Author: roxana

Aren’t we all word lovers?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

No, I am not going full on Biblical on you this Moonday. I know we are a very eclectic bunch, each with our own interpretation of what and how the Divine (energy) is.

But I did write this message on sweet (and sainty) Sunday, so it must have influenced my mind a bit.

As you already know, I almost never end up writing about what I plan to write. Most of the times, I let myself feel the energy of the day and build on it.

For most of the past 2-3 weeks, I made a habit of noticing how people used words and language around me.

I heard friends talking poorly to themselves in times of deep suffering.
I had friends manipulating words to get their way in business and save money, while ignoring the white elephants in the room – their own choices.
I saw people use words as knives on the street and at TV.
I witnessed weak politicians trying to convince yet another generation that their work is meaningful and in support of a country.
I scrolled on social media and saw random guys and gals making fun of less educated people as from a place of entitlement and superiority.

+ so much more.

Yes, there were also glimpses of goodness, but they were rare and shadowed by the ugly.

Oh, we are so words-damaged as a collective!

I don’t think I’ve always been good with words. This was definitely not a love affair, but more like a relation built in time, with effort and a lot of struggle.

In my early childhood years, it was hard for me to be assertive, to express my feelings and my thoughts through carefully selected language. I feared inappropriate words would come out of my mouth and be judged and rejected, punished or ignored or laughed at. It was not always the case, of course.

In time, I practiced words and language so much so that now, there is not a day in my life without reading and writing and speaking. Be it astrological charts, communication strategies, content, presentations, articles, interviews, books or just casual journaling. In this word loving process of +40 years, I understood the power of words to reflect our intentions, match our energies, support our manifestation and connect with others.

Words are now my strength. And my vulnerability. And my anchor (to connect with you all). And windows for the future I can and will create.

Together, we are transitioning very spiritual times when it comes to the use of words. How we speak is now more than ever a prayer or a sin. Because whatever you speak now, it will come into existence!

I won’t bore you with the details, but words will lift us and hit us until summer of 2025. And then they will make us or break us. We have a very limited window of opportunity to wake up and start building a different version of our speaking magic.

We either learn to use words wisely, “to select our thoughts like we select our clothes” (quote from Eat, Pray, Love – the movie) or we will experience loosing more and more, on our own account. People, faith, material gains, friends, health.

So, this week, as Mercury prepares to walk its last steps in (aparent) retrograde motion, let it be your new start with words. Think of it like a new relationship you are curious to grow. Words are energy. Words come from a special place. Words are gifts of the Divine that we sometimes use as weapons against each other. What side of the story will you be on?

Ask yourself how your words are impacting your everyday experience. A couple of helping prompts to feed your process:

1.What are the gaps between what you think and what you say? To yourself, to others. Be sure honesty and dishonesty are felt in your energy and seen in your eyes.

2.How are you using words to uplift you (and others) and not bring everybody down?

3.Are you actually communicating interesting stuff about you or others or are you just gossiping your way through superficial connections and mindless scrolling?

4.What style of communication do you actually have, far from the family programming or belief system?

5.Anything you say, you inform you cuantic field. From that on, you will manifest it, good or bad very fast, especially these months. Now that I’ve got your attention, how suddenly responsible are you now?

6.How can you make words your love language day by day?

Until next week, respect, embrace, love words!

Roxana

#WomenAreHealing

What do you want from me?

I get this question a lot: what are your routines, how do you do it all and still look happy & balanced? Well, aside from the fact that it’s a lot of work for me and I believe routines are extremely personal and tailored to each body needs and requirements, there is a deep truth in this continuous quest of ours for the best healing methods, foods, routines and ways of living. Maybe we are more obsessed these days with bettering ourselves. But the reality is:

We’re less and less trusting ourselves. And we’re giving our power away to others under false pretenses they know better than us what’s good for us.

We have been sold, by the industry of coaches, therapists, spiritual healers that we are somehow always broken and in need of permanent clearing, repair and evolution. Otherwise, for each negative thing in our life, we are to be blamed.

And I don’t blame them. They might be right. And I am probably one of them as well, at some moments. There’s a lot to gain (especially financially) from guiding people today, especially because we seem to be more lost than ever, in constant chaos and in need of information to protects us from the worst. You are also reading this weekly message because you think it might bring you closer and faster to who you want to be.

We’re high on adrenaline and cortisol. We’re high on performance programs and life hacks. On checking boxes and reading all the books The New York Times recommends for this decade. On Unleashing the Power Within events. On working with coaches. On going on several dates a week. On having a lot of friends and connections and experiencing the world at its fullest. Just like addicts, we’re sharing among ourselves the latest podcast episode, book, program, method just to feel like we’re not standing still or even worse, going back. Our nowadays drugs are worse. Because they are legal and everywhere and we’re using them all the time.

I am a seeker of truth. I have always been like this. As I child I could not embellish the truth and this got me in trouble with my parents a lot of the time. Seeking for the truly best info, best teachers and guides, best (and most effective) quests and recipes for healing and optimisation. And most of all, seeking the truth in all my bullshit. (sorry for this bad word)

And I’m telling you this right now: after almost 41 years of doing this, the truth is … you don’t need me. You only need me to mirror you.

I usually write this weekly message with 1 person on my mind. Each week a different one. And what happens is many of you react to it as it was for each of you. That says it all: we’re the same, part of the one collective.

We feel the same, we heal the same. I can only shed light on what you already are and know. If you need me to guide you, then see me as your mirror, this is the only way it will work.

