New Moon in Taurus May 2018

I have been posting about the new moon in Taurus for the past two days on my @cathclaire Instagram and I have gotten A LOT of questions about what this means.  I am no astrologist by any stretch of the imagination but I shall try to explain. The moon and the sun pull the tides of the ocean water and humans are 75% water. The way that the moon's effect on us makes the most sense to me is by thinking about the tides of the ocean. This perspective helps me to understand and ponder the effect that the lunar cycles have on us at an energetic/cellular level. I think this stuff is so interesting and I enjoy reading about it to say the least. I usually keep this mystical astrology stuff for my journal but with all the interest on my instagram, I figured I would share so let's get to it!!!!!

The new moon is in Taurus and while that is a personal cause for cathclaire celebration having the lunar cycle in my zodiac, there is much more to this particular moon than there has been in 84 years. Before I get into that aspect - let's go over the basics. As a rule of thumb, a new moon - 29 day lunar cycle - is a new wave of energy influencing the coming month. It is a great time to let go of old patterns of living to make space to create new and healthier experiences moving forward. The new moon being in the Earthly sign of Taurus will emphasize characteristics of this sun sign in our lives: values, worth, material world (as a fashion blogger, I sure do like this one), beauty, senses, and nature. Taurus is also associated with the throat chakra - this new moon is the perfect time to listen to your intuition, personal truth, and a time to voice how you feel courageously. The throat is the center of manifestation so pay attention to ideas that come to you and use your voice to make them come to life!

While a new moon is always exciting, what is so significant about this new moon in Taurus today (May 2018) is that the planet of Uranus will be entering into Taurus today as well for the first time in most of our lifetimes! Lagging behind 4 hours or so from the moon's path, this is notable because Uranus doesn't change paths as often, which is causing the Taurus New Moon energy to amplify and get shaken up.  The planet of Uranus carries it's own energy that can be categorized as revolutionary, innovative, metaphysical, surprising, awakening, liberating and insightful so combine that with the characteristics of the Taurus new moon I mentioned above and you can guarantee it is a time full of unpredictable and ALOT of energy.

The Key to Morning Affirmations for Your Dream Life

Whatever you do, do not think about a pink Chanel bag.

What came to mind when you read the above statement? I would be willing to bet that you did not NOT (double negative, sorry) think about a Chanel bag and instead, a luscious pink quilted purse flashed across the screen of your mind. Funny how that works, isn't it?

I'm sure you have read about a tool called affirmations that the internet and books alike deem the fast track to your dream life and success. If there is anyone who wants to take the fast track, it's this impatient millennial right here: me, Cathclaire. When I discovered this whole affirmation idea, I couldn't get to work on them fast enough. It's as simple as writing down your dreams as if they are true and reading them when you wake up every morning, right?

I used to belieb the same thing years ago and my affirmations went something like this:

"I won the lottery." 

"I am a famous baton twirler." 

"I lost 10 lbs."

"I am a sucessful fashion blogger"

I read my affirmations and read my affirmations and read my affirmations some more not much changed over time. My fast track oriented brain got discouraged. I started thinking things like: WTF. Where is my winning lottery ticket? How about my miraculous weight loss? 

I took my discouraged butt where I always go when I'm discouraged: to get a bottle of wine and to google and well, poured a glass of wine and began googling. 

"Why aren't my affirmations working?"

I love google but at the time, my search did not reveal results that could seep into my brain and teach me the truth behind affirmations. Could've been user error but I also don't remember taking a class in the art of googling at Virginia Tech so......

Fast forward 5 years (so much for the fast track, am I right?) and I finally understand how to use affirmations as a tool for success and why like the Chanel example at the beginning of this post, it's important to be aware that your mind doesn't do what you tell it to do all the time. The key to an effective affirmation? Pay attention to how you feel and what picture flashes across your mind when you are reading your affirmation. 

When I was affirming "I won the lottery" years ago, I got zero feelings associated with someone who wins the lottery. At the time, I got the feeling of a little girl with no magical credit cards, yet alone a winning lottery ticket, looking inside the Barneys window dreaming of fabulous things. No offense Cathclaire (sometimes I talk to myself in the third person), but that ain't the feelings someone who just won the lottery would feel or the picture they would see flash across their mind. 

Ok, so now you know what makes up an effective affirmation but that is not enough! I don't want you to walk away from this post until you know how to create an affirmation that will work for YOU personally. We are all beautifully unique snowflakes and unlike Hanky Panky underwear, there is no one size affirmation that fits all. How do you find the affirmations that will work for you personally? 

My now father-in-law said it best: See it how you want it to be and work backward. Think of your dream life as one of those pesky math problems from middle school when you had the solution but not the whole problem = _ + _ = 6 

Stripes on Stripes:

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You know your end goal, that's the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what words you need to include in your affirmation that will elicit the vision and feelings you want to experience.

Picture yourself at your end goal and decide how it feels. What do you see in your mind when you feel this feeling? Who is around? What are you doing? Dive really deep into this day dream before you try to put words to it and once you have got a good grip on this feeling vision - write down the words (think of them as clues) that will remind you of this feeling. THAT, my dear, is an effective affirmation - tailored for you by you, not google or a guru on the internet.

My affirmation today is: "This blog post on Cathclaire helps atleast one person get one small step closer to their dream life."