https://elizabethheren-psychotherapy.co.uk/

Elizabeth Heren Psychotherapy, Hastings (2025)

21/07/2023

"Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one's being, but by integration of the contraries."

Carl Jung.

17/07/2023

🌙 As Above, So Below 🌎

New Moon in Cancer 24° 57’, 7.35 pm BST

Emotional Rescue

Cancer is a caring sign that nurtures and protects those it loves in the safe base of home. So the new moon in Cancer could stimulate a review of your emotional security and the place you call home. The Moon rules Cancer as well as the ‘fourth house,’ the house in the zodiac that symbolises our roots and early environment, the experiences and memories that influence how secure we feel. The Crab, the symbol for Cancer has a tough shell covering its body, and similarly people born under the sign of Cancer have an instinct for self-protection.

As we are in Cancer season, you may be thinking about family and home, who/what makes you feel or not feel secure and supported? Or you could be decorating your home or deciding to move, in order to feel more ‘at home.’ If we engage with the dynamic aspects influencing this new moon, there are two aspects in particular indicating a change that could initially bring up confusion and fear. They both peak in the days that follow the new moon: the shift of the moon’s nodes into Aries and Libra, and Pluto (back in Capricorn) opposition with the Sun and the Moon in Cancer.

Together they form a grand cross, a challenging aspect as the planetary energies involved are at cross-purposes, and consistent effort is needed to integrate them. The gift of this tension will galvanise a desire to tackle obstacles which lead to growth, but they will create upheaval and rock the peace and quiet in the process.

Before we plant new psychological seeds it's necessary to first w**d the ground of our being. If you tend to focus more on conforming to the expectations of family or friend groups, and continually suppress your needs to keep others happy, the shift of the north node into Aries will initiate a process that will help you develop some healthy boundaries and restore your independence and initiative. Aries can learn from Libra’s diplomacy and relational skills but it also can teach Libra to honour its individuality and learn some boundaries. This is bound to feel uncomfortable but there is time to practise as the nodes will move through Aries and Libra for the next 18 months.

If your childhood left you with insecurities, you could hold on to relationships and
environments that are not actually good for you because they proved a false sense of security. If your family, or the people who took care of you when you were growing up, was loving and supportive then you have probably went into adult life with trust and confidence, or you could have a mixture of the two as no family is perfect. As we move through life we can discover ‘unmet’ parts of ourselves at any age and learn how to ‘parent’ these parts and build an internal secure base.

Pluto is currently re-visiting Capricorn before it makes its permanent move into Aquarius. This is a time of tying up loose ends, and pausing to review if your life and work is aligning with your passion and soul. Are you compromising too much or afraid or pursuing what fulfils you? Try not to ignore discontent if it arises, and if you are feeling frustrated or angry, listen into it. Standing or sitting, quiet your bodymind by taking some deep breaths and gently move your body on the out breath. You’re making a boundary for yourself to experience your feelings without projecting them onto others. Your feelings, however subtle or strong, want you to feel them in a grounded way. When you do this you will feel lighter and clearer.

Neptune is making a harmonious and inspirational angle to the Moon and Sun, and this exercise will help you release pent up feelings and make space for you to connect with what inspires you. Practise it whenever you feel overwhelmed and confused. Whatever you visualise for yourself, may it inspire you, the people you love, and all that you do.

12/07/2023

Today we celebrate National Simplicity Day. A reminder to take a step back to appreciate simplicity. Simplicity originally meant, ‘ to come from the heart,’ so similarly, where distracting your attention from inviting more peace and clarity into your life.

29/06/2023

This week is Wellbeing Week, and I want to put the spotlight on The Wellington Health and Wellbeing Centre in Hastings - and not just because I work there! Many skilled and experienced practitioners from a variety of disciplines practice in this beautiful and welcoming building by the sea. Located in the centre of Hastings, the Wellington Centre is an invaluable hub providing wellbeing for the community.

