Illuminated Darkness
By
Sarah Varcas
Pluto is currently approaching exact opposition to the Black Sun, culminating at the beginning of January. They have been engaged in just this cosmic dance all year and will continue to be throughout 2015. However, this current opposition is of particular significance, occurring a few weeks prior to Pluto’s closing square to Uranus. So what does this all mean? In a nutshell, powerful forces are building to a point of release. We are in the final moments of reaching the boil before vents must open for steam to escape. If we feel under pressure at this point (and ‘under pressure’ may not come close to what we’re actually feeling!!), it’s okay. We’re in a process right now. Things haven’t gone wrong, we haven’t lost our way, the world hasn’t gone insane (well…no more than usual!), we are simply closing in on a watershed which will force the energetic shift necessary to bring to a close the long and intense relationship between Uranus (sudden change) and Pluto (death and rebirth) which has infused our every breath since 2012.
The recent Uranus/Pluto square highlighted our abiding desire to get all this over and done with. There has been talk of a ‘New Age’ – be it in terms of the arrival of the Age of Aquarius or talk of ‘ascension’ – for so many years now it can be tempting to think either we’ll never make it or it was all a ruse in the first place!! At present we are being reminded, sometimes in rather stark terms, that we are not heading to a fixed destination but engaged in a living, breathing process. The new age is not a place we all arrive and ‘get off’, to set down our roots and live happily ever after. It is a vibrant state of presence and possibility which arises both within and without, enabling us to recognise that we are not who we thought we were, life is not what we believed it to be and the dualistic separations upon which we have built our world – you & me, right & wrong, light & dark, good & bad – are simply misperceptions of a mind programmed to seek identity and substance first and foremost.
In order for this state to arise we must play our part. It takes self-discipline, self-acceptance and self-awareness to open our minds and hearts to the potential of this shift. It requires authenticity, honesty and integrity to look at ourselves through the eyes of truth and see who we really are, how we operate and where we prevent life from flowing through us as it must, instead damming it up inside – blocking it here, diverting it there, suppressing it somewhere else – in the vain hope that we can force life to serve us rather than the other way around. The Black Sun is the point on the Earth’s orbit at which it is furthest from the Sun. It signifies a window of opportunity, to experience the light inherent in darkness and the darkness necessary for light to be known. We cannot have one without the other and together they create a non-duality for which we have few if any words. It cannot be thought about or intellectualised but instead must be experienced directly. It signifies a face to face encounter with the shadow during which we come to recognise nothing more than our very spirit staring back.
An encounter with the Black Sun can make or break us for it shakes us to our very core and leaves us rearranged. It reveals our presence in everything, and all things present within us: light and darkness, love and hate, acceptance and rejection, peace and aggression. In the Black Sun there is no separation, no duality, no polarity, simply everything, the primordial soup from which we draw our being. We identify with this bit and not that, claim this quality but not that one, assign one thing to others and another to ourselves. But all we are doing is delaying the inevitable moment of truth when we recognise, like a lightning bolt from the blue, that nothing is other than ourselves and we are all things and everywhere, beautiful and ugly, revered and vilified, redeemed and forsaken.
I wondered whether to share this message for Christmas Eve! It didn’t seem very festive at first glance, but its words were insistent and its energy powerful and searing like a hot knife through butter. At the Solstice time when we embrace the darkness in order to return to the light or honour the light before it returns to darkness, it seems fitting to reflect that they are, in fact one and the same. There is no need to avoid one and invoke the other for where one goes the other is present in a forever state of symbiotic balance. We can embrace the darkness for it gives us rest and holds safe all that we fear to reveal in the light. And we can embrace the light for it shows us the way and illuminates even the steepest and most challenging path ahead.
As this year comes to a close and we reflect on all that has gone before, Pluto and the Black Sun remind us there is nothing to fear and nowhere to run to. Whether in total darkness or blinding light we are still resting in the divine which is all things, no more, no less. Whatever stresses we face or pressure we feel, we can take comfort in their assurance that every journey into darkness will lead us to the light and every ray of light is defined by surrounding darkness. Just as our illuminated Christmas tree is so much more beautiful in a darkened room, we must honour the shadows for they nourish the light.
A watershed is coming and we are approaching a moment of insight as 2015 begins. Leading up to that time we can hold our nerve by remembering that where we find ourselves now is simply a point on a journey and something very new is just around the corner. To embrace the knowing that awaits we must welcome light and darkness in equal measure, knowing ourselves as both and more, and recognise the face of the divine shining out from the shadows. We must stand firm and strong and yet yielding and pliable. Watch our minds, nourish our hearts and, if we feel so inclined, enjoy the festivities no matter what. Without a doubt, deeper insight is coming for those who are willing to see.
Sarah Varcas
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