGN

Posted on by Bess Matassa

Scorpio season 2017 invites us to dive deep into the shadows, so that we can emerge reborn, says Bess Matassa … PLUS primal thrill-seeking for your Lilith sign.

Scorpio Season 2017 Kai Weissenfeld Bess Matassa The Numinous bondage fashion
Image: Kai Weissenfeld

Welcome to the jungle, carnal starlets. The zodiac’s bestial baroness pulls no punches and takes no prisoners as she brings us down to our knees and into the heart of blood, sweat, and tear-drenched magic.

This muscular mami wants you to feel every last sensation as you gnaw the sweet meat right off the bare bones. The unexpected treasure, primal thrill-seekers? When we smoke it out of the closet and burn it all the way down, we’re left with rock solid, gold-soaked selfhood that can never be taken from us.

So go hard. Go deep. And let it bring you on home. Get down and dirty and wash it crystal clean of apologies and shame. It’s all a part of it and it’s all a part of you. Lust after it. Long for it. And know that you can survive every last loss and learn to long for it all again.

Your love is deeper than the ocean and you’re ready to shake it all the way down to the molten-hot core …

The keyword: Intensity.

The song lyrics: “Welcome to the jungle/You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play/Watch it bring you to your sha na na na na knees, knees”—Guns N’ Roses, Welcome to the Jungle

Check out Bess’ Scorpio Season 2017 playlist, complete with erotic rockers, carnal crooning, and night movers & shakers.

Saint Laurent AW17 Scorpio Season Bess Matassa The Numinous
Saint Laurent AW17

The color palette: unearthed geodes and glow-in-the-dark noir. Blood rubies, neon magentas, black vinyl, and liquid gold.

The style: Miami Vice meets the Roman bacchanal. Think sweat-drenched skin, waterproof bodysuits, strong shoulders, serpentine bracelets, and thigh-high, razor-sharp boots.

scorpio season 2017

The scents and flavors: midnight snacks and deep-diving treats: carpaccio, ghost chili, indolic fragrances, rock candy, and smoked everything.

The healing: harder, deeper, longer. Tantric sex, scuba diving, escape room adventures, blindfolded hide-and-go-seek, shibari bondage, and strength training.

bondage fashion scorpio season 2017 The Numinous Bess Matassa
Image: Nicolas Guerin

>>>

Sensuous Invitation of the Month: Primal Thrills for Your Lilith Sign
Although traditionally ruled by lord of the underworld, Pluto, Scorpio shares a deep affinity with the full-throttle passions of lusty Lilith. This shadowy woman harnesses her harlotry to probe the potency of animalism and the so-called forbidden.

While we sometimes shy away from bringing the “drama,” this season asks us to step directly into the wrestling ring and to fire up our operatic vocal chords, because a life worth living is worth living down to the bone. So belly up to the bar and take a bite out of everything with a primal sensation built for your sign …

New to astrology? Discover your Lilith sign HERE.

Lilith in Aries
Scorpio season invites you to hone your fighting skills to battle for your deepest desires. Primal Thrill: Power up with the badass maneuvers of Mixed Martial Arts.

Lilith in Taurus
Scorpio season invites you to sit with the less comfortable sensations and let the dirty work transform you. Primal Thrill: Dive into the torrid, exfoliating sensations of a sweat lodge.

Lilith in Gemini.
Scorpio season invites you to reveal the messier pieces of your story as you sing your fullest, most carnal song. Primal Thrill: Celebrate beastly revelations with mix & match animal prints.

Lilith in Cancer
Scorpio season invites you to enter another’s emotional landscape with both curiosity and appropriate boundaries. Primal Thrill: Penetrate the corners of human consciousness with a psychological thriller.

Lilith in Leo
Scorpio season invites you to mix your poptastic penchant for sun-kissed optimism with some darker explorations. Primal Thrill: Collide with the highs and lows of experience-rich opera tunes.

Lilith in Virgo
Scorpio season invites you to play with stepping away from towing the line as you expose the full range of your capabilities for the world to witness. Primal Thrill: Revel in both the painstaking behind-the-scenes detail and embodied empowerment of tattoo art.

Lilith in Libra
Scorpio season invites you to take your partnerships even deeper as you risk the harder aspects of intimacy. Primal Thrill: Take a loving leap with high-flying sky diving.

Lilith in Scorpio
Scorpio season invites you to explore your urge to possess, and let ungripping become your sexiest form of self-expression. Primal Thrill: Bare it all and tenderize your trust issues with Shibari bondage.