As I am cutting down sources of expansion for the rest of 2024 to really let everything be integrated, I am asking you to try this simple prompt exercise with me:

What are the performance drugs you are now using: books, podcasts, youtube gurus, programs, coaches, etc. Draw a list for 1 year and look carefully at your investments (money and time) versus results and integration. Are you stressing yourself with overachieving instead of living?
Why is it easier for you to look for your truth outside of your being instead of within? What are the walls you have built between you and your inner knowing?
How can you just let yourself be? Find the motivation of why it’s so rewarding to be in the moment. In the simple. You still have 4.5 months of this year, didn’t you do enough to be better? It’s maybe now time to…just be.

Grounding for August 18th to August 23rd: this upcoming week’s astrology is a bit intense and marked by surprises and instant changes, some of them quite uncomfortable. I am not giving more details, because each planetary event is perceived differently according to one’s personal charts. Nothing is exactly the same.

Take care of your body and focus on rest and breathing. It might sound simple, but it’s the most effective way to feel at ease.
Watch less entertainment astrologers on social media and please understand they are only in for clicks, not to guide you to a conscious serene place. Choose those astrologers that are grounded, balanced and offer smart solutions to navigate difficult times. They will sell less than the first, but you will actually benefit from astrology by choosing them. Some examples: Astrolov, Moon Omens, AstroLada.

Re-sharing an older, but I think still very helpful video interview with Astrolov. Maybe there are still things you can hear and discover in this conversation that I think will be truly an evergreen piece. I am sorry for my English speaking friends readers, this interview is only available for the moment in Romanian.

Until next week, I am here mirroring your journey.

#WomenAreHealing

So, you’re too good for Patience?

Yes, it’s August and many of you are either returning or leaving for your annual holiday. Usually, people around me would say: “oh, it’s that time of year when I relax, recuperate, give my body a break. Stop the gym, eat guilt-free carbs, drink to unwind, sleep more, reconnect with my partner and post the pretty pictures from a Greek taverna on Instagram.”

It seems we built around holidays this promised, yet concentrated capsule of a haven, far from the everyday stress, colleagues, deadlines, responsibilities and…let’s be honest, the life we consciously choose everyday, be it good or impoverished.

But I feel these past years have changed the game a bit.

On the one hand, I see people even more stressed during their breaks or using these time instead of refuge, as another way to check everything on their lists. These people never stop and yes, they never get to reach any level of peace or satisfaction.

On the other hand, many of my friends are feeling disoriented in life and holidays are just adding even more pressure to come up with an alternative solution for when they return.

Truth is we are all feeling that:

Times are definitely transforming. But there’s a catch to it: we have a very simple anchor to ground ourselves during transitions that stretch us to the max.

As I am writing this week’s message for you, I am in yet another series of acupuncture sessions to clear old somatic residual emotions from my body. This summer has definitely took a toll on me and prevented me from living optimised, as more longtime emotions have surfaced to be understood and released from my body. For me, this has been an intense, +2 year journey to heal (and yes, save) my body, that I feel is not yet finished. I could have gone crazy by now, but I am still here and yes, grateful for what I am going through.

What saved me during all this time? One of my best qualities: patience.

A word so deeply connected with the idea of time, but also to the transcendence of hurting (from Latin patientia – suffering; endurance, hurt), so ironic, isn’t it? Through patience, I kept going to all my treatments and endure the long time my body needed (and still needs) to go from pain to an optimal state.

I feel we women no longer have patience. To heal, to grow, to fall in love, to find the ways of being better, to build, to build wealth, to learn. Social media, instant gratifications, multiple options in anything, FOMO, dating apps, etc have all damaged our brains so much as we live in a constant state of “I want it now!”.

But, my dears, nothing that comes easily, fast, over night is to stay or create abundance in our lives. And everything is actually a process.

A recent study found more people are being diagnosed, especially adult women, narrowing the gap with men. The percentage of women newly diagnosed with ADHD between 23–29 and 30–49 years of age nearly doubled from 2020 to 2022. While males remain more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than females, the disparity has decreased over the past 12 years. The ratio of males to females diagnosed with ADHD decreased nearly five-fold during that time, from males being 133% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than females in 2010 to 28% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD in 2022. And it all comes down to….the value we give patience in our lives.

As a longtime believer in Patience, I can tell you we need it to:

Live everyday more fully and at a regular pace. Don’t you want to enjoy life, and not burn yourself to the ground by mid 40’s? Worrying less does not have a magical treatment. It’s easy: don’t overcrowd your day with all the things you can do.
Understand who we are and what our heart journey is. Don’t you want to choose wisely what you do instead of being delusional about doing it all at the same time? Life works in cycles and processes.
Build a strong nervous system. Don’t you want to master those triggers of yours?
Distinguish more clearly between what we need and what we think we need. Patience in experimenting with life around us, defining our values and how we want to build this journey.
Learn things thoroughly in any field of growth we might experience. Do you want to be an expert, or a push-over from one field to another? Patience builds solid grounds that will always be hire-able, no matter the technologies ahead.
Integrate healing practices and let the body regenerate at its own pace. No yogi practice shows lean muscles or mobility results for one-timers. No sleep hacks are helping if you are implementing 2 times after you watched a wellness podcast. The body gets sick in years, so you should heal it back with patience and waiting for each layer to unfold.
Practice waiting and attracting instead of hunting and chasing in relationships, love, matrimony. Women have forgotten to wait. In nature, females wait and choose between the strongest males. Why do we need to chase our perfect mate through dating apps just to proclaim our so-called freedom and empowerment?
Fill in your own reasons

So dear woman, I am whispering to you softly:

Do you have patience to cultivate patience?

