A few weeks ago I had an intuitive reading from a fellow healer who told me that I had to work on forgiveness. I have been receiving that same message in my daily meditations, but I can't say that I am mad at anyone or anything so I had no idea what that meant.
So I asked my friend for clarification and her answer was that I had to forgive myself, be less critical of myself. I laughed nervously, and as my tutor at The College of Psychic Studies used to say, if we give an angel message and the person has a bout of nervous laughter, well done!
The message was spot on but I had never thought of forgiveness that way. I do have a tendency to be critical of myself, focusing on what I could have done better in any situation. It's not fun to be around!
Natal Astrology could make it easy for me to blame that tendency on the three big planets that I have in the perfectionist sign of Virgo. But from a self-healing point of view, the idea is to spot character traits that become defects when exaggerated, and to soften those traits.
Virgo Aside: My initial reaction was to think that I should have been thorough and asked for clarification in my daily meditation.
So how do I go about forgiving myself??? My favorite tools are Energy Healing and angel meditations. I usually ask Archangel Michael to send the angel or guide who can help me heal and release the issue that I am working on, as discussed in both of my energy healing books.
I was surprised to see that Archangel Gabriel turned up. In my mind he was the archangel of pregnancies, intuition and communication, but then I remembered a lecture that I attended at the Kabbalah Centre years ago. The speaker referred to Archangel Gabriel as the angel of judgement in Judaism. Since then I have discovered that he can help us clear and release judgements that have been unfairly placed on us - in this instance, judging myself.
The past month I have been connecting with Archangel Gabriel to release that critical tendency and honestly, I feel so much better! Coincidentally, Gabriel is also the Angel of Water, which includes the compassionate sign of Pisces. When we talk about healing with astrology, this all-forgiving Water sign sits opposite Virgo on the Zodiac wheel. Water can be used to integrate and heal both polarities so that neither is exaggerated; we need discernment and compassion.
Here is a meditation to connect with Archangel Gabriel (link). We are in the month of Virgo until the 23rd of September; he can help us balance the Virgo/Pisces polarity so that we can be loving, forgiving and non-judgemental perfectionists. This leaves room for healing and personal growth. In Spiritual Astrology, Jan Spiller identifies non-judgemental perfectionism as the remedy for the three planets that were in Virgo when I was born, especially taskmaster Saturn.