Lilith in Sagittarius
Scorpio season invites you to adventurously probe your inner emotional landscapes. Primal Thrill: Saddle up for wild rides with a Dallas-rodeo-style mechanical bull.

Lilith in Capricorn
Scorpio season invites you to let it go and let it flow as you sample new flavors of power that come from surrender. Primal Thrill: Settle into the rollicking sensation of releasing the wheel with an upside-down rollercoaster ride.

Lilith in Aquarius
Scorpio season invites you to mix your intellectuaism with some carnality as you let your freak flag fly. Primal Thrill: Feast on the communal strangeness of Burning Man-style gatherings.

Lilith in Pisces
Scorpio season invites you to recommit to holding every last sensation tenderly, without your empathy becoming a liability. Primal Thrill: Let yourself get carried by the crowd at a heavy metal concert.

Bess is available for private readings and astro-themed events. Connect with her at Mojaverising.com

WHY DANCING IS THE ULTIMATE WITCHY WORKOUT

Posted on by Russ Marshalek

In his latest column, resident fitness witch Russ Marshalek shares how to make your next dance party a witchy workout—whether you’re dancing solo or with friends …

Photo: George Bohunicky

Last weekend, the Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic threw a rave for hurricane relief with her activist group W.A.F.T (Witches Against Fascist Totalitarianism).

What are a bunch of witches doing throwing parties and DJing? While using the adjective “spiritual” to describe a dance party might seem cliche, sweaty, unconscious movement to raw primal beats IS a magical thing.

Dancing raises our energy, loosens inhibitions, connects the physical body with the earth, and creates a feeling of “in-between” where anything can happen and creation is limitless. And a great DJ commands a crowd and uses song selection to cast a spell.

As Alkistis Dimech of Sabbatic Dance told me in an interview on the New Jack Witch blog, “For me, [dance] is to do with crisis and transformation. I hurl myself into the unknown, I encounter the ‘other’ in my body. In this way I remember and invoke the witches, demoniacs, ecstatics, hysterics, whores, the mothers who came before me.”

Ultimately, it’s the alchemy of all of this—joy, pleasure, connection to body and spirit—that makes dancing the ultimate witchy workout. An act of spiritual rebellion. Particularly in these times when legislation on and regulation of the body, particularly the female body, is at an all-time dangerous high.

This is reflected in the “radical softness” movement that empowers sensitivity and the body, and in media like Brit Marling’s stunning reflection on dance as resistance on Netflix’s “The OA,” and in the canonical “body as a tool of magic” essay Forging The Body Of The Witch.

So if your dancing body can be a weapon of resistance—be it against that jealous witch in the corner or the modern fascist regime—how can you put it to work? Read on for the Numinous rules of rave …

Ana Matronic and friend at the W.A.F.T Witches Howl hurricane relief rave

>>>

DANCING AT A PARTY

So you’re out dancing. This is the physical work, congrats! There are a few ways you can subtly alter your reality or tweak your consciousness to bring a ritualistic element to your night out.

1) When you first enter the venue, set your eyes on the dance floor/dance area. Imagine it being circled in a ring of white light, ideally one white candle at a time encircling the dance floor. Guess what? You’ve just done a moonshine version of casting a circle! Expect to feel more protected and in control of your dancing body from just from this simple act. (If you can, on your way out, imagine the lights going out one at a time, or fading away.)

2) At the start of the night/party, set an intention, however major or minor, for something you’d like to achieve relatively soon. This could be as simple as finding your favorite flavor of seltzer at the store tomorrow, or more complex, like getting a new job. As you dance, imagine all your movements infusing  that goal with positive energy, grounding it in the here and now.

3) Close your eyes. No, really, close your eyes. Allow yourself to merge with the beat of the music and become one with it. This is harder than you think, and a rapture that seasoned ravers have come to treasure as a way to touch the ekstatik (which, coincidentally, is also the name of the next New Jack Witch dance party!)

>>>

DANCING ON YOUR OWN

1) If you live by yourself, great. If not, kick everyone out for the night, or shut yourself in your room. Take off your clothes. Turn off the lights. Sit with yourself for a moment. Think of something you need release: a care, a concern, a shitty thing your boss said, a voice inside your head saying heinous shit about yourself. Meditate on this for a moment, and recall how it made you feel. With this in your mind, say aloud “Do. Not. Need”. Believe it and feel it in your core.