Much of what we want for ourselves will be ready in months, years, maybe even decades. Nothing of great value has a weak construction. Nothing of strong foundations is built overnight. The key to a lot of the turmoil we are currently navigating is to stop and pace ourselves to a natural rhythm in life, work & career, relocation, learning something new, wait for a suitable partner, travel. There are seasons for everything and there’s a reason for it.

Change really begins when we stop and understand. Then, when we find the motivation in doing things differently as being greater than staying in the same (hurting) context. Then, step by step we research and implement new ways of being. Then, one day, those exercises become practices and then integrated routines. We then suddenly feel changed into a better, more authentic version of ourselves. For each of us, this process takes a different time. And yes, it needs patience.

Until next week, I wish you all to have patience with reading this message, with yourselves and most of all, with what life can actually become if you just…wait.

All my healing hugs,

Roxana.

#WomenAreHealing

dear August, please break me softly

Each week I am planning a diverse set of themes for the Women Are Healing newsletter. And when it comes the time to actually write it, I find it more natural to go with my intuition in that moment. And yes, what happens is that I change completely the topic. Usually, what I feel in the moment, I prioritise.

But this week something different happened. This end of week I travelled quickly between Bucharest and Brasov to meet a dear artsy friend and my niece. As one does on the train, looking through the moving glass only activates that part of the brain that is more introspective and pensive. And it suddenly came to my mind: oh my God, here we go,

It is August already!

We still have 5 months of this year, but it somehow feels that we went through a lot since early January already. August is the 8th month in a 8th year and includes what astrologers call Lion’s gate on August 8th. 8 yes, is a number of wealth and abundance, but most of the times is the number of control, power, manipulation and resistance. And just like one of my teachers says: before receiving a spiritual gift, you must first pay a price.

August is gonna ask us to pay or sacrifice something.

Some of us think that August comes with rest and recuperation after a busy, yet thrilling year. But for us astrologers, August is a reset month. One that we don’t see but we feel it coming.

This month is full of events on our cosmic (and also energy) sky. And NO, I can’t lie to you at all, it’s gonna be intense.

Mercury retrograde will bring back themes like work relations, contracts, joy, ex-es, relationships that need clarification and yes…final release. The transit will be tougher than others and will require discipline, a trait not many of us have mastered.

The New Moon in Leo (coming August 4th) will open new (heart & abundance) roads for the next 6 months, but only if we truly find the balance between us and the other one.

Full Moon in Aqua (coming August 19th) will probably be the toughest with a lot of important (and difficult) conversations on our sky. The Full Moon will bring sudden releases and changes (even if we will not be ready to experience them), testing our readiness to change beliefs so that we embark on the road we always say we want to drive/walk on. This change will be felt, experienced and then understood.

August also brings a powerful T-Square configuration involving Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus. The entire summer is not only under powerful, spiritual retrogrades (Neptune in Pisces, Saturn in Pisces, etc), but it wants action, change, being in charge of one’s destiny. And as we all know, change is not something our brain prioritises. Survival needs to thrive in familiarity. But expansion needs this seed of change, even a forced on to move on, forget, heal, expand, try something else, have courage. Yes, Mercury will ask us to slow down (in thinking and actions), but this T-square on the sky, in mutable signs, will scream: TAKE A STAND in your own life and CHANGE!

Whenever it’s hard to live, I just…reduce my days to the simplest form. We are still in the middle of Leo season, and simplicity is the highest vibration of this archetype. Love is simple if it comes from the heart, the center. Work is simple if it’s done with joy. Obstacles are not so tall if we reduce them to their essence.

This August, we sacrifice something so that we get what we say we want.

What we can all do is prepare. I found that reducing our experienced life to its simplest form comes in very handy when we are transitioning intense times. Some clues on my part for you:

In work, prioritise the essential. Work smarter, use AI tools when needed, deliver the things you need to finish. August needs you to expand less and finish the things you initiated 6 month ago in February.
take care of your home, clean it, donate the clutter, release the unwanted. September will come with a lot of new beginnings and it needs empty spaces to manifest.
find time for prayer, meditation, sitting still and just…breathe
eat less (yes, you heard me right), do some fasting, drink more water or soups, let your digestive system declutter as well. People usually stuff their mouths with food in summer while on holidays. Well, summer is actually the best time to reset your digestive system and renew it cells and processes.
watch your energy levels, change always comes with a different vibration. Starting August 22nd anyhow, our attention will be on the body, our routines, how we are taking care of our health and health checks.
if you’re into smoking, drinking, recreational drugs, maybe less of that will help you sleep better. Because by now, all scientists as well as old traditions agree on 1 thing: sleep is the best, most efficient, also free, method/tool to renew your mind, body, balance the nerves and hormones and ensure good disposition throughout the day.
do some work with your hands in nature, wether is in your garden or just doing yoga on a deserted island.
if it doesn’t bring you joy or make you more responsible, then put it aside.
for those of you planning to travel, do it responsibly, add some creative outlets on your journeys and listen to what the heart whispers when you relax your pace.
speak less, listen more.
breathe more. I am currently reading Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor and try to develop a more consistent pranayama (breathing) practice. I know my friend Ramona will enjoy this recommendation of mine for you this month, the Bee breath from Yoga with Adriene, free on youtube.
no, don’t do all of these, just pick the ones (or invent other ones) who you can focus on during the entire month.
Until next Monday, take care of yourself and try to cultivate more conscious, simple choices and actions.
Roxana
#WomenAreHealing

The NO woman is the HEALTHY woman

Today, women are massively acculturated to play the roles the society and systems expect us to play.

