Image: Josephine Wall
Grounding the Cardinal Cross
by
Sarah Varcas
The Sun entered Taurus a few hours ago and I, for one, am grateful for some earthy energy to keep me grounded! We’ve been low on earth since Venus left Capricorn at the beginning of March, so it’s about time we got a bit more down to earth, not least because the Cardinal Cross is working very hard at present to convince us that earth is just about the last place we want to be!
That’s not to say we shouldn’t be here, by the way, or that we’re all waiting to be spirited off to some better place (which we’re not!). Consider it a test, of our commitment to being here and doing what it takes to get ourselves and this wonderful planet through these intense and challenging times. In essence, we are being placed in situations (for each of us the details will be different) in which we have to work out how to be here differently because how we’ve been doing it up to now has not been working so well.
Many of these situations appear to arise out of nowhere, the kind of thing we can all too readily put down to ‘bad luck’ or a ‘marked card’ in life: our partner ups and leaves; our employer goes bankrupt; our health fails; a disaster befalls someone we love. We may be only too tempted to feel hard done by, victimised by life, treated unfairly by the gods of chance. But in fact the urgency of the Cardinal Cross tells us there’s no time for self-pity and ‘oh poor me’ rhetoric. We just don’t have the luxury of such indulgence anymore, because right now the way we behave and the changes we make are being cast into the foundation stone of the future. As such, what and how we currently are is effectively being stored as a prototype for who we become in due course. We have a window of opportunity throughout the coming week, to effect significant change in ourselves over a short space of time, merely by changing how we act and react in the present. The question is, will we open the window or leave it boarded shut, refusing to embrace the possibility of such radical change?
I say ‘merely’ but of course, the things we really need to change are usually the bits about ourselves which are the most rigid and intractable; those habits of thought, feeling and behaviour that seem to have become the very essence of who we are, even if they repeatedly cause us on-going problems! And as problematic as they are, we often identify with them in some way, which makes it even harder to let them go and choose a different way: ‘I’m just an anxious person, I can’t help it’; ‘I’ve always been depressed, it’s because I’m sensitive’. When we experience something often enough, no matter how painful it is, ego will latch on and make it ‘me and mine’, part of, or in the worst case scenario, all of, our identity. And letting go of a part of ourselves is tough to do. It challenges our sense of self, of certainty and familiarity. It pulls the rug out from beneath our feet just when we seem to need it the most.
Nevertheless, that rug has to go – at some point, if not now. And if not now, when? As Richard Moss once very wisely said, if you knew you were going to die in the next minute, would you be willing to let go of that issue you’ve struggled with all your life? Many people would answer yes to this, recognising that to cling to it even in the face of death would be crazy. So if one minute before death we’re prepared to let go, how about two minutes before? Or three? How about a day before, a week, a month or a year? And given few, if any of us, know the hour of our own demise, how about right now? Just in case…
Which is why I’m happy to welcome the Sun into Taurus, because it gives us the staying power to do what’s needed, to dig in our heels and refuse to sink back into old habits when new possibilities are so close at hand. The week ahead is full of power – raw, creative, cosmic power. It comes not as a gift with no strings attached, but as an opportunity available to those prepared to knuckle down and do the work of deep change. For those ready and willing to do things differently, to let go and challenge the most intransigent parts of their nature, this week comes with profound hope and possibility. But if we resist thisclarion call we may find ourselves sinking more deeply into our own particular brand of suffering. The choice is ours, even when it doesn’t feel that way, because believing we don’t have a choice about who we are is the biggest lie of all! No one can be absolutely anything, but every life has more than one version available. This week is upgrade time, to a version which works better for all concerned, both personally and collectively…. if we choose to make it so.
Sarah Varcas
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