2) Now, feel your feet touching the floor, whatever that surface is for you. Let yourself feel your feet, the ground, your spine, your body. Take one or two slow forward folds. Then, with your intention firmly set to rid your body of whatever needs to get the fuck out, crank up some music and let your body move. To paraphrase Twin Peaks’ Agent Cooper, don’t plan it, don’t overthink it, just do it, allowing the music to flow through you and your body in whatever ways feel right in the moment. Allow any emotions that surface to pass, acknowledging them but not dwelling on any feeling overlong.

>>>

CHOOSING YOUR MUSIC AND YOUR MOVES

Depending what you need and how you’re feeling, one song might be perfect, or nowhere near enough. I’ve chosen 4 songs, one for each element, as a guide …

For instance, for Earth, try rolling around on the ground. For air, make wispy moves. Fire can be big, bold leaps, suited to the drum beats of the track chosen here, and water should be fluid, rolling your shoulders and limbs like a stream (but not necessarily gentle).

Air: Sky H1, “Huit”—think wispy moves and swirling shapes.

Water: Apollo 440, “Liquid Cool” —get fluid, rolling your shoulders and limbs like a stream.

Fire: A place both wonderful and strange, “Hex and the City”—go for some big, bold leaps.

Earth: Corbin, ICE BOY—try rolling around on the ground.

Again, these are just suggestions. Ultimately, this is about you and your body, and what it needs and wants to express. When you’re done moving, sit quietly with yourself for a moment, and offer up a silent thank you to the Gods, Goddesses, and spirits guides that have been your silent dance partners.

LIBRA SEASON 2017: A DANCE WITH DUALITY

Posted on by Bess Matassa

Libra season 2017 invites us to embrace duality, and seek our highest aspirations in sacred partnership with the Cosmos herself. By Bess Matassa. Main image: DVF AW17

DVF AW17 Libra season 2017 bess Matassa The Numinous

 

Sharpen your topiary shears and curry comb your unicorn manes, cosmic queens. Libra Season rides in regally to take back the castle, dressed in silky white satin and brandishing the sword of bejeweled justice. The zodiac’s aspirational aesthete infuses the everyday with a higher love, and shows us all how it could be when we commit to chasing the ephemeral trail of the most dazzlingly distant stars.

But as we stand on this yearly seasonal precipice between day and night, it’s time to learn how to appreciate the darkness and the light, and to grapple with the contradictions and complications of colliding with opposition. When we truly commit to communion, we risk collapsing the great divide between what’s ours and what we disavow, and sacrificing some of our crystal visions to allow others, and ourselves, to be exactly as we are.

So slip into both your lace and your leather, and saddle up your mythical creatures for the race towards the rainbow. In this precariously precious place between the confectionary clouds and the hard packed earth, we can catch the light just so.

When we commit to living this daydream together, we are brighter and more blindingly beautiful then we could ever imagine.

>>>

The keyword: Relating.

The song lyrics: Love lift us up where we belong/Where the eagles cry/On a mountain high/Far from the world below/Up where the clear winds blow – Joe Cocker, “Up Where We Belong”

Check out Bess’ Libra Season Playlist, complete with dynamic duos, romantic mashups, and vocal encounters.

Libra season 2017 bess Matassa The Numinous

The color palette: impressionistic hues and Malibu tones. Sophisticated pinks and soft grays, refined aquas and violets, whip cream whites, and camera-ready sunsets.

The style: modern monarchy meets Parisian salon. Windswept scarves, button-down blousons, bell sleeves, ruffled blazers, tights & ballet flats, casual culottes, and finely-detailed florals.

aw17 florals Libra Season 2017 bess Matassa The Numinous
Fall 17, from left: Luisa Beccaria, Mulberry, Giambattista Valli, Zimmerman, Giambattista Valli

The scents and flavors: perfect pairings, curated bouquets, and epicurean presentations. Black and white cookies, macarons and madeleines, honey and lemon, carefully cultivated orchids, edible blooms, and small plates.

Libra season 2017 Bess Matassa The Numinous pink macarons

The healing: cultured evenings and high-minded musings. Wine and food pairing menus, gallery expeditions, figure drawing classes, jazz ensembles, and ballroom dancing.

>>>

Sensuous Invitation of the Month: Classic Combos for Your Venus Sign

Ruled by Venus, Libra takes the vibration of the love goddess into the realms of “higher,” cerebral love.

