The Real You, Hiding in the Shadows

March 22, 2018March 22, 2018Leave a comment

Who you think you are is probably not who you really are…

by Safiya

I’ve been crocheting a lot lately. It’s like a meditation, the repetitive back and forth, seemingly never ending rows growing and forming, something taking shape from nothing. It’s a miracle to turn a ball of string into a piece of fabric, a fabric that is basically holes held together with knots of yarn.

I just made a curtain. I’m in love with it! I fall in love with everything I make. I can’t believe I’m able to do it and I fall in love so often that I’m overrun with stuff I’ve made. This is the making of a great modern fairy tale: the girl who fell in love with everything she makes and ends up surrounded by her handiwork and unable to leave her home, only to be rescued by a handsome prince who arrives on a white horse clutching a pair of scissors to cut her out of her predicament.

Continue reading →

Why crafting our own narrative matters more now than ever

March 18, 2018Leave a comment

Social media seduction

I talk about this in my most recent podcast, but this 13-minute Guardian interview is worth watching to understand how unscrupulous marketers are influencing us through Facebook harvesting and micro-targeting.

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie claims that Cambridge Analytica used apps developed by a Cambridge University professor that enjoyed “special permissions” from Facebook. Meaning that If one of your friends signed up for one of these apps, the app had permission to harvest data from all of your friends’ friends – including your status updates and even private messages.

I also found it fascinating that Cambridge Analytica employs teams of writers, designers, and other creatives to create entire blogs and websites to lend the appearance of legitimacy to what you are fed on Facebook. Entire fake histories written just for you!

Want to take back your story? Join us now for Who Do You Think You Are?! A mind-expanding exploration into the untapped resources of your multidimensional Self.

Dreaming Our World Into Being

March 16, 2018March 16, 2018Leave a comment

The Pisces New Moon Podcast

children power of imagination Saturday’s New Moon opens an energetic doorway to reclaim the power of our personal – and collective – imagination.

The New Moon happens in conjunction with Chiron, the wounded healer, just as Chiron is about to end his eight-year stay in Pisces.

Chiron in Pisces activates awareness of our collective, societal wounds. Particularly those involving populations that are not included in the Saturnian power structures of society: women, children, minorities, trans- people, and other groups that exist in the shadow of the patriarchy.

The New Moon also makes a positive trine angle to Jupiter, currently retrograde in Scorpio – indicating that a willingness to encounter and integrate our own psychological shadow is necessary in order for us to escape from the collective “story of the world” and dream a better life for ourselves and for Mother Earth and all of her creatures.

We also look at the paradoxical energy signature at the start of the new astrological year, delve deeper into Jupiter Retrograde, and more.

[powerpress]

The Naked Songwriter podcast currently happens twice a month, timed to the new and full moons. I’m listener-supported, just like public radio, so if you enjoy my unique blend of astrology, music, cultural commentary and inspiration for all of us who are creating rather than consuming, please show your love. Share the pod, support me on Patreon — let’s connect and conquer!

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The legend of Jimbo

March 15, 2018March 20, 2018Leave a comment

Tapping into your inner genius

In her What’s In A Name? post Safiya asked, Do you like your given name?

I don’t ever remember liking mine.

My given first name, Daryl, means ‘beloved’ according to the name dictionaries. That’s beautiful, and I am beloved. I like the way my given name looks in print, with its fairly unusual spelling (vs Darrell or Darryl). But it never seemed to fit me.

Maybe it’s because my dad gave it to me. My dad and I have a good relationship now, but things were so rocky between him and my mom, he was gone by the time I turned three years old. Obviously I don’t remember a lot of that time, but I didn’t have many fond associations with him when I was growing up.

Whatever the reasons, I was already trying to change my name by the time I was five or six years old. I had narrowed down my career options to detective, explorer, fighter pilot, or cowboy by then. I was always trying to get my mom to call me Pete or Bob, which I thought were good cowboy names. Continue reading →

What’s In A Name?

March 14, 2018March 20, 20182 Comments

Exploring yOur (inherited) identity

by Safiya

hello my name is?

