Holy Mackerel! I am astonished to realize I haven't updated in years.  My website is basically an archival site since I am active on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and What's App.  However, I realized I still give people my card with this address so about time I at least post something to say I am alive and kicking!

I am still continuing to offer Soul Sanctuary sessions featuring Eco-Astrology sessions. Current Donations are sliding scale $180-108 unless personal arrangements are made with me for exceptions.  With FB and Zoom I can be of service anywhere.

My greatest passion at this time is sharing my songs, poetry and stories. On YouTube channel you can find me as Esther Frances, A-Muse-'in-Express.

I love living in Santa Cruz CA.  My CD "Mother Earth Calls" is still available as a CD $15 plus postage or as an MP3. My now vintage book, "Anatomy of Woodstock"  has some remaining copies left for your to purchase. $10 plus shipping.

I'm celebrating a one year anniversary of discovering "Ancient Secrets of a Master Healer" by Clint G. Rogers PhD. I've been involved with this wonderful community ever since. The Zoom calls are fabulous-- full of love, inspiring stories of healing and techniques to improve health and well-being.

Blessings for this Winter Solstice and Holiday season,  Esther

esther@estherfrances.com.

Dive In  Key of C

Chorus 1
C      G
Dive in, in
C                                        G
In where you don’t want to go
        C  G
Dive in, in
C           G       C
Into the undertow

Verse 1
C                G
Go down, down
C                                G
Way beneath the surface
C           G
Down, down
C              G            C
Way beneath the waves
C            G
Hmm,  hmm
C                                 G
Child if you wanna be free
C          G
Hmm, hmm
C                 G             C
Child if you wanna be free

Verse 2
F               C
Face your fears
G          G7          C
Dare to tell your story
F               C
Face your fears
      G                 C
No longer run away
F                  C
Speak your fear
G       G7             C
Question your story
F                 C
Truth’s the key
      G                        C
To open the hidden doors

Chorus 2
C          G
Dive in, in
C             G
In where you dare to go
        C  G
Dive in, in
C                  G       C
Into where you really know



Bridge
G       G7   Am
Open your heart
G  G7        Am
Open your mind
G G7          Am
Open your heart
G     G7    C
Find Love Divine

Verse 3
C          G
Dive in, in
C              G
Beneath the ego’s story
C  G
In, in
C          G      C
Into the Uni-verse
C          G
Dive in, in
C                         G
Beneath separation
C  G
In, in
C           G     C
Into the Uni-verse

Verse 4
F             C
You will find
G                G7       C
A new and greater story
F                 C
You’re the One
   G                              C
Awareness pure and clear
F            C
You’ll return
G               G7      C
Whole and consecrated
F             C
Bearing gifts
G                G7        C
From dark into the day

Chorus 3
C          G
Dive in, in
C                    G       
In to where your wisdom flows
C  G
In, in
C                   G7           C
Into where your wisdom knows

© Esther Frances, August 15, 2001

 

Gather Your Courage


Verse 1
A                  D
Gather your courage
E                   A
Gather your dreams
                      E           A
Everything is not as it seems
           D          E       A
Breakdown is breakthrough
                                  E            A
The old gives way to birth the new

Chorus
A                   D
Deep in the dark night
     E               A
A new day is born

Gather your courage
         E            A
Hold on, hold on


Verse 2
A                  D
Gather your laughter
E                  A
Gather your tears

You need them both
             E                      A
As you go through the years
                       D
Compassion, joy
        E E7 A
Creativity, kindness

Courage, peace
E                      A
Open mindedness

Chorus



Bridge
D      A     E E7 A    
Courage, courage
A                   E   A
Open your heart to find your courage

Verse 3
A                  D
Gather your talents
E                  A
Gather your friends
                                      E                 A
Breathe deep - breathe out, breathe in
                     D             E         E7     A
Gather your darkness; gather your light

You need them both
          E                    A
Each day and each night

Chorus

Verse 4
A        D         E   E7     A
Everything is not as it seems
                      E                  A
Remember…trust in your dreams
                    D          E                  A
The dark of night becomes the dawn
                                        E            A
Trust in your vision, hold on, hold on

Chorus
A                   D
Deep in the dark night
     E               A
A new day is born

Gather your courage
         E            A
Hold on, hold on  (last 2 lines repeat 2Xs)

© Esther Frances, June 16, 2002
www.EstherFrances.com

 

Estrology: Winter Solstice 2015

Where to begin?  
As some of you may have noticed it has been a while since I have sent out my Estrology Newsletter.   On the surface of things, a dislocation in my right thumb served as the brakes.  On a deeper level, I reenacted Forrest Gump in his great run when he just stopped because it was over. I realized I no longer wanted to write a monthly blog based on the format of what is happening viewed through the grid of the twelve-sign astro-analysis. I was done and couldn’t squeeze another month out of that structure.  I reached this point of “no more.”