In our chart, she reveals our fairytale romance with the world, where we can uncover the sheer pleasure of aesthetic inspiration, and how we can harness relationship to evolve past our strict notions of personal taste.

Ignite the energy with a dynamic duo to feed your inner and outer partners.

Venus in Aries
Libra season invites you to delight in the stripped down sensation of fresh relationship perspectives and courageous compromise. Classic Combo: Jeans & a Tee Shirt. Celebrate an on-the-go combo that feeds your minimalista aesthetic.

Venus in Taurus
Libra season invites you to complement your sensory pleasure seeking with some more cerebral imaginings. Classic Combo: Bed & Breakfast. The ultimate partnership of feasting and dreaming.

Venus in Gemini
Libra season invites you to revel in your desire for narrative and start crafting the next step in your own love story. Classic Combo: Movies & Popcorn. Innocent snack explosions meet larger-than-life tales.

Venus in Cancer
Libra season invites you to mix your desire for emotional safety with some exploratory wanderings into wilder dreamscapes. Classic Combo: Surf & Turf. Ride the tide while knowing that you can always drift back to solid ground.

Venus in Leo
Libra season invites you to blend your monogrammed hearts with the strength to go the distance for love, even when it challenges your egocentric craving for pure adoration. Classic Combo: Sugar & Spice. A beauty bar combo that lets both sides taste sweet.

Venus in Virgo
Libra season invites you to action your ideals in the wide world with a trust in the self-sufficient sensation of lasting commitment. Classic Combo: Bread & Butter. Power up with a simple meal that’s both hard-earned harvest and creamy indulgence.

Venus in Libra
Libra season invites you to explore the gap between fantasy and reality without losing one ounce of your romantic lust for future ideals. Classic Combo: War & Peace. Mix your notorious urge for compromise with some necessary embattlement.

Venus in Scorpio
Libra season invites you to infuse your penchant for probing intimate darkness with some softer expectations for a brand new romantic daybreak. Classic Combo: Night & Day. Wander out after midnight but don’t miss out on the glory of sunrise.

Venus in Sagittarius
Libra season invites you to pair your footless adventuring with the crystal clarity of a purposeful love mission. Classic Combo: Roadtrips & Playlists. Top-down riding meets careful curation.

Venus in Capricorn
Libra season invites you to celebrate a flavor of amorous striving that’s infused with the pure and simple beauties of partnership in the present. Classic Combo: Manis & Pedis. The durational labors of nail art mix with the pampered treat of buffing your hard-working extremities.

Venus in Aquarius
Libra season invites you to balance your urge for panned out, cerebral relating, with some close-at-hand celebrations of the person who stands before you. Classic Combo: Thunder & Lightening. Distant weather patterns meet close snuggling during the storm.

Venus in Pisces
Libra season invites you to let your boundaryless urge to merge be informed with a clear sense of the line between yourself and a lover. Classic Combo: Pina Coladas & Getting Caught in the Rain. Blended beverages meet the clarity of rain water and the sun that shines on you both, together and apart, in the aftermath.

Bess is available for private readings and astro-themed events. Connect with her at Mojaverising.com

WHY YOUR BODY IS CRAVING THE HEALING POWER OF TOUCH

Posted on by Ruby Warrington

In a world where we’re starved of genuine connection, Kumi Sawyers is a passionate advocate for the healing power of touch … Intro by Ruby Warrington.

Kumara Sawyers we all need to be touched The Numinous

A few months back, I had a “High Times Massage” with Kumi Sawyers, an NYC body-worker and yogini who’s work I’d be following for a while. Kumi uses a CBD massage oil in her sessions, and it’s fair to say I was feeling literally zero pain (or even all the edges of my being) when I floated off her table. But it wasn’t just the cannabinoids.

Kumi is a natural born healer; there is magic in her hands. And she believe the missing piece in many a wellness journey, is that we all need to be touched. When we sat down for her to tell me more about this, here’s what she had to say:

>>>

“A client will come to me and say, ‘I have this pain that doesn’t go away. I’m doing yoga and I’m seeing this physical therapist. I have my acupuncturist, I have my healer. I eat this and I eat that, and I’m doing all these things, but I’m still in so much pain.’ And it’s because there is blocked energy in their body.

