New Moon Total Solar Eclipse
INSIGHT on Trusting What You've Lived
Dear Community,
Many of you know our beloved Double Helix retreat producer, Nicola Grae. Alongside bringing these special week-long retreats into being, Nico serves as the backbone of INSIGHT Ops.
Nico is also a student of the stars. She has extensive knowledge of the sacred architecture of astrological charts, keeps me in the loop on the relevance of each lunar cycle, and often adds specifics about how a given cycle lands in my chart. Her perspective and artistry frequently act as my muse for these lunar INSIGHT reflections, and today's New Moon Solar Eclipse is no exception.
This new moon, coupled with a solar eclipse, is considered a powerful day for clearing out the old. Looking at my chart, Nico explained that it marks a hard reset around community, outreach, and how I interact with the public. You can visit her site, Made of Stardust, to learn more about her astrological work.
The Old Familiar Friend
When I heard Nico's reading, I knew immediately what "the old" was for me. It's the age-old fear of what others might think. That habit died a swift death with my stage four cancer diagnosis, because in those days I didn't have an ounce of energy to spend on anything but healing. Yet here I am, alive and well, and the part of me once governed by that concern has reared its head again. These past few weeks gave it every reason to.
The last newsletter was a big moment. It announced a new offering, The Divine Inflection, and it coincided with my sending out my book proposal. I poured two years of my life into architecting that book. It is my life's work distilled to its core. And The Divine Inflection is carrying INSIGHT into an entirely new depth and realm of spirit.
The Double Helix had launched only a few weeks before that. Taken together, the trifecta was an enormous output of creative energy in a very short window.
The rebound was uncomfortable, and it revealed something true. In the vacuum left by releasing so much into the world, what came pouring in were the old feelings of concern about how it would all be received. There I was, face to face with an old familiar friend.
Only this time, I welcomed it in. I didn't try to fix it, argue with it, or make it mean something about the work. I simply felt it, stayed with it, and let it move through me the way feelings do when we finally give them the room.
What the Visit Taught Me
Everything I’m offering now comes from my heart, from authenticity, and from what I know to be true through lived experience rather than theory. I’ve walked this path in my own body.
When we're operating from that ground, the need for external validation loses its purpose. Approval can't add anything to what has already been lived, and its absence can't take anything away. What remains uncomfortable is the old reflex itself, the habit of managing everyone else's picture of me when my own knowing is already clear.
The Release
So, in the spirit of this eclipse, here is my release, plainly named: I am releasing the need for external validation. The love of my people stays. What goes is the reflex that checks the room before trusting my own knowing.
Solar Eclipse INSIGHT In Practice
If you feel called, take this moment for a short and sweet practice.
Close your eyes and take one full breath in. On the exhale, ask yourself:
Whose opinion am I still carrying that was never mine to hold?
Let the answer surface on its own.
When it shows itself, take a second breath, and as you release it, relax the shoulders and abdomen, feel your feet on the ground, and set that opinion down at the door.
Let that settle in.
In the dark of this moon, plant what's true.
With love,
Kevin