Image: “Interference” by Gary Rosenberg
Cleansing Motivation
By
Sarah Varcas
In this alliance between the Sun and Jupiter we encounter a challenge and a blessing. Which we claim for ourselves will depend upon how well we manage the task inherent in the current Sun/North Node alliance. If we pay attention as encouraged, to the nuances of our relationships, the tension between Jupiter and the Sun can release some useful energy and commitment. If we don’t, we may get carried away by Jupiterian exuberance which tells us we are anything from completely right to utterly invincible in every respect! This kind of exuberance, whilst energising in the moment, can lead to all manner of problems in the long run so we need some careful damage limitation and energy management at this point!
Jupiter is fairly happy in Leo: a fiery planet in a fire sign, both eager to be noticed and acknowledged. But when squaring the Sun in Scorpio we may end up being noticed for the wrong things or eliciting negative reactions in others. Our own certainty about what is merely a subjective perspective can get us into all sorts of trouble if we let it run away with us! Jupiter in Leo is best used to enhance our own confidence in order to do the same for others. It helps us shine and know our worth but we must, at all times, remember that others are equally worthy and we are not ‘better than’ but simply ‘as worthy as’. Once we can ground this perspective into our consciousness we can channel the vibrant, up-beat, encouraging energy of this Jupiter placement with no holds barred!
The Sun in Scorpio here reminds us that motivation is vital when it comes to the human realm. Our reason for acting, speaking, behaving as we do, aligning ourselves with some people and not with others, all of these choices reflect our motivation in life and yet often we simply act and react without giving careful thought to why. As a result we can end up acting on impulses which arise from the depths of our unconscious rather than a conscious and more awakened state. This is how we replay past hurts, old dynamics, recreate traumatic situations over and over. This is how we make ourselves believe that nothing ever really changes because look! It’s happening all over again! When in this state we miss the point that IT isn’t happening all over again, WE are! In the sway of semi- and unconscious impulses and motivations born of our past, nurtured there and then left to fend for themselves in the darkness of our shadow, life can take on an eerily predictable hue of repeated patterns, replayed hurts and past choices encountered once more in the present. The old adage ‘if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’ stands firm here. If we want life to change we have to change first, and getting clear about what motivates us as we journey through our days is a very good place to start.
If we don’t seek this clarity but instead settle for blundering through life with our blinkers on, convinced of the ‘rightness’ of our view without recognising what drives us from beneath, this alliance between Jupiter and the Sun will trip us up good and proper! It will reveal the gaping holes in our reasoning, the mismatch between who we think we are and how we actually behave. It will bring our shadow self that we choose to ignore into the light of day for all to see. It won’t be pretty but it will be necessary if we really want to continue with the evolutionary agenda in our lives.
But the cosmos isn’t out to punish us, simply to wake us up. In the places where we are so fast asleep we’ve not yet brought any consciousness to them, this can feel somewhat harsh! We can, however, avoid the consequences of unconsciousness by simply deciding we don’t have to remain that way and committing to ever deeper levels of self-awareness, whatever it takes. Simply making this commitment changes everything, for through it we are no longer hardened to aspects of ourselves which we don’t want to acknowledge, but can simply let them be. We remove the imperative to be on guard against the inner conflicts which populate our unconscious instead accepting that they are part of being human. And in accepting this about ourselves it is so much easier to accept the same about others.
This alliance between Jupiter and the Sun reminds us that no one is perfect, no one is wholly right, but we are all worthy of the space to grow and change. What we do with that space is up to us. We can fill it with rubbish if we wish and carry on like nothing happened, or we can occupy it, cherish it, fill it with a compassionate heart and an open mind which can look into the darkness and not be dismayed. If we choose the latter, Jupiter and the Sun shine upon us now and encourage a deeper commitment to our own awakening which, in turn, will radiate its fruits into the lives of all around us. And as we view our true motivations, maybe for the first time, we can begin to know ourselves with greater intimacy than before and truly tend the path of our own awakening.
Sarah Varcas