All healing modalities talk about it, just with different names. Kundalini, Shakti, whatever you want to call it, it’s this energy that gets trapped. And it doesn’t matter what you eat. It doesn’t matter whether or not you talk about it with your therapist. You have to move the energy around. You have to recognize it, you have to feel it, and you have to associate with it as part of your body. It has to become alive, it has to join you. As soon as we connect to this, is when things begin to transform. To become beautiful, and vibrant, and alive, and abundant.

And the touch of another human hand is often the catalyst for this.

Touch is extremely powerful. There are even studies that show how what’s called ‘touch deprivation’ stops babies from growing and developing properly. I know that when I feel anxious, in order for me to calm down I need someone to hold me. Just hold me for a second. And yet we live in a world where people are afraid of touch. Where loving touch it is reserved for romantic partners; and in other situations, it can create a closeness we do not feel comfortable with.

People are choosing to rely on this false sense of connection instead. We think that because we’re friends on Instagram, it means that I care for you. But it doesn’t mean anything. It is a beautiful thing to feel connected to all these people, but the reality is we’re not. At the end of the day, we can go home and still feel very alone.

Kumara Sawyers we all need to be touched The Numinous

It should actually be: ‘I care for you because I show up for you. And when I see you I put my hand on you, and I listen to you, and I support you, no matter what.’ This is the currency, this is the energy exchange, that’s really healing and important in our development as human beings. Physical affection isn’t only sexual. Touch is another way of feeling. Of going beyond the superficial, and dropping down into the deep layers. Yet so many people are afraid to feel, and much of my work is to guide people comfortably into the depths.

Often people show up to my table very armored, guarded. The reason they can’t feel what’s going on in their bodies is because they don’t want to. To then come to me and to lie naked on my table and let me touch them, that is real vulnerability, real trust. And not everyone is ready for it, right away.

So I have to work with the nervous system. I have to prepare the body. I have to let them trust me, which means using really firm, but soft and consistent contact. To allow my touch to say to them, ‘I am here.’ And then slowly the body softens. And then people will let me in, and I can do the deeper work.

If I try to force my way, the body will just lock up. And then they’ll feel sore and agitated, and it’s a bad experience for everyone. The way you work with the body is the way you work with people. It’s the way that you work with your personal relationships. You can’t ever force somebody to be in a place where they’re not ready. There is a way of just being with people where they are, and guiding them through whatever experience they’re having.

When I go into somebody’s body and they’re like, ‘it’s too much, it’s too much,’ I tell them that I understand. And I ask them to breathe with me. I tell them that the only way to move this out of their body is to move through it, and that as soon as we get through this, there will be an opening. To trust me.

Kumara Sawyers we all need to be touched The Numinous

And that’s life. I can’t think of one thing I’ve done in my life that’s been meaningful that didn’t mean going through some really intense initiations. Beginning with the birth canal. That’s the work, and you can take this work and you can apply it to anything. You can apply it to body work, and to relationships, to careers, to politics.

People will try to bypass it. Like, ‘actually let’s skip around that. I’m going to just turn right.’ And you can keep turning right, and you’re going to arrive at a place where you look at your life, and you are not fulfilled. Where you’re suffering physically because you’re holding all that energy inside your body. Where your body can no longer move. Where you’re retaining water, your joints are not fluid, your skin is most likely doing some weird shit. Where your relationships are empty. And it’s sad. I see so many people make these decisions, and all because they weren’t ready to do the deep, uncomfortable work.

Ultimately, everybody wants to feel love, to feel happiness. They just don’t want to feel the discomfort. But anybody who thinks they can live without turbulence, that’s just not how it goes. You actually want the bumps, because it shows you’re feeling more. To really feel deeply about something is a gift. You want the turbulence, because the scarier it gets, the closer you know you’re moving towards something really beautiful.”

Discover more about Kumi Sawyers and her work at Kumarawellness.com and follow her on Instagram @shadylawn.

ESSENTIAL OILS FOR EVERY MOON PHASE

Posted on by The Numinous

Laying out your crystals and setting intentions for the emo Pisces Full Moon? Supercharge your ceremonies and activate the magic of nature by adding essential oils for every Moon phase, says Amanda Maybroda. 

essential oils for every moon phase The Numinous
Image: Charlie Nolan

Using Essential Oils during the Moon cycle is like a triple shot of espresso (wake up call!!) to all your healthy cells. All without the jitters or any negative side effects …

Just like we place some of our crystals under the moonlight to clean and re-charge, the Moon’s energy gives oils a little extra mojo.

