Reflection: Monica Lewinsky

On Monica Lewinsky: Emerging from “The House of Gaslight” in the age of #MeToo

Change your response, change your karma
A good student of karma knows that if you want to change your karma, the solution is to change your response to what you're being dealt. In other words, if we want to transform habits, behaviors, or our relationship with trauma, the key lies in how we respond to them. Numerous spiritual practices and healing modalities assist with the endeavor of recognizing discomfort and crisis as opportunity for growth and change, and it is through application, experience and the scientific method process that changes begin to stick and we learn to have faith in our path.

Case in point
In her superbly penned, Vanity Fair-exclusive essay, Monica Lewinsky keenly links individual and collective/societal trauma, while alluding to the psychological process of individuation as she reflects on the transformative healing potential that trauma has when it is properly examined, re-framed and integrated. She also references karma when she describes her decision to approach the man whom, twenty years earlier, had terrorized her and her family in his effort to investigate and prosecute President Bill Clinton:

A student of Karma, I found myself seizing the moment. Whereas a decade ago I would have turned and fled the restaurant at the prospect of being in the same place as this man, many years of personal-counseling work (both trauma-specific and spiritual) had led me to a place where I now embrace opportunities to move into spaces that allow me to break out of old patterns of retreat or denial.

Revolution begins within
Lewinsky's knowledge, insights and reflections on individual and collective trauma are profound. Citing wisdom from writer Salman Rushdie, cognitive linguist George Lakoff, and trauma specialist Jack Saul, Monica Lewinsky maps 20 years of socio-political events that have helped shape our current mainstream reality (24-hr news, potus 45, and the #metoo movement), while sharing the story of her individual healing arc and lighting the reader's way to hope.

Read Monica Lewinsky: Emerging from “The House of Gaslight” in the age of #MeToo, and if you find yourself wanting more, here's the 2015 NYT article that prefaced her 2015 TedTalk (The Price of Shame), Monica Lewinsky is back, but this time it's on her terms.

New Moon Shadow Work

A raven just came into your life, so here's a simple exercise to help you work its magic for Thursday's New Moon Solar Eclipse:

1. Read below excerpt from astrologer Chani Nicholas (if you have time, you can also jump to your sign's February astrology)
2. Read this short Shadow Work 101 article on the simplicity of "integrating shadow" (referenced by Chani), and try the suggested exercise for tomorrow's New Moon.
3. If that's all you do, it's plenty. With serious family business/travel to be present for next week, I'll be sure to do a full ritual, which basically means I'll carve out about an hour of time to create sacred space (by smudging sage and calling in the Sacred Directions) and tune into:

• my breath (for a moment)

• my connection to fellow Circle Sisters/Brothers around the planet holding sacred space (for a moment)

• what I am grateful for

• what rises for release, surrender, empathy

• what my soul wants to invite in

Those last few points usually take on a life of their own, and I relax into the process and experience what Jung referred to as "active imagination". To close, I tune back into my breath, connect to the Earth, grounding the creative energy, while taking as long as I need before closing the Sacred Directions. I sometimes draw a tarot card at this point, guidance for the coming span of time to Full Moon. I drink plenty of water before, during, after ritual, and I remember to be gentle with myself and others. This ritual process, summarized here, was a gift from Shannon Sosebee.

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• S O U T H • N O D E • S O L A R • E C L I P S E • via Chani Nicholas:
This Thursday, February 15th at 1:05 PM PT there’s will be a solar eclipse at 27° of Aquarius. This eclipse is near the south node which has an emptying-out effect. The south node is a place of downward movement, a place where we are reminded that the only thing lasting is our connection to Creation. What doesn’t ultimately matter can tend to unravel during these types of eclipses so that we can align ourselves with what does.

During eclipse season it’s imperative that we put our healing first as these are pattern setting times. What you do now matters as it puts in motion a string of events that help to shape the next couple of years (more so if your have something important at 27° Aquarius). That doesn’t mean we aren’t accountable to those around us, it means that we are more so. And more so to ourselves as well. Eclipses tend to reveal ours and other people’s shadow selves. The part of us that aren’t fully integrated. Therefore it is important that we learn how to sit with what is uncomfortable. To be ok with the fact that sometimes when we grow we aren’t sure of how to do it gracefully. Leave a lot of room for your learning. Leave a lot of room for your unfolding. Leave a lot of room for your gifts to reveal themselves to you. Within our heartbreak and our greatest challenges lay some of our greatest talents. Give yourself time to get to them.