It had never been a shoe that I felt comfortable wearing.  Through the years I would try to stretch, squeeze, and transform the format so that it had more depth and universal application it never felt quite right.

Now what?  What I think I might do instead is notice a particular astrological theme and then select a poem or song of mine that might speak an opportunity or challenge I see from the astro-perspective.  Or, I might just dive in with a blog and speak what is in my heart and on my mind to share.  I’m shying away from a commitment to a monthly offering yet I think that is what I will do, timed to coincide with the shift from one sign to another that usually takes place, like today, around the 21st of the month.

I’m as enthusiastic as ever about my astrological practice and it is a vital component in the Soul Sanctuary Spiritual Counseling that I offer. This year has included many more journeys, shamanic, guided meditation, Deeksha transmissions, coaching through transitional and challenging times, and Human Capacity processes to expand and deepen consciousness as I’ve been trained to offer by my teacher Dr. Jean Houston.  

It is a privilege to support and witness the myriad of mini-miracles, breakthroughs, triumphs and strength of my clients.  The synchronicities have been delightful and off the charts! Each person has inspired me and gifted me in as many ways as they may have benefited from their experiences with me.  I will continue to offer these sessions in person, on the phone or with Skype as wanted. I am full of gratitude and send my love and thanks to all who have been a part of Soul Sanctuary this past year.

Here are two songs that I love to share to celebrate Winter Solstice.  By next year I would love to have an audio to go with the words so you can experience more fully the feel and energy of these songs.  Until then I hope you enjoy and use your imagination to sculpt the tunes. As a prelude I also want to say that I think we are not only at the Winter Solstice in our yearly journey, but also we are at a huge turning point in our planetary journey and making the choice to embrace “Divine Unity, Love and Diversity,” rather than fear, scarcity and aversion is more important than ever.  We are not victims, and it is time that we recognize and take back our power to co-creatively live as the Divine Beings we are.  As Buckminster Fuller often said, divide and conquer has been used by leaders with vested interests for a long, long time.  Thus experiencing and declaring our unity and celebrating our Divine diversity is great medicine for our times. (This applies within and without!)

I continue to offer individual sessions and highly recommend “The Grand Tine” triad package of three sessions at a reduced rate.  In the holiday spirit, if you schedule appointments with me by the January new moon on the 9th, you’ll receive an additional 20% discount.And if
I wish you all peace, joy and blessings galore throughout the holidays and into the new year.
Love & Blessings,

Esther

©  Esther Frances
August 15, 2001
www.EstherFrances.com
esther@EstherFrances.com  

There is a video taken this summer at Tatanka’s Living Room when I was honored to share a set of my songs with Tatanka accompanying me.  You can view by going to Tatanka’s Living room feat. Esther Frances, June 12th, YouTube.

Also please check out the Romero Institute at santaCruzcpz.org to learn about our local movement to protect our constitutional rights and become inspired to translate to your own locale.  Please go to the video archive for a fabulous interview of the founders Daniel Sheehan and Sara Nelson and where you can here a poem I created to address the issue put to the original music and video by Chris Sherertz.

One last video is an interview with me by Kristina Mekdeci on Hawaii Healing Network YouTube.

 

This month let’s be brief and deep. In truth, I am feeling the urge to be outside rather than inside typing and if you are in many of the zones where spring is actually a springing forth of life and activity you may be feeling the same!

The biggest news this month is the total Lunar Eclipse on Saturday April 4th, st 15 degrees Libra, at 5:05 Pacific Time and 8:05 Eastern time. I view eclipses as opportunities for reprogramming.  

We can release the old pattern regarding lunar matters.  The Moon regulates the waters, the tides, the emotions, feelings, home, family, kinship, bonding and the female or yin energies.  

Now is the time for us to affirm the sacredness and equality of the feminine: Mother Earth, women and the waters.

We are witnessing the extremes of too much water in some areas and not enough in others.  Is Nature reflecting our lack of appreciation for the life giving and sustaining gift that water is?  Is this eclipse an opportunity to remember that water is precious and respect her?  Can we also release the destructive paradigm of male superiority and live together in mutual respect and dynamic balance?