If we sync our oils with the cycle, we can use them to amplify and open our receptors to all the good ju ju that’s available to download and receive.  Combine the oils below or use alone … have fun with it!

**Note: Only ingest oils that are therapeutic grade and cleared for internal use. I recommend doTERRA.

>>>

:: NEW MOON ::
The New Moon is a Re-birth, new beginning, fresh start. It’s a great opportunity to manifest what we desire and allows us to cut the cords that no longer serve us. These oils help plant new seeds, literally and figuratively …

  • Hawaiian Sandalwood supports your sexual energy and, in turn, your creativity. As the Moon moves towards waxing, it’s time to get those juices flowing and open your mind to new opportunities and resources.
    Activate It: To help increase creative and sexual flow, apply to all lower chakras. You can also apply it to wrists, back of knees, cervical spine, feet, ankles and third eye- its grounding and manifesting ability may surprise you.
  • Patchouli is both an aphrodisiac, and a digester of toxic materials. Perfect for officially cutting the cord to any blocks or stagnation as you start fresh for the New Moon!
    Activate It: Take a drop in a veggie cap to release what no longer serves you. Or mix a drop of this oil into your Sandalwood as you apply to your lower chakras.
  • Holy Grail is a signature blend of mine that allows your soul to travel the cosmos and gather information and resources, and allows your body to create the grids needed to anchor into this dimension. Perfect for receiving all the new info available for download during the New Moon.
    Activate It: Try hand diffusing and then cupping your closed eyes for a few breaths. And make sure to have your journal handy for all the new ideas you’ll be receiving!

amanda maybroda ruby warrington i am elementals essential oils for every moon phase the numinous material girl mystical world

>>>

:: WAXING MOON ::
This is a phase of regeneration when our bodies are able to absorb most efficiently and easefully. It’s a time to fortify, strengthen, and replenish our bodies, souls, energetic fields, and resources.

  • Juniper Berry supports the nervous system, regeneration, and replenishment by bolstering feelings of love, peace, and wellbeing. As your body transforms into a balanced and harmonious vessel, your energy field literally begins to strengthen.
    Activate It: Do hand diffusions throughout the day, taking 6 good deep breaths. And throw this baby in the diffuser at night (that’s when we repair ourselves the most). Juniper Berry can also be applied to the front and back of the heart to help activate its replenishing properties.
  • Rosemary helps memory and our ability to trust the process. The Waxing Moon is a gestation period, during which we can’t always see the trajectory of our movement or the end result of our intentions. Rosemary supports the motivation and courage we need during this phase by boosting clarity, endorphins, and brain functioning. It’s an oil for breakthroughs!
    Activate It: Apply Rosemary to the base of neck, occipitals, and top of head to bring clarity. Apply it to the bottom of your feet to give the seeds you planted some extra love. And put some in your salad dressing or sprinkle on some red roasted potatoes- ingesting neutralizes stress and helps move stagnant energy.
  • Lavender supplies patience as we fortify during the Waxing Moon phase. Sometimes our outer worlds don’t catch up as quickly as we want, and this oil helps infuse the trust of Divine Timing into any type of preparation work.
    Activate It: Combine in with your favorite carrier oil (i.e. coconut or olive oil) and lather yourself generously, paying special attention to your ankles and hips. Diffuse Lavender by itself, or with Juniper Berry and Rosemary, to bring you into the present moment and back to the patience that is needed during this phase.

>>>

:: FULL MOON ::
This part of the cycle is a yummy energetic time for experiencing amplified feelings and experiences. Our bodies go through a lot on this planet, and this phase asks us to open the heart chakras, get grounded, listen to our bodies, and amp up the self-love!

*Create a sacred space with these oils and have a release. Cry, kick, scream if you need too … and trust that they will literally help you transform it all.

  • Cedarwood’s luscious grounding and sedatitive abilities help us root deeper and feel beautiful. It’s also very cleansing and has a diuretic effect that helps with body release during the Full Moon.
    Activate It: Apply the Cedarwood to your feet, ankles, tailbone, and sternum. Step outside if you can and walk barefoot on our beautiful earth mama!
  • Yang Ylang softens that heart chakra, amplifies your sensuality, and deepens your connection to self.
    Activate It: Put a few drops in a salt bath and tell your body all the reasons you’re grateful for it and why you love it SO much!
  • Peppermint’s antiseptic and uplifting properties facilitate any physical or energetic cleaning out to create an environment for emotional and spiritual growth.
    Activate It: Try hand diffusing peppermint- inhale and apply to your energetic field. This is done by rubbing oils between palms and then dancing around and painting your field with it. (The dancing part isn’t mandatory but highly suggested for Full Moon party vibes!)

