Lately, I have been excavating parts of myself I had forgotten about. I’ve been trying to understand my past, make sense of it and, figure out how it fits into my now. Following the trail of breadcrumbs, I left that tells the story of my life and all I have created. While I was decorating for this past Christmas I found my Wool Felt Star Garlands. The child-friendly decorations I made for our Christmas trees because I only had glass ornaments and I wanted my children to see and touch beautiful objects of art as they explored the tree, and eliminate the risk of breaking glass.
There are so many stars! I did not count them so maybe not 5000, but a lot! I traced each one onto the fabric and cut it out. This took a tremendous amount of time and patience! It is tedious work. Very simple but tedious. It is not work done with tiny children, so I would wait until they went to bed for the night and use those precious hours! Of course, I was sleep-deprived and still breastfeeding!
What compelled me to do this instead of just going to bed? Why was I working so hard, not caring for myself properly, not understanding what I really needed? As I was staring in disbelief at these garlands and realizing how easy it seemed at the time to whip these out so quickly in contrast to how I feel now, I became curious about what my astrology chart looked like then. What parts of me were activated at that time that caused me to be able to take on such a task whilst caring for two very young very active boys?
This is one of the things I love so much about Vedic Astrology, it allows me to time travel in a sense, going back to parts of myself long forgotten as well as times I found myself confused. I can look at planetary influences and it really helps me understand what I was going through. When I put the pieces of my past together I can better understand my path and how I came to be where I am now. Then I can see the bigger picture and plan my next steps with more clarity.
So I have these parts of me that work so hard and push myself beyond reason. I know lots of you can relate to this! Where does this come from? This is the way Saturn is placed in my chart. If placed well Saturn gives perseverance, hard work ethics, patience. This gives me the ability to apply a lot of effort to long and short projects. I was also in Saturn Dasa ( a 19 year period of time when Saturn is the most influential planet in your life). and my second Sade Sati, a 7.5 year period (approximately) when Saturn moves through the houses before your natal Moon, moves into the house with your natal Moon and then moves on to occupy the house after. Since Saturn sits in each house for 2.5 years this is known as the 7.5 years of Saturn or Sade Sati.
Suffice to say Saturn was delivering all this pressure and I felt so compelled to over-deliver. There will never be a more intense Saturn time in my life than this was. A lot had already happened and this was the tail end of Sati Sat. My life had been completely turned upside down, all the parts scattered in the wind, then put back together beautifully. Believe me, it did not feel so beautiful in the worst of it! I was grateful for the 2nd chance and I was working really hard to feel worthy of it. However, I was missing a crucial piece of the puzzle, maybe the most crucial. Saturn is the utmost important planet to consider for self-care. At this time in my life, I thought the more I worked at my homemaking job, the better my life and my children’s lives would be.
Self-care was unheard of, beyond stealing a 5-minute shower every few days and brushing my teeth daily (which is not self-care) my needs were on the back burner. Nobody was telling me to take care of myself, in fact, there seemed this subliminal message that I was never doing enough. So, I used this Saturn time to work myself half to death. Eventually, I got another wake-up call. Thankfully this one wasn’t the punch in the back I didn’t see coming the first time! There was a part of me that knew something needed to change, but I wasn’t quite sure what. I asked for support from a professional and guess what? The hard work I was supposed to be doing was self-care! I say hard work because it was the hardest work I ever did, putting my own needs on my list as a mother. I actually had to hire a professional to give me permission!
Saturn wants us to simplify and practice self-care. To do the hard work it takes to become the best version of ourselves!!! I was totally missing the point!!! This is when my Self-care journey began. For the past 15 years now all of this beautiful effort has gone into studying food and lifestyle to support my self and my family. I have realized that the greatest gift I can give to my family and all whom I encounter, is to be the best version of myself. The past 7 years have found me enrolled in school studying the art and science of self-care. Ayurveda, Jyotish and Kundalini yoga. My mission is to help others tap into their innate wisdom and become the best version of themselves.
It has always been important to me to create beautiful things with my hands and with my mind. I use the finest materials I can find and make my things to last (unless it’s food, then I make it fresh and delicious)!!! I feel that if I am going to spend my time on something it needs to be the very best I can do. I have taken this approach in all the things including my education. Creating the beautiful stars was definitely part of my “overworking to be worthy” phase. On reflection, I would make them again! Only now I would pace myself.
One of the many gifts I took away from my Saturn Dasa and 2 Sade Satis is how to get things done slowly and methodically, while still doing all the things that need to be done. That’s how I put myself through school while homeschooling two children. If you have read my eWorkbook “Daily Rituals” you are familiar with my processes of managing your time to include what is most important and clear away the junk mentally and physically. To get your copy of “Daily Rituals eWorkbook” provide your name and email using the form at the bottom of this page.