A couple of years ago I was listening to Gabor Maté in an interview on why women are sicker than men when it comes to autoimmune and chronic illness. Basically, we tend to develop chronic-anything due to:

our constant dedication to nurture others and emotional concern for the needs of others. Women are made to care, right? (what the culture tells us)
suppression of healthy anger. Angry women are not beautiful, right? (what the systems require from us)
increased identification with duty or responsibility. This is what women do, right? (what the designated roles are)

These all lead to 80% of autoimune diseases being taken on by women, according to a statistics in USA. I don’t think these percentages differ too much from country to country in the Western world. Now, this newsletter is not about gender or rage against men. I don’t care about that, it’s never the way to go when you want to build harmony. But about getting us on healthy, more aware mindsets and start rearranging our lives in a manner that shows more respect towards ourselves, our bodies and subsequently our families and communities.

YES is what we need to unlearn!

So, are you saying yes instead of cultivating the healthy no-s? And most of all, why are you still doing it against your better judgement?

When a woman is healthy, so is her family, work, community, country. When the woman learns to say no, she begins true healing.

I was the yes woman to anything. I think if there would be a PhD in saying yes to a lot of things I would have graduated Magna cum Laude. My yes-es came from:

the need to connect with others. I used to go on vacations that stressed me or were completely different from how I love to travel, only because we were in a group and did not want to miss time with my friends. I used to go out or do stuff just because others reached out to me.
the need to be adopted by social groups and norms. We are never taught that being a healthy, aware individual is the basis for creating a coherent group or community. At work, with friends, etc. So I said yes to jobs that got me sick or to colleagues that displayed extreme narcissistic behaviour. In their presence and with their validation, I was also…different, exceptional.
the need for fame. I grew up too much in front of the TV and movies. The presence of my caretakers was scarce and mostly centred around intellectual and work related pursuits. Needs are nevertheless emotional and can’t be fulfilled with tons of books or classes. They require presence and practical guidance from parents, caretakers and so on. I was left alone in a world of imagination while reality became something I had to run from, there I could not feel seen or understood. My role models were actors and stories. And even though my imagination got a crash course, my emotional experience was poor and seriously lacked roots in the mundane. I entered adulthood with the need to be seen and noticed how special I was. I had to learn that I was special without being seen.

A NO woman is a HEALTHY woman

A couple of years ago, while I was literally fighting for my life I said: Fuck that! Life is not a struggle. Life becomes a struggle when there’s lack of alignment between needs and actions. My sacrifice never helped nobody, nor it was seen or appreciated the way I needed to. And how could it be? Nobody ever can love you the way you need to love yourself.

Us astrologers know that when we open your natal chart (or any other chart, there are a lot), we immediately look at your Moon. The entire chart then tells us whether that Moon is being taken cared of and if not, how we can guide you to feel better in your life. That’s and essential part of your life.

What are the needs that you are trying to fulfil indirectly through others (the yes-es), even (or especially) at your own expense (the no-s)?

If you are ascending, then you can help others ascend too. If you are only supporting others to ascend, on your shoulders, you will drown. It’s logical, right? Even visual. This is not egocentric, this is living smart.

Here are some of my tips, from my own experience and practice on how to finally start to put yourself first, the smart, practical way.

Learn to be the center. Of your body temple. Of your life. Of your family. Of your workplace. Of your community.

Start your day with less coffee and more self-awareness. It only takes 5 minutes to place your hands on your heart and belly (the energy center) and breathe deep. A quick pranayama exercise can re-center you after a long night (with good or bad sleep) and bring you in your body. It’s as simple as: breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, release for 6 counts. Do it 5-6 times and see the benefits. Then think: what do I need in that moment? Is it touch, is it kindness, is it a smile, is it peace? Then give it to yourself and think how you can practice that state during the day.
Start observing yourself throughout the day with more awareness. Are you saying yes to things, people, actions because you really think they will do you good or are you just scared to be left aside or forgotten or not included? Saying no is a skill that women are not taught in families or schools or society. It’s shameful for us to abandon others or to not agree to stuff? Isn’t it?! You can count your yes-es throughout a day or week and then analyse, how many of them really nurtured you.
You don’t need to work by yourself into burn-out just to earn more money, get more fame or success. Learn to ask for support and help. Ask your friends to help you. Give a clear role to your partner. Usually men feel more accomplished when we give them projects, missions. Women offer men purpose. You are not weak if your are asking your man to support you or take more on his shoulders. You are giving him purpose to serve, to be meaningful, to be seen.
You don’t need to absorb the stress of your work boss or colleagues, family or partner. Learn to observe and distinguish what’s yours and what’s not. Give feedback assertively. Yes, with kindness. But don’t absorb. It will only get you to fully transmute energetically what’s not yours and the problem will not be solved rationally, objectively. I can give you a simple saying to repeat: God, please give me only what it’s mine to receive.
Remember that kids practice what they feel from you and see you do. It’s not what you tell them to do. Now that you are responsible for the next generation, isn’t it better to start rewiring your choices to fulfil your needs, today?
Take 2-3 of these and see how you can rethink a bit your life so that your needs come first. Systems change when we no longer abide by the cruelty we learn as being the normal.
Women lead the ship, including the healing ship.

Are you doing it slow?

No, no clickbait here. Or maybe just a bit :). But are you doing it slow?

By that I mean: what’s your rhythm, how fast are you living, how fast do you finish your tasks or over-accomplish? Are you truly experiencing life or consuming it like it’s a box you need to tick on your agenda?

