#22: Saturn's Guide to Manifestation
🎶 LET IT GOOO, LET IT GOOOOOO 🎶
Angels,
A friend of mine came over this past weekend and asked if I work with mantras very often. She’s a yoga instructor and was lamenting using “I am” statements in her classes because they often felt inauthentic. She gritted her teeth and acted out suggesting “I AM PATIENT” when feeling anything but.
I laughed and agreed that chanting something that’s untrue in a moment, just because you wish it were true in the moment, isn’t always helpful. I asked if she had read Living Your Yoga by Judith Lasater, and she said she had. It’s about intentionally flowing through the cycles of life off your mat and I highly recommend it to everyone.
I got back to her original question and said that I don’t usually work with mantras because, especially during the past couple years of my Saturn Return, I’m leaning into letting go rather than calling in. And guess what? I’ve still been manifesting with the best of them.
If you’re under the age of 30, you might not appreciate what I’m talking about yet…but I assure you one day you will: the key to everything you want resides in releasing what you don’t.
It seems too obvious, but the most important things in life really are that straightforward. It’s a simple study in energetics. When you let go of things, physically or psychically or both, you’re making room for other things to enter the scene.
Sacrifice is rarely sexy, so we don’t hear as much about that journey in pop culture. Especially in the month of January, it’s all about planning to make more money, take more vacations, and spend more time at the gym. More, more, more.
The magical reality is that you don’t have to push for more in order to receive. You just need to have space to hold what was always going to arrive.
That same friend also complimented the Raven ZZ plant in my bathroom while she was visiting, which really brings this concept full circle.
I bought several new plants when I moved into my own place last year, with this one being my favorite among them. I loved the super dark, moody leaves, and admittedly that the woman at the nursery assured me it was virtually impossible to kill.
Months went by and it stayed dark all over. I watered it once every couple weeks and otherwise pretty much forgot it was there. But a few days into 2023, I noticed several neon green sprigs peeking through the rest of the foliage. I was shocked, because I hadn’t done anything special to encourage the new growth.
I poked around in the pot and ended up pulling out a small stalk that seemed to be completely dead. I was worried, because I had been told it wouldn’t die…but I was equally encouraged because there was new life happening alongside it.
The rest of my month unfolded with me mirroring the plant. As I shut things down, cried and eventually surrendered…unexpected people and opportunities found their way towards me.
I started taking photos of the plant every week (and yes, a few crying selfies that the world will never see). I pulled out its dead leaves and left them sitting on the counter for the next day to honor the mysterious cycle unfolding before and within me. I marveled at the arrival of more and more of the neon leaves and reminded myself that I was held in the same rhythm.
I hope this little message will be a reminder that you are, too.
February’s astrology will deepen us into these themes of letting go, and by way of the release…calling in what we desire. Here’s to greeting our endings with the same curiosity and gratitude as the inevitable beginnings around the corner.
PS: I watched White Noise last week and it shook me to my ever-evolving core. Add it to your list!
Through time and space,
Erin River Sunday
Ah, Let it go- words to live by. Thanks for the enjoyable read and the reminder that letting go makes space for new things!