Walking the Path of the Heart
By
Sarah Varcas
The Quarter Moon occurs in the 8th degree of Pisces on 29th November at 10:07 am GMT. It offers the opportunity to build on the commitment to awaken ‘no matter what’ forged at the New Moon. This Moon speaks of mounting energy and the opportunity to perceive the inherent beauty in what may at first appear to be anything but beautiful. Conjunct Neptune, she reminds us that everything is divine – everything – and that in being so everything is worthy of love, respect and the space to grow and change, to follow its own evolutionary nature. It can be easy to accept this when we think of those we love, of nature, the animals with which we share our lives, the resplendent beauty of a forest or the wonders of a work of art. All of these can set our heart aflame leaving us in no doubt that the divine is fully present. It can be far harder, however, to embrace this truth when we consider the ugly side of human nature, the abusers and war-mongers, the destruction that human beings continue to wrest upon this planet, our only home.
How can we begin to embrace as divine those who do things which outrage, disgust and horrify us? How do we see that spark of the infinite within them and recognise their true nature despite all appearances to the contrary? Answering this question within the very fabric of our lives – our thoughts, words and deeds – will play an important part of our collective path in 2015, but at the time of this Quarter Moon we are given some encouragement in the face of what seem like a monumental task: we don’t have to do it all at once. We’re not expected to wake up tomorrow morning full of unbounded love for all beings regardless of who they are and what they have done. Instead we are invited to awaken with a tiny seed of hope in our heart and water that, day in day out, no matter any appearances to the contrary.
Alongside this tiny seed of hope we are encouraged to water another: the seed of self-acceptance. No matter what we have done, how harshly we judge our past choices or present behaviours, if we cannot learn to love and accept ourselves we will struggle to accept the divinity at the heart of others. It takes courage to open our heart and allow in the possibility that we are all worthy of redemption no matter how heinous our behaviour. If we cannot accept ourselves there will be no space to truly embrace another for we are already diminished by our self-rejection. It takes a wide open heart to truly love, not one that is barely ajar for fear of being engulfed by the pain of our own imperfections and unworthiness. This beautiful Quarter Moon, aligned with Neptune who knows everything there is to know about unconditional love, sheds her gentle silvery light upon this issue. The extent to which we close our own heart to ourself is magnified a thousand fold towards others, even when we cannot see it. No matter how accepting we may perceive ourselves to be, once someone hits our wall of judgement and blame beyond which we will not allow even ourselves to go, all hope of unity is lost.
This unity, so fragile and yet so enduring is the foundation stone upon which our evolutionary path is built. As we enter the Age of Aquarius we cannot risk continuing in a state of isolation from each other, from nature, from Mother Earth and all creatures who live upon her. If we are truly committed to awakening no matter what, we must first water these seeds of hope and self-acceptance every day to ensure that our heart is open wide and ready to receive the true experience of ‘oneness’. To embrace the truth of you as me and the ‘I That Is We’ (thank you Richard Moss for this wonderful phrase), our heart must be as wide as the ocean and soft as the snow, strong as an ox and authentic as a newborn. We can be none of this if we close down in the face of our own reflection and refuse to accept what we see. Our first true encounter with divinity must happen within and radiate out, the divine looking through our eyes, feeling through our heart and embracing through our soul. If we seek it outside in others we are already lost. If we judge them devoid of it, equally so.
This Quarter Moon reminds us that the human race is a melting pot of the very best and the very worst, of outrageous acts of compassion and deeds of mind-numbing hatred. But beneath all of this beats the universal heart so often ignored, dismissed and silenced amidst the roar of a world in crisis. We are that heart, each and every one of us. It is our challenge to be it without guile. To know that we are one with even the most reviled among us. To look upon ourselves with an accepting heart so that we can accept those we would otherwise reject. It all begins with watering those seeds, of hope for a brighter future and self-love. As they germinate and grow, we will grow too, into a calmer and more accepting state which nurtures space to see the divine at the heart of everyone and all things.
In rejecting ourselves or another person we fail to distinguish between essence and behaviour – between the authentic and the false self – the latter born of pain and struggle, the former neither born nor dying but ever-present in all things. No one ‘behaves’ their essence into being, it simply is, regardless of anything done that may obscure it. Looking beyond behaviour to the light within is the path of the heart called for in 2015, currently illuminated by this gentle but mighty Quarter Moon.
Sarah Varcas
