This Week’s Focus

Final week of Scorpio:

From the shadows, into the light
Issue 45 Volume 8 10 November 2025

Dear wonderful neighbour and fellow traveller;

With the Sun still illuminating the hidden corners of Scorpio, it’s easy to look at the world — and oneself — as good or bad. This happens because Scorpio forces us to confront the shadow mind. Unable to accept our own shadows, we attempt to be ‘good’ while holding others in judgement. In doing so, we have created our own Morality Manual.

Yet, wise people tell us that morality is of limited use; for society, perhaps, and only for those who live unconsciously and need rules. Morality changes from culture to culture, and from one era to another; it’s a construct of mind. If so, what are we to base our life upon?

During Inner Engineering with Sadhguru in 2014, he asked if we needed ‘commandments’ to not murder the person sitting next to us. We laughed, but the point was well taken: there is something else within us that is natural to our existence. When we tap into this all embracing truth, we need no code of morality. This truth is Love and is the fabric of all existence. When you come from the wellspring of Love within you, there is no need for morals. You are a living blessing for yourself and everyone around you.

Sadhguru in 2012 —

Your morality will not evolve you. If you begin to recognise life as life then you will see as life — you respond to life and you don’t need morals, you know how to be. You will never cross any lines because there are no lines, but at the same time you are simply incapable of doing anything harmful, that’s all. You are not holding back, you are not controlling because somebody told you, ‘This is the way you must be. You should not do that, you should not do this.” The very way you are there is no question of harm; it doesn’t exist in you. Effortlessly you can be good. Right now, with great difficulty you are being good, isn’t it? And if you’re too good, even in heaven they will reject you.

🤗

Warm thoughts and many blessings,

David 🙏🏻
astrologyofjoy.com

Scorpio Special! Do you have the courage to open the door to your 8th House? Don’t worry. It’s not a house of horrors; it’s just your karmic past saying, “Feed me!” This month, let’s look deeply at your 8th house, your hidden fears and what you can do to slay your inner demons. Knowledge is power!! Online special £49 for a one hour consultation.

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This Week’s Focus

Scorpio: Breakthrough or Breakdown?
Issue 44 Volume 8 03 November 2025

You’re probably asking, “How do I know what is the right thing?” 🤔

Scorpio is the sign that takes no prisoners; either you embrace its mystical qualities and make breakthroughs towards understanding who you really are and what makes you tick, or you find yourself in the looney bin of karmic consequences bounced around like a tennis ball during Wimbledon season. One reason is because you struggle to make the right choice at the right time. Here are some hints to get you started:

Hints form Eckhart Tolle, author of Power of Now

With awareness there comes choice. And so you are able to say: “I allow this moment to be as it is”. And then, suddenly, where before there was irritation, there is now a sense of aliveness and peace. And out of that comes right action… Ask yourself what problem you have right now. Not next year, tomorrow or five minutes from now. You can always cope with the now, but you can never cope with the future. Nor do you have to. The answer, the strength and the right action will be there when you need it. Not before or after.

Hints from Sadhguru, author of A Yogi’s Guide to Joy

Whatever you wish to do, you must bring yourself to a moment of joy and clarity within yourself. Why I am saying joy is because when you are happy you are not compulsive. When you are very happy and clear, at that time if you look at things and see that ‘Yes, this is what is more sensible for me’ – just do that… When your emotions go up and down, your mind says many things… When you are in different states of compulsiveness, if you make decisions as to which way to turn, you will be endlessly lost.

And if you are simply too petrified to choose, then you can follow this advice:

Theodore Roosevelt, commonly regarded as one of America’s greatest presidents said,

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Dear wonderful neighbour and fellow traveller;

In 1990 at a small gathering for guest speakers, self-realised master Gurumayi Chidvilasananda told us, “People ask why they don’t have meditation experiences. It’s because they are not kind.” These simple words stayed with me and was a wake-up call about how everything we do has consequences which can prevent us from having the success we seek, even something as seemingly inconsequential as whether we practice kindness to ourselves and others.

In the following passage form her wonderful book My Lord Loves a Pure Heart published in 1994, Gurumayi plainly urges us to point the finger of failure where it belongs — at oneself. This is an especially apt reminder as we read today’s headlines and as the Sun (our authentic nature) traverses mysterious Scorpio. Authenticity only thrives in a mind that is free of judgment, either towards oneself or others. Although Scorpio is the sign of spiritual breakthrough, blaming others or ourself always leads to the difficult consequences so often associated with Scorpio and the 8th house…

Most people act with great fierceness to show how right they are and how wrong others are. They want to prove how good their intentions are and how destructive or self-serving everybody else is. So there is no purity in their action. It is tainted by a holier-than-thou attitude. Have you ever performed an action like this? Whether the action itself is right or wrong, good or evil, generally speaking, people strive most of all to get the upper hand. Does this ring a bell? People who behave like this—and most do—are living by the law of the jungle.