Today, we rarely think of slowing down. From the coffees we drink to the devices we scroll on or the countless holidays we want to go on, from the advertising that tells us we can do more or buy faster, every system we are integrated in screams at us and pushes us to the limits. We are taught that: “if you feel you can’t, you can a bit more.”

We no longer have to run for our lives from a lion, but we are definitely choosing to live in the middle of a savanna every day.

Yes, we are choosing. You heard me right. Some of us consciously choose to live like this, burning life at both ends. Other don’t actually know what life and boundaries are. It’s definitely not our sole fault, but it is our responsibility to mend it.

Slow living is a mindset whereby you curate a more meaningful and conscious lifestyle that’s in line with what you value most in life. It means doing everything at the right speed, not at a slower speed. Instead of striving to do things faster, the slow movement focuses on doing things better. Often, that means slowing down, doing less, and prioritising spending the right amount of time on the things that matter most to you.

Slow living is part of the wider slow movement which began in the 1980s in Italy. Faced with the opening of a McDonald’s in the heart of Rome, Carlo Petrini and a group of activists formed Slow Food, a movement that defends regional food traditions.

Carl Honoré, one of the most well-known authors and speakers on the slow movement, helped bring the concept of slow living into the mainstream in 2004 with the publication of his book In Praise of Slowness. His speech is extremely relevant today. Because more and more people are acknowledging that faster isn’t always better.

We are living the fast life, not the good life.

Why we live with speed:

we like adrenaline and the rush of blood that we experience
we are part of systems of working and being that don’t mean well for real, they just need to exploit us for their own benefit or profit.
slow has been demonised as a word for years and years, you don’t want to seem the slacker of the bunch
when we rush, we don’t think about the reality of our life

Choose 1 day. This is all I ask you. 1 day. Do things with intention, whether you are washing dishes or sending emails. Try to slow down. And understand that slowing down is not actually slower. We are all living at a faster pace that we should. Even exercising slow living – we want to do it quickly. Slowing down is just…normalising life rhythm.

Pick 2 gateways to slow living from the above:

choose to drink a herbal tea not coffee first thing in the morning. Coffee has nothing to do with helping your body get active. It only hides the tired effect (being tired is stored in kidneys and adrenals) and throws you on a caffeine spiral for the rest of the day. As a long time caffeine aficionada, I almost reached 3-4 coffees per day in 2019-2020. I was angry and trembling and tired all the time. When I quit caffeine I began to see the benefits of experiencing the right amount of time in a day, with its natural rhythm. Turn to lemon warm water and qualitative sleep if you want to see how it works better for your body. If you can’t quit coffee, add warm water or ghee to it and stop drinking it after 1-2 PM, or else your circadian rhythm (which mean quality of sleep) will be deeply affected.
look at your day agenda or list or planning and choose 1 main item for the day (personal an/or at work). Concentrate on that item (project, endeavour) and make it intentionally the centre of your active day. You will see that all other items on the list will get done if you want to, in their own rhythm. Be rational about the time you have in a day to do stuff, overly crowded agendas are usually markers of people that: have low self-esteem and get their validation from the crowded agendas and being masters at busy, have low barriers and don’t know how to fulfil their needs properly, or have no idea of what time management means. Either cause is fixable, either with a coach, book, therapy and most of all with individual motivation.
yes, I know cycling and running and gym and HIIT are very popular right now. They are also helping you be part of a community and get you be connected with other people. I understand, it’s great. But we as a species need high cortisol in small amounts and definitely not on a regular basis. HIIT sequences though effective, are also increasing the inflammation in the body and generate severe anxiety if they are done often, also affecting sleep. If your stance on this subject is: “I’m fine, I just don’t have time to work out anyway, so I’m safe”, it’s also wrong. Movement has never been about getting into a dark room and sweat for hours. Movement is also you picking up cherries in your grandma’s orchard. Movement is you cleaning the house. Movement is a slow walk in the morning or after a summer rain. Movement is yoga while you also notice your body and how it moves. Movement is hiking on a mountain trail. Movement is tai chi or qigong on a lake. Movement is dancing at a party or in your bedroom. And so on. If you are working out like crazy, slow down and opt for 1-2 slower trainings per week (at least). If you are not into sports, find a slow movement exercise and do it regularly, it calms the mind and grounds the body.
look at your hands. they are to be used not only to type or scroll, but essentially more for domestic activities and worldly experiences. Pet your dog or cat with intention, bake for your loved ones, take care of your plants, etc. Do this daily, for at least 10-15 minutes. See how it feels, especially in the mind, to be…human.
My written essay on the power of hands below.
learn to be smart with (your) time. Saturn is a very important part of our character according to astrology. The Lord of Karma and Time teaches us patience, building slowly and most of all (perceived) delays in our manifestation. If you don’t know how to practice Saturn and build resilience, write me a message and we’ll astro-meet. I know that you are a woman and by science, you can do them all, but do you want to?
practice slow sex. When Sting many years ago started practicing Tantra, many laughed. Nowadays, the world seems to be polarised between fast dating (and yes, dopamine-infused sex) and people aiming to make sexual experiences more intentional and qualitative. One of my past lovers once said to me: I don’t want it to go fast, I want it to go longer. It definitely surprised me (and my ego), but I took notice. I was so in a hurry that I neglected the main need: to enjoy sex more and over a longer time period. Why are we in a hurry to end something that we love?

Slowing down lets you savour your life. What do you want to choose for yourself? Well, getting in touch with your inner tortoise once in a while might just be a very smart way to…live richer, not faster.