amanda maybroda ruby warrington i am elementals essential oils for every moon phase the numinous material girl mystical world

>>>

:: WANING MOON ::
The waning gibbous moon brings about instinctual growth, subconscious enlightenment and an opportunity to clarify our values. This is a time of deep internal rest, meditation, self analysis, and reconnection to our cozy internal home as we prepare for the New Moon. This final stage of the process allows us to release, pivot, banish, and break unhealthy habits, relationships, behaviors, patterns, and thought forms as we prepare for rebirth.

  • Frankincense helps to re-pattern, re-generate and re-parent ourselves. I can confidently say this was one of the main oils I used in healing my own PTSD. Working intentionally with this oil can truly heal and release those negative habits, patterns, and thought forms.
    Activate It: To allow for your values to clearly present themselves, mix with a carrier oil of your choice and give your scalp some extra TLC with a massage. For instinctual growth and immunity stimulation, place a drop under your tongue.
  • Geranium allows the body to recuperate from all that deep work that has been done releasing and re-patterning during the entire Moon cycle. This oil is also an antidepressant and can help any heavy feelings associated with this deep phase of the Moon. Give yourself permission to really take some time to rest.
    Activate It: Take a salt bath with some Geranium and any flower petals you may have. Bathing is a perfect New Moon prep activity during the Waning Moon cycle because it allows every cell and system to relax so that we will be able to launch forward to receive during the next phase.
  • Holy Ghost (another of my signature blends) has the mother, father, purifier, and exciter of oils all in one, and balances your Divine Masculine and Feminine energies. As we prepare for the New Moon, this oil helps release any stress, worry, doubt or fear that may be associated with transition or rebirth.
    Activate It: Take a few drops under your tongue before meditation. Or use as a spray or through a diffusor to cleanse and shift the environmental energy towards openness, balance, and support.

>>>

Amanda Maybroda is an LA-based Intuitive Alchemist, Spiritual Wellness Coach, speaker, author, and founder of I AM Elementals. Known as the “go-to witch doctor” in her community, she uses high-vibe nature energies and elements to create custom blends, mantras, yoga practices, and meditations that support each client’s health, desired intentions, and frequencies.

**I AM Elementals is brand new to the IG game! Follow her HERE, and make sure to snag one of the final spots for her next private coaching sessions (starting October 1, 2017, and January 1, 2018) by emailing [email protected]

A SENSORY GUIDE TO VIRGO SEASON 2017

Posted on by Bess Matassa

Virgo season 2017 is a time to lay claim to your most pristine values, and show up with utmost integrity says Bess Matassa. PLUS a solo wedding celebration for each Vesta sign … Homepage art: Lexi Kendall

Virgo Season 2017 The Numinous Beyonce

Lay out your laciest lingerie, private dancers. The zodiac’s mystic mami of self-possessed sexuality invites us to bow down at the altar of our beautiful bodies in all their intricate integrity, and to delight in the divine essence of our own, solitary unfolding.

This unmarried siren of self-containment lives with fierce fealty to her internal code, and simply will not give it away for free. As she sifts, assesses, and refines, the zodiac’s everyday alchemist moves in rhythm with the world that surrounds her, working her mettle to transform her metal into 24-karat gold.

It’s a season for deciding exactly what you will stand for, and what you won’t fall for anymore, vestal vixens. Descend into your very own witchy desert land, and marry yourself to the wind and the night and the shifting sand. Wed yourself to the wildest, untamable places inside yourself. Pledge allegiance for life.

>>>

The keyword: Integrity

The song lyrics: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror/I’m asking him to change his ways/If you want to make the world a better place/Take a look at yourself and then make a change”—Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”

Check out Bess’ Virgo Season Playlist, complete with witchy women, singular anthems, and ladies of the canyon.

Virgo Season 2017 The Numinous
Erdem AW17

The color palette: 1970s land art and film noir: tumbled stone silvers, cameo creams, copper wheatfields, and herringbone patterns.

The style: Georgia O’Keefe’s open-air Santa Fe atelier meets Elizabethan regality—high ruffled necks, gilded patterning, buttons on sleeves, impeccable tailoring, open-toed sandals, and broad-brimmed hats.