Survival of the fittest. Whoever speaks the loudest wins. And therefore, though many of their actions may turn out well at times, you cannot say that they are established in yoga.

Yoga is skill in action, remember? What exactly is this skill? It is the wisdom to separate your lower self from your higher Self. It is the skill to distinguish your own motivation, to be able to tell whether you are performing an action for your own glorification or for the benefit of the world you live in. It is the power to struggle with your own darkness and keep your eyes on the light. It is the ability to keep temptations at bay and act with integrity.

Of course, all sorts of obstacles are bound to arise. It’s practically a law of nature—the moment you decide you are going to get up early every morning and meditate, a million emergencies come up. If you are not steadfast in yoga, then you never develop the knack, the subtle ability, of warding them off and fulfilling your highest dharma, no matter what. It takes tremendous stamina to perform spiritual practices. Things don’t always go the way you plan. Actually, they almost never do. So you must be vigilant. You cannot rely on your good karma or the merits you have inherited from your ancestors. You must learn to rely on your Self alone. That is why you practice yoga.

A wonderful writer once said, “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” Now that is yoga in action. It is not what most people do. They toss out two cents’ worth of advice and expect millions of favours in return. They perform one kind action and wonder why the universe isn’t grateful. Isn’t it amazing what people do and what they expect in return, what people don’t do and what they expect in return? No one wants to put in a sustained effort to make his or her life a paradise, but everybody wants other people to put themselves out. “Why didn’t you come? I waited so long. Why didn’t you phone me? Why didn’t you write to me on my birthday? Why? Why didn’t you do this? Why didn’t you do that? Why don’t you say something sweet to me? Why don’t you? Why don’t you ever sing me a song?”

It’s always somebody else who should be doing all these wonderful things. Some other people commonly referred to as “they.” Actually, while they’re at it, “they” ought to develop all these great virtues, too. After all, you tell yourself, “they” are the ones who need them, isn’t that so?

Swami Chidvilasananda, “Steadfastness in Yoga,” chap. 3 in My Lord Loves a Pure Heart: The Yoga of Divine Virtues (South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation, 1994), pp. 35-36.

🤗

Warm thoughts and many blessings,

David 🙏🏻
astrologyofjoy.com

Scorpio Special! Do you have the courage to open the door to your 8th House? Don’t worry. It’s not a house of horrors; it’s just your karmic past saying, “Feed me!” This month, let’s look deeply at your 8th house, your hidden fears and what you can do to slay your inner demons. Knowledge is power!! Online special £49 for a one hour consultation.

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This Week’s Focus

Scorpio and the Land of I Don’t Know
Issue 43 Volume 8 27 October 2025

In the land of I know, there is always competitiveness, jealousy, pretence, pride, and arrogance. It is an aggressive realm — the realm of the ego. I say refuse citizenship. In the land of I don’t know, the inhabitants move without conflict and are naturally quiet, happy, and peaceful. The wise stay here.

~ Mooji, Jamaican spiritual teacher based in the UK and Portugal; disciple of Papaji

Image Credit: Havana House, UK

Dear wonderful neighbour and fellow traveller;

Do I know? Do you know? Does anyone know? 🤔

Scorpio is the mysterious 8th sign of the zodiac, a sign that spans the spectrum of human experience. On the one hand, the 8th house represents Karma’s hammer which can pound into oblivion a person’s dreams and hopes in a heartbeat. On the other hand, it offers experiences so profound even Death becomes a loyal servant, though it takes courage to fully grasp its mysteries.

Like the 8th house in astrology, Scorpio is associated with death and disease, but it is also the bestower of the awakened life, life that transcends the normal boundaries, both physical and psychological. To experience its depth, however, requires us to show up on the battlefield in our own mind and fight the fight that must be fought. This takes courage, but of a different kind than the soldier who stands his ground in the middle of war’s chaos. This courage is humility’s friend and awakens when we enter the land of I Don’t Know.

I don’t know; three simple words that are so seldom heard, yet, when we embrace the intent behind their meaning, we open a door to something greater than all the books in all the libraries of the world: knowing. Knowing is stronger than faith, more real than hope, and more profoundly exhilarating than knowledge. Paradoxically, knowing can only arise when we enter the land of I Don’t Know.