These are the opportunities that I intuit are here for us:

ARIES: “Coersion fights the Cosmos!”  Force has away of boomeranging back....Consider cooperation instead.

TAURUS: Mars and Venus in Taurus are right up your alley: Turtle wisdom says “Slow and steady wins the race.” Venus says, “Stop and see the beauty!”

GEMINI: Be like the geese and see if you can get your myriad of interests flying in the same direction and see where it takes you.  Mercury in Aries is willing to be your leader.
CANCER: Bless the waters, bless the Mothers, bless the children in your life.  Bless the rivers running through your veins and remember to drink plentifully.  It’s good for you skin and your brain!

LEO: Jupiter in Leo goes direct on the 8th: Time to celebrate and move forward into wherever you’ve been wanting to go and holding back.

VIRGO: Your invitation is to make sure you are serving your self as well as whoever or whatever is fortunate enough to have your support.  Self care isn’t an indulgence, it is requisite for you to be able to be the full gift that you wish to be.

LIBRA: The eclipse is in your sign!  May the rest of us share your desire for authentic fairness, justice, and peace.  Remember harmony is a verb not a noun!

SCORPIO:  You may begin to feel a lessening of the intensity that has been a constant for the birthing that the Pluto/Uranus squares have initated. Breathe deeply, and let it be so!

SAGITTARIUS: With Saturn still retrograding in your sign, the old adage “hold your horses” may be apt.  As much as you yearn to gallop freely, sometimes “corral time” can be a blessing.  

CAPRICORN: When Capricorn surrenders its fear it can hear the wisdom coded in its bones.  Listen.  ConTROLL or control, that is the question!

AQUARIUS: I’m expecting a new commitment to the changes you are seeking.  It has to do with the realization that realization needs back up in the form of commited and grounded action.

PISCES: There’s still some deep healing going on....Not getting the full stage attention but many of us are awakening to the need for compassion and revision more deeply than ever. Your Chiron key: turn away from feeling the victim and turn toward compassion.

© Esther Frances, April 2015           

 

Venus/ Jupiter Conjunction Special: 30 minute/ $55 reading on how this powerful conjunction inpacts your life.

For those of you that missed last month, I’m letting go of the format that gives a little snippet to each sign as your monthly update.  I’ve always been frustrated by that structure because one size doesn’t fit all and I am no longer willing to try to stuff my creative “footage” into an outgrown shoe.  It’s kind of like taking a snapshot of a movie and then acting as if it were the movie or tasting a bite of a five-course dinner and acting as if the taste is equivalent to the whole meal.  I know we live in a “sound-bite” culture but my appetite isn’t satisfied with this modality so I am going to go the route of a blog that really interests me and tie it in with the astrological happenings for the month.  I hope you’ll enjoy the ride.  If not, there are plenty of venues offering you the astro tidbit for the month!

One of the extraordinary events happening now is the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter which began on June 19th.  It will be exact on July 1st at 22 Leo and lose its combined Leo energy on July 19 when Venus moves into Virgo.  These planets have accented the night sky, dramatically drawing attention to themselves by the brilliant light that distinguishes them from the rest of the night sky. Right there is a key to this conjunction.  It reminds me of the Maryanne Williamson quote that says,
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson, ”

We have been misguided to feel that we are separate from Divinity, magnificence, love and most of us suffer from the wound of either feeling inadequate and inferior or the stress of trying to compensate by attempting to appear better than or superior.  What if we were to fully realize that we are, each and everyONE of us, equal in value, equally Divine, equally worthy?  What if we treated ourselves and each other this way? Can you imagine children taught that this is so, who no longer feel the need to shrink to fit in?

There is no better time to begin this correction or “core rectification” than during this portal of possibility that is the Venus/Jupiter union. Dare to love yourself!  Dare to forgive yourself! Dare to reject all the internalized voices that want you to believe that somehow you better or less than, more entitled or more less deserving than others.  What would that do to transform the topography of our social systems, our relationships and our communities?

What would it be like to live inside your skin with the knowing that you and everyONE else is sacred? …to know that the Earth, the Sun, the sky, the birds the breeze are sacred…..How could we then pollute, poison and rape with this knowingness? We are at a junction…a con (with) junction (where there is joining) where the decisions and choices we make impact the generations to come.  Our consciousness is a shaper and co-creator of the quality of Life we and our descendants will live.  This is the time to awake and take back our power!  

Venus is love, relationships, beauty, fertility and art. Its symbol combines the circle of Spirit with the cross of matter. Astrologer Martin Schulman points out that “The clockwise rotation of Venus presents the only instance in our solar system where the direction of energy is focused outward.” Venus also symbolizes the scale of balance or justice and in that sense represents the “lower courts” or local legal systems.

