Care of the Soul Counseling and Astrology

09/08/2025

Local PNW/ South Sound resources.

09/07/2025

Happy Lunar Eclipse in Pisces, Beloveds 🌝🐟♓️ I feel like this painting really captures what the opposition of the Virgo-Pisces axis feels like to me. On one side, the earthy virgin stands stall on a mountain of cascading waterfalls and detailed greenery, a white rose suspended between her palms. Counterbalanced by the Priestess who sits on her throne of imagination, behind the veil, receiving a stream of divine water from above.

I always think of this painting as my first true moment of dissolution, when I surrendered completely and allowed my hand to be guided by spirit, painting without premeditation. My psyche also went through a total dissolution and the boundaries between worlds all but disappeared. It became difficult to distinguish dreams from waking life, and I oscillated between pure ecstasy and emotional overload.

But even though I let that Piscean dissolution liberate my imagination, the detail oriented Virgoan impulse still came through as I refined the images that emerged from the unconscious waters. I always say when it comes to dissolution that the important thing is to keep one foot on dry land. The lunar seas are a rich treasure house of images, but to dive too deep or too long brings the risk of lunacy. We need something that keeps us connected to earth, whether that’s a job, children, a pet, or some other responsibility, or physical practice that gets us into our bodies. It’s vital to know how to enter the liminal, but without a connection to earth we may get swept away. I was pretty close to being subsumed by the waters, but my creative practice has always been my tether, a way to fix the volatile.

What is this lunation dissolving in your life? How can you tap into Virgo’s energy to stay grounded while allowing the Piscean waters of the spirit to open your inner world to new possibilities?

The Composition of the Waters, oil on panel, 2016 (30” x 40”)

09/04/2025

08/28/2025

It's not about someone stealing our heart. It's about restoring its aliveness. It's about softening its armor. It's about filling it up with light. When real love enters, it doesn’t take anything from us. It gifts us with the everything.

08/23/2025

“Healing from trauma isn’t a straight line – it’s a spiral.” You might find yourself revisiting old feelings, triggers, or memories you thought you’d left behind, and wonder if you’re ‘going backwards.’ But trauma often presents in cycles – moments of heaviness where you feel stuck, periods of numbness where you detach just to cope, and brief windows of hope where you catch a glimpse of the person you’re becoming. The first step to healing is recognising these cycles not as failures, but as invitations. Begin by noticing your body’s cues, honouring your emotions without judgement, and creating safe spaces – whether that’s through therapy, journaling, or grounding practices – to gently explore what’s underneath the pain. Healing starts small, with moments of self-trust built over time. And on the days it feels too heavy, remember: every spiral, no matter how messy, still moves you forward. You are not broken – you are unwinding, unraveling old wounds and becoming a different version of yourself and that is powerful!

Natasha Ann ❤️
Art is via Pinterest

08/15/2025

"So, if you are too tired to speak,
Sit next to me because I, too,
am fluent in silence.”
R. Arnold

Maxfield Parrish - River Ascutney, 1942.

08/01/2025

“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don't go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés - Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, 1992.

Alison Ingram - Spring Shadows and Swallows, 2025.

07/16/2025

Uranus has just moved into Gemini, and although we won’t start really diving deep into its lessons until next year, this energy will begin to activate our throat chakras.

The throat chakra sits in the center of our neck and glows the color blue. It is the seat of how we communicate, connect, and express. When our throat chakra is out of balance, we may feel afraid to express ourselves or speak up. Conversely, we may over share, have a hard time listening or dominate with our opinions.

The graphic shares some ways you can bring balance to your throat chakra and restore a sense of balance. Give it a try and see!

Learn more about Uranus in Gemini by visiting foreverconscious.com

07/11/2025

When we’re feeling inadequate or struggling in some way, it’s easy to spiral into over-identification, isolation, and self-criticism, but self-compassion reverses the spiral.

By bringing mindfulness, common humanity, and kindness to moments of struggle, we can break the cycle of suffering and offer ourselves the support we need.