I once attended a mysterious 3-day course which took place in the late hours of the night in the Catskills of New York at the ashram of my guru. The Fire Course was an 8th house kind of course. About two hundred participants were positioned in concentric circles around seven large fire pits which provided the only light other than the stars above. Even the Moon had given way to the penetrating stillness of the night where the fire served to reflect back to each of us our worst fears — and our greatest attributes.

For several hours, a mysterious voice called out a name and asked that person to “Stand and face the fire!” A microphone was thrust into their hand and in front of all the others, they were asked to answer a question on the spiritual process. These were not easy questions to answer, many from centuries old sacred texts. It was the classic guru-disciple teaching paradigm at the heart of spiritual traditions across the globe, but this one unfolded in front of hundreds of one’s peers. There was no place to hide.

No one knew if their name would be called which added to the suspense and intrigue of the night. For those petrified, just the wait was a revealing exercise whether they were called or not. Even those wanting to be asked soon discovered if their desire was pure or tainted by ego.

As it so happened, my name was called. Facing the fire, mic in hand, I had absolutely no idea what the answer was — my mind was a complete blank which turned out to be a blessing. As I gazed intently into the fire, I remembered the guru telling us weeks before that if we surrendered to Love when faced with the unknown, any answer was the right answer. In that moment of intensity, standing in the silence of the night, I discovered a drop of sweetness deep inside. Sure enough, when I drew my attention to it, it became a wellspring of Love. I had no answer save to embrace this Love, but that answer was the perfect one.

I don’t know… three of the loveliest words you will hear from a sincere seeker of truth whether they seek answers in the mundane or the profound. It matters not if you hear it at a spiritual retreat or in the middle of a podcast on politics and religion, these words invite grace for grace is fuelled by humility when I don’t know is offered with a pure heart.

Do not wait for the 8th house karma to pound you into submission. Sooner or later it will, for the personality to which we cling is not the answer nor are the “my truths’ we hang on the wall of our mind next to our diplomas and certificates. This is not a position of weakness, on the contrary, you will find that Life seeks you out like a loyal dog who only wants to please the master.

When we sincerely embrace I don’t know, we are telling God we are an open door through which He can think and act through us. In essence, I don’t know is a profound spiritual state of willingness that is simply open to what is. This month, let Scorpio be your friend and remove any opinion about anything. Instead, simply look at things like a scientist looks at a strain of bacteria in a Petri dish. With practice, you will discover that Love is there to greet you every time and just like someone once said, “Love IS the answer.”

🤗

Warm thoughts and many blessings,

David 🙏🏻
astrologyofjoy.com

Happy Halloween!

Instead of pumpkin pie, how about some food for thought?

One of my favourite short stories in secondary school was The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs (1863—1943), an English author known mostly for this story. It tells how a family comes across a monkey’s paw that is said to grant three wishes. Though skeptical, the father asks for more money, so the next day he receives a company compensation when his son is killed at the factory. A few weeks later, in a state of desperation, the mother takes the monkey’s paw and wishes for her son to come back. When she and her husband soon hear something coming up the steps, the man realises that what is approaching their room will not be the son as they knew himbut a monstrosity from the grave, so he quickly grabs the paw and wishes for the son to be gone. It works.

What is the difference between intent and intention? The short answer is that one leads to salvation while the other “paves the way to hell.” Many a good-hearted person lives their life from a place of good intentions; they sincerely strive to make the world a better place. Yet, too often, their intentions make matters worse. Have you experienced this? Most of us have.

Intentions, good or bad, arise from the field of past impressions accumulated through countless lives, including this one. This field of impressions is where we derive our personality, an illusion based upon our past fears and concerns, our hopes and dreams How can anything based upon what is so illusory ever achieve the results we seek?

Certainly, our intentions may happen to match with ‘good’ results, but who is the judge?

Sadhguru speaks about “misplaced compassion.” He shares the story of how as a young man, he saw a bull being shoed, the process of nailing iron ‘bullshoes’ onto the bull’s hooves to protect them. The bull looked to be in pain during the shoeing which made a lasting impact upon Sadhguru. Later, when he had his own farm and his bulls needed new shoes, he refused though he was warned it was not good. Within a few months of working the farm, the bull’s hooves were cracked and split causing the bulls to become lame. As Sadhguru said, what could have been just 30 minutes of pain (during the initial shoeing), became months of agony for them because of his choice to forego the shoeing process. Though his concern was real, his compassion was misplaced.

As the man said, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Halloween Special! Do you have the courage to open the door to your 8th House? Don’t worry. It’s not a house of horrors; it’s just your karmic past saying, “Feed me!” This month, let’s look deeply at your 8th house, your hidden fears and what you can do to slay your inner demons. Knowledge is power!! Online special £49/hr.

Astrology Monday

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