Jupiter represents the principle and process of expansion.  It is also an outgoing energy, the breath out in complement to the breath in of Saturn.  In the Torus —- the cosmological donut, not the sign — we see both the outgoing and incoming energies comprising a whole, wholographic fractal system, found in stars, planets and us!  Jupiter is extroverted, adventurous, expressive, and oriented toward increase. Jupiter also refers to natural law and the “higher courts” of law.

A conjunction symbolizes the uniting of the planets that come together to create a fusion or combination of their energies.  Conjunctions are the simultaneous beginnings and endings of any cycle.  They are powerful!  The saying that “the whole is more that the sum of its parts” speaks to the synergy created in such an alliance.

Love needs to start from within, and be given out, to fulfill its greatest potential.  The twelve signs of the zodiac serve up twelve different aspects of the whole enchilada of love. With Venus and Jupiter aligning In Leo we are given the opportunity to open our hearts and let our love flow!  We are invited to celebrate, dance, make art, love and see the glory and the gifts Life has given us no matter what challenges we may be facing.  One of my song lyrics is “Love is the answer; Love is the way: Love is calling you today.”  It is an apt affirmation for this time.  

The idea that we are to wait until some condition is met in order to love and celebrate gives away our power.  Our challenge is to have the courage, (the word derived from the French word for heart) to initiate love, celebration and gratitude now, with whatever is present in our lives.  It takes an activation of the archetype of “the brave” to step into this new territory.  

The Summer Solstice begins with Mars conjunct the Sun in Cancer, sign of the Mother/child archetype. It is connected to a Libra Moon conjunct the North Node. The shorthand interpretation to all this is that in order to achieve the equity and social justice so many of us are yearning for, we need to initiate our own capacity to be a leader.  We are to tap into our own authority, listen to our heart’s directives, or as Joseph Campbell said “follow our bliss.”

Mothers know that love involves strength and the willingness to protect what we love.  To preserve the values we love—-despite all the flaws and shadow elements of our country and its origins that go unaddressed, is love made manifest.  We cannot pretend we don’t see and avoid taking responsibility for a trend that will impact our children and their children if we don’t awaken from the slumber of denial and ignorance.  

July 4th marks the day we call Independence Day here in the U.S.A.  At the moment the ideals and laws created to insure protection of the citizens of this country are in jeopardy.  The N.D.A.A. provisions 1021 and 1022 violate our constitutional rights to be informed of the charges in an arrest, to a lawyer, fair trial, notification of kin and allow a person can be sent to a military prison anywhere in this country or beyond its boundaries without the person’s family knowing where they’ve been sent .  

I refer you to the Romero Institute at  (romeroinstitute.org) to become informed of what we are creating here in Santa Cruz to create a Constitutional Protection Zone.  I hope that this movement will catch on and that we can have a ground swell of awakening that will reverse the tide and insure that freedom and fairness can be reinstated and extended to encompass all people, as put forth in the Constitution. Please contact them to get the info you need to replicate this movement where you live.

May we see through the myth of independence and embrace the interdependence of all, all work toward a planet where all of us thrive.

© Esther Frances, June 24, 2015
Friday, (Venus Day), June 26th, June the month named for Juno Goddess of Marriage:

I just heard of the Supreme Court Decision for marriage equality and am rejoicing that we have collectively come to this point.  The inner informs the outer and the outer informs the inner. I’m glad the law is catching up with what so many of us have realized, accepted and celebrated paving the way for this official acknowledgment.

It is important to realize that this is the cart following the horse, the horse being all the brave women and men who came out of the closet, affirmed their Divinity, equality, differences and diversity that created the consensus reality that was so powerful it could no longer be denied.

The Moon(archetype of Mother/child, family, bonding, and nurturing) and North Node (direction we are to move into for our greatest growth and evolution) is in Libra. Venus is the “parent planet,”  of Libra. Libra’s traditional domain and is marriage, relationships and equality!  The timing is perfect for this affirmation of equality to be sanctioned as law of the land.

A shadow side of the Venus/Jupiter conjunction is the passing of the Fast Tract Trade agreement. Venus is also about money, prosperity and values.  Jupiter embraces generosity, or in its “too-muchness,” greed and excess. This bill is a boon for corporations and another loss for most the populace. Let’s continue to exercise our freedom of speech to make our voices heard and gather the momentum to repeal the decisions that violate our constitutional rights.