Resistance is Futile
By
Sarah Varcas
Saturn is now heading towards Sagittarius, preparing for its first entry there next month. In the coming week Mars cheers it along by lightening the way and reminding us that Saturn is actually our friend no matter how tough it may be on us at times. Saturn’s journey through Scorpio, which began in October 2012, has demanded that we face who we are (which may not be who we thought we were!) without flinching, avoidance or denial. Alongside this we have had to do the same with those around us, seeing them as they truly are, perhaps for the first time. This process has taken its toll on many, but it has also offered the opportunity of liberation from the common half truths, deceptions and denials of everyday consciousness.
It can be hard to see Saturn as a friend when we’re having our behinds kicked though! That’s why it has such a bad reputation and people roll their eyes when it gets a mention. We don’t want to deal with our flaws and failings. It hurts to look at them. It can be humiliating, disheartening and sometimes just down-right depressing. Life is tough enough as it is without being reminded about bad choices made and the consequences they present in our lives today. And then there’s all those times other people play Saturn in our lives, rejecting us, demanding from us, judging and criticising us. None of this is pleasant stuff and too much of it can simply be, well.. too much! And don’t even start me on developing patience and facing up to responsibilities!
But of course, Saturn has another face and it is only when we can see it and smile that we can truly embrace it as the friend it so wants to be. Saturn wants us strong and wise, resilient in the face of life’s challenges and responsible in the choices we make. Saturn reminds us that life is precious and what we do with ours matters. It doesn’t want us to waste it in self-defeating behaviours or wandering aimlessly down a dead-end path. It values the tenacity needed to live life with integrity and wisdom and seeks to plant that tenacity within each and every one of us so when obstacles arise we have what it takes to do the right thing, maintain our integrity, act from wisdom and grow in the process. Saturn delivers wisdom through experience, patience through challenge and rewards from hard work. Cuddly it is not, but an unflinching ally when we’re truly committed to growth and awakening it most surely is.
Which is why its current relationship with Mars should put a smile on our face, because it points to the reward of embracing our Saturnian experiences: once we do that, recognising that what may feel like hell is in fact the birth pangs of spiritual maturity and deep wisdom, an inner strength begins to rise up within us and the ability to simply keep on keeping on develops. Mars in Capricorn, the sign ruled by Saturn, takes no prisoners, not even ourselves, and refuses to be distracted from the path ahead. The deeper we commit to walking that path the greater the energy Mars invests in us for the journey and the stronger the backbone Saturn provides for the long haul.
At this point in Saturn’s journey we have an opportunity to take the struggle out of life and simply embrace the fact that its challenges contain the most amazingly precious gifts of wisdom, patience, peace, acceptance and fortitude. We don’t develop them by having a good time with everything going our way, but by discovering where we are resisting life and then attending to the internal triggers which cause us to do so. The Buddha summed this up nicely when he pointed out not that life is suffering but that we create suffering in our response to life (and then we blame life for making us suffer!). This subtle difference lies at the heart of Saturn’s care for us. It wants us to see how we hurt ourselves over and over by resisting what is and fighting for ‘what should be’. In its current alliance with Mars it reminds us that acceptance of what is and commitment to manifesting what could be are not mutually exclusive, but without the initial acceptance we are forever wasting energy on a struggle against the infinite flow of the universe which will always win that fight on size alone!
Saturn loves hard work, commitment and responsibility. It rewards all three with wisdom gained through experience, spiritual maturity and enduring patience. It teaches us that acceptance of what is, commitment to a life lived with integrity and a recognition that suffering arises when we resist the present are cornerstones of a meaningful life. Mars in Capricorn offers its own special wisdom reminding us that none of this means we can’t take action, plan for the future or challenge injustice, but if we want to do these things effectively we need peaceful clarity in the present and openness to our experience of the Now, within which all things converge to light our way.
In the coming week we can join hands with Saturn and Mars, seeing them as the allies they truly are. With them we can observe when we resist, when we accept and the difference between the two. One leads to peace, the other to strife, and both are within our grasp, just an open heart away.
Sarah Varcas
