In this part of the practice, we look at the starfish with all the things we would like to do more or less of, keep, stop or start doing. How to translate these wishes into small, actionable steps?
My House III starfish is rather full, and I actually felt slightly overwhelmed when I looked at it. But then I remembered the purpose of the practice: to make life easier and bring more light into each day. The purpose is certainly not to overload your schedule.
As you move towards this new way of living, I would encourage you to be as kind and gentle to yourself as you possibly can. You do need to take action, yes, you might have to change habits, yes, but you are unlikely to find any calm and peace by pushing or overcommitting yourself.
So I looked at the starfish once more and decided to put all the wishes and plans into separate categories, which would make it easier to schedule them (or not). This led to the following lists:
Daily life and rituals
- routines and rituals for self-care, gratitude, presence and spirituality
- structuring chores
- structuring work schedule
- less cognitive activities
- more physical activities and exercise
- spending more time outdoors and in nature
- more gardening
- taking more time for cooking
- no more wine to unwind
- no more working late
- going to bed well before midnight
- getting enough sleep
Keep doing what I love
- writing
- mental stimulation and developing ideas
- preparing to launch this blog on 18 March 2022
Siblings and close friends
- spending more time with my sister and nephew
- being my most gentle, soft, calm and present self with my close friends
- being vulnerable
- communicating love, kindness, gratitude and light to close friends
- more in person communication
- less online communication
Keep doing the work
- less spiralling down into negative thoughts
- take time to grief
- let go of former friends, colleagues and connections with a ritual
- reconnect with my fighting spirit
Professional communication and work
- do a starfish on means of communication
- more focused use of various means of communication
- clear out contacts and connections
- stop using social media
- start efficiently communicating with potential clients
- start efficiently storing data and managing emails
- prepare to launch this blog on 18 March 2022
- be clear on boundaries when it comes to availability for meetings
- find projects that involve speaking in front of a class or an audience
- check with each new project if there is enough creative space
Now, let’s look at the planning. Bearing in mind, that I also want to save time for decluttering my house and studio, creating artwork for this blog and working on my portfolio’s.
The first part of the lunar cycle, when the moon is waxing, is beautiful for creating, building and allow something to grow. This is why I will start with daily life and rituals. Between now and the full moon I will gradually work on my daily routines, using this blog page as a check-list.
I am saving the professional communication and work list for the two sessions I have scheduled with my coaching friend this month. Perhaps actions will follow out of those, but I will do most of the thinking when I am speaking to her.
During the weekly check-in, I will not only look at the progress in the category in focus that week, but I will also take some time to reflect upon the categories keep doing what I love and siblings and close friends. I trust that going over the plans and wishes regularly, keeping them top of mind, will lead to the right actions in time.
Once the moon starts waning, the time comes to let things go. This is a good moment to start focusing on the keep doing the work list. The actual ritual for letting go of former friends, colleagues and connections will happen one week later.
As for the House II actions that I still need, and want to do: part of them will flow into the new daily routines and one, the portfolio’s, I will also bring to the coaching sessions.
And so, the schedule for the following weeks is:
- week 6 – daily life and rituals / check-in / coaching
- week 7 – daily life and rituals / check-in / do the work
- week 8 – letting go ritual / check-in / coaching
In week 9 we will have the new moon in Pisces, which means we shall be moving on to the themes of the following house. On 12 August 2022, the topics we are working on this February come back into focus briefly. The full moon in Aquarius is a beautiful moment to look back on the changes we are beginning to create right now.
My rising sign 