Georgia O'Keefe Virgo Season 2017 The Numinous

The scents and flavors: careful concoctions, earth goddess essences, and sovereign tastes. Baguettes and subtly spiced soups, herbaceous pestos, harvest grains, dried apricots, frisée, strained labneh, and lavendar pillows.

The healing: everyday alchemy, considered corporeality, and self-governing sexuality. Food and beverage pairings, lingerie shopping, ayurveda, ritual baths, ant farms, and herb gardening.

Virgo Season 2017 The Numinous Lonely Lingerie
Image: Lonely Lingerie

>>>

Sensuous Invitation of the Month: Solo Wedding Ceremonies for Your Vesta Sign

The zodiac’s unwed woman is inherently tied to asteroid Vesta, whose streamlined acts of devotion teach us how to activate singular focus and creative containment.

This month, marry yourself to exactly what lives inside of you with a solo wedding ceremony fit for a badass bride …

New to your birthchart? Discover your Vesta sign by looking at your birth year and month HERE.

Vesta in Aries
Virgo season invites you to temper some of your usual no-holds-barred aggression with more calculated maneuvers. Wedding Party: Tossing the bouquet. Strategize your leaps as you catch petals with both ease and assessment. Wedding Anthem: “You Shook Me All Night Long,” AC/DC.

Vesta in Taurus
Virgo season invites you to let your work in the world feel both pragmatic and pleasurable. Wedding Party: Cutting the cake. Let determining the contours of your feast fully fuel your self-sufficiency. Wedding Anthem: “Let’s Get it On,” Marvin Gaye.

Vesta in Gemini
Virgo season invites you to release into body knowledge and speak straight from your gut. Wedding Party: Toasting. Carefully planned words meet instinctual, emotive sharing of what lives in your heart. Wedding Anthem: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours),” Stevie Wonder.

Vesta in Cancer
Virgo season invites you to let your own past lives lead you home to your core beliefs. Wedding Party: Photo booth. Delight in candid, historical snaps that capture the nostalgia of this very moment. Wedding Anthem: “December 1963 (Oh What a Night),” The Four Seasons.

Vesta in Leo
Virgo season invites you to assess your creative contribution so you can fully ignite your eternal flame. Wedding Party: Conga line. Hone some structured dance moves without losing one bit of the party. Wedding Anthem: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” Cyndi Lauper.

Vesta in Virgo
Virgo season invites you to soften your inner-critic without surrendering your high-quality standards. Wedding Party: Tailoring the gown. Cloak yourself in careful couture that’s both intricately crafted and drop-dead gorgeous. Wedding Anthem: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Beyoncé.

Vesta in Libra
Virgo season invites you to romance yourself fully without needing a partner, and fall back in love with your private dreams. Wedding Party: The honeymoon. Re-up your faith in fairytale fantasies and endlessly unfolding beauty. Wedding Anthem: “Wonderful Tonight,” Eric Clapton.

Vesta in Scorpio
Virgo season invites you to let your intensity inform your integrity as you unapologetically claim your power in the world. Wedding Party: Bachelorette Weekend. Channel the stripped-down wilding of a “don’t ask don’t tell” weekend in Vegas. Wedding Anthem: “Lady in Red,” Chris De Burgh.

Vesta in Sagittarius
Virgo season invites you to wed yourself to pure wildness and channel your intrepid inner voyager who knows no bounds. Wedding Party: Destination wedding. Channel the wide-open spaces of solo tripping. Wedding Anthem: “Footlose” Kenny Loggins.

Vesta in Capricorn
Virgo season invites you to unabashedly celebrate your desire for structures that endure. Wedding Party: White wedding. Channel long-standing traditions and regal ritual. Wedding Anthem: “At Last,” Etta James.

Vesta in Aquarius
Virgo season invites you to crack open the status quo and re-envision what it means to be committed to your cause. Wedding Party: Civil ceremony. Draw clear boundaries between church and state as you birth your humanitarian visions into being. Wedding Anthem: “Respect,” Aretha Franklin

Vesta in Pisces
Virgo season invites you to revel in your need for retreat as you get in touch with your own secret touchy-feelies. Wedding Party: Elopement. Pull a delicious disappearing act and relax into checking out. Wedding Anthem: “I’ve Had the Time of My Life,” Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes.

Bess Matassa is available for private readings and astro-themed events. Connect with her at Mojaverising.com

@NUMINOUS_BOOKS