24/06/2023

There is no urgency. Summer does not rush toward autumn. One tiny blade of grass is not trying to grow faster than its neighbor. The planets spin lazily in their orbits. This ancient universe is in no hurry.
But the mind, feeling so divided from the totality, wants answers now, wants solutions today, wants to know so badly. It wants to reach its precious conclusions. And, ultimately, it wants to be in control.
But you are not the mind. Mind is an aspect of the whole, but cannot capture the whole.
So slow down, friend. Take a deep and conscious breath. Trust the place where you are, the place of
"no answers yet," the precious place of not knowing.
This place is sacred, for it is 100 percent life. It is full of life, saturated with life, dripping with life, drenched with life.
Don't try to rush to the next scene in the movie of "me." Be here, in this scene, Now -the only scene there is.
Now is the place where questions rest, and creative solutions grow.

From, The Way of Rest: Finding the courage to hold everything in love.
By Jeff Foster. Published by Sounds True. 2016.

21/06/2023

“One way of celebrating the Solstice is to consider it a sacred time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal.”

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

17/06/2023

🌙 As Above, So Below 🌍

New Moon in Gemini 26° 42”/ 5.36 am GMT Sunday 18th June

This is a lively and optimistic new moon, a time for connecting, socialising and sharing as Gemini rules all forms of communication and exchange. As the sun is also in Gemini, time spent with whoever you consider family should be fun and nurturing. Gemini’s lightness is challenged because the sun and moon are in tension with Neptune, whose dreamy energy may put Gemini out of kilter. Neptune is not concerned with the ego and the rational mind, because its purpose is to connect us with our hearts and also the higher realms.
Gemini prefers to use the mind, but its ruler Mercury is equipped to travel anywhere, and its capacity for flexibility can be put to great use here. The potential of this tension is to expand our thinking to include dreams and imagination within the mental apparatus. We can share our dreams with those we trust to value them, or record them through writing or creative activity. We might be inspired by film, art, or music, or through conversation (listening as much as speaking,) so listen to your intuition and the promptings of your heart.

In the background, the retrograding Pluto and Saturn indicate we may be revisiting old situations and plans. The purpose of this is to finish what has not been completed, to restructure, or to release what can not be resolved. What have we learned the last few years? What are the essential ingredients that we know make life valuable? We do not need to relive what we have left behind, but rather mark that it is gone, and move on trusting our experience and wisdom to guide us. Mars and Venus are in Leo highlighting relationships, romance, fun, love, play, and creativity. There is no need for the heavy lifting of recent years but there is an imperative to make time for joy and play.

16/06/2023

Gathering

This is a really good breath and visualisation practice if you get caught up in over-thinking, worry and feeling anxious. It will help you unhook from the control of the negative mind and help you ground and rest in your body: It’s great if you can do this outdoors in nature where you can put your feet on the earth, but you can practice this anywhere as long as you’re in a quiet space with no distractions.

Feel your feet on the earth or floor. You might want to stretch your arms and relax your neck and shoulders too. Take a breath and exhale, and repeat this a few times, focussing as much as you can on the flow of breath as it enters and exits your lungs. Breathe naturally, but the more you relax you’ll probably find you can breathe more deeply.

Visualise collecting up your thoughts and worries and bringing them to your abdomen. You can use your hands to help you ‘catch’ them as if they were a net. Now imagine sending light to your abdomen, and on your next outbreath, exhale them down your body and into the earth/ground beneath you. You can visualise moving them down your lower body too into the earth where they will be neutralised. Repeat the whole practice a few times and then come to rest. Hopefully you will feel your thoughts are no longer in control and you are more embodied. Repeat the practice again if your thoughts are persistent, but don’t force this. Be gentle and compassionate with yourself. You can always try again.

03/06/2023

🌙 As Above, So Below 🌍

Full Moon in Sagittarius 4th June 13° 18” 4.42am

This month's full moon in Sagittarius is supportive of working with the limiting beliefs and thoughts that influence the way we think and live. If you are bereaved, depressed, experiencing an ending of some kind, or struggling to find a direction, the planetary set-up and the month ahead support recovery after struggle. This is a good time to spend some time noticing your thoughts, particularly the negative ones and inhabit your ‘self talk.’
On Thursday I posted a short meditation by Tara Brach, that is a good guide for quieting the mind and connecting with the feelings and sensations that flow through your body. Her meditation opens awareness, which is in keeping with this fiery and mutable full moon.

