The notion of “shadow work” had been clouded for me by the overuse of the phrase. Kerrie helped me to redefine what shadow work needed to be for me… a reuniting of all the parts of myself I had denied or cut off as a survival response to pain and trauma.

I spent a decade living in a flood zone. It is terrifying at first, often unheralded and arriving out of the blue with a disconcerting inevitability. But over the years as I would sit and watch storms dump rain in my tank and crossings go under, I began to see how unwilling we are to accept nature in whatever form she arrives.

Personal power is actually built by chewing on your own gristle. It is strengthened in times of adversity and challenge, particularly those that kick out the crutches and leave you to go it alone. Power is not restricted by external conditions, dictates or the actions of others - though all can knock you off your spot. It pivots on perspective and is nourished by our whole truth.

Maybe you have been lucky until now. Your life has whirled along, a sea of experiences that never stopped you in your tracks. That bad break up? You drowned it and moved on. The career hurdle? You switched gears. Life as you knew it had bones you put your weight on and the day to day was regular. Its tone and timbre was reliable. Your place in it and part to play known and understood.

The storm is here darklings and the sirens are ringing out around the world. To your bunkers, they cry. Seek shelter and protect yourself from the marauding virus that threatens life as we know it.

I bloody hope so. This tipping point has been ratcheting for some time.

Though Chiron has been in Aries since Feb last year, with the world burning then flooding then completely freaking out there has been precious little time to dive into our deepest existential identity wounds. Survival mode makes hasty decisions and rash vows. But there ain't nothing like isolation - and a gentle shunt from the stars - to push the world's individuals to grander considerations.

You don't have to do it alone, darklings. Just ask Stell and that big smile, the one borne of patient encouragement and unconditional belief. I know she can swim. I know you can too.

A word to the wise mermaids, as we navigate the fathoms of Pisces season and Mercury's emo retrograde. Though this sign cultivates the shamanic depths and our emotional currents, it also has a spectacular penchant for drama, delusion and evasive bypass. Pisces is just as great at opting out or cultivating unconsciousness. Everything has its shadow.

Sometimes we aren't sure precisely how to do the good work of our life. We want to but we don't know where or how to start. That's where I come in and whisper softly to your soul to help her remember. Beyond my readings, I offer sessions to enhance your connection to your intuition and personal power. We dive into my full medicine bag, working together through whatever is vexing you.

Beware the Ides of March, they say. Gah. We have all been settling karmic debt and shadow dancing for weeks before that - and since. As we plunge into the sweet dark of the moon after a month or more in Meltdown City, the reckoning is here. When the moon makes new in Aries in a few short days, it will be dragging Chiron into its fiery imperative and kicking Mercury into forward gear. This will be a high impact transformation, the kind that we crave and quake.

Both Pluto and Mars have turned retrograde, joining taskmaster Saturn and truth bomb Jupiter in reverse gear. And although it may well feel like the brakes have been slammed on, in truth this an invitation to enter the shadowlands prepared to spend some highly instructive and revealing time walking among our skeletons, the denizens of our dark.

These beauties came home with me last night after a delicious full mooner, direct from the altar. Honouring the Virgo moon I chose to focus meditation on the shadow side of this energy that can often wallop us by fuelling our inner critic. This in-house naysayer, whose oxygen is criticism and whose routine belittlement serves only to lower our head, tries to keep us safe by keeping us small.