Happy Full Moon in Capricorn, women! And take care, this is the second full moon in Capricorn this summer (we only get 1 per year) and it’s conjunct Pluto to the orb, trining Uranus in Taurus. Releases, releases, releases. Maybe you can release the busyness and just … slow down. Until next time, slowwwwwwww downnnnnn.

with love,

Roxana #WomenAreHealing

The “soft fascination” of water

From mountain springs to ocean’s gleam,

It nurtures life in timeless stream.

A tranquil mirror, depths profound,

In every drop, the world is found.

I am water. My body is made mostly of water (according to scientists). I eat her food. I breathe the oxygen she balances. I show my deepest emotions and cry with (salty) water. I am more creative near water. I have a lot of watery astrological placements. My name means Sea. Most of me is…water.

So my relation with the Big Blue Ocean and its vast water sources goes far. This is why I can’t understand (nor accept) the damage we are doing to the most essential part of…well, ourselves.

As I am writing this newsletter, a pod of 77 pilot whales has died after washing ashore on a beach in Orkney, in what media says could be the biggest mass stranding for decades.

Something hit me right in my heart, as I recently saw one of the best docu-movies from past years: Les gardiennes de la planète. And I know now that these phenomena are signals for the great damage that our species is doing to water everywhere.

Did you know that:

The ocean covers 71% of the Earth’s surface. …
37 out of 50 critical minerals can be found in the ocean! …
The ocean influences and regulates Earth’s climate, acting like the planet’s ‘heart.
We have only explored five percent of our world ocean.

Nevertheless, in our constant pursuit for plastic and carbon, we are damaging our main source of life on Earth, our heart.

We damage water everyday

Here are some UN stats about Ocean pollution and change today.

The ocean has taken up more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system.
By 2100, the ocean is very likely to warm by 2 to 4 times with low emissions (RCP 2.6) and 5 to 7 times with high emissions (RCP 8.5) compared to observed changes since 1970. (IPCC)
Around 680 million people live in low-lying coastal zones – that is expected to increase to a billion by 2050.
Marine fisheries provide 57 million jobs globally and provide the primary source of protein to over 50% of the population in least developed countries. (UN Global Compact)
15% of the animal protein that we eat comes from seafood, yet astounding waste persists in commercial fishing. (UNDP) Every year, more than 10 million tonnes of fish go to waste due to destructive fishing practices—enough to fill 4,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. (UNDP)
The blue economy is an approach to take into account the health of the ocean and seas as we strive to balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.
80% of all tourism takes place in coastal areas. The ocean-related tourism industry grows an estimated US$ 134 billion per year. (UN Global Compact)
60% of the world’s major marine ecosystems that underpin livelihoods have been degraded or are being used unsustainably. (UNESCO)
Between 30 to 35% of the global extent of critical marine habitats such as seagrass, mangroves and coral reefs are estimated to have been destroyed. (UNESCO)
By 2100, without significant change, more than half the world’s marine species may face extinction. (UNESCO)

And I can go on and on and on about how important water is and how we are constantly damaging it. More stats here.

I don’t get the chance to be near large bodies of water many times each year, but when I do, I take it all in. The sea calms me but also gives back ideas for how to cultivate more of what’s needed in my life. I can’t imagine what we would be and do without the sea, the oceans.

I’ve been struggling with burnout and work addictiveness for many years (well, more like decades) and this is now shown in the health issues that I am going through. Water has always been my refuge for cleansing the unwanted, the residual emotions, for getting me back to…ME. As I do wish one day to live everyday by the sea, I dedicate this edition to our hopefully increasing awareness of water and what she holds for us.

Water is good life

Supporting water ecosystems and planet Earth really starts with us mending our relation to water and guiding it towards better outcomes. Self-consciousness is the first step, action is the next one. So build a better awareness of how you relate to water.

1.According to marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, “when we put ourselves at the edge of the water, visually, our field of view is simplified. Auditorily, our world is simplified. Sensory input gets simple. When you get into the water, the hundreds of muscles that have been holding you in standing position no longer need to do that work, and the brain regions that were taking care of that get a break. Auditorily, visually, somatically, you’re getting a break. You’re getting a rest. The default mode network is activated and you go into the “default mode,” which is a more contemplative, self-referential perspective.”

2.We are mostly water. According to scientists, different people have different percentages of their bodies made up of water. Babies have the most, being born at about 78%. Adult men, about 60% and adult women, 55%. Drink water with good intentions, even stare at your glass of water or bottle for a couple of seconds and set good intentions for purification and cleanse. And be grateful, there are many places on Earth now that don’t grant people access to clean water. If you want to support an NGO doing work in this field, check Water or Charity Water and donate.

3.Move and breather like water, smooth, in cycles. Here’s one of my favourite Yoga with Adriene sequences – Ocean Flow.

4.Understand Water element in your Astrological Charts. If you don’t know how to do this, give me a message and we’ll delve into it. We are still in a watery season of the Cancer so what a better moment to learn your water. As a collective we are all experiencing the transit of Saturn, the Lord of Karma and Time, Restructuring and Remodeling into the watery sign of Pisces, ruler of seas and oceans. From water shortages all over the globe to marine pollution, these are themes that Saturn will restructure for the next 1-2 years as part of his cycle here.

5.Find those moments in which you can meditate near water. Attention restoration theory (ART) asserts that people can concentrate better after spending time in nature, or even looking at scenes of nature. According to Wallace J. Nichols, “psychologists refer to this sense of “soft fascination,” which we get when we’re on a surfboard or sitting on a beach. It holds your attention, but it doesn’t dominate your attention. The ocean is changing, sending little pockets of information at you. There may be a fin, there may be a bird, the breeze may pick up. It holds your interest, but at the same time, it isn’t a massive, distracting amount of information, so you enter this Blue Mind mode, this mildly meditative state.”