Sagittarius and Jupiter are expansive, enthusiastic and optimistic, they influence our desire for knowledge and ability to find the underlying connections between different cultures, religions and different types of knowledge. Sagittarius is symbolised by the centaur holding a bow and arrow that points towards the sky, or maybe the heavens. The centaur represents our ‘animal body,’ and our ability to dream, imagine and think, and our capacity to integrate our physical body with our mental body, our senses with our imagination.

Let's return to earth: there is also an emphasis of planets in Ta**us, the steady, earth- loving and physical sign. This dynamic directs us to ground and replenish our bodies, an important component in aligning with who and what we value. Our physical limits extend to our thinking too, because our experiences remain in the body until we turn within and explore their influence. Often we find parts who haven’t received or had enough love and care, and these unmet parts are influencing our self-esteem and self-worth, determining how we treat ourselves and others, and how we experience life.

The chart of this full moon is supportive of reviewing self-limiting beliefs, and feeling into a more expansive and trusting version of yourself. Together Uranus and Mercury in Ta**us revivify our minds and inspire innovative thoughts and inspiring ideas. It is possible to reset our thinking patterns - it takes work and can’t be changed in a day but we can when we regularly spend time being kind and loving towards ourselves. Our bodies will feel better as they respond to kinder thoughts, and any anxiety and stress they hold will shift to a calmer state.

Jupiter is also in Ta**us, conjunct the north node and sextiled by Saturn - the collective destiny points to the healing and appreciation of our bodies, nature, valuing the earth’s natural resources, and the simplicity and pleasure of our senses as we coexist with the environment. From the sidelines, Saturn quietly offers support and steady maintenance to the process of embodied expansion and renewal. 🏹

01/06/2023

‘Letting life live through you,’ a Tara Brach meditation to open to feelings and senses, to the awareness of life as it flows through you. It's a lovely meditation, and a good practice to prepare for the energy of this weekend’s full moon.

Link to meditation: https://www.tarabrach.com/meditation-letting-life-live-2/

27/05/2023

The Wounded Healer

The Astrological community recognised the importance of Chiron some years ago, and this asteroid has a significant place in the birth chart. Chiron’s presence is best described as a process of gradual unfolding and understanding of experiences that were beyond our control yet nonetheless left us with a wound. Chiron teaches us that striving to be perfect, and trying to fix ourselves prohibits whole healing because we then deny our vulnerability and feelings of inadequacy. Vulnerability is a compass for self care, but feelings of inadequacy or shame can prevent us from looking more deeply at their source, so we hide them from others and from ourselves.

The wound could be a lack of self-esteem, body shame, feeling inadequate about education, finances, background, success, but its roots stem from early abandonment and rejection. We are usually unconscious of its existence, until a situation ‘re-wounds’ us, and we experience the pain again. We then have a choice to work with the pain in therapy, or to ignore it and find ways to hide from it by feeling victimised, or pursuing a perfect self and/or immunising ourselves from pain through addiction or codependency

Chiron is known as the ‘Wounded Healer’ because despite being a gifted healer he could not heal a fatal wound to his thigh, and eventually gave up his immortality to be healed. Similarly as we heal, we learn that our wounds are part of our humanity, and the more we face them they teach us self awareness.Through integrating disowned or forgotten experiences, we become embodied and develop self acceptance and compassion for ourselves and for others. EH

24/05/2023

“The truth of a thing is in the feel of it, not in the think of it.”

- Stanley Kubrick

If we had to repress our feelings as children, they remain dormant and unprocessed, susceptible to being triggered by something or someone in our environment. Feelings become overwhelming, and develop into fight or flight responses, mood swings and reactive thinking and behaviour. As we learn to understand and trust our feelings through processing our experiences, we discover they can guide us to, ‘the truth of a thing.’

Elizabeth Heren Psychotherapy

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