Years ago, a girl who worked in my office announced one day that from now on she wanted to be known by a new name. I thought, how strange! It was very confusing and I never quite got used to it. Then a few years later I was given a new name.

The one thing that identifies us most specifically in this world is probably the thing we think the least about: our name.

What’s in a name, anyway? Continue reading →

Ego Trouble: It’s Not What You Think

March 7, 2018March 7, 20184 Comments

[Why your bodaciousness is called for now]

DK Brainard driving

The Naked Songwriter Podcast – Episode #21

[podcast]

What the Virgo Full Moon opposition Neptune and Jupiter Retrograde have to say about your ego. Which isn’t what you thought it was. Plus – the USA’s natal chart: more secrets revealed, and why it’s so important not to play small now.

Here’s the excerpt from my newsletter about claiming your greatness.

Here’s a video of us writing a song based on audience suggestions in the middle of Red House (public post on my Patreon blog).

Me and Lupo playing my award-winning song “the blue line” on acoustic guitars under the Full Moon on March 1. (Thanks to Natalie Lupo for the great iPhone video!)

Claim Your Greatness

March 7, 2018March 20, 2018Leave a comment

Beyond the Ego – This Is No Time for Playing Small

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why it’s important for those of us who are on the leading edge of human social evolution to claim our greatness. I think so many of us who are healers and artists have been outcasts from mainstream society for so long that we’ve developed some bad habits.

New webinar starts March 25!

Even as kids, many of us sensed that the others didn’t quite understand us. We often faced outright rejection and abuse from parents, peers, and partners because of our unwillingness (or inability) to be like the others – to be who we were supposed to be.

“When are you going to stop (playing your guitar, drawing, writing stories, doing yoga, talking about that woo-woo shit)?” They’d ask, in a tone that made sure you knew that your passion was not only not going to make you enough money to live, but was also inherently shameful and embarrassing.

“Why do you have to be so weird?” Continue reading →

the blue line – acoustic

March 7, 2018Leave a comment

DK Brainard and Jeff Lupo (Stand & Deliver) playing “the blue line” on acoustic guitars – March 1, 2018.

Emotional Pressure Gauge: Aquarius Solar Eclipse February 15 2018

February 16, 2018Leave a comment

Aquarius Eclpse Extra: How Social Roles and Expectations Impact Emotional Health

En cas d’urgence, inversez la parapluie.

(This was originally sent out to my email subscribers on February 15 – sign up form in the right sidebar.)

I’ve heard from so many empaths and sensitives who are just feeling battered by the energy leading up to today’s eclipse. Make no mistake about it: the parasitic forces in the world are engaging us in full-on psychological warfare.

Although those of us who carefully limit our media consumption (exposure to programming) possess higher immunity than the media-addicted masses, we are not immune to this assault. The mental viruses of hopelessness, despair, shame, and overwhelm are also being passed on by our unwitting friends, family, and coworkers.

In my new podcast, I explain how the ongoing demoralization of the American people is accelerating the emergence of new social paradigms and will threatening the longterm relevance of current social networks such as Facebook – unless they align with more people-centered values.

Thoughts and Emotions

But why all the heavy emotionality? Isn’t Aquarius a mental sign? Yes, but… Continue reading →

Aquarius Solar Eclipse: Emerging Systems Theory February 15 2018

February 14, 2018February 16, 20182 Comments

[Podcast] The February 15 solar eclipse 27 Aquarius: Profound Shifts in Perception

Sensory Rain. Detail from colored pencil sketch by DK.

The Aquarius solar eclipse falls in the same degree as the USA’s natal Moon. In this podcast, I explain how the ongoing demoralization of the American people will lead to new social paradigms and threaten the relevance of current social networks such as Facebook. Plus, this ‘super’ eclipse makes a friendly aspect to Aquarius’ ruling planet, Uranus, suggesting the potential for radical innovation as well as sudden upheavals.

And I look at systems theory, the Leo-Aquarius shadow polarities, and read from Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet.

[podcast]

In my article on the Aquarius solar eclipse as emotional pressure gauge, I look at some of the degree symbols for the eclipse chart and explore how your emotional state can enable you to break free of conditioned social roles and underperforming relationships.

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