I’ve been getting lots of compliments about my voice lately.
It’s funny how awkward I feel writing this - especially as a starting line - like I’m not supposed to publicly acknowledge positive feedback about a personal attribute. And yet it would feel even more uncomfortable to water it down, to tell you simply that I’ve been getting “comments” about my voice while I delicately dance around the consistently kind and supremely supportive things people have said to me. That simply wouldn’t do justice to those who took the time to share their loving words, and it certainly wouldn’t serve the younger me who absolutely abhorred hearing the sound of his voice.
So I’ve found the confidence to take this variation my vocal vibrations on board as an internal inquiry, and I’m getting curious about how and why they’re changing. I’m aware that I feel a deeper, richer tone coming through, and I’m realizing that it arrives with a studied air of authority. It seems especially present when I’m feeling relaxed and assured, when I’m not exerting any of my energy to figure out the “right” thing to say.
In those times of seamless speech, I notice how profoundly I resonate with the sentence streams that emerge. It feels more like “stating” than saying, that I’m simply declaring what I know to be true. And in my moments of greatest connection, I feel the beauty and wisdom of Our Universe take form in my mouth as clear, unwavering sound. It’s like I have back-up from a heavenly harmonized choir, and it gives me the power to sing the solo part that was written just for me.
When I reflect on all the changes I have made in how I see myself these past few years, how bravely I have explored the parts of me that didn’t feel like “enough”, I can understand why I sound different. It’s because I know that I have something unique and valuable to contribute to the world. And while I might still see waves of doubt wash over me, I have firmly planted my flag in a place of self-worth.
And so it seems this meandering road has led me to consider one central question: How does your voice sound when you believe what you have to say?
When I look up, I see Mercury blazing this query across the skies as it begins its two-and-a-half week retrograde. The mythological Mercury is the messenger of the Gods, and Mercury is indeed responsible for the ways that we speak, write and gesticulate. It is also the first planet to receive the life-giving rays of the Sun, and Mercury plays an essential role in translating universal knowledge into bite-sized morsels that our bodies can digest.
Diction note: I first wrote “brains” instead of “bodies” with the idea that it’s our brains that receive information, but that didn’t seem right as every cell in our body is in constant communication with the world around us. So I moved to “brains and bodies”, and then that didn’t seem right either because our brains are part of our bodies and it would be silly to try and separate them. This is how I’ve ended up with “bodies,” which is the only thing left to seem right.
Mercury began to move backwards on Wednesday, directing our thoughts inward as we explore the ways that we welcome, process and share information. This time our favorite fast-moving planet came to a stop in the sign of Capricorn, a place that asks us to convey with conviction. Mercury in Capricorn helps us to solidify our earned experience, to speak with the air of gravitas to which we are now entitled. We’ll carry this with us through next Friday, when Mercury slides back into Sagittarius to revisit its never-ending quest of truth. Mercury in Sagittarius wants us to connect with the higher vision, and tuning our antennas to our own channel will help us to find faith in our own divine utterances.
Taken together, this feels like an invitation to step into spiritual credibility. It’s a chance to let go of the ways that we have adjusted our voices to sound “right” to please the powers that be, an opportunity to rediscover how we sing the eternal truth that lies within. And so I ask myself: What if there is nothing for me to prove? What if I always know just what to say? What if my voice is a perfect expression of who I am?
Shout-out: Special thank you to and for teeing these questions up so beautifully for me with their own magnificent stories of ever-evolving spiritual credibility.
We’ll be following Mercury together as it passes through the heart of the Sun on the solstice next week and then comes to a second stop in the sky on New Year’s Day. I talk more about how we can start tapping into this energy in the Weekly Oracle, and I share the most essential thing we can ask ourselves on the road to spiritual credibility.
I’m also really enjoying the chance to dive into the heart of money as my friend/ colleague Nadia and I tune into our workshop on the Moon and Money starting January 11. I am humbled by the courage she shows in sharing her own money story, and she reminds me how much more money has to teach us about ourselves:
I’m still figuring out my relationship to ‘money’. It used to feel scary and stressful – like a quickening of blood around my temples and a tightness in the chest. The exiled accountant in me would shake her head, wondering when I’d master concepts of compound interest, budgeting or even just consolidating my pensions.
And then I started to have real conversations with friends about money – how are you investing, what are your retirement options, how are you making sure your kids will have enough? These were the practical questions but something else in me also needed to shift: the sticky sense that I wasn’t enough or that I could never attain ‘enough’.
In this latest offering, Patrick and I have created a four-week change circle where we explore how to get ‘unstuck’ from the stories we tell ourselves about wealth and abundance and accumulation. These stories are different for everyone, so we had some fun thinking about what we should call this circle and, in the end, we settled on *the moon and money*. It’s simple, we follow the phases of the moon from new moon to full; and back again. Each week is a different set of inquiry, a movement practice, a meditation, and an opportunity to share.
We hope to see you there - and if you can’t make it live thanks to these pesky time zones, please know that we’ll share the recordings promptly and welcome your questions whenever they show up.
Love,
Patrick
The Moon and Money: 4-Week Change Circle
Thursdays, January 11 - February 8: 9:30 - 10:30 am London / 8:30 - 9:30 pm Sydney
Come join the circle with me and my friend / colleague Nadia to get into full financial flow with the lunar cycle. Each week we’ll offer you cosmic guidance, embodiment practices, and energy exercises to help you redefine your relationship with money. We’ll get together online for five sessions that track the major turning points in life’s most fundamental creative rhythm, and you’ll see how smoothly you can surf the ever-changing economic tides. If you want to learn about how to grow your investments or set a budget, this probably isn’t for you. But if you want to find a new level of trust in your internal resources, you’ve found the perfect place.
Weekly Oracle
This week, we follow the Moon as it fosters authentic growth in Aquarius and sets our sights on the highest vision of ourselves in Pisces. We make room for greater freedom in our love lives with Venus and Uranus, and we dive into the cosmic plan for the two-and-a-half week Mercury retrograde that has just begun. I also air what’s been happening for me behind the scenes (hint: it’s magic), and I share the next chapter in my own journey to spiritual credibility.
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