06/23/2025

Self-compassion is a powerful practice that can transform how we relate to ourselves. Here are six simple yet profound ways to bring more kindness and care into your life:
ㅤ
1️⃣ Ask yourself, 'What do I need?': Pause for a moment and check in. Do you need rest, reassurance, movement, or connection? Listening to yourself with curiosity and care is a powerful act of self-compassion.
ㅤ
2️⃣ Treat Yourself Like a Friend: Speak to yourself with the same kindness and understanding you’d offer a dear friend.
ㅤ
3️⃣ Supportive Touch: A gentle hand on your heart or a comforting self-hug can soothe and ground you in moments of distress.
ㅤ
4️⃣ Write a Self-Compassionate Letter: Put pen to paper and offer yourself words of comfort and encouragement, just as you would to someone you love.
ㅤ
5️⃣ Remember You Aren’t Alone: It’s important to acknowledge that we all face challenges—this imperfection is what makes us human.
ㅤ
6️⃣ Use a Warm Inner Tone of Voice: Try to adopt a gentle tone with yourself, especially when things go wrong. Practice patience, love, and understanding toward yourself.
ㅤ
🌸 Have you tried any of these self-compassion practices? Share your favorite one below!
ㅤ

04/08/2025

Give yourself a break, it really didn’t start with you! Yes apples do not fall far from their trees, but some apples do roll away from their parent trees. What if the struggles you face today aren’t entirely your own? What if the anxiety, self-doubt, or even physical ailments you wrestle with are echoes of battles fought—and lost—by those who came before you? It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolynn is a groundbreaking exploration of how inherited trauma silently shapes our lives. This read encourages you to dig deep into the roots of your family tree to uncover the invisible threads connecting your pain to the past.

Reading this book felt like stepping into a maze of memories, emotions, and patterns—not just my own but those of my ancestors. Wolynn invites readers on a deeply personal journey to confront the generational wounds that many of us unknowingly carry. Here are seven profound lessons that shifted my understanding of self and family, leaving me with a renewed sense of empathy and hope:

1. Trauma Isn’t Always Yours—But You Carry It
One of the book’s most striking revelations is that trauma can be passed down through generations, even when the original source is unknown to you. A grandparent’s loss, a parent’s unspoken grief—these can live on in your subconscious, shaping how you view the world and yourself.

2. Unspoken Pain Finds a Way to Speak
Silence doesn’t erase suffering—it amplifies it. Wolynn reveals how the traumas our families avoid acknowledging often surface in the form of unexplained fears, illnesses, or patterns in future generations. This lesson taught me that healing starts with listening to the silence and asking the hard questions.

3. Your Family Tree Holds the Answers
The book emphasizes the importance of exploring your family’s history to identify recurring themes of loss, trauma, or disconnection. I learned that understanding where I come from isn’t just a journey of curiosity—it’s a pathway to self-discovery.

4. Patterns Are Clues, Not Sentences
Wolynn makes it clear that the patterns we inherit are not life sentences; they’re clues. Whether it’s a tendency toward self-sabotage or a fear of abandonment, recognizing these patterns gives you the power to break them.

5. Healing Begins With Acknowledgment
The act of acknowledging the pain and stories of your ancestors is powerful. This doesn’t mean carrying their burdens but honoring their experiences so you can release the weight of what’s been handed down.

6. Self-Compassion Is Key
Wolynn’s writing is a reminder to be kind to yourself during this process. Recognizing that some of your struggles are inherited doesn’t mean avoiding accountability—it means approaching your healing journey with greater empathy and understanding.

7. You Can Rewrite the Legacy
Perhaps the most hopeful lesson is this: inherited trauma doesn’t have to define you. By identifying and addressing these patterns, you have the power to rewrite your narrative and pass down a legacy of resilience instead of pain.

Get the Book: https://amzn.to/4ge4iOn

You can ACCESS the AUDIOBOOK for FREE using the same link. Use the link to Register the AUDIO BOOK on AUDIBLE and start enjoying

04/02/2025

"I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become." – Carl Jung