6.Listen to water music. I know he is very controversial right now, but Kanye wrote probably one of the best songs for water meditation and gratefulness. Tune in. Or find those ocean waves compilations on Youtube and let them guide your laptop work on a day.

7.Read my piece on “Blue Mind” book on the effects of water on our wellbeing and creativity. Buy and read this book, it does wonders to your mind and routines.

To your Hands, with Love

Hands. Two. For your feminine one, for your masculine another one.

Two hands have taken you from your mother’s womb.

Two hands have placed you at your mother’s breast.

Hands have touched and comforted you while you were sleeping.

With your hands you learned the world. To play, hug, to caress, to carry, to fight, to make bread, to show love to your cat or dog, to stay away from hot or cold stuff.

In traditional healing techniques and energy work, hands are the start and finish of one’s body energy circuits. In Reiki, the therapist feels with her hands the areas of your body that need healing the most. In Reflexology and Acupuncture, hands hold important points linked to organs or meridians.

When we are single and with no permanent partner for a longer time, what we really long for is not sex, but touch, the hands of a beloved on our skin.

So you see…Hands are so important for what makes us human, happy and healthy.

Nowadays we use hands (and fingers) to work on laptops, scroll on TikTok. Countless hours per day we are using these God given links to the Universal Energy to connect with technology and less and less with…ourselves and among ourselves.

So get back to loving your hands so they will love you too. Hands are a 2 way street of giving and receiving when used for our good. Through our hands, we include the World and the World includes us back.

How can we make our Hands a more active part of our being and receiving of Love?

Caress your child or your fury cat (or your dog), she needs your affection and you need her balanced energy.

Water your flowers and touch them with love.

Hug your partner, your sister, your mother. For at least 20 seconds, right?

Work the land a bit, when connecting to the earth, our hands gently balance our entire energetic footprint to match what it needs: nature’s rhythm.

Make a summer lemonade, squeeze and feel the lemons give out their sunny juice.

Dance with your hands – yes, you can. You can experiment with flamenco, Balinese gestures or even Chinese moves. Or you can play a bit with Mudras, for me it is so much fun to do this as an exercise after a long writing session.

Do some yoga with Adriene and be steady in your hands as they will hold your body.

Summer is here and we’re all into melon and ice-cream. But what about baking an apricot pie for you and your loved ones? Things cooked with love will always taste better.

Write a kind message using pen and paper. The act of writing like this reinforces the strength of your fingers and hands.

Go play with ceramics a bit. This weekend I visited the Museum of Ceramics at Piscu, a wonderfully (and rather new) location outside Bucharest dedicated to the old tradition of pottery and ceramics. They also have short pottery classes, it felt so refreshing to feel the water and the clay giving life to a shape. The Museum has a modern, eco architecture and is extremely quiet. More like a meditation spot full of arts and crafts, this is how I felt it. Piscu is a formerly pottery centre, and its novel museum houses a collection of maps, old photographs and documents, antique tools and machinery, and, above all, lots and lots of pots.

Add your ideas…and do them with love. Let’s re-create this World with more love for all of us in it.

From my hands to yours is just a temporary space that needs to be filled in with … love and both our intention to meet.

How’s your man doing, honey?

Mine has been a bit sick lately, devoid of energy and trying to heal after a less than fortunate emotional event that attacked his nervous system. I needed (more like forced) to come back to him after this episode and show him understanding and affection and space for healing.

Do you still believe I am talking about my partner? Well…NO, I am talking about my inner man – masculine – aka animus (in pshychology).

Carl Jung described the animus as the unconscious masculine side of a woman, and the anima as the unconscious feminine side of a man, each transcending the personal psyche.

We are now living in strange times of uncertainty and fluidity, of transformation and most of all insecurity. Wars everywhere. Hurt women everywhere. Men becoming more effeminate and undecided (poor integration of masculine, relying on a weak feminine) while us, women are still struggling to show the world we are able to have it all: the career, the money, the man, the family, the children. We are honestly forgetting who to be and how to be.

Over the past years as I got more involved with studying divination, feminine ezoterism and astrology, it became clear to me that the wounds we all possess as individuals but also as a collective feminine are mainly related to…the man within us.

Here are 3 simple questions that you could answer for yourself and see where you’re at in your integration and expression of your animus:

If your answers are: high percentage for the self-initiated projects, yes I can do it all and on the right side of the bed, I have a slightly mellow news for you: you’re functioning on a very active masculine and a weak feminine.

And it’s fine for now. Until your body will begin to signal something is imbalanced and rather odd with your decisions and thinking. Until you will feel exhausted or irritated or even worse, depressed. Many of us women will even reach high degrees of inflammation or various digestive problems until we actually stop and try to understand why we are going through this.

In everything there’s a woman and a man. A feminine and a masculine. We nevertheless seem to forget almost every morning.

In Chinese medicine, our bodies are travelled by numerous energy meridians. When some of them get stuck, or even worse like in my case, extremely activated, we deal with a lot of pain and imbalance. The body is split between yin meridians (with yin organs like liver, heart, spleen, lungs, etc) and yang meridians (with yang organs like stomach, gallbladder, small and large intestines). This is a split between the feminine and the masculine. Because there is no she without the he, in all of us.

