Wild Dogs and Wisdom
By
Sarah Varcas
When Asteroid Vesta meets Mercury Retrograde we discover how much clarity we really have. So if you find yourself in something of a fog at this point, there’s no need to panic! See it as an opportunity to clear out mental cobwebs and regain focus. And remember, the Leo Full Moon supports our efforts to clear the decks ready for the off later this month, so we currently have the necessary support to tackle our foggy minds and fuzzy thinking!
Throughout January we had the opportunity to observe our mind and the traps it lays. We are conditioned from a very early age to deify the mind, believing what it tells us, honouring its skills and abilities over and above those of the body and spirit, giving greater credence to its input than to that of the heart. Logic and reason both define and sterilise the modern age. It is now paramount that we reclaim the sacred and embrace life’s mysteries if we are to journey onward in a manner worthy of the new world we seek to create.
Don’t get me wrong – the mind isn’t the enemy just as its creation, the ego, isn’t our foe – but both need to be trained to play a constructive role in our life not ride roughshod over everything we hold dear in their need to be top dog at all times. The capacity to think clearly and oftentimes swiftly is a blessing. The ability to reason, to maintain perspective and analyse the complexities of a situation is of great value. Indeed, wisdom often takes the form of deep thought which can perceive below the surface, providing the very clarity by which the truth of a situation can be recognised. It is not that we need to stop thinking for the sacred to fill the space where thought once resided. It is that we need to offer up our mind to the wisdom of the god-force which powers our lives from the inside. Only then can it take hold of our thoughts and beliefs, our analyses and understanding, putting it all to the highest use possible.
The untrained mind can run away without a moment’s hesitation. The slightest thing triggers it into action – a harsh word or unfair comment, someone else’s bad driving, needless bureaucracy when you’re already busy, getting out of bed the wrong side! Mind just loves this kind of fodder which fuels its endless commentary and evokes all manner of emotions that further bolster its perspective. We think our mind belongs to us but, to be frank, nothing could be further from the truth! If that were so surely it would be subject to our desires not dictating them! Mind is just mind: mental energy, imprinting the collective field of awareness all around us, fed by the billions of minds on this planet all full of thoughts and ideas, reacting to emotions and experiences, seeing you out there and me in here and making sure that never the twain shall meet. Mind is more some behemoth upon which we are all strapped taken this way and that as it blunders around our lives like a bull in a china shop!
This alliance between Vesta and Mercury reminds us to take charge of our mind and recognise how it pulls the wool over our eyes on a daily basis! If we want so deeply to fulfil a dream or pursue a long cherished goal and yet somehow it never seems to happen, observing the content of our mind can reveal all manner of reasons why our enthusiasm does not translate into action. We may discover contradictory thoughts which simply leave us befuddled, or imagined futures of failure and humiliation which stop us ever stepping out of our present reality into a more fruitful one. Or perhaps we hear the mind warning us about the perils of success and the demands that living the life of our dreams would actually place upon us. Often it is only once we turn our awareness to our mind with the intention of actually listening that we truly hear what it has to say. Doing this is the first step in training the mind. It is the birth of wisdom. Otherwise it witters away in the background triggering feelings and emotions here, underpinning behaviour there, and yet we never really get to hear its reasoning behind any of it!
Listening to the mind in this way, allowing it to speak and attending to what it says, will provide clarity now. It can help us resolve inner conflicts and unearth something significant about how our mind dictates our experience. We may hear the voice of a loved one where our own should be, or the criticism of a detractor we thought we had left long ago in the mists of our past. But those mists all too often drift into the present and pervade our consciousness without our even realising, speaking to us through our thoughts with such intimacy that we believe them to be true, We believe them to be us. We believe them. Full stop. And in doing so we allow mind to call the shots.
Commitment to our evolutionary path takes courage, endurance and a willingness to deconstruct who we think we are to discover what lies beneath. Listening to the mind and then training it to support rather than undermine our efforts is a key part of this process. Mind is not the enemy but it is an unhelpful friend if we give it free rein without taking responsibility for how we allow it to behave. Just as we wouldn’t open the door to a wild dog covered in mud who wants to race around our home and relieve itself on our best carpet, we need to be better gatekeepers for the mind, recognising that much of what it does is of little help and bears only a tiny resemblance to anything that is true or real. We can allow it to play outside and have its fun in the mud without letting it inside to mess up our inner sanctuary. And we can harness its skills and abilities when needed to further our goals. But we don’t have to allow it an opinion on everything and the power to dictate our next move in every moment. We have the divine to do that, gentle and soft and powerful as the oceans. Mind is but a tiny breeze compared to its all encompassing might and yet we allow it to distract us over and over from what truly gives our life meaning, replacing it with petty concerns, tittle-tattle and that ever present threat of ‘what if?!’.
Vesta and Mercury retrograde take the mop and bucket to our thoughts, the spit and polish to our mind, to remove the encrusted dirt and bring out its true shine. It’s time to put on rubber gloves and show that mind who’s boss!!
Sarah Varcas
