Awakening No Matter What!
by
Sarah Varcas
The Sun enters Sagittarius at 9:39 am on 22nd November GMT. This may come as something of a relief to those who have found all the recent planetary activity in Scorpio burdensome. The Sun shines bright in a fire sign lifting the spirits more readily as a result, and with Venus already in Sagittarius to clear its path we can look forward to a significant shift of energy in the coming days, further accented by a New Moon in Sagittarius within hours of the Sun’s arrival there (12:33 p.m. GMT).
As the Sun enters Sagittarius it seeks to expand our consciousness and broaden our horizons. Not to be contained, this is a Sun who needs freedom, choice and opportunity. The ruling planet of Sagittarius, Jupiter, is on board with this plan, teaming up with Mars and Mercury to encourage us in our endeavours. These three planets together remind us that solid progress is most often born not of sudden change and miraculous occurrences but of commitment, patience and a willingness to stick at it when all around are giving up or willing us to do so. The freedom of this passage of the Sun through Sagittarius does not arise spontaneously, but as a direct result of our willingness to hold fast to our aspirations, whatever they may be, and refuse to compromise when it comes to their realisation.
Once again there is a warning here too: be clear about motivation. It’s been a common theme in recent weeks and continues to be so. We are reminded now not to take our own explanations for our decisions at face value, but instead to wonder for a while longer what may really be going on. Come 28th November, when Mercury also arrives in Sagittarius, we can adopt the ‘full steam ahead’ approach if we wish, but right now it’s worth asking a few more pertinent questions and wondering what might really be going on beneath our own surface. In doing so we can be sure that decisions made after this process will be more sound and reliable than those made before it, and rapid responses to complex problems will not trip us up in due course when we discover the limited nature of the solutions we thought they presented.
The New Moon in Sagittarius, following so hot on the heels of the Sun’s arrival, is nestled between Saturn in Scorpio and Venus in Sagittarius leaving the former behind in favour of the latter. It encourages us to orient ourselves correctly now, not looking for challenges as a matter of course, believing life to simply be this way – tough, hard work and unrelenting – but instead to look for the lighter moments, the rewards, even the tiniest pleasures, in order to shift our focus from struggle to acceptance, strife to peace and despair to hope and possibility. We are approaching the year end now, a time when many people find themselves looking back and reviewing past months. Doing so with an eye to blessings rather than struggles can assist us in recognising them more readily when they arise in future, rather than over-looking them in favour of the trials and tribulations of everyday life.
Of course, many blessings arise out of the challenges we face and without one we would not have the other. It is often the most disruptive experiences which cause us to take a new, more authentic and meaningful path. The message here is not that we should ignore or deny the traumas but simply keep them in perspective, recognising that even the greatest struggle contains within it the seeds of liberation if we find within ourselves what it takes to water them. We can focus on the challenge and overlook the blessings or we can live the challenge and welcome its gifts and struggles alike, knowing deep down and without doubt that we will move on and through this time, emerging with deeper wisdom and greater fortitude if we simply commit to awakening no matter what.
‘Awakening no matter what’. The heavens speak of it often these days: if we’re really committed to this process of conscious evolution it’s time to put our cards on the table and make it our number one priority. And if we’re not, preferring to only do the bits that feel good, so be it, time to own up to that too and be clear about what drives us onward. In deciding where we stand the heavens remind us of this: there are infinite blessings available the deeper our commitment to change, but when they await us the other side of struggle we may fail to hear their call. As the Sun enters Sagittarius and the Moon renews herself in this buoyant and fiery sign, we are encouraged to focus on these blessings and be grateful for every opportunity we have to embrace them, for we live at a time of enormous potential, limited only by how deeply we are prepared to go on this journey of transformation.
Sarah Varcas
