Discerning the Path Ahead
by
Sarah Varcas
As the year approaches its close the heavens invite us to engage in some radical reflection. Of course it is common at this time of year to look back over the months just gone and anticipate those to come. 2013 has been a deeply challenging year for many and often not what was anticipated. The build up to the end of 2012 with some speaking of the birth of a new age in an instant, the end of karmic cycles and all manner of other-worldly happenings left many feeling monumentally let down when life continued largely as normal and then, for many, became even more intense than it had previously been! From an astrological point of view, however, this was all pretty much par for the course. The birth of a new astrological age does not occur in the blink of an eye, and the burgeoning Aquarian age is no exception. We have a way to go before we are anchored in its vibration, and despite points along the way which provide us opportunities to more readily facilitate its embodiment on this planet, we must also accept the greater timetable of transformation which necessitates we undergo a process whose layers and nuances occurring across time and space are an integral part of its very nature. We cannot separate out one from the other, reaping the change without undergoing the process. It just doesn’t work that way!
Which is one of the key messages delivered by the cosmos this weekend, in the form of an increasingly intense T square formed by Mars to the on-going Uranus/Pluto square, incorporating both Mercury and the Sun in Capricorn come 29th December. This is no peaceful, gentle end to the passing year but a swift rap across the knuckles to remind us there’s no time for complacency! There’s work to be done and it’s up to us to do it. What that work looks like will vary according to who we are and the areas of life in which we now face our deepest challenge. We each know what those areas are and we will know what we need to do if we listen deeply enough to our inner voice. Given the nature of Mars, Uranus and Pluto this work will require courage and fortitude, either to break away and bring about change through radical action or to stay put and bring about change through radical forbearance, a quality often overlooked these days, in which so many are feeling a deep calling to freedom and self-expression.
This weekend we are encouraged to consider where we find ourselves on the spectrum between zero-tolerance of what’s not working in our lives and unwavering patience with it. Neither end is better than the other, it is only for us to discern where we are and what that position requires of us. Do we need to break free and if so how and when? Do we need to grit our teeth and tolerate for another week, another month, another year? And if so, how do we intend to do that in such a way that our spirit, rather than withering, is fed by the karmic blessings of endurance in the face of life’s challenges which could otherwise break us.
Accompanying this powerful T Square is a Small Talent Triangle formed by Neptune, the Sun and the North Node, reminding us there are important skills and gifts to be applied to this situation. One of the key purposes of frustration is to reveal those very gifts which remain hidden until such times: the discovery of an unknown strength, a deeper insight than we have encountered before, an all encompassing experience of the Divine which comes not at a time of peace and satisfaction, but in our time of despair when we think we can’t go on. Likewise the call to courageous action, which requires we let go of much in which we invest our identity and meaning, itself holds the gifts of courage, the skill of focused intent expressed through direct action and the blessings of freedom to redefine who we are.
Interestingly, at such times it is often those most comfortable with radical change who are called to wait and bear with. And those most familiar with patience and forbearance who are required to leap without a safety net and embrace the unknown in all its awesome glory. Such is the balance at the heart of the cosmos: we are all being challenged to develop the qualities we most lack in order to become evermore rounded and full human beings, capable of whatever’s required to bring about the birth of the Aquarian age.
So it is against this backdrop that the heavens ask us to reflect on where 2013 has brought us and the next step on our journey of awakening.
Sarah Varcas
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