Dear One,
The last few days I’ve been sharing some of my secrets of daily practices that have changed my life. It’s my hope that you’re finding inspiration in the small daily shifts that can lead to transformation. Committed daily practices and aligning with the sacred in the mundane are my greatest strengths, and it's what I love helping others strengthen and expand in their own lives.
In fact, this email list was first started over 8 years ago for supporting the practice of juice fasting. Perhaps some of you remember Cycle of the Moon Cleanse, a community practice of juice cleansing in accordance with the Moon cycles. I helped to guide hundreds of people with cleansing during those early years. My offerings have evolved since then, but my personal practice and encouragement of cleansing has continued.
In my upcoming group immersion Descent Into Truth: A 42-Day Journey of Transformation Guided By Venus, we commit to a 42-day practice as a structure for welcoming transformation. Over the ages, there are many references of 40-day fasting periods as being significant in the evolution of spiritual teachers. This timing reflects the length of Venus’ Retrograde cycle and is no coincidence- the descending Evening Star and later rebirthed Morning Star on the horizon were visible markers in the sky to denote the beginning and ending of the 40-day initiation for these sages and saints.
Cleansing with the upcoming Venus Retrograde is a divine opportunity of utmost cosmic support for powerful transformation through devoted self-care.
Personally, I have experienced incredible healing and spiritual expansion through fasting/cleansing practices. I have extensive experience with plant-based eating, raw foods, juice fasting, water fasting, and even dry fasting. Through this work I have shed so much old programming, emotional pain, and physical imbalance. Over the years, my fasting practices have spanned 3 days to 120 days at a time, and each time something more is cleared, strengthened, and awakened within me. I’ve always listened to my guidance and my body in these experiences treading into the unknown. Fasting is a potent dive into confronting fears and all that hides in the shadows within that has worked for me- but it's not for everyone.
While I have thrived and greatly benefited from fasting and have fasted for Venus Retrograde cycles in years past, 42 days of full-on juice cleansing might not work for most people who join Descent Into Truth. Also, this Venus Retrograde is happening in the depths of Winter for the Northern Hemisphere which isn’t the best time for certain types of cleanses for most people. It’s very cold where I am, so I certainly won’t be fasting for this retrograde cycle! But there are other ways to approach a cleanse that focus on nourishing, grounding foods suitable for the cold time of year.
I also find it very notable this self-love focused planetary cycle is happening during the holidays, a time we can find ourselves overwhelmed with unhealthy eating options. The New Year then becomes the time we want to cleanse from all of the excesses of the holiday season, but this year the cosmic support is here to encourage us to instead enter the New Year already in alignment with loving choices for our bodies. A powerful way to begin the year, aligned with self-love!
If cleansing appeals to you but you’ve never done one before, there are gentle approaches to a cleanse. Other approaches to a 42-day cleanse might simply be plant-based eating, or slowly building up to a cleanse by eliminating certain items from your diet, or adding a fresh juice to your days, or intermittent fasting (refraining from eating for a length of time daily). I have extensive experience in all of these areas and can help you determine what’s aligned and safe for you. Any of these approaches will help you clear physically, mentally, and emotionally in transformative ways.
Perhaps a cleanse is the right template for your own transformation during Venus Retrograde. Or, perhaps there’s another path all together that best serves your expansion.
42 days of cleansing is just one of several simple practices I suggest for inviting change in your life. Join me in my upcoming group journey Descent Into Truth starting December 19th to dive into the depths of your shadows through committed daily practice in a supported ceremonial container, and re-emerge with newfound strength, clarity, and power. We meet for 7 Sundays 11am-1:00pm Pacific on Zoom (or you can watch later).
A sacred opportunity to descend into your highest experience of LOVE.
I invite you to harness this Venus Retrograde energy by diving with me into the Great Below. This is a unique and powerful way to ritually work with this important transit, and to embrace the gifts and beauty that the Underworld brings.
Please reply with your questions, and please share this invitation with anyone you feel might resonate with this rich inner journey.
I am so grateful for the honor it is to share this offering, and for those of you who have already joined. The sacred circle of Initiates is growing! I hope you will join me in this transformative, sacred descent if the journey to the Underworld is calling to your heart. May it serve to awaken the power of Love within you during the darkest days of the year.
With Love,
Angela