HO'OPONOPONO . Returning to the heart

We are living through a rare celestial moment | Venus, the heart of our inner cosmos, meeting the Sun in Scorpio in a Venus cazimi, while we prepare for the Full Moon in Taurus. This particular Venus Star Point in Scorpio marks the culmination of a long cycle, inviting us to bring light into the hidden waters of our emotional world. Venus speaks to the heart chakra, to compassion, love, harmony and reciprocity, to the sacred space between ourselves and others. As the Sun illuminates her, we are invited to rediscover the essence of Aphrodite within us | the capacity to love without abandoning ourselves, to honor connection without losing our centre, and to recognize that our first loyalty must be to the heart. Taurus, Venus’s earthy home, reminds us that our values, principles, self-worth and inner peace are the ground upon which we build our lives. No resentment, no wound, no pain is worth surrendering our tranquillity to. We can honor what happened, acknowledge what we feel, and still choose not to carry it forever.

As Venus moves through the deep waters of Scorpio, what has been repressed, hidden or left unspoken may rise into consciousness, asking to be witnessed and transformed. This is the alchemy at the heart of my 21-day Ho'oponopono practice | a return to compassion through the simple, profound language of forgiveness, gratitude and love. Rooted in Hawaiian traditions of reconciliation and restoring harmony, Ho'oponopono reminds us of the possibility of tending to what is unsettled within us.

Ho'oponopono has been part of my meditation practice for a long time. During a recent session with a client, however, a Polynesian guide revealed himself in my inner landscape, bringing a new dimension of meaning to a practice I have known and returned to over the years. His face bore a green tattoo, the color of the heart chakra, evoking compassion, love and self-compassion. I perceived this green energy as descending from the crown towards the heart, inviting a deeper connection between awareness and the capacity to meet ourselves and others with tenderness.

This encounter renewed my relationship with the practice, illuminating its relevance to the inner work I am being invited to do during these 21 days.

Ho'oponopono often understood as making things right. Traditionally, it was practiced within families and communities to restore harmony. Hawaiian healer Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona later adapted the practice into a form that could be undertaken individually, helping bring this wisdom into a personal meditation.

HO'OPONOPONO

21 days of forgiveness, inner listening and transmutation

Ho'oponopono is a Hawaiian practice of reconciliation whose name is often understood as making things right. Traditionally, it was practised within families and communities to restore harmony. Hawaiian healer Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona later adapted the practice into a form that could be undertaken individually, helping bring this wisdom into a personal meditation.

At its heart is the willingness to meet what arises within us with honesty, humility, gratitude and love.

The four phrases

I'm sorry. EARTH | acknowledging what has taken root within us, the memories, patterns and experiences asking to be seen.

Please forgive me. WATER | allowing the emotions to move, soften and find a new flow.

Thank you. FIRE | transforming awareness into the warmth of gratitude, illuminating what is ready to change.

I love you. AIR | creating space for compassion, freedom and a renewed relationship with ourselves and the world.

These elemental correspondences are part of my own cosmobiological reflection on the practice. I experience the four phrases as seeds, or bīja mantras: simple sounds and words that, through repetition and intention, set an inner spiral into motion.

Like water stirred from its depths, our inner world begins to move. We may gradually find a different perception of ourselves, another person, or a circumstance we have been carrying. And just as ripples travel across water, the work we do within ourselves can influence the way we meet humanity around us.

Mercury, the waters and the memory of the body

During Mercury retrograde, I use this practice as an invitation to revisit the inner dialogue | to listen to what has remained unresolved, to observe our thoughts and words, and to bring awareness to the memories that shape our responses.

Through my astrological lens, I contemplate three expressions of water |

Cancer, the waters of nourishment and belonging; Scorpio, the deep waters of grief, truth and transmutation; and Pisces, the flowing waters of consciousness, compassion and surrender.

Mercury, the messenger moving between worlds, reminds me that our thoughts, words and actions carry energy. When we become conscious of them, we create the possibility of changing the movement of the spiral.

21-day Practice

Find your quiet place. Choose a time of day when you can be undisturbed, in a space that feels intimate and safe.

Settle into your body. Close your eyes, soften your breath and bring your awareness gently to the heart.

Choose what you are ready to meet. It may be a memory, a relationship, a difficult emotion, or simply yourself.

Repeat the four phrases slowly I'm sorry. Please forgive me.T hank you.I love you.

Continue for as long as feels appropriate. You may repeat the phrases silently or aloud, allowing each one to resonate without forcing an emotion or outcome. A japa mala or rosary can help you count the repetitions and keep your attention anchored.

Close in stillness. Take a few quiet breaths and notice what is present, without judging what has or has not changed.

Return to this practice for 21 days, allowing consistency to become an act of care.

Forgiveness does not require us to deny harm, excuse another person's actions, or abandon our boundaries. It offers us a way to meet our own inner world with greater tenderness, so that what has hurt us need not determine what we carry forward.

May this practice help us loosen what binds us, protect the tenderness that remains, and allow love to find a new pathway through us.