A bit of a truth sharing moment now. For the past 2 weeks, huge amounts of work since January, poor boundaries with people around me, a lot of travel and a couple of not so fortunate personal events brought me back to my acupuncturist, doctor Radu. I have been working with him for the past 2 years to heal my severe digestive problems, while learning how to properly eat and use the smartest supplements around. And I must tell you: every time I visit him is because I have the same thing: anger, rage, translated into a lot of yang vortexes in my stomach with some incredible effects that put me to bed for a couple of days and require some intensive treatments with the magical needles. This is when I usually forget about my own wellness on my way to support others. This is yes…a lot of masculine imbalances the feminine. A lot of animus having its way with my entire being. By the way, did you know that animus also means hostility or ill feeling.

So you see…I am not a perfect healing guide. One of my friends this week asked me bluntly: how come you are sick? With all the therapies and self-care you have with your body…Well, the truth is that healing is never a noun, always a verb, a process. We learn and practice and forget and remember again.

This week’s message towards you is shorter, simpler, maybe more truthful and definitely coming from a place of…humility and humbleness. In Romanian, we have this word: “smerit” which means also humble before Christ. And it’s one of my favourite words ever.

I ask you this. Only this. Stop for 1 day. Any day. Get friendly with your surrounding. Get relaxed. Change that coffee for a herbal tea. And ask your (inner) man: how are you doing, honey?

He will answer. Sometimes abruptly, sometimes softly. You will hear his answer in how you feel, in what you attract, in the harmony you have with your partner and many more. Listen. Accept. Give space for healing. Many times it is the only necessary step you need to take to be…more balanced.

Who knows, you might even start to sleep on the left side of the bed. 🙂

All my love,

Roxana.

Women Are Healing

We are living in times of the quincunx

Conflicts can lead to what we need: Connection.

Wars. Bad politics. Stollen elections. Aggressiveness. Toxic workplaces. Wasteful relationships. Betrayal. Chronic diseases. Divorces. Gender inequalities. Money problems. Floods and extreme weather patterns. Misusage of words. Misinformation. Hatred. And so much more. Let’s be honest, this is really how the world looks like right now for all of us.

Yes, there’s good. In us, in our families, workplaces, communities and romantic bonds.

But as an energy practitioner myself, I feel we are at a point in time when the bad has definitely overcome the good. It’s much more powerful and it’s been coagulated under our very noses. I feel we hardly hear each other anymore. Most of us and our inner lights can not be seen anymore. It’s like the bad is the only common thread that connects us now.

We are living in times of the quincunx. This sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it?

In astrology, quincunx (or inconjunct) is a relation between two planets in the natal chart that can’t really connect to each other in a traditional sense. They thus generate an inner conflict that you will always need to reconcile within you, in a clever, innovative, creative way. They have nothing in common, like two irreconcilable notions, energies, but they have to exist within the same person at the same time. They are like moving forward in the same direction but on different lifelines. It’s like being able to hold two incompatible truths as true at the same time. The challenge is in finding how these two planets can work together when their energies are completely different.

Integrating and finding a way to live with the different energies is hard and requires constant practice and understanding of the self. Most of the time, such a conflict requires innovation and creativity in the approach. The best way to do this is to learn more about these 2 parts and to let them exist while you create a new neuronal path to connect them for the better.

Because, yes, any conflict leads to….connection.

The subject of this week’s newsletter came to me after experiencing +1 week of aggressive behaviour around me, in my projects, free time, etc. For the past days, starting Monday 10th of June, people felt even more crazy than ever. Misunderstandings, triggers, overly emotional reactions. In my own life, I had to deliver an important communication project that ended up in me quitting halfway through just to save my health. More, I had to witness the incredible episode of Coldplay concerts in Bucharest creating tension, hatred, disconnect in our own society. It’s been micro-bad and macro-bad.

And those wore the moments in which this seed of thought came to me as I was delving more into my astrology studies: how can we hear each other when we all right and wrong at the same time?

Well…we create a new path for our quincunx! A process I can recommend right now for all of you dealing with quincunxes in your world.

1.Settle in your own being. Gather the facts of a situation, but also feel the feels. According to psychotherapists, emotions point towards a need that’s not seen or met. Create the story for yourself, write it down, think of it or even tell it to your therapist (in whichever form he/she may come).

2.Disconnect a bit from the actual conflict, but mostly emotionally. Do something that nourishes your life, your body, your mind and soul. Stay with friends, cherish your family or companion animals. We need to heal ourselves first before we tackle any adversity. From that place of stillness and calm, we can make space to hear the other person’s story, no matter how different it is.

3.Accept that acceptance 🙂 is key to solving any conflict. It happened, it’s bad, it’s real. Now…what do we do with the current situation is really up to us.

4.Reach out to the other side and see whether they are willing (and mostly, emotionally able) to re-connect and share their version of the experience. You can actually meet in person or have this conversation over the phone. I strongly recommend you to talk, not write. Give your time and attention intentionally to the conversation. Most of the times, a conversation is all you need to settle the conflict. Most of the times, people just need to be heard and seen for their own imperfect self.

If the situation is for the time being too hard to reconcile, let it be. Work on yourself. Find grace in whatever happened. Turn to God and handle it to Him. Accept that you are living in the aftermath only, not in the experience itself. Try not to relive it. Try to forgive it.

This might be a way to mould our lives into better lives. Our families into better families. Our communities into better communities. Our world into a desirable world. Find your original way to build, connect, liaison rather than separate, disconnect, harm.

If you need my support, I am here. I have also a lot of quincunxes in my own chart and life, so…I do what I preach (and write about). Write a short message at hello@roxanamarin.life or a whatsapp: +40745 020 957.